Flight Simulators or: I bought this flight stick, and darn it, I'm going to use it!

[prettyunsmart]

With Star Citizen and Elite: Dangerous both becoming playable, I made the (probably horribly misguided) decision to buy a flight stick. Since Star Citizen is just a couple of multiplayer modes at the moment and Elite: Dangerous still costs $75, I'm looking to get some use of of my shiny new flight stick by getting into the exciting/scary/way-too-complex world of flight simulators. 

 

Most of the one's I've tried so far have been free-to-play, like War Thunder (which is pretty cool, but I'm absolutely terrible at it), Microsoft Flight (which the collective Internet seems to hate, but I've found to be sort of pleasant), and Rise of Flight (which I'm currently downloading).

 

So, does anyone have flight simulator recommendations? Does anyone else want to talk about these things? Does my desire to get into flight simulators signal my entrance into the "creepy old man hobbyist" phase of my gaming life?

[SecretAsianMan]

I don't know if you're looking for games with combat, but Freespace 2 is one of my all time favorite games despite my not even liking the flight sim genre.  It's fairly old (1999) but I feel like it might hold up.  I know it's available on gog.com for $10.

[Bjorn]

Does my desire to get into flight simulators signal my entrance into the "creepy old man hobbyist" phase of my gaming life?

 

Only if you start hanging out at airports to watch the planes.

 

What stick did you get?  Are there still new ones produced?  I can't even remember seeing one in a store or online in years.  I went through a bunch of sticks in the 90s.  My favorite was probably the Microsoft Sidewinder with force feedback.  Wish I still had it, but one of the steel cables snapped that provided the feedback and I could never fix it. 

[Cordeos]

Its not a flight sim, but the mechwarrior games (I always love mechwarrior 4 mercenaries) are great with a flight stick. I also enjoyed playing X-3 Reunion (There are two newer games in the series, but I have not played them. although you will need to keep your keyboard handy as well for some of the more complex, non-flight, elements of the game. Ace Combat: Assault Horizon is alright. I have also used the fight stick for Battlefield 1942 air combat, works pretty well.

 

Do you just have the stick or the throttle as well? I have been using my old Saitek pro for a while now, still love the thing.

 

[prettyunsmart]

I don't know if you're looking for games with combat, but Freespace 2 is one of my all time favorite games despite my not even liking the flight sim genre.  It's fairly old (1999) but I feel like it might hold up.  I know it's available on gog.com for $10.

 

Freespace looks great, and since it's on GOG, I'll probably give it a look. Thanks for the recommendation!

 

What stick did you get?  Are there still new ones produced?  I can't even remember seeing one in a store or online in years.  I went through a bunch of sticks in the 90s.  My favorite was probably the Microsoft Sidewinder with force feedback.  Wish I still had it, but one of the steel cables snapped that provided the feedback and I could never fix it. 

 

I loved my Sidewinder! It worked so well with my copy of Flight Simulator 98! I ended up getting a Thrustmaster T.16000M, which is a silly name for a game controller. The reviews I read made it seem like it was solidly built and not too complicated to use, so I went with that. As far as I can tell, most American retail stores don't carry flight sticks, though Micro Center seems to have a few hanging around at some locations. I ended up buying mine from eBay after realizing Micro Center had just sold their last one as I was on my way out the door to pick it up. Here's a picture:

 

 

Do you just have the stick or the throttle as well? I have been using my old Saitek pro for a while now, still love the thing.

 

 

I'm just using the stick for the moment. Something like an X52 is a bit out of my price range. I was looking at the cheapest Thrustmaster HOTAS, but reviews made it sound like it was a bit cheaply made. Also, for some reason I feel like my wife will laugh at me slightly less for just buying a joystick as opposed to getting a super-intense HOTAS setup.

[eot]

I still stand by Falcon 4 as the best flight sim you can get, if you install BMS 4.32. The dynamic campaign makes such a massive difference, instead of flying scripted missions the game simulates the entire theatre of war, with ships, ground troops, airfields, AWACS, tankers, supply lines etc. It's a project to get into it though

[Bjorn]

I loved my Sidewinder! It worked so well with my copy of Flight Simulator 98!

 

I did a bit of looking, and apparently a lot of people still consider the Sidewinder to be the gold standard for force feedback sticks.  You can still find them used on eBay.  That's really tempting!

 

Wing Commander III is free on Origin right now, might as well grab it.

[Dewar]

Warthunder is the big one that I play. It was tough at first to keep up with the mouse-look people, but now I can at least hold my own.

[SecretAsianMan]

Freespace looks great, and since it's on GOG, I'll probably give it a look. Thanks for the recommendation!

 

I should also mention that the first game, Decent:Freespace - The Great War is also available on gog.com.  The series has absolutely nothing at all to do with the Decent series apart from being made by the same developer.  If story at all matters to you then you should play the first one too but I believe a recap of sorts is available in Freespace 2 and it is definitely the superior game.  Basically, if the idea of piloting a fighter or bomber in the midst of this looks fun to you, you'll probably like it.

 

[prettyunsmart]

I still stand by Falcon 4 as the best flight sim you can get, if you install BMS 4.32. The dynamic campaign makes such a massive difference, instead of flying scripted missions the game simulates the entire theatre of war, with ships, ground troops, airfields, AWACS, tankers, supply lines etc. It's a project to get into it though

 

I'd be all for trying it out, though is it the kind of thing that's easily available to buy anywhere? 

