Battle of Britian Simulators for 75th anniversary

[sixstrings 111]

Been into Microsoft's combat flight sims since the beginning along with Lock-on/Flaming Cliffs and a few others. Have CFS3-BoB version (prerelease update) and it's amazing. Full update for CFS3-BoB due sometime in September.Best thing is that's it is FREE!Here's their official website    http://cfs3bob.wix.com/battle-of-britain       What are some other combat flight sims that cover the BoB out there that are good ? Looking at Il-2 CoD-(fully patched) and Battle of Britian II Winged Victory . How well do these two perform ? What are some others i need to look at that cover this period of WWII? Was into Il-2 '46 for some time and just now getting back into it.Have a lot of Flight sims -(most suck),but always stuck with Microsoft's combat flight sims and lost site of the other sims out there. I'm Running Win7 32bit OS .Any advice would be welcome.

[Canadair 16]

is the expansion you can download now the update you are referring to? and where is the fupp update you metnioned_

[Dave63 13]

BoBII is probably the most accurate single player simulation of the battle you will find. With the BoBDG updates you will have the accurate markings on every aircraft, of every squadron (on their correct airfields) on every day of the battle, practically. It has a dynamic campaign where you can take oversight of the airwar, so you can win or loose the battle. If you don't want that level of management and just want squadron level activity, you can do that too. It is also the only, let me repeat that the ONLY sim that will give you massive air raids on the scale of the battle on a modest computer without bringing it to a smoking halt. The bad news is that it is OLD and looks it. 

 

CoD is ok. Very much improved with the atag patches and more computer intensive. The un-modded single player campaign is crap. If you expect to have a big fight over London, you'd better have a very beefy system. The on line component is pretty good, but don't buy into a lot of the atag hype. Visually, it's very beautiful but it comes with a price.

[Do335 382]

BOBII is the stuff! Campaign is awesome, historical immersion is way up there at the top. It is indeed old, takes a bit messing with files to setup, and the campaign engine has a learning curve. One of those for real sim nuts.

[sixstrings 111]

Is there any links for websites that offer the updates available for BoB II ? Will stay away from CLOD for now. The update for CFS3-BoB won't be available until sometime in October due to personal problems. The version out now is still good though. I have the prerelease update (minus some of the new missions and effects) and it's awesome. Giant formations,fantastic ai ,graphics and immersion are all covered (not too hard on the pc too).CFS3 can be had at a cheep price at Amazon. Will definitely be getting BoB II (amazon has it for a cheap price). Thanks for the advice. Any help of were to find a website that covers BoB II will be useful. Another site to help getting CFS3 installed on Win7 and above and everything else about CFS3 is   http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/content.php   Lots more links but this will get you started.      

[sixstrings 111]

Just a note BoB II maybe "old" but some of the oldies are the best. Wish sim developers would listen to their customers/users and we would not be dealing with falling fan base. Just take a close look at the newest Il-2 version out now and you'll see what i mean.Still love Il-2 '46 , Lock-on/Flaming Cliffs, CFS3 in all its' versions and a few others like the Thirdwire series ,WOFF and RoF.....   Can't believe i let BoB II slip by me ! Thanks for any advise/links for BoB II. My old gaming pc is officially DOA and running everything for now on my gaming laptop till i build a new desktop rig. How well will BoB II run with Win 7 ?

[Dave63 13]

Is there any links for websites that offer the updates available for BoB II ? Will stay away from CLOD for now. The update for CFS3-BoB won't be available until sometime in October due to personal problems. The version out now is still good though. I have the prerelease update (minus some of the new missions and effects) and it's awesome. Giant formations,fantastic ai ,graphics and immersion are all covered (not too hard on the pc too).CFS3 can be had at a cheep price at Amazon. Will definitely be getting BoB II (amazon has it for a cheap price). Thanks for the advice. Any help of were to find a website that covers BoB II will be useful. Another site to help getting CFS3 installed on Win7 and above and everything else about CFS3 is   http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/content.php   Lots more links but this will get you started.      

http://a2asimulations.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=33263

[sixstrings 111]

Thanks for the link , Dave......

