Oops...poor wording on previous page.

I wasn't pretending to be Mower, just reminiscing about FW and remembering how much I enjoyed his posts. Apologies for the confusion.

jeez

Thats some wad of frubles LOL

Now the memories come flooding back...

Great post.

This thread should be a sticky.

#%&*$# amazing times

Falconeers 4ever.

Hello any and all;
Logged into here for the first time in many years, somehow remembered my info. What a great thread. Recently retired so getting back into flying BIG TIME. Finally, have the time. Done more in the winter vs summer though. Got a new pc, waiting on a new HOTAS, and have AF and BMS loaded and exploring. DBond, you still around ?

I've been seen around these parts on occasion, yes

Is that John P, as in Pancoast? Hangs about Subsim?

Welcome back.

Yep, one and the same. Thanks for the welcome back.

Anyone still flying here ?

I haven't flown Falcon in some time. A recent trip down memory lane, reading the AARs from our SimHQ online campaigns, made me nostalgic for it and gave me the itch. One of the most recent posts in the campaign thread has the links if interested.

The only flying I've been doing is in Elite Dangerous, although I have my eye on the Apache in DCS.

Thanks DBond. Boy, I am *years* out of the loop. But then I was in subsims too. Some great threads you have here DB, outstanding reading, tips, etc.

Thanks much.

I think Schnidrman still flies, of the guys here who flew regularly. I've basically been out since 4.34. Just moved on to other stuff, but history repeats and I could come round again. I bought a set of Crosswinds and these are the first pedals I've owned that weren't crap, and it makes me want to try them in Falcon, even if you don't really need pedals in Falcon aside from taxi.

Those crosswinds look incredible. If you ever get the Falcon itch again feel free to look me up, though I'm more of a winter time simmer.

Yes I will. I have a great time flying Falcon multi. As long as it's the campaign

Yes the Crosswinds are amazing. So tight and smooth. They had better be for that sort of money. But after twenty years of using crap it was time to take that sort of plunge and I don't regret it a bit. I figured I've dropped $1000 on one Cougar, half that again on a backup, plus Track IR, so I'm in to it for nearly two grand, so what's another 400 on top shelf pedals, ya know? I can afford it and they are light years beyond the CH Pro and Thrustmaster Elite-level pedals I had used.

I like them so much I've been thinking of expanding my simset with a new prop sim and a helo sim, two genres where rudder pedals are required, and give them a proper workout. They're nice in Elite, but not really needed. Would be the same with Falcon, which I flew for years with no pedals hooked up at all and never missed a beat. Fly by wire makes pedals less necessary.

The Crosswinds are high quality, very well made, have toe brakes and are adjustable and moddable. Not recommending them necessarily due to the price, but for anyone who wants top pedals they can't go wrong with Crosswinds.

Oh yeah; campaign for sure. Yes, flight sim gear is for sure an area where one gets what they pay for and quality has a price. I'm starting from scratch again so been spending my fair share too.

Yeah, Falcon's a serious sim for serious dudes who need serious gear. That costs serious money.

What stick are you going with? If I didn't have the Cougars, or if they both went tits up I'd look at either the Warthog or Virpil I think.

I'm still partial to the CH Products stuff. I looked at Winwing, Virpil, and VKB and will get something there eventually. But the darn CH stuff never wears out ! I also live in a town that has a factory/business that still has CH gear and potentiometers in stock, so it makes that side of things easy.

[quote=DBond]Yeah, Falcon's a serious sim for serious dudes who need serious gear. That costs serious money.


Very expensive for the younger dudes that want to see what its like to be a Fighter pilot in these amazing aircraft.

Yes ive put a LOT of dosh into the genre but it has become a world of money sadly.

What use of the hardware when the software companies cant "OR PREFER NOT" to keep up with it.

RTX my butt and the prices are a dam disgrace...

These dam companies will KILL the flight sim generation as the kids will refuse or dont have the dosh to get into it...

Love my Tir and pedals an all the dam rest that goes with it but thats the way its all gone.

The younger dudes buy into the software and thats just the way it is?

Flew Aliied Force and many sims years ago just like all u guys But now u need a 2000 euro rig before we even get to invest in the software itself???

This is why the flight sim generation will never be the same.

Sry for the rant but it has to be said.

Let me disagree on the money part, Falcon BMS is one of the most affordable flight sims out there.
Yep, you can shell thousands on the gear/pit but BMS can also be enjoyed on quite basic PC. Let's say 12th gen i3 + 16GB DDR4 mem, 1060-1070 class GPU, 1080p 24-27" display, X52 HOTAS and el cheapo FreeTrack-like setup.
That'd be less than a half of what DCS/MSFS 2020/X-Plane rig would cost.
In fact only aspect where investing more money would return much better experience is game controllers.

No, you need to drop a couple grand or you're just not trying hard enough!

Just joking, but the quoted bit was tongue in cheek too.

Whatever gets the job done is good with me.

Sorry kinda missed the humor dumb me.

Anyways we all know it always starts with let's build simple cheap machine for gaming/simming, ending as multi-grand mega-monster PC + home made pit
BTW it seems ina about 1 to 1.5 year from now all falconeers are gonna need to beef up their systems. At least the good news is next-gen mid-range systems (although a bit more pricey than usual) are gonna be insanely powerful (both next-gen CPUs and GPUs).
Still my estimate is, it's gonna be like 1.5-2 grands USD for such a rig.

I was just having fun justifying the absurd expense some of us spend on this hobby.

I've just gone and done it again with a racing set up.

My Cougar was $300 in 2002. I had it a month or two before I sent it off to Cali to have the Evenstrain mod installed. That's another $700, so we're in to it for a grand. Crosswind pedals are $400 and track IR is $150. I added a back up Cougar (Uber NXT mod) for another $350, so not counting the thousands I've spent on stuff I no longer use that's a cool $1900 not counting the actual PC, headset and more!

Offsetting that seemingly absurd investment is the fact that the stick I'm using is superb, perfect for me and is going in to it's 20th year of service. That's outstanding.

Yep good quality HOTAS comes at hefty price. I've got myself Cougar+Wartog base+TUSBA+ Logitech rudders converted to standalone unit with LeoBodnars board.
Once I'll get my rig sorted you I think I'm gonna look for force sensing base.