FastCargo

Some initial impressions (note, this is not a review). Models are a bit on the low poly side. Variety of missions (air to air-intercept, CAP, non controllable wingman / air to ground-CAS and strike). Multiple weapons including cannon, A2A missiles, free fall bombs, FFARs. Can takeoff and land (though a lot of missions start with you in the air), looks like you may have carrier ops. Cockpit views (non working instruments...basically looks like camera is placed in the external model). But maneuvering causes cockpit view to shift as if you were sliding in the seat a bit...nice touch. Other views limited to outside with only horizontal panning, and a 'flyby view'. FM seems a bit simple, even for a mobile game...tends to be way too responsive to throttle changes. Roll rates are nice. Horizon is glitchy...lots of flashing polygons. XP mechanic is interesting...build up XP to release additional mission types (initially only cleared for some A2A and CAS...no strike missions available). Additionally, initially only F-100 is available. Not sure if any other aircraft can be earned through XP or not. My overall impression so far is 'overly ambitious'. Trying to do everything, but the execution needs some polish. This is early in gameplay, and so it'll be a while before I earn enough XP to see if I can unlock some other stuff. FC

http://makeymakey.com/ Basically, a plug and play device that can literally make anything a keyboard. Check out the video for pure awesomeness... FC

Merry Christmas and Happy New Backup! And damn Steam their constant sales! FC

If the model has multiple LODs, try adjusting the ini entry so it only uses the first entry all the way out to max distance and comment out the other entries to see if that fixes the issue. FC

"The ability to start a petition, or even an internet meme, is insignificant next to the power of lolcats."

That's always the big question with 'Freemium' business models.... FC

No, there is no setting to tell them to use specific ordinance. FC

If it is a young kid, I can understand because they have to think in 3D and realize the Earth's rotation and the moon's orbit are not related. But a clear thinking adult?.... I think the only way you could really explain this to a person having trouble grasping the concept would be to have a model of the Earth-Moon system, with a 'Sun' to provide a single light source. FC

Anyone who downloads this, please report back here and let us know how it is...see if it's worth a review or not. FC

Ain't going to happen...time period won't cover it. FC

I would recommend then staying at altitude, doing a couple of 360s while your speed bleeds off, then descending and landing. Until the FM is adjusted, that's what you can do...or use Alt-N to get you where you want to be. FC

Heh, ya...gotta do it every once in a while....:). FC

AIM-9X is post-Cold War by about 10 years. FC

I tried Combat Mission back in the day...but I couldn't do the turn-based thing where I could do nothing for 60 seconds while my orders were executed. Those were LONG 60 seconds...especially when I screwed up! Stary, don't feel bad...I've only now finished Bioshock, Chronicles of Riddick:Assault on Dark Athena. In the middle of HL2:EP2 and DX:HR. Just started Tomb Raider: Annversary. Yea, I'm a bit behind.... FC

I've started reading reviews on it and all of them have been positive. From what I've been able to gather...it is a wargame (say like Combat Mission), but played out like an RTS. Gameplay is similar to Company of Heroes, where either outright destruction of the enemy or capturing of various areas matter. There is no resource building per se...you have to be much more focused on resupply and repair of your forces. Also, there isn't much micromanagement of units...they tend to be pretty smart. Your job seems to be to get them where they need to be to be most effective. Arty is only good with good recon, command vehicles are very valuable... Again, this is only based on what I've been able to gather so far. I'm scouring the various reviews and forums to get a truer take on what it entails. Damn you Dave for bringing this up! FC

If they haven't yet, they aren't going to be...it's been around for several months. This isn't an FPS or RPG...it's a wargame with RTS elements. FC

Damn, that looks insanely awesome! I didn't see much in terms of the interface...is it similar in gameplay to Company of Heroes? FC

I'd imagine TK was probably disappointed in the new terrain too. In terms of time invested verses public perception/reaction, he probably wished he hadn't spent that much time (and by extension, money) on it. I'd have been happier with just the new water effects. The time spent on the Iceland terrain could have been spent otherwise squashing all the bugs that were in the initial release of SF2NA. Also, I think constructive criticism is always good...sarcastic or hostile criticism is typically more counter productive. I think the biggest thing with any critique is just to remember what the goal of what you are commenting on is. TK from what I've read has always said the TW series is a game...or sim-lite, a budget title, and so has always made that his bottom line, even though there are a lot of realistic aspects of the TW series. If that's good enough, then that's okay. If not, and you want to move on, that's good too. There is still a variety of stuff out there, and things like DCS look promising. FC

Sorry folks, missed this one. If you see a suspected spammer, and you don't see any action taken after a day or so, try PMing one of us mod types. I don't tend to read every new thread and so can miss something. FC

Well, to be fair, SF2NA had a new terrain engine, several new AI aircraft and ground (ship) units, and a new Avionics dll. The other expansion packs were just planes (okay, a mission editor for Exp2). I think that was it... FC

Read this thread very carefully: http://combatace.com/topic/32148-something-new-has-been-added/ It explains how it works and exactly what you need to do. It works in SF2 just fine. FC

Morality in war is a tricky thing...considering war's primary activity (killing people and breaking things) goes directly against most moral codes. It's easy to define at the ends (utter annihilation or complete surrender) but gets murky in the middle. There are so many situations that one can come up with where the 'right' answer depends on the people involved, the circumstances leading up the situation, and the possible fallout...or all the answers suck. Some just suck less than others. FC

Quick point - The Valkyrie does not have an airbrake. Now that we have that cleared up, the Valkyrie can be slowed down through 'S' turns, and will come down on the proper curve eventually. However, there does seem to be an anomaly in the FM where between 20 to 40k around 1.5 to 2.0 Mach, the aircraft won't slow down in level flight. At some point, the FM will need adjustment. FC

Did that in the F-16 in WOE oh so long ago... FC

Sure...add skids. FC