Favorite Combat Flight Sims

[sixstrings5859]

What are your favorite combat flight simulators ? Mine are CFS3 (9 installs),Il-2 '46 (3 installs) , OFF phase 2(i know it's old), Flaming Cliffs2,Free Falcon 6. My current rig can't handle some of the new ones. Building a new one soon to handle the newest sims.

[scotth6]

Definitely DCS World and CFS3. I have only really ever used the default CFS3 and never added any addons, but still spent so many hours in that sim. DCS World is just unbelievable in it's realism. I'm confident I could fly a real A-10C now :biggrin-new:.

Cheers,

[sixstrings5859]

The different expansions available and addons available take CFS3 to a whole new level . You ought to give it a try.

[Cirrus N210MS]

DCS and IL-2 Sturmovik Battle of Stalingrad and Rise of flight :jump:

[scotth6]

The different expansions available and addons available take CFS3 to a whole new level . You ought to give it a try.

Thanks. I have actually downloaded a few such as the Pacific theatre campaigns, but never got around to installing them. Too many flight sims, not enough time ;).

[scotth6]

DCS and IL-2 Sturmovik Battle of Stalingrad and Rise of flight :jump:


Oh yeah, I forgot about Rise of Flight. I haven't flown in that for a little while, but it is an amazing sim. The sound and flight dynamics give you a great sense of actually flying.

IL-2 Sturmovik BoS is another one I haven't tried yet. I bought it ages ago too. Too much DCS World and FSX/P3D.

Cheers,

[sixstrings5859]

How does Third Wire's Strike Fighters 2 series rate? Looks interesting and has a decent following for addons. Fair pricing. How hard is the learning to fight/fly ?

[Pips]

For low and slow it used to be Red Baron 3D for many years, but that has been supplanted by Wings Over Flanders Field. :)

WWII favourites are Battle Of Britain II and European Air War for offline campaign flying; and IL-2 1946 for online flying.


And for Jets well ...... there's really only one for me. And that's MiG Alley. Even in it's day graphics were clunky, but it has the best AI of any sim; and it's campaign mode is very realistic. :applause:

[SPman]

Too many flight sims, not enough time ;). Where I'm at as well.....CFS2, (4 installs) FS9, FSX, Rise of Flight, plus others on disc sitting there, accusingly..

[Odie]

F-15 Strike Eagle III from Microprose. Definitely had the best co-op multiplayer. Spent many hours up in the mountains of North Korea!
Fleet Defender from Microprose (F-14)
Jane's U.S. Navy Fighters
European Air War from Microprose

[sixstrings5859]

Beside having all theaters of operation and some highly modded installs CFS3 rules. Il-2 '46 with VP modpac and Il-2 fully updated with modact 6.01 are some of my favorite combat sims. No time for just flying around in a FS. Like things that go boom. Just now getting involved in WWI and the modern jet age but mostly into WWII and CFS3 and Il-2 '46 come out on top. Looking to get the SF2 series, WOFF,RoF and Flaming Cliffs 3 as soon as my new rig is built. Should handle anything out there. Don't like what has been done to the Il-2 series since CLoD to the latest released sims/games. The addons to Il-2 '46 are what make it a true gem. As far as modern jet sim Falcon 4.0 BMS and Free Falcon 6 are my favorites for that era.

[sixstrings5859]

Just installed Fighter Squadron WW I . It is free so didn't matter if it worked or not.Tested it Win 7 64 bit and and went to exe's properties and set compatably to XP sp2 and works wonderfully. It's runs great on lower end computers i'm sure. A neat and fun simulator. found here...... http://www.fsww1.com/index.htm

[stansdds]

Back in the Windows 95-98 days, European Air War was my favorite. The offline dynamic campaigns were incredible. It really required you to do your best. A few times Germany did invade England because I flew and commanded so poorly. I liked the IL-2 Sturmovik series for its online capabilities.

[sixstrings5859]

Liked EAW too. So few to choose from now when it comes to WWII. Not like times past. FPS seem to have taking over the pc field. After all these years CFS3 and Il-2 '46 still are the best when it comes to WWII combat flight sims. Enough to keep me busy for years to come. How are the newest Il-2 series such as BOS,BOM and the others since the terrible CLOD release? Heard they are more like games than true sims. Is this true ?

