What about when A2A first started? How long had they been around/how much had they delivered when you first started interacting with them?

Aside from some standout failures like Razbam who are active in FS but have done zip for DCS, many of these 3rd parties are brand new and can't have a track record. Doesn't seem fair to exclude them solely because they haven't been around a long time.



The Jedi Master

it was exactly five years ago ! we posted a review of the early version of the P-40

http://www.lockonfiles.com/forums/topic/6549-a2a-curtiss-p-40b-review/

Razbam they have been around for a good while , they are FSX veterans, I forget which add on they are working on, is it the Buckeye ?



you got me wrong, I have nothing against them, it is not a question of being around a long time.

Free time is scarce , I am about to start reviewing the VRS Super Bug and TACPACK, one chooses the friendly(ier) developers, it is only natural that is the way things are, it has nothing with how long they have been around.

I haven't ever purchased an A2A Accusim FSX product (I do own BoB2), but I still love their products and they way they conduct business. They don't release half-finished products nor do they collect any money for a product until the product is available for distribution. They are a far cry from the worst of the combat flight sim projects: Fighter Ops, who collected fees for access to developer forums, but never developed anything much more than a few screenshots. My only point in focusing on A2A is that even they are not perfect. In fact, in this one particular case of the F-4/F-104, they are almost as bad as VEAO.

VEAO says a lot of good things that I want to hear, but so did Fighter Ops. I do have a Hawk in hand, but I am of the general opinion that the most important aspect of a FLIGHT sim is FLIGHT. The simple flight model of LOMAC/Flaming Cliffs as implemented on the Hawk is of little interest to me. VEAO needs to back up their words with deeds: Hawk and P-40F with detailed/realistic EFMs comparable to the best DCS PFMs.

Well naturally if you're going to devote time to FSX addons as well as DCS then naturally you're going to have a lot more to cover!

That's why I if I had a time machine I would go back and prevent the MSFS series from ever starting and ensure only COMBAT flight sims were ever made. Too few resources and FS sucks them up!



The Jedi Master

Prepar3D made it an even better experience ...

many including me, has either P3D or FXS as its premier flight sim , nothing beats it in its ability to make you enjoy flight for the fun of doing it.

one of the side effects of all that has happened in DCS is that 100% of our LOF mods are P3D/FSX enthusiasts.

So you would ruin many folks hobby and enjoyment just to increase your own? Wow!

Off topic but is P3D worth it. Love you skins btw Tom.

you got me completely wrong - with the limited amount of time (an money) one has, it is important to have priorities, and you end up giving priority to those developers that are accessible and friendly.

and as far as helping other people enjoy their hobby - I guess I am contributing a lot for that

I wouldn't ruin it. I would prevent it from having ever happened to channel it in the direction that was preferable.

For instance, if I went back 30 years and prevented the Internet from being created would that "ruin" people's lives if they never had it to begin with?

Similarly, if I go back in time and prevent your parents from ever meeting, I'm not "killing" you by preventing your birth. You just never were.

You can't proceed from the assumption that everyone will KNOW it used to exist and suddenly it doesn't, that doesn't make sense.
Are you upset that you can no longer take vacations on the Moon? You used to be able to, the first lunar hotel opened in 1988 and had expanded in the following 20 years to be wildly popular and affordable for some, but I couldn't afford it so I went back to 1973 and convinced NASA to go the Space Shuttle route instead. We still haven't gone back to the Moon now and there's no crappy hotel that I couldn't afford to go to for the last 2 decades to taunt me.

See? You only have my word you ever could do it before, have I RUINED your travel plans?





The Jedi Master

At least now I know why my reservation was mysteriously cancelled.

