Can someone recomend a...

[cobra@pulse 0]

Hi there.

Well I have been searching the web but cannot make my mind up at all.

What I am looking for is a really good flight combat simulator that provides good indeapth controls etc.

I would like to know really which ones you lot would recomend as I am planning on setting up a LAN system at my Air Cadet building for squadron training  

I need a good combat flight sim really as we are already sorted for civilian flights (MS Flight Sim 2002).

I have considered Lock On, but the problem is I need it really for RAF (UK) aircraft and Lock On does not allow modding (Damn you UBI-soft). I have also considered d/l mods for MS Flight Sim, to allow air combat but it wasn't designed for that so...

Are there any good sims out there you guys could recomend either with the ability to add in aircraft, or re-skin.

By the way though, its a good idea if it had the option of mission editing.  

Thanks

Cobra

[Tovarish 0]

As far as modern sims go your only real choices are Lo-Mac and Falcon 4.0. Falcon has some user made cockpits for different aircraft but by and large the avionics stay the same (those of the F-16)

If you would consider a WWII sim, IL-2 Forgotten Battles is the undisputed best, and offers several variants of the Hurricane and Spitfire. (the latter with the Aces Expansion pack, which the game now comes bundled with)

*edit* If you look at the Lo-Mac forums, you'll see there ARE some modded aircraft for lo-mac, even two seaters for multiplayer. Mainly though they are just a change of the external model of a plane (eg, there is a Flyable F-16, able to carry Western weaponry, but it has the cockpit, flight model, and avionics of the MiG-29).

[Mister Frag 0]

You can also get some good stick time in X-Plane if you are looking for realistic flight models and cockpits. There are also lots of downloadable aircraft models. Alas, the program does not support any form of networking yet AFAIK.

[Badgerboy 0]

Falcon 4.0 with Superpak 4 and BMS addons. You will not get closer! Plus there's a lovely Typhoon in there you can throw around the skies.

(You can skip the 15 minute aircraft startup procedure if you want to though!)

[Pathy 0]

My fave modern combat sim is DID F22 Total Air war.....its dated (1997?), but....i havent found anything else that simulated a theatre of action being played out in real time with you being just a single pilot in the middle of a war.....

For those that have never played it....you select a scenario, in which 2 or more countries have gone to war......you (your country) then has to achieve its campaign objectives within the time limit...usually about 90 hours....the enemy also attacks you.....your sucess depends on both how well your side defends its own airspace while suceeding its objectives....and what is great is, as i said, its all real time....so if you are not flying a mission the action is still going on, Combat Air Patrol missions defend the skies of each country, each side conducts raids and bombing runs, and jets are scrambled to intercept.....you can put your name down for a mission or take one when they come up. And what you do affects the future course of the war....for example, if your enemy suceeds in crippling your C4 (command, control, comms and something else beginning with C) network, you obviously loose the radar ability you have at the start.....so things like, defending AWACS planes from the enemy are critical.....if all your AWACS go down, your practically blind....it also means that doing a similar thing to the enemy is often worth skipping a mission objective for    The number of times ive flipped to afterburner and gone chasing an AWACS plane ive detected 200 miles from my objective............

I think the ideal word for it is "dynamic"...

And the actions pretty realistic (as far as i know) and you can crank the realism settings all the way up if your a real fan of the simulation.....

On the hardest settings, it really does become hard.....your about even with the enemy, even in your supposidly top of the range fighter jet  

The only things that let it down are:

-Old and dated graphics

-Can be buggy

-Can be repetitive after awhile....missions wise that is, every bombing run becomes like the last  

-you can only fly the F22, although there are ALOT more than that aircraft represented.....most modern aircraft are in the game, you just cannot fly them.

I dunno if its modable, but if so.....would be a kick ass thing to mod......

http://goinside.com/98/10/taw.html < sums it up more eloquently than i can  

http://www.intelligamer.com/sims/f22taw/f22taw.asp Another nice review (actually, read it all the way throught and its more worth reading than the other one)

[Badgerboy 0]

I did like TAW, and the structuring of it was rather good, but I found the entire flight model and avionics setup far too simple. Felt a little like playing Afterburner.

