hello everyone,Lately I have been leaning toward a diffrent kind of flying to spruce things up. Not to say that i am putting fs9 aside, just something diffrent.I am looking for some military flying, Maybe some add-on that i am not aware of that I can get for my fs9 to change it up a little. If it is a lost cause is there any other platform I should consider, I would like a war game of sorts. I know of falcon 4.0, never tried it but was wondering if anyone has anything to say about it. Are there any other simulations i should be aware of, I also heard of IL or something like that rather, Any Idea on this program.I have tried combat flight simulator 3 but didnt really get interrested in it for some reason.All in all I guess what im asking is what would you recomend for some military flying, either it be for fs9 or a seperate program that i would need to purchase.Thanks

Falcon 4.0 is very immersive. But don't know if it works in Win7. There's a big manual, AI wingmen have questionable intelligence. I hear good things about Eagle Dynamics' Lock Up and they will release an A-10 sim.

Falcon 4.0 is very immersive. But don't know if it works in Win7. There's a big manual, AI wingmen have questionable intelligence. I hear good things about Eagle Dynamics' Lock Up and they will release an A-10 sim.

I feel Lock On is junk, compared to Falcon 4:Allied force or Falcon 4 with the Free Falcon modification. Lock On never seemed to pull me in, and the campaigns weren't interesting. Falcon's virtual battlefield is alive with ground and air AI over huge distances--there's always something going on.DCS Blackshark, IL2 1946, and Rise of Flight are the only combat sims I fly--though I own every combat sim released in the past 10 years. :(

Another vote for IL-2 1946 (or any version of IL-2 for that matter). It has the best flight dynamics of any sim. Simply awesome.....you can;t land a 747 at KBOS in a snow storm but it is a pleasure to fly in.

Falcon is very complex; you'll pretty much have to learn how to fly an F-16 properly and that includes operating its many weapons systems. If you can find an original printed Falcon 4 manual, that will help a lot, but if not, the pdf that comes with the updated more recent version will suffice. Either way, expect to be doing a lot of reading if you want to hit what you are shooting at or trying to drop bombs on. That said, as complex as it is, Falcon is without doubt the best combat flight sim for modern jets you will find and very rewarding when you do manage to learn it, as it is very much focused on 'doing things properly', and no sim has ever managed it as well as Falcon, it really has no equal in that respect. Falcon has a great dynamic campaign, and very nice multiplayer mode too, so if you want to fly with a buddy or two, you can do, and that is great fun. Note that you may need to use Hamachi to network it as some ISPs can be a bit fussy with it.If you have CFS3, then I would recommend taking a look at Over Flanders Fields, which is a payware WW1 mission add on for it, basically it turns it into a whole brand new WW1 air combat simulator, and if you want a realistic one of those, then Over Flanders Fields will certainly not disappoint you.Here's a vid I made with Over Flanders Fields: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPcbDxaZXbcFor more up to date graphics in WW1 sims, but not quite such a good campaign, Rise of Flight is worth a look. Here's a quick vid of that I made: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3dKprFuY5QGood old IL2 is still worth a look, especially the '1946' extended boxed set that has all the mission disks in it. A really good combat sim if you like WW2 fighters and bombers. Here's a vid I made with that which shows off the cockpit and graphics: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TAKr4kAGCMIf you prefer something a little less heavy, I would recommend taking a look at the various combat sims made by Third Wire, such as Wings over Vietnam, Wings over Europe, First Eagles etc. They are great fun and not very expensive either, as well as all being available via download.Here's a vid I made with Wings over Vietnam http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPI2z5von4sHere's a vid I made with First Eagles: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPcbDxaZXbcYou might also want out for one of several WW2 Battle of Britain sims. Here's a vid I made with a few of them in combination, mostly CFS3 and BoB2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aNdogtx1_UIf all that war gets too much, and you are looking for a tricky flying challenge, then I can recommend both Condor and Silnet Wings, which are gliding simulators. Staying up with no engine always makes flying a fun challenge. Here's a couple of videos of those two which I made. Both these sims have truly excellent flight modeling:Condor: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJnK6wgLjnESilent Wings: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V64FNviE4kgAnyway, there's some ideas for you - Al

Hello!Read your post, and thought I'd put my 2

Speaking of the original Falcon manual...I have the original 400+ page manual/maps/key bindings from Falcon 4 I got when I was --let's see, 12 minus 22-- 10 years old. It's a fun read and it really is incredible that the game's fidelity still more than holds up to today's sims.I think everyone has pointed out the few worthy combat sims out there. Good luck!

Thank you for all the replies.I am going to do some research on the programs that were mentioned, But i am leaning towards Falcon 4.0 allied forces as I am a massive systems simulation buff. The combat aspect of the game is just a bonus, so if it takes me a month to get to know some of the systems i guess it would be worth the cost, I just hope I dont get discouraged.

If you like aircraft systems and weapons systems realism, Falcon will be right up your street. But the nice thing about that is, you don't have to learn it all at once, for example, if you decide you like the idea of using the D variant of the AGM 65 Maverick missile, so you can track the heat signature of tanks and shoot at them, you can quite happily just read up about that specific version of the missile and the infra-red cockpit displays that relate to it, so it's not like you have to learn every system and weapon all at once.Despite many attempts by others to make modern jet sims to beat Falcon, it still hasn't happened, and Falcon is the best one by miles. You definitely won't be disappointed, but you won't be getting much sleep either LOL Watch out for those SAM launches!Al

You could try the DCS Blackshark but i know its a heli. Sure does not fly like one hehe. It only has one drawback and thats that it uses the Lock on graphics engine (which is awfull for such an advanced sim of a fantasic heli.)As far as systems modeling goes they wrote the book on this one and there is nothing the real Blackshark can do that this one cant. It also one I fly online sometimes and that seems to work ok.You can even mark targets and send the data to a wingman and it will show up on his moving map!! just like the real one.I know they are making a brand new graphics engine but it will take time. It will probly be after they get done with thier A10.PS on the Falcon4 I found its quite fun to take over charge of the battlefield campain and make your own stratagy. Some of the AI can be a bit dumb and will try to take out bridges into areas where your group units are going lol. Lots of fun though.

Falcon is great for systems..but if you get the itch for more 'stick and rudder' type flying, get yourself a copy of IL2-1946 (only about 10 bucks) and get the latest 2 patches and go online. Nothing comes close to releasing my adrenaline! Don't waste your time in single player.