How Come all Combat flight Sims are stuck in the WWII era...

[+Dave 2,322]

I think the WW2 theatre sells well because many consider it to be the last 'good' war, a war fought for noble reasons.

 

I don't think that is a game companies motives at all. Most people today can barely tell you what WWII was about below a certain age. I think it all boils down to ease of simulating. Data is easier to obtain, making simulating it much easier.

[JediMaster 451]

Also, consider this. WWII was the first war using radar. It was used from the beginning, in the BoB and onward. Planes began carrying it and being able to detect it by mid-war. Yet not ONE WWII sim I've ever played had planes with radar in it.

 

Why?

 

Because I'm sure they didn't want to be bothered, that's why. Nothing classified about it, nothing hard to find out about it, they just thought it would be too much effort for too little return.

[TX3RN0BILL 3]

Even worse, I've never had a WW2 sim where I could use a guided missile like the Henschel missiles, or the guided bombs like the Fritz-X (which were so good they sunk several ships) - but no, I always have to carefully aim the dumb iron bombs... Well, at least rockets are present... Oh, the glory days of Aces over the Pacific and Aces over Europe...

[JediMaster 451]

Il-2:46 has some early guided missiles in it. I forget which one it is, it's an AAM though. However, I've never used it so I don't know how it works in game.

[Wrench 9,851]

For the SF series, we've got radar equipped night fighter (Beau, Blenhim, Me110, Ju-88, Me-262, P-70, Me-410). We're only missing the P-61.

We also have the Fritz-X and another one who's name excapes me now.

 

Wrench

kevin stein

[arf16 0]

If you consider Secret Weapons over Normandy a flight sim, it has guided bombs and rockets in it.

[TX3RN0BILL 3]

Il-2:46 has some early guided missiles in it. I forget which one it is, it's an AAM though. However, I've never used it so I don't know how it works in game.

 

The only AAM I know that Germany tested successfully was the Ruhrstahl X-4... it was to be a great success but the BMW plant that made its engines was blown to bits so it remained a prototype, unlike the Henschel guided missiles which saw real combat service...

[Wolf65 0]

Say what Il-2:46 like, what do you have?

[ironroad 218]

I can understand the poster's frustration with the subject, now the old run of mill answer that use to be give was "Go mod it yourself", but that is another story for another time.

 

Yes I like flying WWII ear aircraft nothing like escorting some heavy bombers over a flak ridden bandit infested target. But where I feel most alive and the most immersed in is jets, flying low, supersonic, and under fire. And lets face it, almost if not all of the PC game market is taken up by WWII FPS (on rails) and WWII flight games, and they are all based on Europe around the 44 time frame.

WWII was been grossly over molded , well to be more correct, the 1944 Western European Theater has been done to death. Even if developers refuse off their WWII craze, they could at least expand to the eastern front (like IL2 did), cover Africa and Southern Europe, or even revisit the Pacific or Asia. Even within the WW2 sphere there are very few games that cover anything else besides mustangs, spitfires, and the 101st (and what is so sad is that the P-51D is one of my favorite planes.)

 

Btw, Dogfights occurred over Korea and the Middle East

[eraser_tr 29]

That's why Red Orchestra went from mod to commercial game. Wish it had a single player like COD. Africa is really under represented, only MoH:breakthrough covered it, and they could have done better.

 

Even in europe they leave gaps for FPS, its always D-day, usually from airborn perspective, then straight to the battle of the bulge.

 

The only thing you see before 1943 is BoB. MoH pacific assault covered early war in the pacific, but left out late war, nothing in the west has done early war. A battle of France in a shooter would be quite interesting, outnumbered and outgunned. Holding off the Germans while evactuating across the channel.

[SkyStrike 15]

. You could do today what Janes did a decade ago and I would be totaly satisfied flying a Eurofighter with F-16 weaponry.

 

As you may already know: Both the Eurofighter Typhoon & the F-16 Falcon carry similar armanment. both use AIM-120 AMRAAM & AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles... the only difference being that the F-16 uses a GE 20mm Vulcan cannon, and the Eurofighter uses a Mauser 27mm BK27 cannon...

 

Since most fighter jets have similar avionics & armanment: What's preventing game publisher's from designing a new sim with modern jets... I understand that they may have to limit the number of flyable aircraft but then again I'm sure a good MODERN jet combat sim about 10-14 well detailed flyable jets with a good flight model & semi realistic avionics shouldn't bee too hard to design...

Edited September 26, 2007 by Tomcat_ace

[JediMaster 451]

Il-2:46 has FB, Aces Expansion, Pacific Fighters, Pe-2, Sturmoviks over Manchuria, and 1946 all together. Everything ever done for the series in a single install, with the exception of patching it to 4.08 after install. I've seen it for as low as $10 on sale now.

[Sixgun 0]

I for one am pretty happy with TK's sims. They are close to what the Jane's sims were in use and flexibility, but with better graphics and flight models. You can pretty well model any era with them too. The FM's are representative of what an experienced pilot could make the aircraft do, and the relative performance is such that real world strategies are useful in the game.

 

Things I wish for:

 

The ability to utilize the second seat in two seat airframes, particularly RIOs and WSOs being represented either by AI like in Jane's ATF "C'mon, do some of that pilot sh!#!" or even better, allowing multiplayer use of the second seat.

 

A little more (very little) switchology. I'd like to be able to shut down an engine or start one up, like USAF.

 

A better damage model (system failures), and emergency system representation. And more realistic ejections. Like ATF style.

 

And for goodness sake if you are going to have carriers, gimme an LSO and a lens. Again, Janes USNF style!

 

Hey, in Flashpoint, I can walk out to my F-14 spotted on Cat 1 and strap in, wait for one of you guys to get in the back seat, fire up, launch, get to the target, wait for another of you guys on the ground to paint something or get my GIB to do it, drop my bugs, get back to the boat, land, hop out , get in a Seahawk, go pick up the Seal Team....

Edited October 8, 2007 by Sixgun

[JediMaster 451]

I don't remember any f-14 or carriers in OFP.

[Wolf65 0]

I don't remember any f-14 or carriers in OFP.

 

Mods

[+Fates 63]

 

 

[FOTF 0]

Further more, I don't recall OFP being much of a sim

[Wolf65 0]

Wow, these look good, where can I download them?

[JediMaster 451]

One of the OFP sites I would guess.

[FOTF 0]

I love how well the tails blend in with the rest of the aircraft.....looks great

[Sixgun 0]

No, it's not much of a sim in the sense of ultra realism of any one system. I consider it a sim of real world capability, though.

 

My only point was, this is the future for us. As the machines get better, simulated worlds will expand. ArmA (flashpoint's successor so far) is a 200 square mile environment and it is a First Person Shooter!

 

I'm looking forward to the day when we get together online and meet up in the ready room, brief, take the escalator to the flight deck, man up, and launch.

CAS is sooo much more rewarding when you are talking to the guys on the ground you're supporting!

 

As far as simulation goes, the things you do in the sim need to come with the understanding that YOU are simulating a real pilot in a simulated airplane.

 

When I play a FPS, I am able to shoot alot more quickly and do other things that the real me isn't trained for. Same goes for piloting a plane.

 

Trust me, you don't want to sit there and go through the checklists like you do in a real plane. Might as well go fly a real plane.

 

What's important in these games we play is that key factor of immersion.

 

Hardcore simmers, huh? How many of you complain that the formations in TK's sims are all wrong? (that's a pet peeve of mine)