[33LIMA 972]

Strangely enough, for someone who's always been very interested in the Battle to the extent I once made my own map-based wargame for it, I've never really got into BoB (Rowan's or the WoV revamp). The sim-within-a-wargame element, far from being an attraction, rather turned me off. By the time I came to BoB/BoB2 I had become accustomed to more conventional single-player campaigns, where you pick a squadron flying the type you want to fly and track your virtual pilot's career via some form of pilot record or logbook. Good old European Air War being the Gold standard for such things, added features like a between-mission bunk for your pilot with creaking bedsprings, tune-able radio playing hits of the time, and exiting the campaign treating you to a screen made up like a leave pass, complete with show tickets.

 

In BoB you can opt to fly with any participating unit with flyable (or gun-able) planes but you have no virtual pilot. From what I can see, the available method of approximating a conventional pilot career or campaign simply sets things up so you get prompted to fly when the squadron you choose to fly with is scrambled. Not bad, but not really the same. There are also some glitches like invisible Stuka bombloads and formations which bank in a robotically-synchronised and jerky fashion. High points seem to be the fantastic air combat AI and the excellent range of historical missions. Clicakable cockpits will also be a plus for folk who like such things. Having found that the wargame element actually added to my appreciation of tanksim Steel Armor Blaze of War after making the effort, I will one day make a more sustained attempt to get into BoB2, for as a sim of the Battle it has so much going for it.

 

 

 

The Just Flight BoB add-on for CFS3 was one of the few add-ons for that sim I never tried; nor have I tried that freeware one for the ETO Expansion. One of CFS3's worst features to my mind is the bombers using fighter-type formations. Plus I was unimpressed by fighter-vs-fighter because the AI was not especially good and flew at empty weight (I found a Bf110 could pretty well escape Spits or Hurries in a turning fight); so I always thought it played better if you stuck to its core, fighter-bomber scenarios.

 

CLoD I have not tried yet; it's SP campaigns don't seem to be well regarded and it seems more of a simulator of BoB planes (with some unusual planeset choices) rather than a sim of flying boB planes in the BoB.

 

Now that Il-2 '46 has decent channel maps and a good selection of period aircraft, my own starting point for decent BoB campaigns - as indeed, for decent campaigns for any WW2 theatre and beyond - would be some of those available at mission4today for Il-2 '46 (preferably with a good mod like DBW or CUP), like 'Spitfire Scramble' which I reported on here: http://combatace.com/topic/86059-il-2cup-spitfire-scramble/

 

 

[Dave63 13]

Thanks for the link , Dave......

No problem, also read the hints and tips and it'll give you a way to fly a "career" with a single squadron. 33Lima is correct about the syncronized ballet of formation movements. It's been improved but it's still there. The AI truely is first rate and most importantly, it's variable. You get an "experten" you will know it and they will fly like they know how to fly to the strenghts of their aircraft.

[sixstrings 111]

I'm sold on BoB II WoV !! Will order the sim on Amazon , as it's pretty cheap there. CFS3-BoB has improved ai along with many other advances covered with the update coming soon. I'm testing it right now and it's amazing . Have Just Flight's BoB for CFS3 and its good but dated and a good pc is required -(it's official too!!). Sometimes you get caught up in a certain sim/series and it's hard to break away ie- keyboard commands , game play....and more. All the sims i own have their up and down sides. It's all what you can live with or not.

[sixstrings 111]

The update for CFS3-BoB will be delayed till sometime in October due to the guy preparing it house was flooded (all files are ok though). A lot of issues have been addressed in the update. BoB II is the only other that gets my attention  after researching. Don't want to play on-line or have anything to do with Steam . That rules out CLoD....