Rise of Flight ICE, Black Shark, A-10

[Skybird]

Does Black Shark include an option to switch the Kyrillic labels in the cockpit to English translations, or is there a mod for that?

[Raptor1]

Originally Posted by Skybird

Does Black Shark include an option to switch the Kyrillic labels in the cockpit to English translations, or is there a mod for that?

Yes. It's in Options -> Gameplay -> Cockpit Language.

[Skybird]

Good to know!

[Oberon]

Got to concur with the AI mod in ARMA2, I don't do a lot of proper footstomping, I'm usually hovering in an Apache or staring down the gunner optics on an Abrams but the AI has definitely punished us for any stupid mistakes that we have made. Flying an Apache over the town on a Hydra run for example lead to a dead gunner and a wounded me crawling out of the wreckage.

Let us know how you get on with the Black Shark and ICE. They're both titles I have an eye on, as well as A-10, but the first paycheck, after it is dissembled and consumed by reality, will probably go towards hardware upgrades and quite possibly a TrackIR...

[Skybird]

In flightsims, I consider TrackIR to be a must now.

I'll keep you updated, but while I already have three new game boxes, I still need to wait for the hardware. The shop where I bought is waiting for a delivery of revisioned boards for the type I ordered, hopefully by the end of this week. Not before then they can assemble it for me.

I am also considering A-10, but not now (3 new titles at once already is a load), and I want it to have received one or two of the inevitable patches first before I depart with my money. It's already an expensive week right now, and additional costs for wheel and 2nd HD maybe already lurk beyond the horizon.

I look forward to do a real huge air battle for the first time in BoBII-Wings of Victory, and to boost the frames in FS9+mods, with most things maxed out. The racing sims I already have, already play fluidly right now, so probably no big difference there with improved hardware. I hope I do not get haunted by compatability issues with some of my beloved classics.

[Drewcifer]

Agreed, I always us my TrackirR 5. I mean with the detailed cockpits.. or like in Rise of Flight.. where there isn't much need for hitting buttons in the cockpit The trackiR is a lifesaver in dog fighters, jerking your head about and having completely situational awareness

[Oberon]

Hopefully with all the upgrades I'll still have enough to one side to grab a TIR. Would 4 with the vector work fine?

Meanwhile:

[Skybird]

It seems my first answer went amiss?

Again, then:

I have Track IR 4, and I never have missed anything in it, so I think TrackIR 4 works fine for you, Oberon, if oyu can get it cheaper than TrackIR 5.

I have not forgotten your request about RoF and BS, but with all the system chnage going on, I have had little to no time to already have dealt with them in depoth. All I can say is both sims run smoothly over here.

[Oberon]

Thanks Sky, I will probably go for 4 then because IIRC it's on about 99 dollars at the moment whereas 5 is over 100.

I just found this on simhq and I had to post it:

from -- http://riseofflight.com/Blogs/post/2011/03/04/Some-details-about-the-new-d0a1areer-Mode.aspx

• Covers 700 days of the Great War. More days may be added if we build planes from even earlier in the war.
• Continued promotion through the ranks.
• Changing Weather with Seasonal Textures (Summer, Autumn and Winter).
• New Titles and Awards.
• More than 15 different types of missions.
• New types of gameplay, such as adjusting artillery fire or photo reconnaissance, with new interactive elements and equipment such a wireless radio and/or camera added to your plane. You can also watch real-time changes in the world based on the results of your actions such as corrected artillery fire.
• A higher level of interactivity and randomness during missions, for example, flying close to an enemy's airfield could trigger enemy fighters to intercept you.
• Combines your personal statistics, events and achievements with real history.
• Interactive map of hostilities with information about current operations at the front and the location of various units and squadrons.
• Historically correct squadron’s location and re-locations.
• Historically correct automatic mission completion by A.I. pilots in missions not involving the player using a new technique we developed.
• Historically correct awards and conditions for awards.
• Realistic calendar of European Weather
• Virtual "Newspaper", depicting timely events at the front, new inventions in science and technology, and list of important aces published on a regular basis.
• All virtual A.I. squadron mates have their own names, grow in rank and abilities, go the hospital if needed and receive awards for their actions.
• Ability to meet historic allied or enemy aces in combat situations. If you kill a famous enemy ace he will not re-appear and his kill total will stop in the press.
• Ability to be transferred to another squadron with promotion in rank.
• Realistic attrition of personnel and material in your squadron.
• Repair of damaged aircraft and hospitalization of wounded pilots.
• Ability to use a custom paintjob after 5 kills.
• Opportunity to become a squadron commander and plan missions.
• Planning includes the selection of pilots and aircrafts, which will participate in your flight.
• Editing a route: choice of range, move waypoints, a height indicator, buildings types, speeds and altitudes.
• Many new villages, town and industrial areas added to the map along with windsocks at airfields.

