Something I Really Do Like...

[+Julhelm 266]

Not the same game.

[+Stary 2,427]

besides World of Warplanes looks poor compared to WOP IMO,

 

I tried WOT for an hour maybe, and wasn't impressed at all

[Guest Pfunk]

I'm intrigued about the Korean War part of the new one (or so I've heard it has those early jets), but that's about it.

[+streakeagle 871]

Well I for one am eagerly anticipating War Thunder: World of Planes which is steadily shaping up to be everything that Storm of War promised to be, but with 10x the content, online dynamics campaigns, lots of battle areas all around the globe spanning the entire period of 1936-1953 (Yes, it will feature Korean theater as well). I hate to say it Streak, but you can probably wait forever for VRS Tacpac for FSX and it'll always have a diminuitive playerbase since FSX market is 80% civilian airliners. IMO the best chance we have of getting a proper Vietnam-era sim anytime soon is probably with Gaijin. It wouldn't surprise me if they're going in that direction now that they're doing Korean theatre.

 

There is a reason there are lots of WW2 games, several modern ones and almost no Vietnam era games. WW2 games = simple cockpits/weapons/avionics (note how few if any WW2 games model aircraft with radar, especially night fighters but even bombers like TBF/TBM never have radar). Modern aircraft have digital displays. Jane's USNF/FA and Jane's IAF/USAF used digital displays even for older aircraft. Modeling complex early avionics with analog displays requires more effort than its worth. As "lite" as the SF series appears to be, the appearance of the F-4 radar is a masterpiece. It looks like the real displays under ideal conditions with a skilled operating dialing in the gain controls. The WW2 market has been the goldmine of flight sims. Korean War aircraft are really just extensions of WW2 technology: barely supersonic (really high transonic) and radar scarcely more common or capable than WW2 radar. When I see the F-86 gunsight modeled as well as it is in MiG Alley, then I will know how realistic this sim is going to be. I would be majorly surprised if World of Planes ever covers the Vietnam era, especially the radar interceptors like the F-4 and later MiG-21s. F-100s are really just supersonic Korean War era aircraft. I could see those making it into World of Planes. But does the World of Planes flight engine even support supersonic flight modeling? World War 2 flight sims seldom make good starting points for supersonic jet flight.

 

FSX is wide open and can become whatever the market desires. The DCS series is kind of like FSX with the addition of air combat systems modeling. Given a choice between DCS' limited planeset and FSX, which do you think would sell better if FSX rivaled the DCS systems modeling and remains wide open to modding with the added bonus of multiplayer support? I don't know that the networking code is very conducive to whatever gets added on to support combat in FSX, but I suspect it is at least adequate. But I agree that it is a longshot, as it is a major investment risk to perform the programming at a level that customers are willing to buy and use. But I have more faith in this FSX combat project becoming a reality than Fighter Ops or Jet Thunder. Who knows? I already have FSX and have nothing to lose either way other than the stress of waiting/not knowing.

 

I like the sound of this:

The TacPack is now in closed beta and will begin shipping soon!

Note that the preoder promotion is now closed. If you would like to be informed when the TacPack is shipping, and are not already a pre-order customer, you may sign up for our newsletter here

 

I didn't have enough faith to preorder, but after I see reviews on this, I will get the Superbug and the TacPack to send the message that I want more. I hope they not only get this out on the market, but follow their plan of providing a free SDK to other developers, especially Accusim. Of course, Accusim might be the type to develop their own code in the face of competition, especially since their modeling standards are exceptionally high.

Edited March 30, 2012 by streakeagle

[+Stary 2,427]

http://na.worldofwarplanes.com/

 

World of Warplanes by the makers of World of Tanks, is now in Alpha Test phase.

 

and it will have DRAGONS!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

http://na.worldofwarplanes.com/media/show/137/

 

too early April's Fools

[+Julhelm 266]

Modeling complex early avionics with analog displays requires more effort than its worth. As "lite" as the SF series appears to be, the appearance of the F-4 radar is a masterpiece. It looks like the real displays under ideal conditions with a skilled operating dialing in the gain controls.

I beg to differ. Rowan managed to model both the F-4 radar and fully functional A-6 DIANE avionics back in 1991's Flight of the Intruder and in the case of the F-4 radar is exactly the same appearance as in SF2 except FOTI doesn't have ground map mode. The FOTI DIANE supported everything from laydown to manually set mil depression to divetoss. The thing is those early avionics were complex because you didn't have a lot of computing power and the actual computers were often based on vacuum tubes or very early hard-wired solid-state tech. But the actual avionics themselves are nothing more than glorified computers crunching numbers. All of which can be done easily on modern hardware.