I think I am starting to become bored of FS2004. I havn't really flown it in like 2 weeks now. For a change of pace I figured I would try a good World War 2 combat sim. Can anyone recomend a good one? I used to fly European Air War and Janes WWII Fighters, but they are a bit dated now.

CFS3.Kurt "Yoda" Kalbfleischwww.simulomundusrex.blogspot.com

>I think I am starting to become bored of FS2004. I havn't>really flown it in like 2 weeks now. For a change of pace I>figured I would try a good World War 2 combat sim. Can anyone>recomend a good one? I used to fly European Air War and Janes>WWII Fighters, but they are a bit dated now.Hi,The best WW2 sim for a long time was Janes WWII Fighters. Then came Il2 - Sturmovik! And with that combat sim, the whole WW2 sim chapter was complete.;-)So whatever you do,..get Il2-Sturmovik immediately!http://www.pacific-fighters.com/en/il2_fb.phphttp://www.scandicair.com/images/Banner_ariane_4.jpg

>The best WW2 sim for a long time was Janes WWII Fighters.I know! That was my favorite combat sim. Do you think it would still run on Win XP? I still have the cd for it. (I doubt it would work but it doesn't hurt to ask)I would try a modern combat sim but I think it would get to complicated for me with all the different weapon systems I would have to deal with.

I will look into Il2-Sturmovik. Until then maybe I will download combat planes for FS2004. I know I wouldn't be able to shoot anything but maybe it will keep me interested in FS2004 more.

have you looked at http://www.fullspectrumwarrior.com ? it's not a flying game and not WW2 but it is addictive.

Can you guys recomend some good freeware combat planes for FS2004? (it doesn't matter what era the plane is from)spookymufu.......I have a couple of games like that for the PS2 :-) (I play those type of games only on the console)

As far as I am concerned, EAW is still the best WWII combat sim ever produced.Yes, I own IL-2 and Jane's WWII fighters, but having lots of planes in the air and interesting terrain to fly over, keeps the EAW package in the lead.There are active EAW groups on the net, so if you have not looked recently, you may find enough stuff there to keep you busy and entertained for a while..And, MS Combat Flight Sim 2 is pretty well done too, if you like the Pacific theatre..

>I think I am starting to become bored of FS2004. I havn't>really flown it in like 2 weeks now. For a change of pace I>figured I would try a good World War 2 combat sim. Can anyone>recomend a good one? I used to fly European Air War and Janes>WWII Fighters, but they are a bit dated now.What you want is the 1C:Maddox Games sims. IL-2 Forgotten Battles with the Aces Expansion Pack and Pacific Fighters. They can be setup together or separately, but these are the benchmark by which all WWII prop sims are judged. CFS3 is crap compared to them. Don't forget to patch them to current levels since there have been a few updates that add new features and aircraft, as well as bug fixes.

Here is a good website for combat aircraft, and if i remember right then CFS2 planes are good to go in FS9.http://www.combatfs.com/

If you can wait for a week or two, and Spits and Hurri's and Heinkel's (oh my!) are your thing, this might be the one:http://www.shockwaveproductions.com/Should be fun comparing the Mk1 Spit to RealAir's...

>Do you think it would still run on Win XP? (I doubt it would work but it doesn't hurt to ask)It works... Chucked it onto the PC a few weeks back!Pop the Disk into your CD Drive, wait for it to boot up and install!Don't even need to run it in Compatibility Mode or anything!WW2 Fighters v1.08 Patch (Some Fixes & Features - 2.1Mb)ftp://ftp.ea.com/pub/janes/patches/ww2/WW2_108.EXERegards,Stratobat

My favorites are:Lockon or LOMAC with the new addon Flaming Cliffs. All Russian top fighters in the addon). All fully supported and lots of groups.Second Pacific Theater from the IL2 collection,and third EAWEdmundo Cardenas

The problem with WW2 combat sims is that they really don't carry the same amount of realism as FS does for civil flying. The essence of fighter combat was surprise - most kills were gained by pilots creeping up on their opponent unseen, or 'bouncing' from above - in fast, strike, out fast. And you had to find them first. I wish games such as IL2 were better in that regard. Although technically very accomplished these games still have an 'arcade feel' to them. AI aircraft pull amazing manoeuvres and always seem to know what you're going to do. And factors such as the weather are given little prominence. It'd be great if you had a sort of combat version of FS where you could take off in the RealAir Spit for instance, fly as one of a pair over to northern France and 'stooge around' hoping to find something to shoot up. The focus would be on navigating yourself - or sticking with your leader - taking advantage of cloud and constantly checking your rear. You might run into a bit of flak (not the arcade wall of 'smart bullets' that invariable hose the air in IL-2)or get bounced if you're really unlucky. If you get separated you've got to work out a course for home. And the weather might have changed for the worse and you've got to find your airfield in the murk. That sort of thing. The accent would be ont the flying and the weather rather than endless dogfights.And what about a real-time long-range escort over Germany? It would mean 6 hours in the cockpit at 30,000ft with a very slight chance of meeting enemy fighters. Again the weather would feature large, as would fuel and engine management. But on the way back you get to go down onto the deck to shoot up some airfields.. Of course I know that if such a game existed the kids probably wouldn't buy it but it'd be an interesting learning experience and more akin to the real thing.Ian

Brilliantly said Ian,Nowadays I tend to do my military flying in FS 2004. I got sick with killing hords of MiG's in one mission just to get ahead in a game.Now just taking off, navigating, making a low pass over a Nato bombrange and geting back to base to land in a Clould 9 F 104 is so much more fun and it is so much harder to do than in any combat FS game.If anyone could give me poiters on haw to set up sam AI tracks with Russian Bears that cross into NATO airspace I would be very happy. Plus we would have an 80% simulation of being a cold war pilot.