Combat flight simulators

[1898]

a) I've just read about IL-2 Sturmovik 1946 and it seems to be exactly what I am looking for. This game is 8 years old though, is it worth the buy? How many players are still playing it? I've checked game monitor but it's not listed there.

b) Is there an equivalent game out there or one that's going to be released in the next few months?

c) Thanks!

 

[TheViper]

H.A.W.X. is a relatively recent combat flight simulator with decent reviews.

 

[jay_l_a]

IL2 is the greatest of combat flight sims. It is still very popular, and there is nothing that comes close for realism and number of planes.

 

[1898]

Out of curiosity, can you give me any numbers?

TheViper, H.A.W.X. looks rather arcadish.

 

[FLGibsonJr]

http://riseofflight.com/en

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLvhny6BjwU&feature=player_embedded

This is the newest combat flight sim. I highly recommend it.

Regards,

 

[1898]

Doesn't look bad.
Though, lot of people are complaining about the lack of planes (CC if you want more) and that you have to be constantly online even when playing in single player mode.

 

[jay_l_a]

Out of curiosity, can you give me any numbers?

TheViper, H.A.W.X. looks rather arcadish.

Number of users? No, but I think there is a way to check:

When I used to play online, there was a game lobby to install. Assuming IL2:1946 works the same way (I never played this version online) if you found this lobby software (it handles/handled ALL ubisoft online gaming), and installed it, you could see how many active users were in the IL2 lobbies...

 

[jay_l_a]

You also might get some help about number of active players here:

http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/frm/f/23110283

 

[1898]

Thanks, will have a look.

 

[daviduk109]

I am currently playing IL2 online on a casual basis a few hours each weekend. I am well past my best however in the world of combat flight sims and the online version of the game is very unforgiving to newcomers. There are a lot of very hardcore players online that have been playing the game for many years and who like to make very short work of new players. A lot of them use teamspeak for communication purposes and so unless you have that set up I expect you miss out on a lot of the in-game communication.

If you want to give it a go, you'll need IL2-1946 patched according to whatever server it is you want to play on (v4.08 is the basic patch and most widely accepted).
The best way to connect to an online game is the 'hyperlobby' software (as mentioned in a previous post above) that you need to download and install as a separate program (if you haven't already done so). The game is still very popular and you may struggle to connect to some of the more popular servers, depending on the time of day.

Apparently there is a new game from the same developer due to be released next year, 'battle of britain storm of war' which, as the title of the game would suggest, is focussed on the battle of britain, though I suspect it might cover up to 1942.

 

[FLGibsonJr]

Doesn't look bad.
Though, lot of people are complaining about the lack of planes (CC if you want more) and that you have to be constantly online even when playing in single player mode.

There are more and more planes all the time, Dr.1 and Camel just came out. Also, they just released their future plans for the game and it has everyone excited. The SP online check you do not even notice, I would rather have that than a intrusive DRM.

Regards,