Recent air combat sim recommendations?

So I’m shocked they got EAW running at all, but it’s not all wine and roses yet. It does not like my joystick for some reason. I just spin and spin and spin. Hopefully they can get this working.

This.

Since I haven’t looked at the GOG release yet, I wonder if what community patch (if any) they’re using. I had high hopes when the source code had a limited release, but all the community seemed to want was to turn EAW into multiplayer IL2 1946, instead of doing the hard work of fixing legacy issues.

Answered my own question. GOG’s release is using the V1.28 community patch, and includes the appropriate DX and 3dFX wrappers. Definitely a good GOG release. I was scared that GOG was gonna pull another I’76 stunt on us, and that would have broken my heart.

I just hope I can resolve my joystick issues.

Well I hope those stimulus checks come through because I just spent a chunk of them. To try and keep costs somewhat reasonable, I went with the Gladiator NXT Pro, and then ordered the Virpil CM3 Mongoose throttle, though it says it’s on backorder (hoping that message isn’t true). Won’t get the Gladiator for a while because apparently everything shuts down until Feb. 22 for Chinese New Year?

Hmmm, just thought of something. Will I have a problem with competing joystick software/hardware programs?

nope, in fact, you can safely ignore the stick/throttles’software unless you need it for calibration purposes. Good choices on the hardware. Oughta do fine.

The CM3 will take a while to get made/delivered. It’s a small workshop in former Soviet republics (Belarus? Lithuania? not quite sure) but it’s a fine, fine piece of hardware. Well worth the money and wait.

Do you think it’s better than the Thrustmaster Warthog throttle? I went with the Virpil cause I was hoping I’d get it sooner, since the Thrustmaster is still being hawked by scalpers for stupidly high prices.

Oh yes, much better.

Beat me to it.

Right? Someone brought up Dawn Patrol the other day on my Discord and I was like “Shit I miss Rowan. And Jane’s. And Microprose. And D.I.D. And D.I. And…”

You don’t need to miss them anymore:

10 games in development.

Imaging a sim now with those planes? F-80, F-84, F-86, F-82, F4U-4, F8F vs MiG-15, Yak-9, Po-2… In VR with modern flight models?

Somewhere there’s got to be an investor with a surfeit of cash and a fascination with flight sims.

I could be available. (PS: Dear Mr/Ms Investor: Please also purchase the Baa Baa Black Sheep license for our mainstream simulation. Thank you, Denny, Chief Designer.)

C’mon, you think I DON’T KNOW about the resurrected MicroProse? ;) Time will tell if they bring the same energy as the original company, but I’m trying to be hopeful.

Oh I knew you knew. But felt you were discounting them too much. There’s a ton of energy there and based on discussions with some of the developers I have high hopes.

I think they have one flight sim on the deck? That’s great, but I’m still waiting for F-19 Stealth Fighter III. ;)

You know I never did play their stealth fighter game. Can you tell me anything about it? What made it special ?

For its time it was incredibly tense. You had to fly low to avoid getting picked up on radar but also not on a route that would have you be easily seen visually. Like, a few hundred feet. This made it as much a game about avoiding detection as hitting the target. This led to amazing missions. God, so fun. Really nothing else like them even today.

Did it have a story/campaign?

Yes they had campaigns, can’t recall if they were scripted or dynamic.