streakeagle

I can't wait to get this. The time I spend flying SF2 has already been falling to near zero, while my time flying DCS World has remained as high as it can be given my limited free time. The delivery of the F-4E for DCS would leave me going to SF2 for the odd flight in century aircraft, MiG-23, and the F2H-2. Hopefully, DCS World will someday cover many of those aircraft, too.

Until this is released, it takes two different sims to enjoy the F-4 at this level. SF series for convincing combat missions and FSX/TacPack to fly either the Milviz or Simworks Studios F-4s at a detailed systems level. I have the Simworks F-4B/N. I will buy their F-4C and F-4D if and when they ever release them. The next time the Milviz products go on a decent sale (Christmas?), I may pick up their F-4E and F-4S just to try out their advanced flight models. But I get bored in FSX real quick. The radar has so many knobs for tweaking things, but you can detect targets at max range while parked on the runway... no ground clutter. Flying the F-4 in the SF series is so much more satisfying, but the whole startup/taxi/takeoff/approach/landing thing is better in FSX. For me, DCS aircraft like the F-86, MiG-15, F-5, and MiG-21 provide the best of both worlds. I can do an instant action air start for an SF style dogfight, a routine startup/takeoff/transit/approach/landing like FSX, or a full blown mission that combines both depending on the time available and my mood. So, I can't wait for the DCS F-4E to be released (and debugged). Hopefully, this will happen in my lifetime. Belsimtek has been pretty good about getting modules delivered after they have been announced, but the F/A-18 still has a ways to go and the F-4 will probably be nearly as complex and time consuming to complete as the F/A-18.

This is big news for me! https://belsimtek.com/news/1785/ After release of Tiger and Magnificent Eight at the end of 2016 almost all our effort was relayed to development of F/A-18 DCS module in cooperation with Eagle Dynamics. In this project we are handling dynamics, avionics and systems, FCS (Flight Control System) included. In parallel we continue our work on exciting project for fans of combat helicopters - the attack helicopter Mi-24P (was a long time since we pleased our helicopter enthusiasts, and ourselves as developers, by a war machine with rotor dynamics). Also we started development of the famous fighter-bomber F-4E. We are planning to post updates about each project in future. Wish you to have a great time learning available DCS World modules and hope you will like quality of the upcoming ones. With respect, Belsimtek Team.

I would always compare LOMAC/Flaming Cliffs/Flaming Cliffs 2 to SFP1/WoX/SF2. To compare apples to apples, fly the WoE/SF2E F-15A and A-10A on missions over Europe than fly the LOMAC/FC F-15C and A-10A on similar missions. Aside from obvious differences in the graphics, the main differences were in the AI behavior, flight modeling, and systems modeling. SF2 had somewhat better AI for air-to-air situations. SF2 had far superior flight modeling. The systems modeling was a toss-up. LOMAC/FC went into more detail on radar modes and allows you to move the cursor with a joystick, but SF2 modeled missiles much more accurately until their reliability/accuracy was nerfed in the last few updates to SF2NA. LOMAC/FC did have the advantage of truly functional multiplayer. FC3 changes the comparison in several areas: the flight models for the flyable aircraft are now "professional grade" comparable to any other DCS aircraft. This makes flying the F-15 and A-10 superior to SF2. The missiles have been steadily upgraded to have more realistic flight and sensor performance at least as detailed and realistic as SF2. The AI has been somewhat improved as well. When you factor in the graphics improvements over the years, FC3 is pretty much superior to SF2 in every way but one: historical environments. SF2 covers every major map with period correct ground objects. FC3 can have Black Sea, Normandy 1944, Nevada, and very soon will have Straits of Hormuz. Of course all but the Black Sea are in an alpha/beta release state or unreleased, and Black Sea is in the middle of an upgrade to the future DCS World 2.5. So, if you want to enjoy the F-15C, A-10A, Su-25, MiG-29, Su-27, and Su-33 over the Black Sea, Flaming Cliffs 3 is by far the way to go if you have hardware that can run it at a decent FPS. But the SF2 F-15A and A-10A as well as free user mods for so many other aircraft is a much more viable game for flexibility and variety. But if you can live with the terrain/environment limitations of DCS World, the complete plane set spans quite a wide time period and has something SF2 never delivered out of the box: matched opponents, perfect for multiplayer dogfights. P-51/Spitfire/Fw190/Bf109 for WW2, P-51/F-86/MiG-15 for Korea, MiG-21bis/F-5E/Viggen for 1970s, Mirage 2000/F-15C/MiG-29/Su-27 for 1980s/1990s.

Flying Mirage IIIs, Kfirs, and F-4Es over Israel is a great experience. The Lightning was the closest TK ever came to providing the most realistic flight model possible with the SF2 game engine, making it both fun and challenging to fly. While the later F-4M with Skyflash was a great aircraft, I prefer to fly early F-4Ks from carriers. I love the paint schemes and enjoy carrier operations. But my favorite missions in SF2 are historically themed F-105s vs MiG-17s, F-4Cs vs MiG-21Fs, and F-4Ds vs MiG-21MFs/MiG-19s. Operation Bolo with Col Robin Olds and 10 May 1972 with Major Lodge/Steve Ritchie are absolute obsessions even though I never followed through with making complete, accurate missions for those two events. Flying an F-105D loaded for mud moving while being bounced and outnumbered by MiG-17s is always a fun hop. I have been playing this sim so long that countless memories pop up from the first time I installed and played the original Walmart pre-release version to the present. I can't imagine what the number of total hours I have put into this game counting playing, modding, discussing on forums, etc.