I guess you are amassing your inventory of games ahead of time to play once you retire?

Why not? It actually is one of the most realistically plausible aspects of the entire movie, given the movie's basic premise.

I actually recorded it over the weekend and watched it for the first time since its initial release, along with my 28 year old son, yesterday (obviously his first time ever). I've also shown him several John Wayne movies (Hellfighters, Rio Bravo, McClintock, Big Jake, Green Berets, The Shootist, and True Grit, so far), the original Mechanic, The Dirty Dozen, the original Death Wish, Death Hunt, and many more movies in which story and character development/interaction took precedent over fast-paced action and big explosions (and in which nothing was computer generated). I've gotten very good at NOT revealing the "Oh, sh*t" moments.

About Top Gun: The answer to any question about the movie can be answered by a simple statement - "Because I was inverted."



I helped pull the prop off of one of them a few weeks ago and will have to help put it back on in a week or so. The Pilatus is many things, but pretty ain't one of them.

Indeed, it's one of two left with a straight gas motivator.

If you change your mind later about FD and have to pay full price, you'll only be out of $3.00.

Later this week I'll be starting a Fleet Defender thread on the Air Combat - General / Modern Era board. My interest in FD isn't despite its age, it's *because* of it, having an interest in late-DOS game development. In fact, I'm scheduling it as one of my daily studies, so I'll be 'playing' it regularly whether I feel like it or not. I also want, for the first time ever, to conquer a relatively complex flight sim on full difficulty and with using all available features. I was about to do this with SubWar 2050 as I'm further along, but now that I have the full FD Gold version, I'll stick with flight. Plus I like everything else about the game.

It was easily one of the best flight sims of its era, although the graphics are so crude that I thought it looked outdated even by the first time I played it in the late '90s.

We already had 3D graphics acceleration and the early versions of Direct X by the late 90's so "Fleet Defender" most definitely would have looked outdated by even that time.

I agree somewhat as it always seemed to me that they tried pushing texture mapping a bit too far with VGA graphics (320x200x256 [game devs usually didn't use 640x480x16, Mode X being closer to the former]). Except lately I've changed my mind about FD with its beautiful (for its day) differing time-of-day and weather atmospherics. I'm guessing that EF2000 was the pinnacle of late-DOS flight sim visuals, with SVGA graphics (640x400x256), a *huge* jump in screen resolution, even before SVGA was assumed 800x600.

EDIT: Oh, and EF2000 even had DOS 3Dfx/Rendition graphic options, although I never minded the Software visuals.

2nd EDIT: But what looked better than Fleet Defender in 1994?

Make that 1993 (first pic) but what you want of course is the Gold version (second pic) which came out on CD in 1994.

I cannot believe this stuff is still out there (and many issues mentioned seemed to have been fixed according to later build release notes)...
A PLAYER'S GUIDE TO FLEET DEFENDER
...also on CombatSim...
Fleet Defender

Fleet Defender: The F-14 Tomcat simulation.

A fantastic review read...
Comparison with F15 SE 3?

I'll save the rest for my FD thread.

I can't guarantee that my memory is 100% reliable on this but I seem to recall that Pacific Air War: 1942 by Microprose and Dawn Patrol by Rowan had considerably better looking graphics than Fleet Defender.

1942:PAW is going to be my next sim (purchased on Monday along with FD) so I'll make some comparisons. Never heard of Dawn Patrol, maybe a "new" pleasant surprise for a retro simmer?

It was a WWI sim made by a UK based developer. The graphics at the time were quite stunning for a flight sim.

Confirmed that what you're comparing is 320x200 (1993) to 640x480 (1994), a *huge* increase in resolution at the time! FD Gold added new content but not upgraded graphics.

I believe, given those limitations, that MicroProse couldn't have done a better job graphically with FD. That next jump in resolution would have been incredible considering what their artists had already accomplished, with maybe one more installment of Stealth Fighter using such an upgraded next generation 3D engine. Had that happened, and assuming that we would have had the option of flying the F-117 and fictional F-19 (as was later patched for F-19, I think), I would have been happy with MP's Stealth Fighter for life.

Dawn Patrol.
1942 PAW

You are absolutely right! Problem is retirement is around a decade away give or take depending on how many years my kids are in university. I hope I have a gaming rig that will play this ancient stuff when the time comes.

Yeah, had it been released even a few years later it would have made a huge difference in visuals.

I honestly though that Fleet Defender's graphics looked like something from a Commodore 64 game's title screen the first time I played it!

Jane's US Navy Fighters came out in 1994. My brother was in to Fleet Defender, I was in to US Navy Fighters and we used to argue about which was better or better looking. Of course I was right.

Welcome to the Black Sea.

damson made a thread about it some time back. A trip down memory lane

https://SimHQ.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/4252177/

Yeah, my mistake. I should have said 1993.

EDIT: With the possible exception of 1942: PAW (I haven't decided yet), Fleet Defender is IMO the best-ever looking 320x200 rez flight sim (w/3D real-time graphics). Are there any others beside PAW? I thought Evasive Action looked nice for being so simplistic (from the dev that made SubWar 2050 for MicroProse).

If by ancient you mean earlier Windows, then good luck (especially with any DRM). But if you mean DOS, I think you'll always be in luck as long as the OS you're using supports a DOS emulator like DOSBox.

Cockroaches, Twinkies and DOS programs will always be around, even after...

Eh... I love Fighters Anthology (the Gold version of those Paul Grace Jane's sims mentioned), but come on.

Let's put it this way... I've never had FA manuals scattered over my kitchen table wondering what the hell I've gotten myself in to?! FD is definitely more of a deeper study sim than FA, although they're both fun.

Now I want those games too! Old games are more fun than today shoot them shoot them shoot them nothing but shoot them games.