What Should Be In A Strike Fighters 3?

[JosefK]

In the wake of the news that Strike Fighters 2 is being bundled up into one and some of the comments on the forum, maybe we should list what should be in a Strike Fighters 3.  I don't speak for or from the developers so don't get excited.  But this can only help, urge them to please make a SF3.

Here goes my list.  First, the must-haves:

• Backwards compatibility with SF2 aircraft & terrain
• The ability for aircraft to target more than one target in missions & campaigns due to modern precision weapons
• The bug removed of telling a bomber wingman to attack a target
• The ability to control a two-ship formation the same as a four-ship
• True stealth/RCS capability for fourth & fifth gen fighters
• A Su-35, SU-34, F-15EX and F-35 modern warfare pak

Now for the fantasy stuff... and don't ask me to prioritize this just yet:

• Some serious modern fleets - I'd start with the USN, PLAN, Taiwanese, Russian, British, French, Italian, Australian, and yes Japanese.
• More detailed maps and mission planning
• The option to use photoscenery in making maps.
• A tutorial how to write a campaign
• The ability to see in 3D where you place objects on the maps - Jane's Fighters Anthology had that ability in the late 1990s.
• Situational awareness plummeting without an allied AWACS in the air
• A helicopter sim mode with Seahawk, Knighthawk and Blackhawk models - for starters.
• Real Environment Xtreme (REX) weather goodies - even if just better textures and a simple weather control interface.  But the freeware third-party mod I got are almost REX-quality.
• Aerial refueling
• Artillery that can be controlled from the strike lead or division lead aircraft... 

Good start, eh?

[Trotski]

Air to Air refueling

Brake Chutes as standard on aircraft that have them fitted

Proper FAC missions

Proper recon missions where taking actual photos is a pre requisite of the mission

An Asia campaign including China, India, Pakistan etc.

Backward compatibility is a must

the option for proper mission start and end, Ie engine start up, taxying to the threshhold, and at the end of the mission taxying to dispersal, engine cut off  

working RIO 

proper huds with proper A-G , A-A  , NAV  functions

CCIP

those are the ones off the top of my head at least.       

 

[+Coupi]

Remember my friends... 

Once upon a time the Expansion Pack 3 (planned ?) for SF2 !

Found from the version.ini file of the game.

 

Edited July 2, 2019 by Coupi

[kblomkvist]

Guys, that's a nice wishlist. I'd add some reallistic A2G radar guidance for weapons such as the Brimstone and more versatile approach to weapons racks with no limitations such as not being able to carry GPS-guided bombs on 2BRs or TERs or generally not being able to carry some kinds of weapons on some kinds of racks depending on the guidance.

However, is there a point at all? It seems to me that we've had similar discussions on CA before and the general conclusion was that the original creators of SF series PC games don't care about these games anymore and don't want any further development. And yes, I would be super happy to have a game reflecting the modern air combat in a more reallistic way (sorry, not a fan of Cold War era historical aviation here) which would be as easy as the present SF2 when it comes to adding user-made content.

Edited July 2, 2019 by kblomkvist

[Trotski]

Kblomlvist, I think the post was posted for fun rather than actual going to happen, its in the pipeline, under development kinda thing, at the end of the day there are more modern and advanced flight sims out there if one feels the need to get a better or more modern approach to this, however there are a lot of folk who would love to see further development of this series of sims, after all there are still folks who fly EAW !!! 

[JosefK]

6 hours ago, kblomkvist said:

Guys, that's a nice wishlist. I'd add some reallistic A2G radar guidance for weapons such as the Brimstone and more versatile approach to weapons racks with no limitations such as not being able to carry GPS-guided bombs on 2BRs or TERs or generally not being able to carry some kinds of weapons on some kinds of racks depending on the guidance.

However, is there a point at all? It seems to me that we've had similar discussions on CA before and the general conclusion was that the original creators of SF series PC games don't care about these games anymore and don't want any further development. And yes, I would be super happy to have a game reflecting the modern air combat in a more reallistic way (sorry, not a fan of Cold War era historical aviation here) which would be as easy as the present SF2 when it comes to adding user-made content.

Thanks @kblomkvist, I generally agree with you.  It's really hard getting multiple GPS-guided bombs on a pylon.  I also want better radar and laser guidance of weapons for moving targets or if a previous target's destroyed also.

The hope is to get the developers to think about a SF2.1 or SF3 at some point.

5 hours ago, trotski00 said:

Kblomlvist, I think the post was posted for fun rather than actual going to happen, its in the pipeline, under development kinda thing, at the end of the day there are more modern and advanced flight sims out there if one feels the need to get a better or more modern approach to this, however there are a lot of folk who would love to see further development of this series of sims, after all there are still folks who fly EAW !!! 

More a trying to show interest to the developers and also to point out the bugs in SF2.  It would be nice to be able to tell bomber wingmen to attack a target... whether B-57 Hustlers or Tu-160 Blackjacks.

[Spinners]

It's not going to happen but I've no great interest in the glass cockpit era so I'd be happy with SF3:Korea.

[JosefK]

2 minutes ago, Spinners said:

It's not going to happen but I've no great interest in the glass cockpit era so I'd be happy with SF3:Korea.

To be honest, I'd love a SF3 or even an expansion pak with bugs fixed and that too.

[+yakarov79]

of course, you should be aware that the wish list has nothing to do with final product...thing is there will be no final product. And I believe in any case such a wish list will not help developers in any way.  You can say that there will be as many wish lists as many users of SF around a globe.  Because everyone would like to have something different. 

