I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the “game” parts of MSFS are part of what attracts a big enough audience to MSFS for it to be financially viable and continue to deliver on all of the cool “sim” stuff most of us on this forum enjoy.

So if you love MSFS as a sim, love what the game parts do to even if you don’t directly use them.

3 hours ago, regis9 said:

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the “game” parts of MSFS are part of what attracts a big enough audience to MSFS for it to be financially viable and continue to deliver on all of the cool “sim” stuff most of us on this forum enjoy.

So if you love MSFS as a sim, love what the game parts do to even if you don’t directly use them.

Absolutely.  I almost tried a bush flight some time ago but I have a rigid way I use the sim and it's so rewarding I'm not looking for anything else.  I think the game aspects are great especially for those just coming into flight simming and some of those will undoubtedly go on to become official card-carrying members of the asylum and in doing so help keep MSFS afloat, or aloft as the case is.

7 hours ago, Pathfinder633 said:

David, are You Overlooking Enjoyable Stuff in real life?

You have asked a profoundly important question related to an individual's overall psychological well-being. Over the years, I've devised a hacked-together list of personal questions that I routinely ask myself -- not so much on a daily basis, but definitely on a weekly basis. Here are those related questions:

• What would I like to try that I'm not already doing?
• Why am I not already doing it? (This question provides especially good personal insight.)
• How confident am I that I really want to try this new thing (as opposed to believing I'm supposed to want this)?
• Is this new thing really worth the time and effort and money that may be required?
• Is this new thing really worth the potential drama and danger and emotional uncertainty that may be involved?
• What else might I explore as an alternative?
• Might the status quo actually be preferable?

I've personally found these questions extremely beneficial -- if you genuinely sit down and give each answer a good deal of thought. I'll sometimes write down my answers by hand. I know this therapeutic diversion isn't directly related to MSFS. But you did pointedly ask me this question. And, as I said, I do think your question is a profound one that we all need to carefully and repeatedly answer for ourselves.

 

Edited March 8, 20233 yr by David Mills

I have never looked into those extra's but you guys made me very curious. 🙂

Same here. The reason for my OP was that I suddenly realized, after two years of heavy MSFS use, that I'd never explored most of the program. I had very little idea of what a Bush Trip even was. 

Have you ever flown by the seat of your pants with one eye on the compass while scanning the horizon for the next rotating beacon?

If not,  Contract Air Mail Route #5, #8,  or #32 might be the thing for you.

https://flightsim.to/file/32132/1926-airway-route-cam5

 

40 minutes ago, David Mills said:

Same here. The reason for my OP was that I suddenly realized, after two years of heavy MSFS use, that I'd never explored most of the program. I had very little idea of what a Bush Trip even was. 

I remember after the Japan update taking one of the tour flights, and I was on multiplayer at the time with other people also taking the tour.

It was like being one of a flock of birds, and very relaxing and communal.

All these people together doing something they were exploring and experiencing as a group. I liked it a lot.

In fact it was somewhat like the group Aerocache hunts that sometimes occurred in Microsoft FLIGHT, though a little bit less intimate because msfs 2020 doesnt have the inbuilt Audio Communications between players that Microsoft Flight had.

Allow me to post "the glider wall of text".   😁

The Sim Soaring Club meets every Saturday for a community flight.   Typically there will be 30 or so pilots.

They will post a flight plan and associated weather preset approximately 2 hours prior to each flight.  

IF we all use the same weather preset,  AND set the same sim time and date,  AND fly on the same server,   AND click fly simultaneously,   we will all have the exact same weather including winds / clouds / thermals for the entire flight.

To accomplish this synchronization,   we all meet in Discord and wait for an SSC officer to start a oral countdown.   Then we all click "fly" at the same time.

Soaring in MSFS has some issues which are weather related,  however,   it still appeals to me as a game of chess.    There is a constant element of strategy,   the tortoise and the hair comes to mind.

We use a glider nav mod which allows tasks to be incorporated into the flight plan.   For example,   certain waypoints might have a min or max attitude,  or radius.     Starts typically have a hard capped altitude.

If you fly over the starting line instead of under it,   that particular task won't be acknowledged.     If you fly outside the task radius,  same result.

Besides the tasking system,  the nav mod is configurable and also adds many gliding computer functions which aren't present in the default Asobo gliders.   For example,  it can calculate your arrival altitude at the next waypoint by factoring in your current energy state.   

The LXN nav mod for the DG-808s and Discus 2C can be found here,     

https://flightsim.to/file/41698/dg808s-lxn-nav-replacement\

https://flightsim.to/file/41623/discus-2c-lxn-nav-replacement

These capabilities are already incorporated in the AS33-ME,   no nav mod is required for the AS33.

Should an individual wish to create their own gliding tasks,  they can be created on this web page,  https://xp-soaring.github.io/tasks/b21_task_planner/index.html

Personally,  I prefer the DG-808s.   The AS33 is extremely nice as well.   I prefer the two over the Discus 2c,   because the Discus 2c doesn't have flaps.