 

I did a bit of looking, and apparently a lot of people still consider the Sidewinder to be the gold standard for force feedback sticks.  You can still find them used on eBay.  That's really tempting!

 

Wing Commander III is free on Origin right now, might as well grab it.

 

I actually had it downloaded from before I bought the flight stick. Before, I was just going to give it a try for the silly FMV sequences, but now there's another reason to try it out.

 

Warthunder is the big one that I play. It was tough at first to keep up with the mouse-look people, but now I can at least hold my own.

 

I was kind of afraid of that. I like the idea of using a flight stick, just because it feels better, but it probably isn't as efficient as just using a mouse. That might make competitive games a bit tougher to get into.

[Ucantalas]

When I was younger my parents computer came with a flight stick. I used that thing for every game I could. Jazz Jackrabbit 2, Tonic Trouble... it was a terrible way to control those games, but that just made it more fun to weird little-kid me.

[Bjorn]

When I was younger my parents computer came with a flight stick. I used that thing for every game I could. Jazz Jackrabbit 2, Tonic Trouble... it was a terrible way to control those games, but that just made it more fun to weird little-kid me.

 

I'd occasionally play Unreal Tournament with my flight stick just for the hell of it. 

[prettyunsmart]

When I was younger my parents computer came with a flight stick. I used that thing for every game I could. Jazz Jackrabbit 2, Tonic Trouble... it was a terrible way to control those games, but that just made it more fun to weird little-kid me.

 

Now I'm trying to figure out what would be the worst game in my Steam library to play with a flight stick. Gone Home? World of Goo? Typing of the Dead? Octodad?

[undermind9]

had a similar experience, got a joystick peripheral as a child for almost no reason

 

i played through Jedi Knight 2 with a joystick & mouse...that wasn't good for any part of that experience, particularly jumping

[SecretAsianMan]

Sadly, my first experience with a flight stick was to use it to play the Star Wars Episode I game.

[coaxmetal]

I bought a saitek x52 pro for elite dangerous, which I absolutely love, but now that I own it, I'd feel silly using what is a rather pricy peripherial for only one game, so I'm also looking for other flight simulators I can get into. I'm thinking about trying like, DCS, but that is too intimidating. Has anyone played it, and if so, is there a mode where I can just, make the plane go and then fly it? I'm not interested in simulating every system on a plane.

[Dewar]

Hmm, if you're in to really deep and somewhat confusing space sims like Elite, you might look into X3:Albion Prelude (not X:Rebirth.) I had a lot of fun with that game, but man it can be impenetrable.

 

Edit: I guess that X3:Albion Prelude requires X3:Terran Conflict to play. That's what I started on and it's definitely good enough, but if you find yourself enjoying it there's a lot of QoL improvements in X3:AP.

 

Edit2: http://store.steampowered.com/sub/12588/ $20 for both

[pkirkner]

I should also mention that the first game, Decent:Freespace - The Great War is also available on gog.com.  The series has absolutely nothing at all to do with the Decent series apart from being made by the same developer.  If story at all matters to you then you should play the first one too but I believe a recap of sorts is available in Freespace 2 and it is definitely the superior game.  Basically, if the idea of piloting a fighter or bomber in the midst of this looks fun to you, you'll probably like it.

 

 

After Volition released the Freespace 2 source code, folks ported Freespace 1 over to the Freespace 2 engine. There's also an enhanced version of the Freespace 2 engine that is worth picking up called FSOpen. Here's a little showcase trailer for the graphical enhancements:

 

[coaxmetal]

Hmm, if you're in to really deep and somewhat confusing space sims like Elite, you might look into X3:Albion Prelude (not X:Rebirth.) I had a lot of fun with that game, but man it can be impenetrable.

 

Edit: I guess that X3:Albion Prelude requires X3:Terran Conflict to play. That's what I started on and it's definitely good enough, but if you find yourself enjoying it there's a lot of QoL improvements in X3:AP.

 

Edit2: http://store.steampowered.com/sub/12588/ $20 for both

 

I have uh. some version of X3. I think its probably Terran Conflict? Idk it seems like there are 17 different games called X3 but maybe its just 1 and a few expansions. I'll have to check though. I haven't really played it at all, I bought it a while ago on sale I think.

[Dewar]

I have uh. some version of X3. I think its probably Terran Conflict? Idk it seems like there are 17 different games called X3 but maybe its just 1 and a few expansions. I'll have to check though. I haven't really played it at all, I bought it a while ago on sale I think.

 

X3:Reunion is the original third game in the X series.

X3:Terran conflict is a newer stand-alone game built on the same engine

X3:Albion Prelude is an expansion to Terran Conflict made to build hype for X:Rebirth

X:Rebith is their newest release from the end of 2013, and it launched a total mess. Word is it's a bit better now, but I haven't personally tried it.

[coaxmetal]

X3:Reunion is the original third game in the X series.

X3:Terran conflict is a newer stand-alone game built on the same engine

X3:Albion Prelude is an expansion to Terran Conflict made to build hype for X:Rebirth

X:Rebith is their newest release from the end of 2013, and it launched a total mess. Word is it's a bit better now, but I haven't personally tried it.

 

Oh thanks. that's good. Those are confusing and I was never sure. I had heard Rebirth was a trash fire, which is unfortunate. Turns out I do have Terran Conflict already, so I can just pick up Albion Prelude.