Hah!
The IL-2 series goes on sale semi-frequently for the $30 price range. This has a semi-dynamic campaign that has been regarded well. It also absolutely kills in VR and has fantabulous graphics. Accessible is of course subjective, but you can tone down the realism a bunch and have it be as accessible as any past WW2 sim has been
^ this.
Or you could just download DCS, install it and see if you like getting to grips with the two free planes (its entirely free!) and if you like it but want something zippier or killier, get a single plane in the cheap price range such as the Su-27, the A-10A or the F-15C. Iād reccomend against the latter for starting out, it is boring.
This one is fun too, it can do a bit of air to ground and take off and land from a carrier!
These are not the full fat āread 500 pages of manual and learn the 37-item takeoff checklist by heartā modules. They have much simplified systems modelling, which means you do not click the cockpit but use keyboard (or HOTAS) buttons to do things like turn the radar on, switch to the next waypoint or select the air to ground mode.
They are about as difficult to learn as the Great Sims of Yore. I think the Falcon 3 F-16 had even a slight bit more complexity but I might be wrong.
When it comes to the air-on-wings part, these cheaper modules cut no corners. They fly as realistic as the more expensive modules do, IE at the utter edge of what is possible on consumer hardware. I fly the A model hog quite a bit from time to time, just because its fun. And Iām in love with the flankers. They are such beautiful, powerful beasts.
As for campaigns, eh. its all scripts for now. But those scripts can be pretty fucking amazingly elaborate! Some people even managed to code in things coming pretty damn close to dynamic campaigns!
I admit that I never do cold start takeoffs. Maybe once. I do really like starting in the air and then randomly flipping unknown switches and dials to see if I can get the plane to crash. This is great fun in the Viggen where the controls are in Swedish anyway.
Thatās a great way to get the HUVUDSVĆRNING light to flash at you.
I used to loathe cold starts and all it stood for (rivet counting and a misguided attention to systems details that could be better spent on making fun games) but since may '18, when I got my rift and fell back in love with DCS, itās been different.
The training missions all start with the cold&dark procedures. And boring as they may seem, they enhance the feeling of being there. The Ka-50 for example really comes to life as you initiate all its systems and crank the engines. From unfathomable hunk of dead metal to a thwocking death monster humming with pent up power.
Now, C&D start is my preferable way to sim. I also make a point to always land and shut down if at all possible (which it sometimes isnāt, such is the life of a time pilot). Itās part of the illusion for me.
Just now I had this harrowing flight in the newly released F/A-18 mini-campaign. 2nd flight. An attack on some BMPās near the front line. SEAD and TARCAP go in before the player flight and its a spectacle. There was quite a bit of wind and all of my drops missed. I made three passes I think, and they were scary as fuck. Manpads took my wingperson on his second pass.
The hard part of that mission, the part that really had me sweat and worry and completely be there, was the return home. I had plenty fuel when I entered the pattern. Then four tomcats and two other hornets needed to do their traps too. So round and round I wheeled, hoping the deck would go green this time. And then it did.
And I fucking boltered. Fuel was becoming tight. I went around. Watched the last tomcat trap. Fucking robot always traps a three wire. Showoff. I made a sweet approachā¦ nice lineup, on speed, on slopeā¦ FUCK! boltered! AGAIN! As I blasted off the ship the bloody bingo warning came up. I set it liberally so I was good for at least two more traps before Iād go dry. And I suck at tankingā¦
On speed. On line-upā¦ on slopeā¦ sweet ball, little low. bit of power and right back downā¦ come onnnnnnnn TRAP! YAY! I opened the canopy, took the engines out of burner, raised the hook and wings and taxied next to those smug tomcat bastards.
Turning off all the systems one by one and listening to the jet spool down was just Awesome after that flight.
So yeah. YMMV.
I donāt hate cold starts. With the great sound design the appeal is there. Kinda like that scene in Ghostbusters where Dan Akroyd turns on his proton back and the other two start backing from the sound of a nuclear generator powering up. For me itās more about time and focus, and wariness of realism.