[ale2999 0]

I loved Taw! I used to play just that. Actually it is thanks to Taw that I met ofp cuz ppl I flew with told me about this great game lol

[toadlife 3]

You can also get some good stick time in X-Plane if you are looking for realistic flight models and cockpits. There are also lots of downloadable aircraft models. Alas, the program does not support any form of networking yet AFAIK.

Are you sure? I've flown with other people on the internet with X-Plane version 5.xx, and the current version of X-Plane is 7.61.

Anyhow, I would concur that if you want a *real* flight simulator, X-Plane is the way to go. With MS Flight Simulator the flight characteristics are programed into each induvidual plane, with with X-Plane the game just takes the dimensions, and weight of the plane and actually simulates how it would fly.

http://x-plane.com/about.html

[FSPilot 0]

Falcon 4.0 is the best flight sim IMHO (with SP4 and BMS of course).

LOMAC gave me troubles not only with framerates but also with just crashing (the program, not the planes ).  I wasn't satisfied with the realism.  There were no startup procedures or any in-depth procedures to follow (for most things you'll do in an airplane, there's a checklist).  Plus the lack of a clickable cockpit just killed the sim for me.

I wouldn't even consider X-Plane.  The realism is pretty outstanding, but everything else is lacking.  I bought the game and soon regretted it.  One thing I should of noticed was on the box.

"... X-Plane is the only software approved for certification with FAA for VFR (Visual Flight Rating) and IFR (Instrument Flight Rating)."

1) It's Visual Flight Rules and Instrument Flight Rules.

2) No software is approved for your VFR or IFR rating.  For training, maybe (but probably not), but never for the rating.

I'd go with Falcon 4.0. It might not be the most realistic for flight characteristics (there's always MSFS), but it's got GREAT avionics, procedures, a war generator, game play. Gotta love it.

[Mister Frag 0]

You can also get some good stick time in X-Plane if you are looking for realistic flight models and cockpits. There are also lots of downloadable aircraft models. Alas, the program does not support any form of networking yet AFAIK.

Are you sure? I've flown with other people on the internet with X-Plane version 5.xx, and the current version of X-Plane is 7.61.

That's why I added the AFAIK.

When I tried it, it did not have network support, though I can't tell you which version it was -- it was years ago. I checked the X-Plane site today before posting, and saw nothing about it either, hence my qualification.

[cobra@pulse 0]

cheers guys, looks like Falcon 4.0 maybe the way to go. Now i just have to find it somewhere to buy about 4 copies, lol

[cobra@pulse 0]

by the way, do you know if any of these games allow voice communication?

[SpeedyDonkey 0]

by the way, do you know if any of these games allow voice communication?

If not, why not use Teamspeak or Rogerwilco? Or do you mean like the thing in MS FS 2004 where you "talkt" to the flight controll etc?

[FSPilot 0]

by the way, do you know if any of these games allow voice communication?

www.resounding.com

Works with most any program. I'd search ebay for copies of falcon 4.0. I don't know of any stores that still sell it.

[SpongeBob 0]

by the way, do you know if any of these games allow voice communication?

www.resounding.com

Works with most any program.  I'd search ebay for copies of falcon 4.0.  I don't know of any stores that still sell it.

I picked up a copy maybe 2 years ago for $5, and I asked the store manager why they were so cheap, he said they're the last of what he's got and he won't be able to get any more ever.

LoL, check out what people want for unopened F4.0 boxes at Amazon.com

[cobra@pulse 0]

Thats alot, I will have to consider other sims i think. Its a bit to rare. lol.

Does anyone know any sims that focus on something like the Typhoon (Eurofighter), or Harrier or Tornado?

(plus if it was avalible it would help )

[Tovarish 0]

If not Falcon 4.0 then Lock-On is your only real choice. You could mod an existing aircraft into a British one but the changes would be mainly cosmetic. One of the main things you should consider in favour of Lo-Mac if you want to use the sim for training, is that the community has modded several aircraft into twin-seaters for multiplayer training (Su-30, F-15D, and I believe a MiG-29UB is in the works). Also, I think the mission editor is quite good, I'm working on a MiG-29S campaign myself .

Of course, you may have to ignore the fact that you're flying US/Russian aircraft, but if your primary concern is to train people in flying, that in itself should not be critical...

[cobra@pulse 0]

Good idea, thanks for the help so far everyone.