So I'm back to WWII flight sims, where do I go from here?
 

I used to play IL-2 back in the days (some 5-6 years ago) and had great fun playing Co-op and/or versus missions.

I almost never played pure dogfights and had most fun when playing with a group of like minded individuals trying to accomplish a mission.

So I want to get back into it, buying a new computer and all that and this time get myself a Track IR as well. Have seen a few videos of Cliffs of Dover and they look incredibly good. I got hooked again after playing Birds of Steel a little on the Xbox.

But I'm not sure what game I should try to play and in what form.

My options that I know of are:

• IL-2 1946 + Mods
  I've heard good thing s about HSFX and a game mode called SEOW.
• IL-2 CoD
  Looks good and seems to be great on this ATAG server.
• War Thunder
  Don't know, decided to include but I guess it's more arcade and kind of like World of Tanks
• Rise of Flight
  Looks good but I'm more of a WWII kind of guy

So what game am I missing, who has the great kind of online presence I would be looking for?
Should I join some kind of group to fly with an where would I find one?
Are people playing this cool sounding SEOW or is it too tricky?

Thanks in advance.

Welcome, to fly any of them (War thunder? don't know), you'll need a good computer and graphics card. For COD a really good computer and top line graphics card with 2gb ddr5 memory, and a steam account. Which is why some of us are still here and not there! Rise of flight also very good and free to download basic game. All benefit from Track ir, rudder pedals and throttle and a force feedback joystick. Some play all but I rarely have time for anything but IL2. I can also recommend the little known gliding simulator Condor which can also be flown online and against RL competition pilots of the gliding world. All highly addictive, but possibly cheaper than a bad booze habit. IL2 still the king in terms of aircraft and locations, even stock game will be very different than 5-6 years back and is much improved thanks to TD. Good luck!

Thanks, yes I'm gonna get a good computer.

Do you know what my best bet would be to get into flying co-op missions (against AI or humans) regularly instead of constant dogfight. Missions where there is a purpose (bomb x, protect those that are bombing x, intercept those that intend to bomb x etc.) and not just flying around trying to fight someone.

It seems that there is this ATAG server on CoD that includes missions and AI bomb missions as well.

I remember back in the days that IL-2 was full of groups that would fly together. SEOW and campaigns would be especially great.

For HSFX http://www.242sqn.com/phpBB2/

Where do you go from here?

I usually just crash.



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OK ok ok ok fine, stop throwing rotten vegetables. Welcome back to the world of wings! I've found that for my flight sim needs, IL-2 1946 and the few mods out there are pretty much all I need. Sure I have no less than 7 individual installations of the game on my PC, but it's a small price to pay for the variety it gives you. The 4.11.1 patch is outstanding and I'm really enjoying it, and the HSFX 6.0.1 mods really makes it that much more enjoyable. It doesn't have the depth or options that say DBW has, but it's still outstanding and a real credit to everyone who's put the work into it.

I do not like or recommend the other modern combat flight sims for various personal reasons.

I utterly hate steam and the control it takes away from the user, so CoD is out.

Rise of Flight is riddled with ridiculous always-online DRM and will nickle and dime you for aircraft.

LOMAC/FC2/Black Shark/A-10 and the other sims by that publisher all use a knockoff of Starforce that limits your activations per PC. For those of us who frequently change PCs and hardware, we are out of luck.


If you feel like spending some bucks on hardware, then I have an older Cougar HOTAS setup that is outstanding and worth every dollar I paid for it. CH Pro USB rudder pedals are solid, but a bit close together for my taste. TrackIR is also worth it's weight in gold, but you should make sure to get the ProClip as well. Not cheap, but the experience is amazing.

Yeah, I already have a Saitek X52 but I might get rudder pedals and/or force feedback ones later on.

But I'm still lost on how you play? Do you just drop on random servers and dogfight or are there places that set up missions, or any groups that fly regularly together?

