I've had an itch to get back into real flight simming lately. Just discovered the awesome WoFF.

Simply put, how good is CoD in the grand scheme of flight simming? Is it the king?

The sim/game is great for single player offline user, you would need top of the line, state of the art PC to really enjoy Clod

It was released half finished but is now much better due to sterling work by Team Fusion. They are about to release a free update that will further improve things. After that they will release a paid for update that adds North Africa and some of the Med. I run CloD fine on an original i7 (overclocked) with 16gb of ram (you only really need 8) and an Nvidia 580 3gig. Clod doesn't have the best AI for offline (WoFF is king). CloD also has multiplayer.

CloD (Cliffs of Dover) still more what could have been what is really.

TF improved things a lot, but from SP perspective is important do notice that until now don't (edit - touch) the part of - radio commands, AI behavior, missions and campaign.

Now with official access game Source Code is promised look at this for TF 5.0 - payware add on expected for ~2018.

TF patch 4.312 add the Enlightened Florist "dynamic campaign" system, that sometimes is hampered by CloD engine remain bugs - in a given mission could happen nothing.

SP player need accept some compromises, like limited command over AI wingmam - basically formation, inverted logic in takeoff and landing request, is denied when runway is clear and authorized when runway is blocked, so ignore this and follow tower instructions (from high number AI (6, 4... to leader (e.g. player).

After AI decide disengage due group loss, damage, low fuel, ammo... they began ignore the player and don't react if attacked, this could by minimized in don't mission don't use "Normal Flight" waypoint but instead "Hunting", but mission makers don't know or ignore.

I have no problem in run CloD SP mission/campaign with most graphical details on maximum - minus grass, turned off due their boring limited bubble pop-up, with this >5 years old PC (far from "state of art"):

i53570 -3.4GHZ
8GB DDR-3
Nvidia GTX 970 4 GB
Onboard sound
HDD 7400RPM
Win10/64 Anniversary
1920x1080/60HZ

Ok, so it looks like maybe wait till the TF 5.0 paid upgrade...

I'm a stickler for good fm and good ai.

The FM is lesser quality than BOX/ROF (more on the rails feeling) and the AI is subpar even compared to BOX/ROF and they don't use the player's FM (the AI uses a UFO flight model.)

I would say COD is the worst if you're looking for a SP experience - there is very little content and COD has stayed alive through the ATAG MP server.

Yes true but grass stay turned ON with state of the art

There’s really no reason to wait for the patch, you can really enjoy this sim now...as a side note I fly the original game and my only real complaint is the radio commands being missing

Here's how I feel about Cliffs of Dover: for single-player combat I'd still rather play IL2: 1946, and for general flight simming I'd rather fly the A2A Spitfire in FSX (I don't have P3D). But Cliffs of Dover has some really great features too, like the dynamic shadows in the cockpit. I occasionally do some sightseeing in Cliffs of Dover but overall, even though the aircraft are so beautifully modelled, it doesn't really excite me much.

I have A2A Spitfire in FSX and agree that it is well worth buying. Having owned CloD since it was released I cannot imagine why anyone would not want to experience what it has to offer given the effort that TF has put into it. Just a couple of days ago I rummaged thru storage locker to find my old flight stick, throttle, pedals, TIR and fired up CloD once more. CloD May never be what I had once fantasized but I can see what Oleg was aiming toward and respect his effort.

Short answer is , Yes its good

Long, yes only because its cheep and it looks prety, because rest have problems:
Single player lacks at anything normal in it, AI dont work, commands to wingmans dont work, quick mission dont alow you to select your ammo and stuff, not many campaigns like other games, dinamic campaign is just simple placeholder with no story for player what so ever...
In multiplayer there is only one active server and its just low level furball with all airplanes on every map no historical envirament there, servers that had hstorical aim dont run anymore because of planty bugs in game not fixed long time so they switched to BoS or DCS. ACG has historical eventy every week or two for few houres, so only active 24/7 server is ATAG and it dosent even have mission makers any more so missions are few years old and they dont even have proper stats like BoS for example or even 1946 had.

But its only 10$ so you dont losse anything in trying it.

If you have money to spend i would go with BoS, looks better, SP is better and new carrer is coming soon, Coop is in plans, MP is with more players and more varaiti in server with better stats and missions that are constantly improving, you have somthing for everyone, and updates and fixes to game are coming there every few months, unlike in Clod every few years at best.

For many airplanes and maps and campaigns, but not so preaty or FM/DM advanced 1946 is still best.

I have only gone online once with CloD and that was long ago. I enjoy the ability to have windows onscreen that detail effects of bullet hits on player and enemy AC. Mission editor is relatively easy to use. Available commands for setup of flight sticks are comprehensive. AC start up procedures are fairly detailed, somewhat like the A2A Spitfire. “Feeling” of flight” is totally subjective in ANY flight sim and bears no relation to RL.

That's the worse part in play CloD - know that NEVER WILL BE what one can see that has started but not finished.



Mission Builder is really easy to use, but the only thing that one set in then is spawn aircraft, anything more require C+ script knowledge and deal with several script bugs.



In fact CloD aircraft startup is for most placeholder, the only thing really obligatory to do before hit the "magical E" is turn on fuel cock, the rest is just "what if" useless - well, unless for that "CloD complex engine startup" YT videos. :P

CloD is definitely a 'if only' game. When it was first announced I had fantasies of massive online wars over the Channel in the BoB, I could have spent the rest of my simming life in huge He111 formations battling the RAF on the way to bomb England.
Alas, it was not to be, in fact I think its failure decimated the online community at the time, most of the people, and squads that I knew just disappeared, and for all TF's sterling efforts, CloD will never reach its full potential.

Yep - the squad I was in fell apart after CLoD came out which was a shame. Think it was largely due to the fragmentation of the community, with some sticking to IL2 and others wanting to give CloD a go. But unfortunately CloD ready just didn't deliver after so many years of us hoping it would take things to the next level.

I'll definitely give it a go again, but I must say I miss the days of large squad training and fight nights...

Just to be clear, if the question is whether CloD is worth a buy, my answer is definitely “yes”. When released, CloD represented a landmark fiasco that marked the end of the Oleg “era”, however it is a “given” that there is no formula for a perfect flight sim. Probably the deeper you dive into the clockwork of a given sim the more critical you may become. If the implication is that TF is engaged in rearranging chairs on the deck of a ship already lying broken on the ocean floor, I have no way of disproving such a possibility, but if others buying CloD will help in any way to further TF’s efforts I hope that any interested simmers will choose to buy in. If TF 5.0 is ever released I will definitely buy. To my eye, CloD graphics have held up well so it is still pleasant to fly. I will readily admit that one draw of CloD is that it is not Eastern Front. I fear that once bogged down on the EF it might prove economically unfeasible to ever leave.

I agree. I look at Cliffs of Dover as an inexpensive sampler of several comparable 'state of the art' flight simulations including the "DCS WWII" series of modules and the ever-evolving P3D platform with select addons.