RoF sale. Worth getting it now!

[Ataros]

As I read one forum thread written by programmers and designers of IL-2, RoF and DCS on Russian forums some time ago I know that the flightsim industry is having its hardest times ever probably.

You know that the niche is small and just a handful of people work for these 3 companies and some work for 2 or 3 of them to make ends meet. Thus I like the idea to support all 3 sims to keep these talented people working on sims and not switch to FPS shooters or various Worms of Planes titles where they can earn more money with all their talents.

I hope some of you would share my attitude and invest in these people by trying all 3 sim series.

Now back to RoF. 1st time I tried RoF demo 1 year ago which was 1 year after its release and did not like it at all. It looked like an unfinished product with very strange design decisions to me both online and offline. 2nd time I downloaded a free version of the game about 3 weeks ago which is about 2 years after its initial release(!) and liked it a lot as it now looks like a polished and shining product which really delivers joy to a flightsimmer (with very tough learning curve however). I find myself flying about 50% in CoD and 50% RoF now depending on my mood. I like aircraft models and sounds of the game made with great love. FM is very advanced but has some issues as any sim. The only 2 things I am not satisfied are 1) ground scenery which looks too cartoonish to my personal taste at mid-low altitude as if it was made by a good artist but not a photographer but I hope "they are working on it" to make it look more appropriate for a sim. Anyway I do not usually have time for sightseeing neither in RoF nor in CoD as I fly online mostly. And 2nd issue is absence of server interface or built in scripting that would allow creation of dynamic online campaign even in the old original IL-2 ADW style (which is strange as 777/GT created ADW).

Usually one single-sitter costs $7.5 but they just introduced a tremendous sale offering them for $3 which is more than an opportunity till August 17th only.
http://riseofflight.com/en/store

I recommend getting at least 4 uber-aircraft if you do not like to spend much money and time on the game (Fokker DrI, Sopwith Camel, Fokker DVIIF, S.E.5a) for less then $12 (!). These are good to dominate dogfight. The 1st and 2nd aircrafts are not easy to master though. As a 2nd priority I would go for Albatros D.III, Sopwith Pup, Pfalz D.IIIa, Fokker DVII, Sopwith Triplane, Nieuport 17.C1, Sopwith Dolphin, Fokker D.VIII (poor attempt to place in order of priority ) that are in demand at full-real servers as well. Bristol F2B is the best and uber 2-seater if you like them. B'n'Z fans may wish to add Pfalz D.XII and Nieuport 28.C1 in addition to SPAD 13.C1 and Fokker D.VIIF. All these are my personal impressions of a newbie though. I hope veterans will give a better advice on the subject.

Anyway I think you all may wish at least download and try the play-for-free version with 2 flyable aircraft Albatros D.Va (t'n'b more or less) and SPAD 13.C1 (b'n'z mostly) just to get an idea how polished a product can be in 2 years after release which will hopefully give you enough patience for waiting for CloD improvements (this is not a 6 months or even 1 year endeavor). WWI is not my setting either but I must say if you like models details of CloD you would like RoF as well. Just do not go to the Newbie server online. It turns out it is easier to survive on a server without icons. Also be prepared to learn basics of flying and gunnery again. Maybe this unexpected difficulty have attracted me lol

I will definitely get DCS-A10 (hope it has an arcade mode ) as well as Battle for Moscow and Stalingrad and all other products from these 3 companies. Let's keep the sim industry alive! Only we can save it and its employees from Worms of Planes invasions and temptations.

Wow... too long post )))

PS. This is not RoF/CloD/DCS comparison thread, this is "Help the sim industry and RoF/CloD/DCS" thread. Moderators, I would like to ask you too remove all unbalanced black-and-white posts to the rants thread http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=25051 .