B-17 The Mighty 8th Sequel Announced

[iambecomelife]

First off moderators apologies for posting outside the flight sim thread but General Topics is much more active.

This is excellent news - Microprose is an icon of the golden age of simulation - I've been really impressed with their work since they were resurrected not long ago. Nothing's certain, but with a little luck we could have a worthy successor to B-17: the Mighty 8th.

Key Points:

-Current roster is the B-17, B-24, & Avro Lancaster. Possible additions include the Halifax, Wellington, & Mosquito

-This will be one of the first Microprose "Flagship Title" resurrections by new CEO David Lagettie

-They have joined forces with another small dev who was creating his own UK/Canadian/Commonwealth night bombing WWII sim

-Project will feature VR (but VR will not be required for play)

-Multiplayer crewing of individual bombers is confirmed

-Veteran(s) will be participating; one 97 year old Lancaster gunner is an advisor

-Campaign structure (if any) is not known but the Canadian module was to have a campaign/Tour of Duty before it was acquired by Microprose - hopefully it will be a complete dynamic campaign



https://www.microprose.com/games/the-mighty-eighth/

No news in recent months but I hope they are just busy!

[Buddahaid]

I'm interested in the new aircraft mostly.

[iambecomelife]

Originally Posted by Buddahaid

I'm interested in the new aircraft mostly.

Yeah; as much as I like the B-17 I'm more excited about the B-24 and RAF. I live in the US but my family is from the British Empire and I had family in the RAF during the war .... I would love to go tooling around in a Lancaster, doing night bombing raids - maybe even busting dams or clobbering the "Tirpitz" between city attacks, I really love that bomber. A chance to fly other less well known Brits like the Halifax/Stirling/Mosquito would also be a dream.

I know I'm getting ahead of myself, but a Pacific expansion with B-29's over Japan would be lovely too; I have a friend whose dad was a navigator on the Superfortresses.

And then there are the German bombers for the BoB, medium bombers for the Med/North Africa .... the list goes on and on. Multiplayer missions would be amazing for those campaigns.

I know niche games like these aren't as popular as mass market FPS so I'd definitely be willing to pay a premium for a well-made product.

Really hoping for a dynamic campaign or with dynamic factors - including dynamic elements made many of the Microprose/Sierra/LucasArts titles from the 1990's so interesting. Destroy a factory in Falcon 3.0 and it stays wrecked. Bomb enough UK airfields in "Their Finest Hour" and Germany can invade Britain in 1940. Lose your ace pilots in Red Baron 3d? They get replaced by kids who've never shot down an enemy plane.

Too many big developers seem to think of combat games as being like movies, with scripted playthrough for a certain number of play hours. Even now I prefer older games where graphics aren't as good but no two campaign experiences are exactly the same.

[Eichhörnchen]

This is a great project; I always loved "B-17"... although I've tried but always failed to eliminate the loud jarring sound of the top turret. The attacking bandits zoom past just like in the movies and newsreels

But I have so MANY combat flight sims (as well as flight sims like fs9 and fsX) that I've never properly sat down and played a campaign through. The same goes for "Battle of Britain II" - perhaps the ultimate in this genre? I've always felt rather guilty that all the while they allow me to just jump into a cockpit or gun turret and go on a 'short mission', I end up doing just that instead

I love the older games and sims too, especially when they come in a box with a thick glossy manual. Then I know I've got something really special... but I never get around to much more than some cursory play, feeling that there will always be time to do it properly when I retire. I think this would be wasted on me

[Catfish]

^ same with me, the only campaign games i played through are the Silent Hunter series, never had the patience or time with flight sims.

The two existing B17 games were great though, even the first one.. micro-managing a big plane, planning course and defending was great.
But the the sequel "The mighty eighth" was a bit screwed up – with the slightest problem engine-wise or else you could perfectly fly it manually, switch to rich or lean mixture, adjust trimming, feather a prop and try to nurse it home. But as soon as you accelerated the time (causing the sim to switch the plane to automatic during time compression) would make the whole crew bail out instantly.

So the wagon was rumbling along ok, just came back from a difficult mission which took two hours or so, you switched to auto, all your settings would be overthrown and set to standard, he engines would instantly smoke and the crew bail out!
No. fun. I really wonder why they never fixed this.

I'm not a fan of indiscriminate or carpet bombing of civilian targets as it was doctrine in the british Bomber Harrris strategy, but the planes are of course fascinating. I will never forget reading Len Deighton's "Bomber" book and "Creaking door" .. maybe they could integrate some flyable german night fighters.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Buddahaid

I'm interested in the new aircraft mostly.

Ditto

[tmccarthy]

I've been looking forward to this for 20 years. B-17: the Mighty 8th & Destroyer Command are my 2 wish list sims for modernization and multiplayer. I'd be perfectly happy trying to survive 25 missions as a waist gunner on a B-17 or B-24. And witness some real "Pro" pilots get us thru it!
And night missions in the RAF, I'd like to see what that looks and sounds like.
It was pretty disappointing to fly full missions on the original sim up until landing where the auto pilot crashed or my landings ended in crashes.
Looks like the last time I had it running here was in 2018, I think I did it just for the enjoyment of the practice gunnery and bombardier missions.