Vox ATC - A Casual Simmers Perspective

[Guest JKTX]

I have played with VOX ATC for a few weeks now - I really wanted RC but kept waiting for V5 - knowing my luck, I would buy V4 and then V5 would come right out - oh well, water under the bridge. Anyway, I researched what I could before spending the $$ and looked around this forum some (long time AVSIM lurker), and thought adding some comments may (or may not) help those looking for this. I am a very casual simmer primarily because I have limited time to spend on leisure activities. FS ATC has always driven me nuts, and really has detracted from the experience. 1 -I really appreciated the fact that you can try before you buy - that way, you know exactly what you are getting in to. 2 - if you are contemplating on buying this, be prepared to do voice recognition or buy the version with voice packs. I don't have a mic, not sure if I will get one - never have been big into talking to the computer, and having one voice (MS Anna) sucks - I did get the version with voices. 3 - No more phonetics - at least I haven't experienced it yet with my limited game play. I really like how the program says the full name of the airport! 4 - Voices - it is hard to get the settings right so that you hear the program's voices loud enough - you have to tweak the settings for a while and even then, it is inconsistent. But, it is still better than FS ATC. 5 - Departure - I think it is a little weak in the routing - though I haven't been successful in setting up a SID/STAR yet so that is probably my fault. As soon as you depart, it tells you to fly flight plan. It is also annoying to hear the tower (I think) to tell the departing virtual AC to fly direct to their destination (even though that can be thousands of miles away). None of the incessant handing off that FS ATC used to do. 6 - Arrival - so far, pretty good - I have flown some standard flights that I like to do to see how it compares to MS ATC - no comparison - no insane hand off's and aimless routing - so far, this has taken me into the airports following a logical flight path (my casual simming shows through)7 - Other stuff - I like the taxi guidance (green lights) - much better than MS. I like the additional virtual traffic though you need to turn it down on FS or you will have way too much traffic - I found medium keeps the ground stuff but reduces the overall air traffic. I suspect most folks who buy this will be more serious about simming than I am - I just want to be able to thoroughly enjoy it when I can sim and thought this would be a good purchase. This program has quirks, but I am OK with them - I didn't expect perfection. Hope this helps someone. .

[mhlarsen 2]

4 - Voices - it is hard to get the settings right so that you hear the program's voices loud enough - you have to tweak the settings for a while and even then, it is inconsistent. But, it is still better than FS ATC.

I can really recommend getting a USB headset as this takes care of above problem and adds some reality as well.

5 - Departure - I think it is a little weak in the routing - though I haven't been successful in setting up a SID/STAR yet so that is probably my fault. As soon as you depart, it tells you to fly flight plan. It is also annoying to hear the tower (I think) to tell the departing virtual AC to fly direct to their destination (even though that can be thousands of miles away). None of the incessant handing off that FS ATC used to do.

The ability to set up a SID/STAR is really one of VoxATC's strongest features as it makes your flight much more realistic. As for virtual AC routing, I think it demands quite a bit of extra programming (if possible at all) to assign SID/STAR to them as well.Another great feature is the FO, who can take over comms when you are too busy.VoxATC still has room for improvement, but I never fly without it anymore :(

[Guest JKTX]

I finally figured out how to use SID/STAR - took some research to figure it out but amazing - I know a lot of it is built into FSX but I never tried it before (after all, I am still a casual simmer). I really can't say enough about how this has improved the experience of flying - AI traffic is great - even the enroute traffic is way better than fsx. And the program is really good with approaches. I highly recommend it.