Which military flight sim should I get?

[letsgofaster]

Hello, I have always had an interest in combat flight sims, but I don't know much beyond il-2 sturmovik 1946 and Microsoft combat simulator series. I would like something that is in the era of wwii in Europe, has multiplayer that you can do dogfight duels like in between a bf-109 and a spifire. I would also like something that has a tutorial and a considerable amount of planes to fly. I think I am going to get Il-2 sturmovik 1946, because I've seen the trailers and reviews and they are very good. Can I have any suggestions?

[ozkhan]

Hi LetsgoFaster,

You may want to check out "Cliffs of Dover" - which is made by the same team that made Il-2 Sturmovik.

I bought it on Steam, which seems to make it very straight forward to go Multiplayer. Not sure about a tutorial, but if you've already flown Sturmovik, then you shouldn't have any problems.

http://il2sturmovik.ubi.com/cliffs-of-dover/en-gb/home/index.aspx

It lets you fly German and British planes and bombers.

I'm really enjoying 1946 more though because of the ability to fly in so many different theatres. I've been flying the Japanese fighters and bombers running in at Pearl Harbour - and I'm very impressed by the detailed scenery - and also swapping sides and defending Pearl Harbour. I especially love the effects when you strafe ground targets - it looks so amazingly real!

"Cliffs" is limited to the Battle of Britain, but because it is the latest release I'm able to utilise all 3 of my screens (50" LCD TVs) and the graphics are stunning, whereas when running 1946, I'm limited to one screen running at 1024 x 760, although it still looks pretty good.

I'm finding I'm setting them both to unlimited ammo, because they are so realistic, by the time I've taken off, intercepted bombers, fired enough shots to just inflict slight damage on the bombers, I've run out of ammo, then need to land and start all over again.

Another problem I've had with both, is that after shooting down the first bomber, the second and consecutive bombers seem to take unlimited damage - maybe it is because I haven't been using canon? I don't know.

Just noticed on the site I've included above, that they mention a new patch was released in April, and one of the fixes is "Reworked damage module to work dramatically faster when a plane is under heavy bullet bombardment." Hopefully this has resolved it.

Hope this helps anyway.

James

[letsgofaster]

Ozkan,
Thanks for replying to my post. I have a few more questions. Does 1946 have multiplayer? Because although I said the Europe theater, 1946 has both Pacific and Europe, which I didn't think it had. I would love to play in the pacific theater also, I just didn't want to only play in a sim where I would be stuck to taking of and landing on carriers.

[ozkhan]

Hi LetsGoFaster,

1946 does have multiplayer, but I haven't had it up and running on Steam - when I clicked on Multiplayer it just took me to the Ubisoft - I think, from memory - website. However, I remember when I first installed it on an older PC (not the Steam version), it was a case of installing some additional software which then allowed me to join the online games - which are free.

The other HUGE advantage of 1946 is that it will run really well on older PCs, whereas Cliffs of Dover is pretty resource hungry, and needs a grunty machine.

Back to 1946, I'm currently flying for the RAAF (who else), flying in Papua New Guinea - this game has quite a good range of campaigns, letting you fly for quite a number of different countries.

All the best,

James

[letsgofaster]

wow, thanks. looks like I'll be getting 1946 in the near future then!

[cool7]

If you want to play 1946 multiplayer, download xfire or hyperlobby. These programs will give you a listing of all the servers they have available and what the settings are (full switch/limited switch) and how many people are online. Be prepared to be frustrated beyond belief. Just a little FYI there.