MAF1247

I noticed that when i'm using bombers mod, both in single missions or campaign, especially cold war's, there is no ccip nor target sight to help the player knowing where the bombs will go. Considering that these bombers are for level bombing, this lack makes them simply unplayable. I would like to know if someone has made some kind of virtual ccip that goes beyond the hud, like YAP did with his Revamp Works (in which he designed the virtual ccip for some bombers in some missions)?

Crayola quality? O.o What does it mean?

Sorry about that. It's a pity that people have to argue and fight about a common hobby. There is already a lot of shit in this world, that these things should remain untouched from them. My personal opinion though....

Oh, i didn't know we were on "feud" level of bittery Indeed i wanted to use some DAT files because i'm doing the 1948-1956 suez campaign and some aircrafts are not in the mod, but available only on DAT. I'm not interested in mod making or sharing. I just want a couple of aircrafts for my self-amusement Sorry if i sound opportunist, but i really don't get all these problems only for a bunch of virtual object that are free anyway. However, i saw a lot of interesting aircrafts down there that are not here, so i wouldn't mind to try something different for a while. Thank you anyway for the info.

A shame though..... soo many aircrafts models to use and play with. So much work to be wasted in time because and obsolete website. At least there are some sharing of their mods here on CombatAce?

I subscribed on their forum, and waiting for the email that activate my account, but nothing yet. The website still works? The admins are still there? I would like to download some aircraft, but can't do that until approved subscription.

Even if someone buys it only to sell it on Steam or GOG, it would already increase the revenue stream by itself. One of the reason why SF2 is not well known in the flight sim community is because is almost impossible finding or buying it online, considering the abysmal state of ThirdWire website. Moreover, it's too overpriced. It's true that with mods it offers a better experience, but paying 100$ for a 17 years old flight sim it's really a robbery considering the actual market with competitors like DCS, IL2 or even BMS (which is for free). On steam the complete collection should not go beyond 30$, which is a fair price for what the game offers today. On this, i'm sorry if i sound rude or offensive, but TK is a little bit too greedy. I honestly don't even know if the license would cost in Millions of dollars. TK itself said that SF2 didn't sell too much to make another expansion or a sequel, so i don't think he could value so much the licens for the game. In my opinion, to be optimist, maybe he could get $300K-$500K.

This proves how much of a good game SF2 is and how good is its main engine for the development. I'm sad only because we're in 2026 and nobody relased anything closer to SF2 in terms of experience and moddability. Games like Nuclear Option don't count because they seems more arcadey than simlite and it looks like more "Battlefield 6 with only aircrafts" than a combat flight simlite. Unfortuantely, i don't have any kind of skills in programming, modding, or modeling and no money, otherwise i would have liked to make something similar to Strike Fighters 2, but with modern tools. I truly hope that in the future someone can take the mantle from Thirdwire and Tk and making the spiritual successor of the saga.

Considering what some free modders have done with BMS, starting with the leaked code of Falcon 4.0 of late 90s, i would not put limits to what it could be accomplished with the code of Strike Fighters 2 which seems, apparentely, even more malleable compared to Falcon 4. But ofc this is pure theory and a pipe dream because, as you said, TK has no intention to release the code for free nor selling it, which i think it's a pity in the last case, because if he doesn't use it or plan to use it anymore, why not bank on it?

Considering that ThirdWire has completely abandoned any development of a sequel or update of SF2, so the engine and the core matrix of the game will stay completely unused forever, i'm asking: is there anybody that actually proposed or contacted ThirdWire to buy the engine and everything related to Strike Fighters 2 to eventually develop a sequel. Do you thin that TK or anyone left in ThirdWire would be available for a sale?

I actually made a post a week ago talking about this nato bias ( I know that from a gameplay pov it's incredibly frustrating, but it has a base of reality nonetheless. WIth minor exceptions, NATO tech from the 1970s on ward took such a long jump ahead that Soviets/Russian were never able to catch up, with some exceptions due to reverse engineer some dud western missiles in proxy wars captured by Soviet's allies. In reality we can see that with the war in Ukraine were the Russian Air Force struggles with UAF due to their tech disparity in A/A missiles, or in the past during both Gulf Wars, were Iraqi migs were always in disadvantage compared to NATO fighters. I recently played Black Sea Crisis campaign mod with the red side (piloting a Su-27M) and ngl, it was incredibly frustrating. I had to repeat some missions even 10 times (with difficulty set on EASY) to accomplish something and go back to the base, only to end the war in a stalemate. And every sortie was close to a massacre, because almost my wingmen got shot down leaving me or only with my second wingman alive. After 5 missions i already reached the minimum number of pilots available in squadron, with the risk of failing the campaign due to lack of men available. When you play "Red" you have to completely change tactics: fly VERY close to the ground to avoid SAMs (NATO SAMs are 5 times more lethal than Soviets), fly zig-zagging, using your faster engines and manuverability to avoid long range missles, deploy a lot of chaff and when close to the enemy aircraft, go vertical full power, lunch missiles, get the target, go down and repeat until the majority of your target is destroyed and mission is accomplished. Then GTFO back to base at full AB. Don't be greedy, because most Nato missiles are not track from RWR so there are big chances that you get hit by a missiles you didn't know was launched. Problem is that the game engine is not build to balance red side campaign, because the vanilla game never allowed you to play with Red aircrafts or play red campaign, so everyhting is unbalanced to the core. Soviets campaigns are fun in the timeframe of 1950s-1960s, in which the tech was still on the same level between the two sides. If you play Korea War from NK perspective, it's actually very enjoyable and both Mig-15 and Mig-17 are beasts compared to Sabres. Also early Mig-21 in Vietnam is ok, but start to become challenging. Every Red campaign from the 1970s onward becomes pure frustration.

The red campaigns of early cold war are actually pretty fun and still balanced, because missiles were not still the main weapons and pilots still relied on gun machine dogfighting. I played Korea war mod with the Mig 15 and i never felt in disadvantage compared to USAF's sabres. Actually, some times it was easier, because at the time the Mig 15 was the better aircraft. Red campaigns are fun from the 1950s to last 1960s, then when the focus of the combat pass from guns to missiles, it becomes more and more frustrating, until modern campaign in the 1980s-2000s where fighting against NATO airforces is a nightmare.

Yeah, i hate when to make the game "challenging" the devs programs the AI to focus almost exclusively to shoot down the player, sometimes exposing themselves to be shot down themelves by my wingmen because they left their side uncovered. But it's extremely frustrating because in real life, during aerial war there is no focus on a "single aircraft", unless this carry a nuclear bomb to drop. I saw this problem also on IL2 Battle of Stalingrad where basically you are the "main villain" of the entire enemy airforce, because they are capable to catching you even when you are miles away from them. In the community they called them the Stalker Fighters because no matter what you do, they will risk even to run out of fuel or being shot down behind enemy lines only because they are programmed to destroy YOU and only YOU. For years people complained, but 1C never listened. On strike fighters 2 the AI is actually less aggressive, but still frustrating. In the end i think that when you play with red side on SF2 you need to change completely the way you approach the air warfare, otherwise you get always shot down. The problem is how to do it?

This is actually realistic. WarPac tech has always been inferior to NATO, with minor exceptions. Problem is that from a gameplay perspective the enemy AI always focus on you instead of the bigger picture, so you find yourself with an inferior aircraft against 4-5 enemy superior fighters. Nobody could survive that. The western SAM in the game it's also much more lethal then red side.

Ok, i changed it. But i change the difficulty of the campaign it can influence this data?