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I've just got the latest issue of PC PILOT which is running an article on "Mission Building in FSX". One accompanying picture shows a Wildcat flying over an aircraft carrier, with explosions going off in all directions. The caption says "The Mission engine flexibility allows you to create any genre".
The suggestion that FSX is capable of creating WWII Combat is obvious, yet nothing in the article actually discusses the concept. Consequently I'm assuming this is all hype. You know, like you can get loads of Combat Aircraft to fly in FSX, but it's completely pointless, because you can't fire any weapons.
FSX will not allow the creation of combat missions now or ever, will it ?

There is an effect that replaces the flour bomb with a visual depiction of a bomb blast. It doesn't destroy anything but you can create a mission and bomb an aircraft carrier or any other scenery object. With this effect you can probably recreate a combat mission but it would be very limited. No HUD with target data. No effect of the aircraft carrier sinking. No enemy fire. No chance that you would be shot down. Kind of like shooting fish in a barrel. It would be simply hit or miss by guess and by gosh but it could be done. It'd still be a poor simulation of combat.

If you want real  and full combat simulation you need one of the combat simulators. Look down below the FSX and FS2004 forums here at SimV for the combat flight simulator forums.

There is an effect that replaces the flour bomb with a visual depiction of a bomb blast. It doesn't destroy anything but you can create a mission and bomb an aircraft carrier or any other scenery object. With this effect you can probably recreate a combat mission but it would be very limited. No HUD with target data.

Ahem  ::)
http://www.vrsimulations.com/product_FA18E.htm


Nothing actually gets destroyed, I'm not even sure that anything shoots out, but you can lock up AI planes.

There's lots of things you can do to trick FSX/FS9 into thinking it's a Combat sim, but you can't get the real experience unless you invest in a real one such as LOMAC or Falcon 4.0

I'll have to give that a try. Might be fun. Too bad the AIs don't freak out when you lock onto them.  Be a lot more fun than just chasing them around the sky.

I used to play DID F22 and later we went to the Jane's F-15 sim. We had an online squadron and competed against several other virtual squadrons. It was a lot of fun. I usually got shot down by my wingman. In fact he made more kills from our own squadron than we all had against all our adversaries combined.  ;D

Thanks Gentlemen.
I thought maybe somebody at Microsoft had finally realised that its Flight Simulator series was monumentally dull and needed a bit of combat injected to waken people up out of their autopilots.
But it was not to be.

Preferring a challenge, I only fly Combat Sims.

Abacus Mission Combat Force kinda lets you blow stuff up in FSX. They actually handle some situations quite well. I hate the A10 model that comes with the pack but it is easily swapped out with better models. I am using the aerosoft A10.

Also, the expansion pack will come with the F/A-18.  Presumably there willbe some missions featuring it.

[quote]Also, the expansion pack will come with the F/A-18.

Thanks Gentlemen.
I thought maybe somebody at Microsoft had finally realised that its Flight Simulator series was monumentally dull and needed a bit of combat injected to waken people up out of their autopilots.
But it was not to be.

Preferring a challenge, I only fly Combat Sims.

Try some bush flying. One SAR mission had me sweating when I flew into low visibility in the mountains near Ketchikan in a Cessna. I finally decided it was too dangerous and broke off the search. That mission ended up taking 3 days to complete and the final rescue was by boat. I agree however, if you want combat then a combat sim is the ticket.

But as we all know the Combat Flight Sim series never managed to do anything more than model bullets, unguided rockets and dumb bombs. The very idea that suddenly you might get F/A-18s firing guided missiles in a Microsoft product, is surely the stuff of Fantasy Island.

Strange too since Jane's F-15 had the whole arsenal of weapons both guided and unguided and it was a very primitive sim compared to the MS series.

FSX was designed to be a civilian flight simulator, not combat.

Then why are they including Military Aircraft in the upcoming expansion? Why are Third-party publishers, Just Flight and Abacus, creating so many Military Aircraft Add-ons for a Civilian Flight Simulator?

So that you can fly the plane!
Name one product that you have been able to blow things up and actually destroy it like SFP1 series or Combat Flight Sim and Armed Assault in FSX
I don't know one the new product by Abacus makes it seem liek it but all you do is hit it basicly it doesnt go BOOM!

There are other combat flight simulators out there with things that go "boom"...FSX isn't one of them. You want "boom", get a combat simulator and you'll get "boom" that you'll enjoy!  ;)

Why would you want to fly a military plane if you can only use a fraction of its capabilities ?
What do you simulate - being a ferry pilot ?

Why would you want to fly a military plane if you can only use a fraction of its capabilities ?
What do you simulate - being a ferry pilot ?

People who buy FS9 or FSX buy it because they want to fly a civilian flight simulator. They don't want to blow things up, simulate killing other people etc. They get a kick out of (fairly) realistic navigation, looking at the scenery etc. I know this is hard to understand... ...but look at how many people enjoy fishing, or gardening.

If you're an aviation fan you probably like military jets too, and enjoy flying them fast, the challenge of carrier landings etc. You want to fly them in FS, but might not miss actually blowing things up. I think military jets are beautiful, but I don't see anything cool about dropping napalm on people. Military jets kill civilians in some part of the world every day, or military personnel who have families back home. How awesome and cool can that be? I also play some violent games - but ones far detatched from reality  :) - so I guess I'm a hypocrite, but just trying to help you understand that for many people you don't have to be killing to have fun.

You want real combat - buy a combat sim, like everyone else is saying, and forget grumbling about MSFS and people who enjoy peaceful flying.....