Free WW2 server-based sim

**Rick00** · 03-30-2011, 04:42 AM

Howdy folks.

I'm not one to join forums just to tell people about a single sim, but I figured this would be worthwhile.

I've recently found a free server/sim that seems to be based on Warbirds 2.77. I know a lot of us cut our teeth on this flight model many, many years ago and it's a real thrill to fly against real live human opponents again.

Its graphics are dated, the cockpits are bitmap, you can count the polys and particles without great difficulty... But in this guys opinion, it has one of the best flight models yet.

It's set up in a campaign-style system. You close airfields with bombers and fighter/bombers, then take them with troop transports. Pretty standard these days, but was revolutionary back in the day.

A rolling plane set is also in effect - everyone starts with early war planes, and as time passes, more advanced aircraft become available. Eventually, the cycle is reset.

The community seems nice enough, and apparently has been around quite awhile. Server traffic is weird. Some times I see masses of people flying, other times there's nobody. I'm gonna do a Conan here. Shrug, and say "'It's a free show, folks." Besides, if unmolested bombing is your thing, just log on late at night...

http://forum.wbfree.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=16
Good forum to ask any questions you may have. Plus, the login/pass is the same as the forum account. It's neat like that.

http://www.wbfree.net/
The homepage for the project, hopelessly out of date. Good for core downloads like the engine and extra art packs, but the client launcher is out of date, as is the IPs.

http://forum.wbfree.net/forums/showthread.php?t=35920
The second post contains the download link and new IP of server.

How the hell had I not heard of this until a few weeks ago?

**CessnaFlyer** · 03-30-2011, 08:45 AM

i used to fly with a few fighter/bomber squadrons online if thats what ya mean? but they closed down and are not in service any more. i lost a lot of good freinds when the sites closed down to

**Rick00** · 03-31-2011, 06:10 AM

Well, they shut down support for 2.77 a long time ago, but it seems like these guys revived it. From my perspective, makes it the greatest free game available. Not a whole lot of people know about it, which kinda stinks. I have run across some old names from the iEN days, which is neat.

A solid alternative that it seems that most switched to is Aces High. I dislike AH due to a lack of Rolling Plane Set. Yeah, you got a wide variety of planes, but why fly any of them? All planes are available all the time, so there's no real reason not to fly some late war monster, and leave the Spit III in the hangar.