Anyone into simulators IE: Aircraft or Armoured

[Sappo]

Must be some simulator nuts on here...

Anyone who is interested in armour simulators might want to check out this newly finished simulator:

Steel Beasts PRO (Personal Edition)

Basically it is a custom made simulator such that the U.S military uses for training its armor soldiers.

The new edition has gone gold, and will be shipping by the end of the month... check out these links for some photos and videos

http://www.steelbeasts.com/

http://www.esimgames.com/purchase.htm

Also note... the price tag of $125 (US).

I plan on placing my order sometime in the next month or two, you must be a dedicated simulator for this one folks


And you thought airsofters were dedicated... haha

Seriously though, as far as aircraft sims go what does everyone use? I like MS Flight Simulator for civil traffic (combined with VATSIM for the added bonus of 100's of real air traffic controllers and pilots around the world)  and switch over to Falcon 4.0 for military traffic.

 

[JBP]

I haven't found any good armour games for PC, the only aircraft sim game I play, and swear by, is the good ole' Jane's Fighters Anthology.

It's old and it most certainly has outdated graphics, but you can create amazingly detailed custom missions, it has accurate data and flight characteristics for aircraft and you can fly over 120+ aircraft from the past 3 generations of military aircraft and it also has 6 campaigns!

There simply hasn't been another flight sim made that scratches the surface of what this game offers... But like I said, it's old and the graphics are out-dated.

 

[Sappo]

Well you will find people who say that Jane's games are not all they're cracked up to be... most people consider Falcon 4.0 to be THE fighter sim (if a bit lopsided in what you get to fly)

As far as graphics go, it is top notch... realism is also right up there.

Many people perfer to download the virtual cockpit addons, so that the whole cockpit on screen is fully functional.

 

[Good2Golf]

Falcon 4 is it, and you can get some pretty good model of other aircraft....some of the guys have done a bang up job on a CF-18 model...but you hace to do a bit of patching through TacEdit.  More info at SimHG.com...

Cheers,
Duey

 

[Bograt]

Concur. Falcon 4 and its incarnations are the standard for modern fighter pc simulations. I have not flown (played) Allied Force (most recent packaged F4), but did spend a lot of time with Falcon 4 SP4, and RP5 (various patch versions).

I would strongly suggest investing in a stick/throttle combo either thrustmaster or Saitek. Once you are comfortable with the basics there are a lot of online virtual squadrons to play with- I used to fly with the 56th VFW.

www.simhq.com is a good website.

Cheers,

 

[JBP]

I'm glad this thread was started, because although as previously mentioned I'm an avid Janes guy, I always keep my eyes open for good flight sims. The graphics in that pic are pretty awesome, how old is Falcon 4.0 BTW? How much approx cost??? I wouldn't mind investing a few of my hard-earned weekend warrior dollars to a game like that if it's recieved such high praise from some fellow arm-chair aviators and real aviators who do it for a living! I think that's as good a recommendation I'll get.

Joe

 

[Good2Golf]

Joe, it's actually been around for some time...it's on support package 4 (SP4) with some other releases too.  It is a very mature product in the sim community....I like it better than helo sims because it is such a nice flying model and has such rich features.  A nice joystick with throttle quadrant is a must...I have a Logitech Wingman that does the trick.

Cheers,
Duey

 

[Bograt]

I believe you are only able to purchase the new Falcon 4 Allied Force in stores. The old F4 with 3 ring binder manual can be purchased on ebay. Then is the task of the numerous patches and add-ons. Simhq is probably where I would direct product specific questions. There is an extensive knowledge base there.

As an aside, I enjoyed playing Dangerous Waters while I was doing SLT. I got a lot of enjoyment locating, tracking and killing subs from my P-3. I'm sure the time could have been better spend learning imparfait.

 

[Good2Golf]

...I'm sure the time could have been better spend learning imparfait.

Bograt, don't you mean "I'm sure my time would be (conditional) better spent if I was trying (imperfect) to learn imparfait?  Don't forget the Quand-des que rule! LOL

Cheers,
Duey

 

[Bograt]

Judging from my previous post, it appears that the language profilers were correct- I do not have an aptitude for learning languages- that would include English.

Sir, I'm sure there are other more senior junior officers you could pick on. I mean Inch is always available, just ask him about the last mess dinner.

Enjoying your posts sir.

 

[Kiltmann]

Oh, heck yes! I am into Flight Simulator BIG TIME.

Right now, in the virtual flight world, I have summed up over 12,200 hours over 4 flight simulators. I earned my ATP flight certificate, and, courtesy of some third-party help, got my 727-100/200, 737-200, 737NG, 747-100/200/400, 757/767, DC-8, DC-9, MD-11 and B1900D certification/endorsements.

Right now, I am 'employed' by Pacific Airways Virtual Airlines, in possession of a hefty 19 hours after joining them 5 days ago, and I am quite avid when it comes to short-range and long-range flying.

I also own Jane's Fighters Anthology, but I prefer civilian over military flying. More satisfactory for me, and gives me time to do my homework while cruising at 39,000 feet.

