Thinking of Buying…

[Barkhorn1x 14]

..now that the Expansion pack is out. I am a LOOOONG time RB3D player and would like to know some details – the straight dope – before I buy:

FM – does it “feel right”?

DM – how does this work/look?

Gunnery – too easy on HARD – or do you have to work for kills

Campaigns:

Immersive?

Can you select many different squadrons?

Do a/c upgrade – say, from an Alb. DV to a Fokker DVII?

Paint scheme options – do all a/c in a squad share the same scheme or can you assign variations? How do you assign skins – just like WOV?

Can you add 3rd party a/c to existing campaigns

Ace appearances – who is in and do they have accurate skins?

Anything else I should know?

 

Not worried about a/c graphics and terrain as they look VERY good. BTW, I own both SFP1 and WOV so I am not new to Thirdwire sims.

 

Thanks.

[+peter01 2]

just on on the FM and AI....

 

Its a real plesure flying and dogfighting. Camel and Dr1 are the standouts, but IMO Spad VIIs, DFWC, AEG, Salmson are very good too.

 

They are great, easily best around..... and both FM and AI are certainly far superior to any other WW1 game.

Edited October 23, 2007 by peter01

[Firecage 1]

FM – does it “feel right”? Hmm yes its real close, there are a few things like spins and things that are a bit different than the RB3d your probably used to. One thing thats not here is torque of engines but I think that will be otw soon. I on the other hand like this better than the Advanced FM of RB3d I feel more like I am in a plane in this Sim

 

DM – how does this work/look? The look as great and exposed wing struts and such make it appear very realistic. As for DM I think even after the patch the damage from guns is still to heavy handed. One thing I find I don't agree with is I will get a few holes poked in a wing. The plane flies still but at the end screen it might say your were wounded. With no holes around the cockpit I don't see how it thinks the pilot got shot. Just a minor thing but it bugs me. BUT its pretty easy to add armor to pilot areas and other parts of the plane to make killing planes harder.

 

Gunnery – too easy on HARD – or do you have to work for kills Too easy on Hard FM and Hard AI, it is way to easy to get a kill for my taste. Now that being said I am guessing it will only be a few weeks till one of the modders has a fix out that makes it harder to kill the enemy. You can also just adjust the weight of the bullets and the damage they do in the ini files to your taste as well.

 

Campaigns:I am flying the Michael Campaign right now and am having a blast. Myself and others have been making campaigns for the game and I doubt this release will be any different as soon as we get a feel for some new codes that showed up this time.

 

Immersive? Even with some things that bug me I would say yes. the over all feel and sounds and all make it really nice to get lost in.

 

Can you select many different squadrons? This is all dependent on who the campaign was designed but usually there are 10-15 different squads or more to pick from.

 

Do a/c upgrade – say, from an Alb. DV to a Fokker DVII?Again , depends on how the campaign was designed. I know my old Plane fest used almost all the planes from early war till end including the add ons from the amazing Modders that work on this game. You can even get down to exact days when planes are released and the campaign takes into account if the supply lines are open to get these planes to your squadron.

 

Paint scheme options – do all a/c in a squad share the same scheme or can you assign variations? How do you assign skins – just like WOV? Yes you can assign paint per squad pretty easy in the campaign ini files and you can select with in your squad as well at the load out screens. Take a look at the 15 pages of paint schemes already available for the planes and its growing daily.

 

Can you add 3rd party a/c to existing campaigns Again depending on who and how the campaign was designed as too what AC are included, and its not that hard to "adjust/add to" an existing campaign.

 

Ace appearances – who is in and do they have accurate skins? The code to do this just showed up in this expansion pack and a few of us are already messing with the new code to see how far it will go

 

 

For the $30 TK is asking for the expansion pack and the $30 for the original pack I say you can't go wrong. considering most games are $60+ and half baked ideas I have zero regret investing in his WWI games. :yes:

 

I have to say now that the expansion pack is out its probably the best single player WWI sim out there. Now as for online play I haven't seen enough people at a time try out anything more than 3 of us flying at a time so I cant say yet how the new exp pack changed the online play. I hope it draws more people into the fray of online WWI killing asap!

[+TexMurphy 0]

FM?

 

Is it right? Eeehhhh its good enough... Its no where near the FM of Aces High 2 which imho is the best prop FM out there and would love to fly it WW1 style... that said its a good and fun FM..

 

Gunnary?

 

Id like a level between Normal and Hard. Hard is ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping... Normal is booom boooooom booooooooooooooooooooooooom...

 

Immersion?

 

Expansion pack definatly adds to the immersion. Custom campaings will be out that are very immersive. Stock are ok.

[Barkhorn1x 14]

Thanks for the feedback - I went ahead and d/l'd FE last night. I like what I see so far. I will have to wait a bit to get the expansion pack (the wife, you know) but I will do so at some point before years end.

[+TexMurphy 0]

Get the Expansion its well worth it and its just 26 bucks...

[Barkhorn1x 14]

Get the Expansion its well worth it and its just 26 bucks...

 

 

Oh I do plan to.