OK m8 If you are looking for a full real DF server i would say Atag TS is a must . Most servers have ts ip on brief. If you are looking full real historical I would say 71st_ACG_COMBINED Has ai an real pilots that is aug 12th so what happened in real (the raids etc) is playing out on Server., so grab a mike join a server talk to the guys . join some squad forums . an figure out who you want to join as far as a clan go's all the guys are will welcome ya . CYA IN THE SKIES :grin:

Lots of groups out there. Feel free to check out the Battlefields 1, 2 and 3 servers on HyperLobby. One of those servers sometimes is reserved for a group we call the Dedicated Bomber Squad where they practice and take part in multi plane bomber formations. It's not high pressure or anything... just some fun times flying bombers. Or we've got the high action Battlefield1 server with relaxed settings but all of the maps are set up for historically oriented mission objectives. Fun times for sure.

Explore a bit if you're into the IL-2 1946 area. Lots of stuff to check out.

I would suggest that SEOW is what you're looking for if you've got the time to dedicate on a regular basis (x hours per week). To get the most out of it you will require a large(ish) group of individuals who have the technical knowledge to install all of the web server and database software and the also individuals who will plan out all the missions that are then flown in IL-2. You will unlikely be able to do this yourself unless you are quite tecnically minded.

So, I would suggest that you head over to the SEOW boards to check things out and find a squad that already has everything set up.

Where many campaigns are run: http://seowhq.net/seowhqforum/index.php
Sourceforge site for SEOW code: http://seow.sourceforge.net/
SEOW discussion boards: http://seowhq.net/seowforum/

If you're looking to join a squad I can recommend the guys (and gals) at =69.GIAP= (http://www.69giap.com/). I am not a member but have had significant dealings with them and their SEOW campaigns. I don't know what's required to get into the squad, but they are an exceptionally knowledgable group that will make you feel like a small (but happy!) fish in a big pond.

Good luck!

Birds of Steel
 

Try Birds Of Steel

I do own Birds of Steel on the Xbox360, it's a nice game considering it's a console but it lacks what I'm looking for. It's mostly dogfights and even if you can fly bombers and bomb in the battlefront mode it lacks the groups working together playing I had in the original IL-2.

I'm not seeking out games where I drop onto a server knowing no one jump into a bomber and fly away solo somewhere. I wan't to know some guys where we prepare a mission and go fly it together, as a group, working together.

You can know a few players and play on the dogfight servers together and help each other out occasionally but it's still mostly solo with friends.

Things seem to be different from when I played IL-2 back in the days. The forums where full of players like myself, there was a dedicated subforum for finding a group to play with. I came here expecting it to be the same but the lack of this kind of discussion scared me a little as I was thinking IL-2 wasn't like that anymore hence my first question on where to look for something like that.

I'm not asking about game recommendations here, I wan't to know what games/mods today currently have this kind of presence and I do know Birds of Steel doesn't.

I was inclined to think this as well, however I looked around the SEOW forums and I couldn't actually find good evidence that this was very active as other then a mod in progress. No forum there was dedicated to helping people finding groups that actually used this. Should I just post on the forums there asking about groups? Are there any places where groups actually advertise themselves trying to recruit new people?

Yes! Put your wants out there as many places as you can.

Here's a thread of a campaign starting up you could get into: http://seowhq.net/seowforum/viewtopi...9ea59ddd5#5669

Other than that you'll need to find a squad that does the activities you like to do on a regular basis. Most people posting in this forum belong to a squad or some such and have links in their signatures. Or check out the 69.GIAP! I know people in that squad that put a lot of energy into running SEOW campaigns on a near continuous basis. Express your interest in joining and start learning!

S!

+1 for the SEOW campaigns, they are the ultimate coop fun :) .. You usually have to go hunting for the SEOWs, as many squads run them without so much noise on seowhq forums. Our squad (Lentolaivue 34) is currently in action in a Korea SEOW run by the 69 GIAP.


For some lighter action I would recommend the War-Birds-FH server:
http://www.war-birds.com/

What is War-Birds? Well this page clears it:
http://forum.war-birds.com/index.php?action=page;id=9

Not a coop as such, but cooperation is elementary.