The DG-808s has 3 notches of positive flaps,  neutral flaps, and 3 notches of negative flaps.   It can alternate from hauling butt at 168mph,   to scavenging lift with it's 50:1 glide ratio.

https://flightsim.to/file/30384/dg-flugzeugbau-dg-808s

https://flightsim.to/file/15090/as-33-me

GotFriends Discus 2C (payware or freeware versions offered) https://www.got-friends.com/

GotFriends also have glider communty flights every week,  https://discord.gg/65HEjJUY

Edited March 10, 20233 yr by Waldo Pepper

On 3/7/2023 at 1:44 AM, David Mills said:

I'm willing to bet that most of you guys are just like me. You decide where you want to fly and you begin making your flight plans, either in SimBrief or using the flight planner within MSFS itself. A minority of you are skilled enough to hand-program an FMC, and so you instead use your FMC alone to set sail.

But I'm also willing to bet that a lot of you, again like me, have long overlooked some really enjoyable stuff MSFS has to offer. For example, ask yourself these questions ....

No to almost all of that - I suspect like many of us who came from P3D, I looked at these things and thought "Oh, I know how to fly - I don't need any of that!"  However one of my first flights was a reenactment of the old FSX training flight from Bernard to Lower Loon Creek, and most of my trips would be considered bush flying or discoveries.  Hence I mostly fly bush/GA aircraft - recenly picked up the Twin Otter which is quite versatile and enjoyable, despite the sound issues.  I tend to be influenced by real-world interests, e.g. checking out interesting geography or history.  I've currently been flying routes that follow the conquests of Alexander the Great, to try to understand what geographic challenges faced his army.  Next stop Issus (near Iskenderun, LTAK) so I've still a long way to go.

I tried the Reno air races (grabbed them on sale), but after the old Lotus L-39 I found the gear a bit disappointing.  Most of my fast jet fun is going round the Mach Loop or other similar geography, such as the Grand Canyon or fjords near Bella Coola/Bella Bella.  Or even the Norwegian fjords which are rather nice in this sim.  I have the MB 339 and a few others which are pretty decent, such as the Caproni C22J.

Soaring I've avoided so far but will probably try some time, as it's the only real-world flying I've ever done.  I've never flown heavies (even in FSX) but I'm definitely curious now the An-225 has appeared.  My higher altitute flying tends to be the TBM and and I'm only part-way up the learning curve of the Citations since AAU1.  Somehow I've still not seen the new Top Gun so I'm leaving that until I do, in case of spoilers.  I wonder if the good guys win...? 😉

I've not tried any community stuff, but currently I'm on mobile internet so it would be a bad idea anyway.  Maybe later when I've a Zigabyte pipe with go-faster stripes.  One area where I have recently made an effort is with choppers, which I've put more effort into than P3D.  Having fun with the Cabri and Mini 500, a great way to explore close up instead of glancing down from FL350.  As well as a few explorations (e.g. dams, radio telescopes, canals and even Dordogne castles, thanks Dom!), I sometimes use them to go and look in more detail at things I notice when flying fixed-wing.  Some parts of the world really suit such a worm's eye view, others... not so much. The MSFS world is still a very mixed picture.

So- Cincinnati to Pittsburgh - I'll have a look, but I suppose I'd better use something a little faster than the Savage Cub :-)

I can't wait for Sim Update 12! I really like the direction MSFS is going!

8 hours ago, JabbleWok said:

I've currently been flying routes that follow the conquests of Alexander the Great,

I did in the last months the Anabasis (the Mesopotamia to the sea part) and the 44th retreat from Kabul 😀. 

2 hours ago, Dominique_K said:

I did in the last months the Anabasis (the Mesopotamia to the sea part) and the 44th retreat from Kabul 😀. 

Good stuff!  I'll be crossing over your routes a few times.  This sim is a really wonderful tool for exploring the world, and it has the power to bring parts of history alive. Another curiosity is the uncertainty about Hannibal's route through the Alps - I tried the main candidates in P3D but hopefully this one should be better.  With the benefits of the Orbx South America mesh I was thinking of following some of the historic expeditions there, such as Almagro and Valdivia through the Andes.  There's also the Pizarro & Orellana expeditions, made famous by Werner Herzog's film "Aguirre, Wrath of God", but I fear much of that would be an incessant sea of tree-tops.  And just where did Percy Fawcett end up? :-0

4 hours ago, JabbleWok said:

Good stuff!  

Good to see that I am not the only nerd around loving 'extra-curricular ' activities   ! One flight I have to do is Tintin's Temple of the Sun journey from Lima to Cuzco. No Cabri though, she would run out of breath pretty fast. 

Did a nice flight  today from Valparaiso Vine del Mar NAS to the foothills of the Andes stopping by a string of lovely freeware country airfields.   

10 hours ago, abrams_tank said:

I can't wait for Sim Update 12! I really like the direction MSFS is going!

I know I speak for a lot of people that it's great to see you back here! The place wasn't the same without you. You always add depth and perspective to the MSFS conversation. I'm personally not in the SU12 beta, but I've heard it represents another major advance. 

5 hours ago, Dominique_K said:

Tintin's Temple of the Sun journey

Wonderful! I'm way too disorganised to do something like that but I feel the world is a better place just knowing that someone is!