It wasn't directed at you Tom. Like you, I am having a blast with P3D especially with the Milviz F4. I am so disappointed with the WW2 offerings that are available right now. From the disjointed DCS mess to the poorly designed BoS. The modern stuff DCS offers just doesn't appeal to me. There is zero continuity apart from the mig and sabre but those two have never really interested me. My main interest is the Vietnam war and with the various offering from multiple developers, I can fly the period aircraft over the proper terrain in P3D. I cannot see myself doing that, in my lifetime, with DCS. It's just never going to happen. There are some very good free flak effect, much better than the dcs flack effect by the way, for the ambiance plus the ability to set up Sam sites with tacpack. The F4 will be tacpacked plus it will have the ability to fly with a friend in the back seat. Also the constant updates from milviz, 2 in the past month for the F4, puts ed and their third parties to shame. I doubt ill ever buy another dcs module. It would have to be something special like an F4 or an F8 crusader.

Everyone is entitled to their own preferences. FSX and Tac Pack in its current state hasn't convinced me to purchase Tac Pack or any other FSX aircraft. I have had FSX for years and barely played it. A2A Simulations products are the only ones that have even tempted me, but buying a warbird modeled to the nth degree that can't even use its guns in a dogfight is of no value to me. If people enjoy flying sight seeing missions over modern Vietnam with simulated flak effects and rudimentary SAM modeling, more power to you.

I want either Vietnam and/or the Middle East maps that are period correct for 1972 Linebacker 2 or 1973 Yom Kippur with flyable F-4E vs flyable MiG-2MF. Only one sim even comes close to getting this right: SF2. Even with dumbed down "lite" avionics operation and missiles that are too effective, the overall feel and results are somewhat realistic. The principal limitations are the ugly terrain and and some limits placed on rendering in later patch levels of the game that affect how and when aircraft and terrain objects become visible.

I am not sure DCS World will ever deliver what I want, but if it does, the current game engine already exceeds SF2 in its ability to model that environment and DCS World 1.5/2 will be even better. The current DCS MiG-21bis already allows me to fight F-4s, F-5s, F-14s, F-15s, F-16s, and F/A-18s. So reasonable approximations of Middle East air combat from 1973-1982 are already possible from a MiG-21bis perspective.

While I am most interested in F-4 vs MiG-21 combat, I am fully enjoying all the other DCS options available: P-51 vs Fw190/BF109, F-86 vs MiG-15, F-15 vs Su-27/MiG-29. The UH-1 and Mi-8 are among the most fun flight models I have ever enjoyed in a PC sim! The absence of correct maps and ground objects for WW2 or Korea have not prevented me from having some great dogfights. I haven't even bothered to download some of the excellent mods available for texturing the existing terrain to look more like other areas such as Vietnam. I am much more interested in accurate modeling of aerodynamics, gun ballistics, and gunsight gyros. DCS has succeeded in these areas as well or better than any other sims I have played.

DCS World development is chaotic, painfully slow, and full of bugs, but for me it has already reached a critical mass where it is the only sim I fly on a daily basis. I still enjoy the diverse plane set of Aces High and Strike Fighters 2, but much prefer the detail and complexity of DCS.

Even if VEAO can only deliver a fraction of the aircraft it has planned, I will enjoy them as long as their quality is comparable to the DCS modules I already have. My principal problem with their Hawk has been the SFM. I never spent much time playing LOMAC/FC1/FC2 due to the SFM. If the Hawk's EFM works as well as the other DCS modules with PFM/EFM, then I will be quite happy with it.

As far as developer updates go, "what difference at this point does it make?" I only care about being able to purchase, download, and install a new release. Screenshots, announcements, and live streams are just teases to stir up market interest. If the product isn't going to be available for months or even years after such publicity, I doubt the marketing value of such information. If the product is released incomplete, indefinitely delayed, or ultimately cancelled, all the hype prior to the release is in fact destructive.

I don't think you did that. Because if you did, why is there still the Microsoft FS series?

Because the time machine, which was developed at the Buzz Aldrin research center (on the moon), no longer existed after making that first change.

Ah I see. So it was either Lunar Travel, or MSFS.

It was a hard choice, but I couldn't have both.



The Jedi Master