For instance, comparing with your wish list I do not give a crap about any new aircraft..even Su, F or any other ...B, A C...it's proven many times that community is capable of creating excellent mods without developer money support ( I mean for free).

For instance, i would like to have a real dynamic campaign with a better ground campaign so you have a  feeling that you are really supporting some troops. AND real DYNAMIC weather...not the same clouds for 3 hours of flight. 

every user will have different demands...and at the end of the day.. there will be no new game anyway. 

unless we will crack it.

[+Wrench]

yawn...

here we go again...

 

[+whiteknight06604]

i'm holding out for Strike fighters 4 

[+JSF_Aggie]

I'm holding out for a leak of the source code. 😁

[JosefK]

49 minutes ago, JSF_Aggie said:

I'm holding out for a leak of the source code. 😁

If I won a big enough lottery, I'd offer to buy the SF franchise and consider releasing the source code to at the least verified modders of CombatAce.  

[Trotski]

7 hours ago, JosefK said:

Thanks @kblomkvist, I generally agree with you.  It's really hard getting multiple GPS-guided bombs on a pylon.  I also want better radar and laser guidance of weapons for moving targets or if a previous target's destroyed also.

The hope is to get the developers to think about a SF2.1 or SF3 at some point.

More a trying to show interest to the developers and also to point out the bugs in SF2.  It would be nice to be able to tell bomber wingmen to attack a target... whether B-57 Hustlers or Tu-160 Blackjacks.

Oh you are being serious ? I thought it was just a fun question. Well in that case forget it mate, it's never going to happen, its already been stated that TK or whoever has no interest in continuing the SF/FE line,  mores the pity , granted, but the cold truth no less.

[Wilches]

My wish is, not counting all fixes already said, is for a sort of "transport" missions. Like an escorted C-47 flying from a british airfield to an allied french field but facing some german fighters.

[JosefK]

1 hour ago, Wilches said:

My wish is, not counting all fixes already said, is for a sort of "transport" missions. Like an escorted C-47 flying from a british airfield to an allied french field but facing some german fighters.

Or a Il-76 trying NOT to get shot down over the Sea of Okhotsk?

[+guuruu]

Marking targets on A2G radar and I'm happy ;-)

[+Stratos]

A leak of the source code... wondering If we could benefit from it in order to fix long time bugs like external ECM not working, touching runway sound, or even adding more features like slewable EOS and A-G radar systems...

[+Menrva]

Guys, speaking of source code (not going to happen), do not think that it is easy to add new features or even fix bugs. You need a team of expert people to work on it with lots of time and dedication. Not to mention that what you add can break something; it's a difficult process. We do not even know if the code is commented, and easily understandable. Actually, it's questionable that the source code even exists at this point. Who knows? Maybe TK threw it all in the recycle bin.

I am always hoping to see a more refined SF2 game, with bugs fixed and with the few features that TK had originally envisioned since SF1. But it's just a wish. Nothing we can do about it. You cannot change TK's mind and his reasons for moving on.

Edited July 3, 2019 by Menrva

[+dtmdragon]

11 hours ago, JSF_Aggie said:

I'm holding out for a leak of the source code. 😁

Out of curiosity what do you think it would be worth market rate if he were to sell it to CA?

[+Stratos]

45 minutes ago, Menrva said:

Guys, speaking of source code (not going to happen), do not think that it is easy to add new features or even fix bugs. You need a team of expert people to work on it with lots of time and dedication. Not to mention that what you add can break something; it's a difficult process. We do not even know if the code is commented, and easily understandable. Actually, it's questionable that the source code even exists at this point. Who knows? Maybe TK threw it all in the recycle bin.

I am always hoping to see a more refined SF2 game, with bugs fixed and with the few features that TK had originally envisioned since SF1. But it's just a wish. Nothing we can do about it. You cannot change TK's mind and his reasons for moving on.

That's why I wonder If we will benefit from it.

[fallout3]

Trim

Stronger Mission Editor

Muzzle effects that don`t kill FPS on my old rig when 48 Tu-4 or BUFFs fire at me with those turrets at the same time

Better Weather Engine

Darker Darker Nights (could be part of weather engine)

A2G Radar

So far so much

[+JSF_Aggie]

7 hours ago, dtmdragon said:

Out of curiosity what do you think it would be worth market rate if he were to sell it to CA?

Man, I have no idea. During, and since college, I've never worked in the commercial world.  I vaguely remember someone asking him on the TW forums, but I can't remember If he answered or not.

TK I'm sure has the source code backed up and under CM, but he would never freely give it to us.  That's not a jab at him, it's his intellectual property.

I once had to grab some code out of a F-16 sim that literally was two insanely long files, hud.cpp and mfd.cpp. I bet TK architects his code better than that.

[+dtmdragon]

6 hours ago, fallout3 said:

Trim

Stronger Mission Editor

Muzzle effects that don`t kill FPS on my old rig when 48 Tu-4 or BUFFs fire at me with those turrets at the same time

Better Weather Engine

Darker Darker Nights (could be part of weather engine)

A2G Radar

So far so much

Re sizing the tracer textures 50% or 25% smaller can go long way to help this

[fallout3]

9 hours ago, dtmdragon said:

Re sizing the tracer textures 50% or 25% smaller can go long way to help this

Will try! Could we also reduce the muzzle smoke texture?