The illusion of realism in DCS is a great virtue, but also a trap. ED does such a good job there, especially in the cockpit and in the air. Folks become blinkered by it, invest themselves , and then become disallusioned when hitting the realism wall. It is a video game and there is only so much that can go into it. Testament to how well they do given how upset people get. I imagine other sim style genres have similar issues. Also the level of angst Iāve seen seems comparible to that from a āprofessionalā MMORPG player who discovers the āendgameā (after 200 hours) is shallow. (Edit. The gamer analogy isnāt quite right. There is more righteous fury in the sim community as āThere is a Way it Should Beā. Reality. The end result is the same though. Hundreds of hours invested trying to make something have more meaning than it can have)
Speaking of landing, weāve devised a great #7 mission for TP. We set up about 30 Su-25s in Persian Gulf to attack the modern American carrier with guns from all directions. What happens is they get shot up while making their run and crash into the deck or water next to. Damned if it doesnāt look like a massive kamikaze attack, with tracers, missiles, planes / plane parts flying everywhere. Our intrepid time pilot must land on that in a Hornet, in order to bring the whole carrier package back to 1940s. Talk about a crazy landing! So much funā¦
That sounds awesome indeed.
You do have a point that realism is a bit of a pit that people (and devs!) can fall into. I used to think detailed cold start procedures were a symptom of having fallen into that pit to the detriment of being a fun game.
And then I played through the Mirage 2K campaign. I had to do like fifteen cold starts in that. And a mirage cold start is no joke. You need to punch in 16 numbers into the INS, then start it spooling for a good ten minutes before you can move the jet. Hard to believe anyone would find that fun, non?
Well at first I hated it, but it became part of the routine of flying a mirage. You strap it on, boot it up and and go over the briefing materials one more time. Listen to the rest of the package taking off, get the radios and such set just so. Then meditate a bit (or press ctrl-Z) and off you go. It feels real and it feels āmineā if I boot it up myself.
My son (five years old) just took his first flying lesson yesterday. Moving the stick takes all his strength, but he managed to do a runway takeoff and maneuver the hornet just fine. I did the landing with his hands on the controls so he could feel the sort of movements necessary. He glowed for at least an hour afterwards. And so did I :D
Hmmm, I may have to put in some time there. You make cold starts sound meditative.
Love that bonding moment! :)
One day I hope to have that with my little boy.
As a heads-up to anyone still sans the DCS Hornet, itās 25% off through the ED store until October 21 if you already own the Persian Gulf map. The discount shows up when itās added to your shopping cart.
The MiG-29 is finally getting an updated flight model next week! Yay!
With a new graphics card in the mail, and the 25% off Hornet deal staring at me, I finally bit the bullet and snagged the Hornet. Perhaps there will be some flying time this weekend.
What card did you get? And yay good for you fishbro! About time you got that ol clunker upgraderized.
You are gonna love the hornet. It is sweet.
Thereās a deal on EVGA 1070 Tis on Amazon, so I figured I might as wellāIām not planning on VR or, indeed, more than my 27" 1900x1200 monitor any time soon, so it should be plenty of oomph for me for the foreseeable future.
I am very much looking forward to the Hornet. Itās long been a favorite of mine.
I been riftin it up joos fine on my plain jane 1070 so dont let that hold you back from enjoying your flying the way its meant toā¦
Buying the Hornet on a lark and sitting in that cockpit with an Oculus for the first time reawakened a love for flight sims that had been dormant for some time. I couldnāt be happier to step into DCS at this stage. I understand itās been rough going over the years, but I got to skip all that.
Tomorrow Heatblur is doing a big reveal of the Tomcat which will be out very soon. Weāve got F-4, F-16, a dynamic campaign in the works. Weāve got a Mig-19 coming down the pipe. Weāve probably got an Intruder, although not confirmed.
Sure it will take years for all that to be released, but goddamn is it a good time to get back into this hobby! With DCS 2.5 and Hornet released, with the improvements to IL-2, 2018 is one hell of a renaissance for the genre.
The new graphics card doesnāt get here until tomorrow, but I figured Iād try taking the Hornet for a spin anyway.
I fired up the carrier quick start, did some maneuvering fun, then made a few landing approaches before realizing I was about 10,000lb heavy for a carrier landing. After figuring out how to jettison stores while circling, trying to figure out how to jettison fuel, then giving up and jettisoning fuel via afterburner use, I made an approach. Thanks to Su-33 experience, I managed to catch the #4 wire on my first go.
I was trying to fly the standard Case I pattern, but it was super-uglyāI ended up way high after the break, then ended up way low through the turn to final, then ended up in a way longer final than I should have been. Still, it was close enough to salvage, so I ignored my inner LSO and gave it a shot. I was high late, but not so high that I couldnāt save it.
\o/ good job there nugget! Now hand in your wings for ignoring a wave-off call!
My usual miss is plowing into the fantail, so if anything the carrier crew should be thanking me.
