recommendations for career addons

[rufowler 2]

I'm looking for an addon that will put "game" into the FSX -- specifically something that allows for a career mode.  Any suggestions?

 

It seems like FsPassengers was (maybe still is?) the king of the hill for a while.  I tried out the demo version, and it does indeed look pretty cool & very robust, but it also seems to lack an automatic flight planning feature ... I think.  I also purchase Ideal Flight 10 kind of as an impulse-buy and in part because it seems like it would wraps a lot of different things into one addon: it auto-generates flight plans, randomizes weather, will let you park a plane and pickup where you left off, adds passengers & cargo, etc.  I like it in general, but the "career" aspect of the program is a little light, especially compared to FsPassengers.  Ah, if only I could combine the two!  (Perhaps it's possible?)

 

I missing any other good ones out there?  Maybe I just need to use FsPassegers in conjunction with another planing tool?  Maybe I just haven't played around with it enough yet?

 

(Fyi, I fly mostly GA aircraft in case that a difference.  Kinda feels like FsPassengers is gear more toward airliner careers.)

[kingm56 1,023]

You're missing two of the best:

 

fscaptain:

http://fscaptain.net/

 

Air Hauler (AH2 due out later this year)

review:  

http://www.justflight.com/product/air-hauler-download

[l3ubba 16]

There are these two as well.

 

HiFi X Pax

http://www.hifitechinc.com/products/x-pax

 

REX Latitude

http://www.realenvironmentxtreme.com/latitude.html

 

I remember seeing the REX Latitude when it was being developed and thought it looked pretty cool. I plan on giving it a try once I get back to my desktop.

 

EDIT: Actually it might have been REX SimAir that I was looking at, I can't remember. They both look pretty interesting though.

 

http://www.simairexperience.com/

Edited May 12, 2014 by l3ubba

[rufowler 2]

You're missing two of the best:

 

fscaptain:

http://fscaptain.net/

 

Air Hauler (AH2 due out later this year)

http://www.justflight.com/product/air-hauler-download

 

FS Captain looks very promising, indeed!  Just watched a youtube review of it and it's definitely in the running now.  Don't know why that didn't come across my radar earlier.

 

I had seen Air Hauler before but thought it might be more cargo-oriented and like the goal (as much as that's possible in a flight sim game) was to move up through the ranks and fly bigger airliner type of crafts ... which definitely isn't my goal as I really enjoy low & slow GA kind of planes.  But maybe I'll have another look at Air Hauler.  Thanks!  

 

There are these two as well.

 

HiFi X Pax

http://www.hifitechinc.com/products/x-pax

 

REX Latitude

http://www.realenvironmentxtreme.com/latitude.html

 

I remember seeing the REX Latitude when it was being developed and thought it looked pretty cool. I plan on giving it a try once I get back to my desktop.

 

EDIT: Actually it might have been REX SimAir that I was looking at, I can't remember. They both look pretty interesting though.

 

http://www.simairexperience.com/

 

I had seen some stuff posted about XPAX but it looked like it was a much less robust version of FsPassengers.  Not true perhaps?  I haven't seen/heard of the REX programs before; I always associated the company with weather-generating software Will definitely look into it.  Thanks.

[Mickel 42]

I used Air Hauler a lot when it first came out. I very rarely flew anything bigger than a King Air (apart from the J41) and did a lot in the A36 Bonanza. So it's what you make of it. It makes you fly to interesting places, which are sometimes a bit marginal in length, depending on your weight.

 

The novelty wore off in the end (or probably more accurately, other things took my interest), after a lot of hours of entertainment. I'm sure I'll be in for AH2.

 

Don't know if that helps...

 

Mike

[Bjoern 1,153]

FSPassengersX lacks the flight planning because it doesn't need it. Just start at an airport and enter the planned destination and, if you want to, the block time, and off you are. And that's all the passengers care about. Actual flight planning is the pilot's job and can be done with online tool like Route Finder, Simroutes or:

http://onlineflightplanner.no-ip.org/

[s0cks 116]

I find none are really that great for GA. Without a crew or first officer none of the added effects are used, and it's basically just a case of flying from one place to another and getting a report on how well you did.

 

FSCaptain doesn't do economics - so you can fly whatever plane whenever. You just have to be a good pilot.

FSPassangers requires you to make $$ so you'll have to slowly earn money to afford better planes.

FSEconomy is pretty cool for a free one too, but nothing added to the in-game experience as it's all controlled via the web portal.

 

I personally think you'll get more enjoyment out of it if you move up from GA to small airliners. Something with a crew and FO.