[Raptor1]

That sounds well and truly awesome. In fact, a lot of these features make me wonder if they're basing the concept of it on the RB3D campaign, which would definitely be a good idea.

Might get me to finally buy the game...

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Oberon

Thanks Sky, I will probably go for 4 then because IIRC it's on about 99 dollars at the moment whereas 5 is over 100.

AFAIK the main difference is that the TrackIR 5 has a higher resolution. But I never found TrackIR 4 having insufficient resolution, so I would say if you can save money, do it. But be aware, both 4 and 5 are offered with and without Vector gear.

[Skybird]

I can't believe what my new rig is doing with FS9 - it's killing it byte by byte! Plenty of mods installed, busy airport scenery and AI traffic, all sliders maxed out - and the frames race down the screen at 60.

RoF and BS also run perfectly and with totally fluid frames - again with everything maxed out.

[Schroeder]

@Obi

I have a Track IR 3 with vector expansion and it leaves nothing to be desired. But as Sky said, go for the vector stuff, Track IR is a PITA without it (you might remember me becoming frequently loud on TS when I still hadn't had the vector expansion).

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Oberon

Let us know how you get on with the Black Shark and ICE. They're both titles I have an eye on, as well as A-10, but the first paycheck, after it is dissembled and consumed by reality, will probably go towards hardware upgrades and quite possibly a TrackIR...

Well, first feedback from me on Rise of Flight. It looks brilliant in graphics, and flying the planes is a challenge. So is dogfighting - I find it incredibly tough to land a well-aimed shot here. So on this aspect, thumbs up from me.

But:

It has the IL-2 disease, like I mwentioned it somewhere else. Indeed it is like IL-2 in another era, with better looks and other planes. It is optimized for pure dogfighting action - and nothing else. There is no atmosphere - or as much as you know from IL-2. There is no feeling to be there - or as much as you know from IL-2. In principle, whatever you liked and hated about IL-2, you likely will experience again here, just looking that much better (flying at sunset or dawn is fantastic, so are the clouds).

Technically, this sim is brilliant. Physically, it seems to be correct. Atmospheric - it is a looser like Flanker, Lock On, IL-2 and the many clones of it. Somehow these Eastern studios simply do not know how to get a good package together, they excel in the technical aspect, but the package they form from that feels lifeless and sterile. No match for the drama and nerve-wrecking hectic, the mounting tension and excitement of doing battle in Steel Beasts, or flying in the campaign world of Falcon 4, or the sense of doing something epic when meeting huge formations like in BoBII and EAW with hundreds of planes.

I also run into quite some bugs, mostly invisible planes of which I only be aware because of their labels chasing around in the sky - without the plane they are being attached to.

I do not doom this title, it is too well-done visually and technically. If I have to rate it like in old score system for figure skating, I would give it a very high 5.8 or 5.9 in the technical A note for difficulty, and in the B-note a high 3.x or a low 4.x score for the artistic impression - I know that I will not play this as enthusiastically as I played Longbow 2, European Air War, Falcon, not to mention Steel Beasts. It feels too sterile to really pull me into it's world, and have me immersed in it for long ongoing story-telling.

These Eastern studios for simulations really need to learn how to perform better in this regard. Technically they are beyond doubt, but the design of the package is always showing the same kind of lacking imagination - since ten years now.

For the sake of flying it - get it. But know what it is that you are getting: ^this, and not more, but also nothing less.

I had my first two test sessions in the Black Shark cockpit also. No flying, just looking. The cockpit is brilliant. And it easily offers the most realistically looking HUD I have seen so far. I will be happy to just learn to fly and discover the world with it. Once I haver learned how to unlock the collective, that is. It indeed reminds me of the complex cockpit modules for FS - there the major pleasure is to read and to study and to learn them. It feels the same with Black Shark. From what I read, it seems to be the same with A-10 (670 pages manual).

[msalama]

Both DCS sims are works of art. I personally consider them the best sims ever made for ANY genre whatsoever