PMIK

Hello there! After a less than ideal introduction to some of you on the Third Wire forums, I've decided to support this site and subscribe. Looking forward to many interesting discussions and the many fantastic mods hosted here. I also thought I'd share some photos my father took while serving in the Australian Navy in the late 1970s aboard the HMAS Melbourne. They aren't the highest quality photos, but there is a nice one of a fully loaded Skyhawk and also some Phantoms on the USS Coral Sea.

Hi guys, I've just recently started to get back into SF2 after a long hiatus. I've just started to play NATO Fighters 5 and I'm finding the experience to be quite variable depending on which aircraft I choose (as would be expected). I've tried the A-26, and while it is fun, it is a bit annoying that I have to rely on my allies for air support or get shot out of the sky. I've tried a few missions in the tornado and it was a hell of a lot of fun but absolutely no challenge. My missiles never missed and the engine is so powerful I don't even have to dogfight properly. I've just now tried a couple of missions in the Venom in the 1953 campaign, and again it is just too damn easy. I'm flying circles around the Mig-15s and shooting down hundreds. Do you guy's know which aircraft in NATO fighters, in which campaigns, give the best challenge but still are winnable. I should probably mention I have all difficulty options on their highest. Thanks in advance.

That doesn't solve anything. Now we will all be fighting for that island in the middle, claiming that our holy person of choice was born there.

Wow, I didn't know that. That's a pretty poor record. With some exstensive research (i.e. Wikipedia) it appears that it wasn't all the Melbourne's fault, but some pretty high death tolls for the US ships. I'll ask my dad if he has any interesting stories from the Melbourne next time I get a chance, but from memory, he was only on it for 6 months, with a lot of his time on a minesweeper. He was also fortunate enough to avoid any major conflicts. I'm pretty sure he enlisted after the Vietnam War.

He didn't keep too many photos, and most of them he took weren't of the Melbourne at all. Seems like he was mostly fascinated with the US hardware. The only slightly useful one would be this one that shows some of the flight deck and tower.

No he was actually a medic, later became a paramedic in civilian life and inspired me to become a doctor. I didn't even know he had these photos until I tried to get him to play SF2. He instantly recognised the Skyhawk and grabbed these photos from his collection.

I definitely like the idea of adding more immersive elements to a flight sim. However, I believe that the focus should always remain on the flying. What a sim like SF2 would benefit from is: 1) Context The campaign introductions are great, but after that there isn't a great deal of background info. Along with each mission briefing there should be some general "campaign" information, possibly in the form of news headlines, that indicate the progress of the war. The historical campaigns could even be fleshed out with details of important military or political events happening at the date of that mission. 2) Greater sense of cause and effect I don't mind flying 20 strike missions to bomb a warehouse or repeatedly bombing runways, but I'd like the game to tell me that my outstanding success has had an effect on the war. I'd like to know that, for example, the bombing of that warehouse has led to the enemy tank battalion being unable to progress to their objective, or has decreased their combat effiency. I'd like to know that my SEAD sortie has led to the success of the other flights in the region, or that attacking the runway will disable that airport for the next 3 weeks, or something to that effect 3) Pilot progression I see where you are going with the RPG elements, but I don't think that they should directly affect our flying ability. I like the way the old Red Baron game handled it. As you increased in rank and prestige, you get more influence in choosing your personal aircraft, airbase, flight arrangement etc. At present, in SF2, whether you are an Ensign or Captain makes no difference. Also, its odd that my rank and kills from flying in the Suez Canal crisis gets automatically carried over to a career with the US navy. Different campaigns should have different profiles similar to the IL2 sturmovik series.