[scotth6]

Liked EAW too. So few to choose from now when it comes to WWII. Not like times past. FPS seem to have taking over the pc field. After all these years CFS3 and Il-2 '46 still are the best when it comes to WWII combat flight sims. Enough to keep me busy for years to come. How are the newest Il-2 series such as BOS,BOM and the others since the terrible CLOD release? Heard they are more like games than true sims. Is this true ?

Hey. I haven't actually tried them , but I have heard good things about the mods for IL2 Cliffs Of Dover; by Team Fusion. Like Falcon 4 BMS they are constantly being updated and apparently turn it in to a totally different sim.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gILqumDtkic

https://www.facebook.com/teamfusionmod/

http://theairtacticalassaultgroup.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=91


Cheers,

[Crusader]

I read that CFS3 doesn't work well with Windows 10 . Is this the case ? I really enjoyed CFS3 but have not played with it in years .

[sixstrings5859]

Check out the CFS3 forum here. There is a workaround to get it to work with Win 10. One of the most comprehensive WWII sim out there with all the different theaters of operation and aircraft available for it.There is several sites dedicated to CFS3 and can give links if needed. CFS3 and Il-2 '46 are the best WWII sims out there when modded. BOB II WOV is great too. I've heard great things about CLOD when modded but can't find it. It was junk un-modded though.Will try CLOD again updated and see if it's better.

[Ickie]

I had the most daily fun with CFS-1 I remember waitting in line for hours to fly online using MS website

[Victory103]

Don't forget about Migman's Combat Sim Museum:

www.migman.com (http://www.migman.com)

[sixstrings5859]

Been up since the wee hour of the morning. Couldn't sleep so i've been playing one of my Il-2 '46 installs. Mainly Il-2 '46 with VP Modpack patched to 4.12 . After that ended up playing CFS3-ETO expansion version 1.50 for a couple of hours.My all-time favorite sims are CFS3 and Il-2 (both modded) . Hands down

[txnetcop]

DCS, Falcon 4.0 BMS, and Battle of Britain...they keep me up to the wee hours
Ted

[Ickie]

I remember IL2, I hosted the website for 1 year, their first year, then they forgot to pay me, lol:pop4:

[dhasdell]

Cliffs of Dover with the Team Fusion patches for Battle of Britain, Il-2 1946 with Modact for the rest of the war/world, and Rise of Flight for those Biggles moments.

[stansdds]

I remember IL2, I hosted the website for 1 year, their first year, then they forgot to pay me, lol:pop4:

Oleg sez: "Check is in mail, 2 weeks be sure." :biggrin-new: :biggrin-new: :biggrin-new:

[Panther_99FS]

I had a LOT of fun with the venerable Microprose European Air War....

[Panther_99FS]

Back in the Windows 95-98 days, European Air War was my favorite.

For sure!
I also had great online fun with it too!

[Pips]

Don't forget about Migman's Combat Sim Museum:

www.migman.com (http://www.migman.com)

A Brilliant site! It's a real 'walk down memory lane'. :) Geez, we sure were spoilt back in the late '90's, early '00's. It was a smorgasbord of choice. Sadly not like now.

I stick to the old sims - up to and including Il-2, COD & WOFF (yes, I'm a prop man. :)). You get a great selection of aircraft and campaigns, some even with online play. And all for a fair price.

The 'new' sims these days, like ROF, Battle Of Moscow/Stalingrad, DCS charge like a wounded bull for everything but the basics. Their campaigns are usually works in progress (meaning poor), and you have to 'buy' aircraft. The developers may think they have a good business model, but to me they have lost touch with their fan base. They certainly have lost me.

It's a major reason why the air combat sim has died. :(

[sixstrings5859]

You are right Pips. Hard to beat CFS3 and Il-2 '46 for content and ever expanding addons . And for free to boot(few payware too). Thanks to all the modders that make them what they are now. These "old" sims are still great due to continued work on them. Hope it never stops as they are still better than some of the newest WW II sims out there. Thought about Cliffs of Dover but dislike steam and have no interest in multi-player sims like it and RoF. Think WOFF to be the best WW I sim,and probably all time,out there. Hearing about the same WOFF team will be taking on WW II based sim is exciting . Not dead yet !

[Quicksand]

Jane's World War I I Fighters has always been my favorite combat sim. I wish I could get it to work with Windows 10.... Miss it badly.

[sixstrings5859]

My all time favorite would have to be SWOL . It was my introduction to combat flight sims then CFS1 got me into the series with all the mods that became available for it.Used to be called just "sixstrings" here back then.