[rufowler 2]

Cool.  Thanks for all the input.  I might give the Air Hauler and FSCaptain demos a whirl, but I see what you mean about them being limited too.  I'm sure my preferences will change as I go further, but at the moment I really do just enjoy flying low & slow and feeling like I'm controlling an actual mechanical machine.  There's something about the big airliners that makes it seem, I dunno, even more removed from what it's simulating -- and we all already are pretty removed from it!    Thanks again.

[Portia911 9]

+1 Air Hauler. Gives a nice balance between structure and user options, so you can make it a fun 'game' or treat it as a serious freight-hauling sim. In any event there is certainly a clear 'career path', especially if you do some research and chose period and place appropriate aircraft for wherever you chose to set up your companies.

[s0cks 116]

Cool.  Thanks for all the input.  I might give the Air Hauler and FSCaptain demos a whirl, but I see what you mean about them being limited too.  I'm sure my preferences will change as I go further, but at the moment I really do just enjoy flying low & slow and feeling like I'm controlling an actual mechanical machine.  There's something about the big airliners that makes it seem, I dunno, even more removed from what it's simulating -- and we all already are pretty removed from it!    Thanks again.

 

I hear you. I'm the same, which is probably why I didn't get much enjoyment from these addons.

[Portia911 9]

As Mickel pointed out, there's nothing in AH that obliges you to fly 'big'. Plenty of folks use AH for bush-flying operations (usually in combination with ORBX PNW or Alaska regions). I've started a few companies with the A2A Piper Cub. It doesn't carry much, but AH will scale the freight jobs (and flight distances) to suit whatever planes you import - so if low and slow is your thing, AH will give you 'jobs' to match.

[rufowler 2]

As Mickel pointed out, there's nothing in AH that obliges you to fly 'big'. Plenty of folks use AH for bush-flying operations (usually in combination with ORBX PNW or Alaska regions). I've started a few companies with the A2A Piper Cub. It doesn't carry much, but AH will scale the freight jobs (and flight distances) to suit whatever planes you import - so if low and slow is your thing, AH will give you 'jobs' to match.

 

Huh, well this changes things then.  It's silly perhaps, but I would like to think I'm hauling people once in a while; I could probably get over it though is AH is a good career tool and allows you to stick to GA planes.  (FWIW, I have Orbx Global Base & Vector.  Next scenery purchases are going to be the FTX regions.  They looks so damn nice!)

 

Also, just curious: Besides the tools Bjoern mentioned (Route Finder & Simroutes): what do the rest of you use to plan your routes? This is all still pretty new to me, so I'm haven't purchased much yet and am open to suggestions. Thanks!

[Portia911 9]

 

Huh, well this changes things then.  It's silly perhaps, but I would like to think I'm hauling people once in a while; I could probably get over it though is AH is a good career tool and allows you to stick to GA planes.  (FWIW, I have Orbx Global Base & Vector.  Next scenery purchases are going to be the FTX regions.  They looks so damn nice!)

 

Also, just curious: Besides the tools Bjoern mentioned (Route Finder & Simroutes): what do the rest of you use to plan your routes? This is all still pretty new to me, so I'm haven't purchased much yet and am open to suggestions. Thanks!

 

I suppose if your aircraft of choice has passenger textures, you would still 'look' like you were hauling people regardless of the AH 'job description'. Harder to come by are planes with cargo textures (so when you look around inside you see boxes and packages and stuff). At the end of the day, it doesn't matter whether you're hauling cabbages, livestock or gold bullion - it's the weight of your load that matters.

 

Yep, FTX regions are great - especially with some of the earlier releases (like PNW) now available at reduced prices!

 

For flight planning - and especially suitable for GA flights - is the freeware 'Plan G'.  Available from tasoftware.co.uk

[rufowler 2]

Follow up question for you, Portia911 and Mickel ... or any other Air Hauler fans:

 

It looks like from most of the description I've read, AH requires you to pick a hub somewhere in the world.  That's fine, but I'd really like to get all around North and Central America.  I'm afraid that if I'm in career mode (which is apparently the most slow-going but also the most interesting) and since I'm primarily a small aircraft / GA flyer, it's going to keep me in one part of the world too much.  So if I pick, for example, KSFO (San Francisco) I'm going to be flying an awful lot in California and the west coast.

 

I guess my hesitation is that it appears that AH mainly has a hub-based system rather than a point-to-point system ... which would definitely be my preference.

 

Am I wrong in thinking the game operates this way?  Hope that makes sense.  Thanks!

[Mickel 42]

In short, yes, mostly. Not all flights radiate from your base. However... you can have a bunch of 'hubs', which makes it not as noticeable. And if you're concentrating on GA, they're cheap to maintain. And the easiest thing to do to keep the thing going is to hire yourself one AI pilot to keep the money coming in so you can do what you want.