Microsoft Flight Simulator

[bobby7388]

FS2004 is a great sim for the winter months when outdoor activities are minimal.
I use to fly on-line at the http://vatsim.net network, atc was available at the major artcc centers, mostly at night when folks are at home to man the centers.
I remember the days of trying to land, boy!! flying the heavies was the most exciting, trying to land with a cross-wind was just plain dangerous.

There are many add-ons available for fs2004.
http://avsim.com
http://surclaro.com
http://simviation.com
These are all freeware
A good payware(for the intense simmer)site.
http://www.flight1.com
I use USAroads, (found my street), and ultimate traffic, this one adds air and ground traffic(aircraft), these add to the immersion of the sim.

For the really hardcore flight simmer, Lockon-modern air combat is awesome.
Fly the F-15, A-10, and the Russian SU's and Mig's.
This game is processor and graphics hungry so you would need a up-to-date system.
I use a saitek X-45 for my throttle and stick for both sims.

Man!!! if only I paid more attention to school work and not the girls.

[NedFlanders]

Originally posted by air of honesty
Got a nice joystick for Xmas. Any suggestions for a fun and uncomplicated 'shoot-em-up' with dogfights?

I'm not all that interested in setting carb heat and such, I just want to KILL something...

Try this one. http://www.pacific-fighters.com/en/il2.php This is by far the best WW2 flight sim I've played.
It is the first the the series and you can get it for cheap.
You can set it to simple physics and mechanical adjustments or you can set it to real and mess with prop pitch and fuel mixture.

They have so many mods for this game ( realistic skins for the planes , missions and other stuff )you can do alot.
Multi-player is great.

The newer versions of this game is even better .

If you can find "Jane's WWII Fighters " it is good and probably alot more simple , but the physics don't come close to IL-2. In IL-2 you can feel gravity.
Both games have beautiful graphics (again IL-2 is purtier).

http://pc.gamezone.com/gamesell/screens/s23176_7.htm

[air of honesty]

Thanks for the tip, Ned. Just what I was looking for. Checked it out and downloaded the trailer. Seriously impressed!

The others should thank you, as this will probably limit my time on the forums.

[jingoism]

If you really want to test yourself and dogfight with actual humans then I highly suggest:

http://www5.playnet.com/bv/wwiiol/index.jsp

This is a massively multiplayer online game where you can do just about anything, and the best part is you get to kill actual players instead of stupid AI!

Do you like to dogfight? Got that in spades!

Like to bomb? The game includes the ground war and you can bomb the tanks and infantry till your eyes bleed.

It's probably the single best war simulation ever made... feels pretty cool flying an aircraft from Dusseldorf ( as axis ) and bombing the living crap out of Brussels knowing that a bunch of guys are sitting behind their keyboards cursing.

MMMMmmmmm

[jagoff]

Oh no. Dont send him to that game. Sheesh. Took 4 yrs to get that game playable! I remember it took 9 hrs to get to the fight , then BAM! Crash. Or you can hear the friggin sound of a tank go on for miles and miles and never see it. Flat wide open fields without one bush to piss in. Or if you did find a bush "lets say to hide in" you would lay down, thinking, "Yeah, sweet spot". NOT!! The bust you see, isnt the same bush the bad guy sees. To him you look like some dumb ******* layin in a open field sayin Hey! Over here. Shoot me.

Take you 20 moves with the mouse just to turn around. Yeah great game..

[jingoism]

Your talking about the game at release as far as getting to the fight... nowadays you spawn at a mobile drop, or you can spawn directly in the enemy city if you have the spawnable depot. The new tanks are awesome ( PZIVG, Sherman ) and the new planes are pretty nifty as well ( FW190 and SpitIX ).

The only thing I can think you are referring to on the bushes is the radial clutter... if you try to hide behind the low grass or the tiny ground bushes they will see you since they can turn radial clutter off, but the large bushes and trees are definately seen by all.

Game has come a long way since release.

[ozone drone]

Originally posted by bobby7388
FS2004 is a great sim for the winter months when outdoor activities are minimal.
I use to fly on-line at the http://vatsim.net network, atc was available at the major artcc centers, mostly at night when folks are at home to man the centers.
I remember the days of trying to land, boy!! flying the heavies was the most exciting, trying to land with a cross-wind was just plain dangerous.

There are many add-ons available for fs2004.
http://avsim.com
http://surclaro.com
http://simviation.com
These are all freeware
A good payware(for the intense simmer)site.
http://www.flight1.com
I use USAroads, (found my street), and ultimate traffic, this one adds air and ground traffic(aircraft), these add to the immersion of the sim.

For the really hardcore flight simmer, Lockon-modern air combat is awesome.
Fly the F-15, A-10, and the Russian SU's and Mig's.
This game is processor and graphics hungry so you would need a up-to-date system.
I use a saitek X-45 for my throttle and stick for both sims.

Man!!! if only I paid more attention to school work and not the girls.

Thanks for the links ...lots to explore