OK, now I'm done.

Nick

 

[ZipperHead]

In terms of sims (vs games) for the ground troops, there is SB2 PE (I have a demo copy of the Pro version at work ..... we are trialling games and sims for training), which as mentioned is very new (I wasn't even aware it was out yet...) and VBS1, which, IMO, is extremely good from a dismounted soldier point of view (the mounted stuff doesn't compare to the SB stuff (especially in terms of gunnery) but they are working on it for the next incarnation, VBS2 to be released later this year). I have a trial version of VBS1 (again, work related) and it is stellar, in terms of what you can do. Here is the link for the official site: http://www.virtualbattlespace.com/. Check out the screenshots page. Look here for the USArmy mod screens: http://www.virtualbattlespace2.com/usarmy/index_main.htm You may want to be wealthy to buy the whole shooting match (it comes in modules), as it runs upwards of $800 for everything 

The key thing to note here is the fact that these are for training, vs entertainment (think Battlefield2). So the market is greatly reduced, but as mentioned, people who are serious about this stuff are willing to spend the coin. There are civilians who have bought the VBS1 suite, and the sim itself is based on Operation: Flashpoint, so there is a large mod community, so some of the things you can get for it are actually free (though of lesser quality, in some cases). I drool everytime I flash it up and play with it, knowing that I am getting paid to "play games". We call it a "synthetic training environment" just to try to take the game stigma away from it.

If anyone is seriously interested in VBS1, give me a PM and I can give you links to the various sites.

Al

 

[Sappo]

Good call on VBS1, its a heavily upgraded version of OFP for anyone who was wondering... modified for pure training simulation.

Anyone who is curious do a google search for the Steel Beasts demo... play the M1 training missions and tell me it isnt 'in depth'

 

[Slim]

Steel Beasts PRO (Personal Edition)

I have prepaid for my copy and am awaiting delivery!

 

[Sappo]

Real pretty isnt it Slim?

Wanna "loan" me the cash for a copy myself?

I promise you'll get it back! (in the form of a sabot round perhaps)

 

[Slim]

Real pretty isnt it Slim?

Wanna "loan" me the cash for a copy myself?

I promise you'll get it back! (in the form of a sabot round perhaps)

Wow...Not sure if your being friendly, sarcastic or what...

I am an armoured simulator buff and the first version of steel beasts is excellent! just like being back in the Lawfield corredor again!

 

[Bert]

In Joint Operations:Escalation (JO:E), one can fly various rotary aircraft.  One such helicopter is the
CH-47D Chinook.  I don't want to tell Duey this, but I've scratched, packed, banged, abandoned, drove
into, crashed, blown up, shot at, and obliterated out of the sky so many CH-47Ds.  I've piloted them
into the zone, flown them into mountains, into trees, into the ocean, into buildings, ontop on buildings,
carried packages, and jumped out (with and without parachutes), deployed on airfields, in jungles,
forests, and deserts.  Quite literally it is an amazing aircraft however tends to be big lumbering target
everytime I get in it or get stuck in one with a a noob pilot that flies it into the side of a mountain.

I still have and play Secret Weapons of the Luffewaffe (SWOTL) and Chuck Yeager's Air Combat.  They
are dated, but great fun even today.  I mastered the SWOTL B-17.

 

[Good2Golf]

Bert, I'll have to give it a try! 

Last time I was at the 47 Sim in Ft Campbell (where 447 and 450 Sqns did our refresher sim trg), the sim operator was just shaking his head....during slinging, I managed to pile a HEMMT on top of fuel bladders on top of a Blackhawk (with rotors turning)....I think the physical space constraint model was a tad rudimentary, probably an "entity extent rectangle"...hence why I was able to pile them up.  There is (or was) a bridge in the sim that guys would try to get the speed record flying under....you had to come at it with an inverse parabolic descent and there was not much clearance either vertically or horizontally...literally feet on either side.  On the same sim run as the "tinker-toy stacking", my buddy and I tied the record...245 KIAS, IIRC.  Problem was the SAS (stability augmentation system) would disengage above 190 kts, and so you had to keep the arse end from swapping around (which aerodynamically, a Chinook wants to do at higher speeds).

I'll definitely have to check out JO:E...

Cheers,
Duey

 

[SeaKingTacco]

Right now, in the virtual flight world, I have summed up over 12,200 hours over 4 flight simulators. I earned my ATP flight certificate, and, courtesy of some third-party help, got my 727-100/200, 737-200, 737NG, 747-100/200/400, 757/767, DC-8, DC-9, MD-11 and B1900D certification/endorsements.

Let me get this straight... a 15 year old has spent the equivalent of 508 DAYS in a synthetic environment?  Dude- you have got to get outside more...

 

[DG-41]

Confirmation on the Steel Beasts board today that Steel Beasts Pro PE will have (eventually) height and terrain maps for Gagetown, Wainwright, Shiloh, and others.

They have somebody working on them as we speak.

DG