Decent flight sims

Are there any sims about that are a little less hardcore?

i.e where you can just start the game, whack the throttle to full and go off blowing stuff up?

I dont necessarily want to have to spend 3 hours going though pre-flight checks and learning ATC protocols ;)

Wings Over Vietnam and Wings Over Europe are pretty good for a blast. :D
With the difficulty turned up they are pretty tough too.

Simon/~Flibster
 
Whatvever happened to Microprose? I loved playing Gunship and F19 Stealth Fighter.........those were the days:)


I loved Gunship. I don't think I've actually played a sim for any great length of time since. This thread has sparked some interest, though.


What would be a good combat flight sim to get if I was looking to ease myself in gently? I don't want anything arcadey, but not something super hardcore.. at least not yet.
 
IL2 and turn down the realism options, although I'd always recommend leaving them all on so you don't learn bad habits :)
 
***, no-one else remember the awesomeness that is/was iMagic's iF22 Raptor 'Sim' from about 1997?

That had everything.... stealth, nasty russians, new kit (then) and a terrain system that loaded slower than your PC could run it, along with fuel calcs that allowed you to fly for about 4 hours solid, or 2.5 on full afterburner!
 
Which cheap joystick would you lads recommend for playing these games? I don't want to get anything too expensive because I just want to get a feel for it to see if I like it.

Edit

I ended up ordering the Saitek Cyborg Evo. Hopefully I don't experience the drifting issues!
 
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***, no-one else remember the awesomeness that is/was iMagic's iF22 Raptor 'Sim' from about 1997?

That had everything.... stealth, nasty russians, new kit (then) and a terrain system that loaded slower than your PC could run it, along with fuel calcs that allowed you to fly for about 4 hours solid, or 2.5 on full afterburner!


Hand up sir, I do!

I don't think I ever got into it quite as much as some of the others but it was a worthy simulation. Interestingly, I came across a seller on the 'bay selling it for US$0.99 plus postage a couple of months ago, which included the add on mission pack. Unfortunately although it installed, I couldn't get the sim to load on my hardware. May well have been a bootleg which probably explains it, but them some past glories I guess are just not destined to be relived.
 
It arrived today. Very nice bit of kit. I've just played LOMAC for the first time with it and :eek: I've been missing out on combat flight sims over the years! I can see multiplayer being amazing; very skill orientated.

I'm flying about in the A-something at the mo. I seem to be able to use all the weapons on-board except that sweet cannon on the nose. How do you use that?

Edit:

Never mind, seems "C" does the job :)
 
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It arrived today. Very nice bit of kit. I've just played LOMAC for the first time with it and :eek: I've been missing out on combat flight sims over the years! I can see multiplayer being amazing; very skill orientated.

I'm flying about in the A-something at the mo. I seem to be able to use all the weapons on-board except that sweet cannon on the nose. How do you use that?

Edit:

Never mind, seems "C" does the job :)
A-10 :D
 
Check out the Thirdwire/Wings Over.... series - They are a little sim-lite (generic radar operation) but the additional content from the online community is very strong with free terrains, campaigns, weapons & aircraft. Try Wings Over Vietnam (best of the series) or the more modern Wings over Europe:Cold War Gone Hot!
 
JetStrike.... :D
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ill get me coat :P
 
I have 1946 - I just couldn't get into it that easily. Too many keyboard commands just to take off and fly. I also had CFS3, it was fun (Typhoon strafing ship missions) but it is one ugly mother of a sim, even with today's hardware.
There was also DiD's Eurofighter - Ice breaker, that was an arcade version of EF2000/TAW with nicer graphics. It had potential to be another milestone but DiD were bought by Rage games and buckled under the management pressure to release an awful sim by DiD's usual standards.
As I said, if you want 1960-80's warfare of simple missile, gun and bombing action, try the Thirdwire products. I enjoy it for flying freeware Vulcan bombers and even fantasy F29 fighters in a fictional campaign.
Visit www.simhq.com for better info on popular sims.
 
All this talk of sims.... Has anyone got any recommendations for a decent stick? I'm keen on either the Avi8tor with dual throttle and fancy toggle switches, or the Saitek force feedback which looks sturdy and if you work with flight sims all day you know what's missing... My dog chewed the cable on my ancient MS Sidewinder Precision and my pc or laptop have no gameport/midi outputs (shame, as I also have a Suncom F15 throttle sitting on a shelf).
 
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