I need advice on flight fighter sims...

I was talking about this a little while ago and I feel that there has not been any good fighter sims lately, LOMAC was the last one in around 2003.pmqz

Lock-On: Modern Air Combat
IL-2 Sturmavik
Falcon 4.0: Allied Force

All the realistic fighter sims.  There is also a MS Combat Flight Simulator 3 or something, looks pretty good I hear its got really good ground textures for flying low and stuff.

Is there a difference between IL2 and IL-2 Sturmovik: Forgotten Battles?Mancow_wrestler

The second is the expansion i think

Is there a difference between IL2 and IL-2 Sturmovik: Forgotten Battles?Mancow_wrestler

If you end up getting Il-Sturmovik I suggest waiting till March 13th because IL-Sturmovik 1946 comes out. It's a new update for the game plus all previous installments. 

IL-2 Sturmovik was the first flight sim released by 1C:Maddox games and it covered the Eastern Front in WWII.

IL-2 Strumovik: Forgotten Battles was originally intended to be an expansion for the first game, but the developers decided that there was enough new content and changes to the game engine that they released it as a new game. 

Next came and expansion pack for Forgotten Battles called the Ace's Expansion Pack .  It added a bunch of new (mostly Western Allied fighters) to the game.

Next was Pacific Fighters.  You could buy and play it as a stand alone game or you could merge it with Forgotten Battles and turn everything into one huge game.

Next came a series of free patches which added a lot of new aircraft and maps. 

Ubisoft changed direction with patch 4.05 and decided that it would not be a free patch/expansion pack but instead would be made available by download only (except in Russia where you could buy it on CD).  The download delivery system, called BoontyBox) was less than optimal and a lot of buyers had problems.  Ubi had intended to release a further 2 downloadable expansions using the same system, but due to the negative feedback with the delivery system, they decided to pack everything into a DVD called IL-2 Sturmovik: 1946

So there you have it.  If you've never played the IL-2 series, go get the IL-2 Sturmovik: 1946 DVD and you'll get the whole package all on one easy to install DVD.

Having said that, since the release of the DVD, a further 2 patches (both free) have come out adding even more planes and maps.

The IL-2 series is very, very good but the single player game has definite problems.  The AI is still very suspect.  Your wingmen often fly into each other, hillsides, you, etc.  They ignore threats much of the time and can't seem to hit anything that slowly banks to the left or right.  They also seem to possess only two flight routines,  dogfighter or boom and zoomer.  Dogfighters always end up doing corkscrewing barrelrolls down to the deck and then rolling scissors.  Boom and Zoomers dive until they are outnumbered and then get into ridiculously tedious slow, circling climbs to the upper limit of the plane engine.  Nothing spells fun like spending 20 minutes climbing to 8,000 metres, diving to the deck and doing it all over again. 

On the other hand, the multiplayer aspect is fantastic and the community is very vibrant.  There are a great variety of servers offering up whatever you want.  Dogfight servers, Bomber servers, Co-op servers, Clan servers, Western Front, Eastern Front, Pacific Theatre, The Med...  Full real servers with no external views, no icons and tags (my personal faves) or relaxed realism servers with external views, name icons and mid-air respawns.

If you mostly play offline, you should check out Battle of Britain II: Wings of Victory.  The 2.05 patch fixes almost all of the bugs and the single player game is much more immersive than IL-2's.  It should be as there is no multiplayer capability with BoBII.

[QUOTE="Mancow_wrestler"]Is there a difference between IL2 and IL-2 Sturmovik: Forgotten Battles?mrbojangles25

The second is the expansion i think

I actually normally only play online against people. I think I'll get the upcoming IL2: 1942. Looks like I can get it now... Link
Mancow_wrestler

You might also want to check out these guys for PC games.

NWS-Online

Couple other things.  If you do get IL-2:1946.  I highly recommend that you get the Hyperlobby program.  It's a bit like XFire, but only for flight sims.  IT offers up many more servers than you'll find on the UBI lobby.  It also makes connecting to them a breeze.

You'll need to get a joystick. The game just isn't playable with a control pad.  Most guys use the Saitek x52 but I don't like it because it doesn't have force feedback.  I'm still using my old MS Sidewinder 2 and I love it.   Shame MS stopped making them.  I hear the Saitek Cyborg Evo Force is the best best if you want a new force feedback stick.

Finally, if you do get into the sim, I highly recommend picking up a Track IR unit.  It allows you to look around your cockpit just as a real pilot would by tracking your head movements and amplifying them and implementing that into the game.  A slight turn of your head to the left will result in a change in your onscreen point of view so that it looks like the virtual pilot is looking out over his left shoulder.  It's an amazing little gizmo and it works with a lot of games. 

there aren't really any good combat flight sims around anymore... and a good WW2 shooter would be the CoD series.XBSHX

I sort of miss the old days, back when there were more casual sims such as Jane's ATF, NAVY Fighters, etc.  It seems now that if you want a simulator, you gotta go with the ultra realistic ones (Falcon 4.0, LOMAC, etc) or youre left in the dust.  Im not saying I want arcade, just something easier to jump into.  Theyre still fun if you can devote the hours needed to learn how to fly your plane to the utmost potential, but its really hard to learn, especially since they dont make detailed manuals like they used to (and I refuse to pay or download or print out the hundreds of pages for the manual).

Remember when Falcon 4.0 came out?  It came in a binder four inches thick!