My first posting here?decided I had to join after seeing this question! First of all, I?m not familiar with the current ?Thrustmaster FLCS? HOTAS you have, or at least I?m not familiar with the interface. From what you are saying, this HOTAS requires a proprietary ISA-type card, is that right?? I DO know it?s a great stick but, being short on funds I opted for the much less-expensive Saitek X-52 which has a USB interface (and I LOVE this stick, even though it looks nothing like the ?real-deal? in the F-16 cockpit!). This also allows me to run my flight sims (and yes, I?m a ?hardcore simmer? for sure!) on desktop AND laptop systems and it also has the advantage of using ?Hall-Effect? switches, thus eliminating potential potentiometer problems down the road?
But back to your question on ?which sim??; I too enjoyed Falcon from the beginning, even the Macintosh version running in B/W was cool with me and, IMHO this is still THE most realistic flight simulator out there. And now there is ?Falcon Alliance? which (again IMHO!) seems to have taken the best of all the Falcon 4 SP?s and rolled them into a package that don?t require you to do ?The Dance? (the Hardcore know what I?m talking about!) and this will be my next sim purchase.
I see here that nobody has mentioned Lock-On: Modern Air Combat (LOMAC); and for good reason: it?s a true resource-killer even when running on a bleeding-edge ?Alienware? system!! However (and this could be a first!!), YOU are wanting to DOWNGRADE so you won?t be able to run this sim on ANY ?slow? 600MHz machine?so here is what I would do?
Since you are obviously an ?electric-jet? man, and much like myself would much rather splash a bogie using BVR techniques than blowing 30mm rounds through his fuselage via a gun pipper, then your choices are limited. However, since you already own Falcon 4 AND you already have a relatively fast system, are there any ?conversion? cards out there that will allow you to use your ISA-based FLCS in your current system?? IF that were the case you could run the newer, as well as the ?not-so-new? sims and save some money in the process. Have you checked with Thrustmaster to see if perhaps THEY make such a card? One would HOPE that a company that sells THE ?defacto? standard in HOTAS setups WOULD have a solution for you!!
Last thing: you asked what (in so many words) us ?old-timers? use to fly and that is an easy one for me anyway: I use to fly the REAL F-16 Block xx Flight Simulator, as well as the REAL F/A-18 (US Navy Device 2E7 w/ twin, 360-degree domes!!) when I worked on these two projects BUT, when not working on these babies I?d be ?flying? Falcon for sure!! And?well, have you had a chance to ?fly? LOMAC yet??? IF you haven?t, and you (again like myself?) truly enjoy an accurate Flight Model AND you love ?playing? with all the avionics, then you have GOT to at least take a look at it! For in many ways it is more realistic than Falcon 4 even WITH all the BMS patches et. al. installed and it is a truly well-modeled simulation: but only if you a: are using the ?Flaming Cliffs? (or the more recent ?Shark? version?!) add-ons and b: you have an ENORMOUS amount of RAM both system AND video!! Since they have VASTLY improved the avionics in the SU-25, as well as in the SU-27 (modeling the ?N-Series? radar VERY well!!) I find the flying these birds to be a very realistic experience?something to consider if you are planning a ?down-grade?. Good luck to you!!
Sky
