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»	COMBATSIM.COM ARCHIVE FORUM » Game Discussions (Genre) » Jets » Buying my first CFS. Which?

Author

Topic: Buying my first CFS. Which?

Simon
unregistered

posted 01-26-2000 12:25 PM

Lately I have become interested in the idea of taking of in a military airplane. Which game should I buy? I love nice graphics and the games should have som kinde of neewbee-friendliness as I know jack-s**t about flying.

Thanx for your help!

Simon

IP: Logged

Omen
Member
Member # 610

posted 01-26-2000 05:12 PM

I have a few suggestions. Jane's F-15 is a good sim, having good graphics and a simple-mode for flight controls so you don't actually have to learn to fly the aircraft and perform every single function. Novalogic produces good sims too, and I think F-22 Lightning 3 is the best one. It has excellent graphics and very simple controls, which can be memorized in about half an hour of play. For that matter, Novalogic also has two other sims out, MiG-29 and F-16. Both are excellent sims. I believe Jane's USAF also has a simplified-control mode built in, and it has wicked graphics that rival even the much-acclaimed Falcon 4.0. Hope this helps.

Posts: 36 | From: | Registered: Oct 1999 | IP: Logged

Major Tom
Member
Member # 1256

posted 01-26-2000 05:46 PM

I'd recommend you get MiG Alley. It is a very scaleable simulation. You can fly it your way. Very fluid simulation. The flight model can be as easy or brutal as you want it to be. Wide range of difficulty settings.

Best one I've seen in years. MiG Alley doesn't dissapoint either the newbie or the veteran simmer.

Posts: 1352 | From: Prescott, AZ | Registered: Dec 1999 | IP: Logged

jk
Member
Member # 2216

posted 01-26-2000 05:49 PM

i would suggest Jane's USAF it is easy to learn and has good training. It also would have great frame rates on your computer.

Posts: 89 | From: | Registered: Jan 2000 | IP: Logged

Envelope
Member
Member # 275

posted 01-26-2000 07:38 PM

Part of the satisfaction of getting a sim is seeing it run on your system, so you should take into account what kind of hardware you have. I was shocked to learn that Falcon 4 would not run on my small monitor. It was painful to crash so many times in Janes F-15 but it was real exciting to see it come up on my wimpy 266 Celeron 32MB memory machine. Really, you should resign yourself to the frustration of learning, else why go with the flight sim in the first place? Ya gotta learn somewhere bunkie, why put it off? Janes F-15 is what you need if you have a low and slow computer.

Basically the problem in training in the F-15 is the loadout is way too heavy for beginning take-offs and landings. Make an empty loadout for training purposes outside of A/A and A/G.

Posts: 2057 | From: Davis, CA, USA | Registered: Sep 1999 | IP: Logged

oddball
Member
Member # 2498

posted 01-26-2000 10:09 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Simon:
Lately I have become interested in the idea of taking of in a military airplane. Which game should I buy? I love nice graphics and the games should have som kinde of neewbee-friendliness as I know jack-s**t about flying.
Thanx for your help!
Simon

Posts: 3 | From: Thunder Bay Ontario Canada | Registered: Jan 2000 | IP: Logged

oddball
Member
Member # 2498

posted 01-26-2000 10:22 PM

Simon. I would recommend you buy Janes USAF.
It is not overly complex as far as learning curves go and the graphics are the most beautiful out there at the moment. It makes for a great entry level sim and is fun for experienced pilots to.

Posts: 3 | From: Thunder Bay Ontario Canada | Registered: Jan 2000 | IP: Logged

Judge
Member
Member # 1634

posted 01-26-2000 10:44 PM

Simon,
I know this is posted in the Jets forum, so presumably you are primarily interested in modern day jet fighters. However, it may be better for a newcomer to flight sims such as yourself to consider a prop sim (ie WWI or WWII) instead. The dynamics of flight are essentially the same, but you don't have to worry about detailed avionics, weapons and radar modes. In addition, the thrill of close quarter dogfighting is, in my opinion, much more interesting that beyond visual range missile fights.
S.

Posts: 440 | From: Vancouver, BC, Canada | Registered: Dec 1999 | IP: Logged

Fubar
Member
Member # 1715

posted 01-29-2000 11:21 AM

Forget WWII. Get Janes USAF. You can fly 8 planes, it has the best graphics out there, and has campaigns ranging from Vietnam to future Germany. It is the best newbie sim out there.

Posts: 151 | From: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada | Registered: Jan 2000 | IP: Logged

Islandguy
unregistered

posted 01-30-2000 03:17 PM

If your'e looking for a lot of fun, easy play, a huge variety of aircraft,a wealth of missions and campaigns, my favorite is "Jane's Fighter Anthology". It runs well on older systems (P166 w/3D accelerator card)has pretty decent graphics, and you can build your own custom missions. The price is right too - you should be able to find a copy for less than $15.00. Whichever one you choose have fun and welcome to the world of aircombat sims!

IP: Logged

JayP
Member
Member # 858

posted 01-30-2000 04:27 PM

Jane's Fighters Anthology doesn't use 3D acceleration, so it tends to run poorly on low-spec machines. It's a fun game, but if you have a higher-spec machine, you would probably want to run something more recent with better graphics.

[This message has been edited by JayP (edited 01-30-2000).]

Posts: 531 | From: | Registered: Nov 1999 | IP: Logged

ral
Member
Member # 2748

posted 01-30-2000 06:37 PM

Since you posted your query on the jets message board, I guess you want a jet sim. Jane's USAF would be a good start, you get to fly a wide variety of planes (8), from fighters to ground atack aircraft. Also it has narrated training missions to teach you the basics of flight (take-off, landing ...etc) as well as air combat.

One caveat though, it requires some serious hardware to get it to run well. The manufacturers recommended specs are Pentium II 350, 64 MB SDRAM and a 16 MB graphic accelerator. I would say this are more like the minimum unless you like flying in pixel soup.

If you find the hardware requirements a bit steep, try Mig Alley instead. Frankly, Mig Alley is the better of the two sims. But I think a beginer would like Jane's USAF better. While Mig Alley doesnt offer you narrated training missions, the aircraft and weapons are simpler so you should not find it oo hard to learn. The graphics though are just average.

Posts: 868 | From: Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines | Registered: Jan 2000 | IP: Logged

Jason
Member
Member # 1545

posted 01-30-2000 06:47 PM

Simon,
Get F-15. It wasn't my first sim, but my first real sim. I have F-22 lighting 2, it wasn't real enough. Also, I'm flying this on a 333 celeron with 96 megs of ram and i think 4 meg video card(which i am going to reaplace) and it runs great. My only gripes are watching explosions using the weapon view, the screen rate really slows down it also seems a little choppy when fast, low, and jinking(thanks to my vid card)so, i would recommend it. the take-offs are easy, it's landing with the patch is hard, i still mess up a lot with it, i've had the patch for a week or two now

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_________________________
don't listen to the bitchin' betty

Posts: 220 | From: | Registered: Dec 1999 | IP: Logged

Slingshot
Member
Member # 1572

posted 01-30-2000 08:39 PM

Nah, introduce him to cfsim with USAF first.

I think F-15 with its detailed avionics will undoubtedly daunt a newbie. Besides, USAF has better graphics, more planes to try and there's no no need for extreme realism for the first time.

Posts: 94 | From: NYC | Registered: Dec 1999 | IP: Logged

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