10 hours ago, Dusk said:

If you want the best of both worlds then you are correct. When was the last time you played it? Things such as weather have been improved a lot, but agree it lacks in certain area's (not covering the whole world being one of them).

For sheer fun (especially in VR) when dog fighting or trying to strafe ground targets, you really currently cannot beat DCS.

Just wanted to add - It's great to have these jets in MSFS, no doubt about it. But for me it's more than just flying around in a military jet. Need to have my wingmen, awacs, fuel tankers, a whole squadron of different aircraft on a complex mission, as well as the systems depth of most of the aircraft. (including helicopters).

DCS is my primary flight simulator for many of the reasons you state . 😎🤙

BUT, while the cloud visuals are great, the weather/atmospheric effects aren’t. 

ED themselves have said there are no intentions of incorporating real-time weather, etc. Again, just like Prepar3D(!)

the shame is that a lot of the plumbing is there, but they don’t want to finish it up. 

After finally giving a real chance to Falcon BMS, I have barely touched DCS. Amazing what they’ve done with a game from 1998. 

1 hour ago, GCBraun said:

After finally giving a real chance to Falcon BMS, I have barely touched DCS. Amazing what they’ve done with a game from 1998. 

Been tempted to try Falcon BMS a few times, but then I always think it's too complex, the F-16 in itself and "Modern War", I don't really want to spend so many time learning technologies of modern war instead of trying to learn more about modern avionics 🙂 for civil aviation...

But friends who play BMS say it is AMAZING !

As @UrgentSiesta posts above, ED has said they're not going to include a better weather model in their projects for the future. <maps are still based on a non-curved model of the Earth (FLAT), and honestly every time I pick even the ED modules for combat I feel that I by far prefer the feel of ww2 aircraft that IL-2 provides.

Helis are great though! and scenery details in the latest maps are astounding too - I'd say more convincing then either MSFS or XP.

But now, as far as diversion from MSFS and XP goes I am mostly focused in Aces of Thunder :-)

'Accusimilar' sounds better. 

2 hours ago, GCBraun said:

After finally giving a real chance to Falcon BMS, I have barely touched DCS. Amazing what they’ve done with a game from 1998. 

Hmm, might have to try Falcon BMS. Don't know much about it as have religiously stuck with DCS.

Anything in particular that sticks out with Falcon BMS for you?

Falcon BMS is one of the only sims with a dynamic campaign engine, that drives the conflict on the whole map at once. You're not the only guy there having a mission. The AI is driving all the other aircraft which have missions too, both on allies and ennemies sides... and also on ground. Destroying a bridge has an effect on the supply chain, the state of the field is kept from a mission to another and evolves without you. Also the available missions will depend on how the situation on the field evolves. You're flying through a real war, so to say. Not through pre-defined missions where you know precisely how many and where ennemies will appear once you're done it two or three times.

As far as I remember, Falcon 4 and EF2000 were the only flightsims with a dynamic campaign, and there are still considered the best ones ever made so far.

12 minutes ago, Daube said:

Falcon BMS is one of the only sims with a dynamic campaign engine, that drives the conflict on the whole map at once. You're not the only guy there having a mission. The AI is driving all the other aircraft which have missions too, both on allies and ennemies sides... and also on ground. Destroying a bridge has an effect on the supply chain, the state of the field is kept from a mission to another and evolves without you. Also the available missions will depend on how the situation on the field evolves. You're flying through a real war, so to say. Not through pre-defined missions where you know precisely how many and where ennemies will appear once you're done it two or three times.

As far as I remember, Falcon 4 and EF2000 were the only flightsims with a dynamic campaign, and there are still considered the best ones ever made so far.

Very interesting. Maybe I'm wrong, but is it only the F-16 which is high fidelity (system depth and flight model)?

I need to look further into Falcon BMS.

 

1 hour ago, Dusk said:

Hmm, might have to try Falcon BMS. Don't know much about it as have religiously stuck with DCS.

Anything in particular that sticks out with Falcon BMS for you?

As mentioned above, for sure the dynamic campaigns. The human player only plays a small role in the big picture. Falcon BMS is not as pretty as DCS, but the experience is much, much deeper. 

Besides F-16 and its dozen variants for multiple countries, there is also a very good F-15C. 

Edited April 13Apr 13 by GCBraun

Just watching a video... 

Ground textures are very poor, certainly not visually pretty. Still for $5 odd for Falcon 4.0 it's worth installing just to see if it scratch's an itch.

The actual immersion is going to be crazy. As you saw, the ground details are nowhere near DCS, same goes for the sky/weather depictions, but the overall realism is going to be on a completely different level. I think the word "overwhelming" might be adequate here.

Concerning the planes, Falcon is all about the F-16 and it's variants. You can however control some other planes, but their avionics are mostly based on the F-16 avionics with appropriate tweaks. Should be satisfactory nevertheless, but on that point DCS is more advanced.

I haven't touched Falcon4 is quite a while. I had the original edition with the box, played it a lot back in the early 2000's when the first community-made patches appeared. I haven't tried BMS yet but they have recently added VR so I'm very tempted 🙂

 

Convinced by the comments here so am installing Falcon 4.0 as we speak, will then install Falcon BMS. Looking forward to giving it a shot, the dynamic campaign is the most interesting aspect for me.

Anyway it seems I'm taking this thread off topic so will desist, but thanks for the input.

1 hour ago, Dusk said:

Just watching a video... 

Ground textures are very poor, certainly not visually pretty. Still for $5 odd for Falcon 4.0 it's worth installing just to see if it scratch's an itch.

Make sure to use the 16k textures that are available for most of the theaters. They make a huge difference. Don't expect DCS-level graphics, though.

6 hours ago, Dusk said:

Convinced by the comments here so am installing Falcon 4.0 as we speak, will then install Falcon BMS. Looking forward to giving it a shot, the dynamic campaign is the most interesting aspect for me.

Anyway it seems I'm taking this thread off topic so will desist, but thanks for the input.

There is also an “Early Access” F-15C Eagle which seems pretty nice. Recently developed, still getting updates, but almost certainly not at the depth of the Viper. And free, of course. 

@UrgentSiesta

“And here’s some nostalgic sizzle to go with that steak:”

These guys are the best at promos! You almost want to buy the promo and watch it over and over. Their product quality matches or exceeds the hype in their promos. Just learned of this product a few days ago from a friend who happens to be an encyclopedia on the F-4 Phantom. I was waiting for the Rafale by AP, but will likely go for this one. Somehow I predict not too much siesta and more urgency when it hits the market! Cheers!

For a dynamic campaign, it would be hard to beat Rowan's BoB and Bob II. (Battle of Britain).