What's best and where can I get it?

[Terry_Crisp]

Gentlemen,
I have been out of the loop for some time but I used to enjoy RB3d. It became balky and I got busy. Presumeably, in the intervening years something new and better has emerged.
I''d very much appreciate your input and I'd love to begin flying and fighting again.
Thanks,
Terry

[SCMc]

The two leading contenders for best sim are:

Rise of Flight
An entirely new game, with a limited number of flyable aircraft, and depth in the single player mode. It is primarily a multiplayer game. It has the best graphics, and is reported to have the most realistic flight and damage models.

Over Flanders Fields (OFF), Between Heaven and Hell
The is the third phase of a WWI modification of Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator 3 undertaken by former RB3D players (you may recognize some of the names, such as Shredward, Polovski, and Rabu). It is a complete reworking of CSF3, and is supposed to have good flight models, lots of planes with beautiful skins, and good depth to the single player game.

I have not played either, since I lack a computer that con handle them, but if you look at recent threads in the "Games" forum here, you should see plenty of threads on them.

One member here, Gisbod, has recently posted some beautifully made, historical videos on the last flights of Voss, Richthofen and Mannock. You should be able to find them in the People forum.

Steve

[Simes]

If you used to enjoy RB3d then have you considered updating the game with the latest mods and patches? I also recently returned to the WWI flight sim world and after a little trial and error getting the correct mix of patches, my RB3d is working fine with many new planes and flight dynamics, nice graphics and the same superb gameplay.

It also has the most in-depth single player game of any other WWI sim I know of.

[totalspoon]

Hi Guys,

There is no clear winner at the moment.

I played Over Flanders Fields Phase Two and it wasn’t that good. While it did have an excellent single player campaign, the planes all flew the same, the flight and damage models were primitive and AI would open fire and drill you from 1000meters!!! For me, this last problem was an absolute immersion killer and although others have said that the latest version is much improved, I’ve never been able to bring myself to spend AU$70 to get it, after the poor showing of Phase two.

Rise of Flight certainly has its problems too, the worst two being the lack of any proper historical campaign and cost of buying individual aircraft. On the other hand, the flight models for the allied aircraft are excellent, the best so far in any flight sim (although the German flight models are dumbed down). The damage models are high quality and the graphics beautiful. With Neoqb showing screenshots of a totally rebuilt campaign mode which should fix most of the current problems, due for release next month, this could be ROF well ahead of OFF.

My suggestion would be to wait a month and see if Neoqb new campaign mode is as good as they suggest. If it is, buy ROF.

Spoon

[JFM]

Hello,

I can't do anything about the seventy bucks but I can say that OFF's Phase 3 is much improved over Phase 2. I don't get sniped from that distance and the ultra-annoying "airplane explodes if the wing hits a windsock pole while taxiing" has been patched out and removed. Thus you can wobble home with serious damage and actually drag a wingtip or collapse the gear while landing the bird and survive. Be advised, they are working on Phase 4 right now (release date/features unknown).

There is also the "sim light" First Eagles. Many poo poo it as "arcade" or a game but they're all games to me. It's not as advanced or in depth as RoF or OFF but if you are into modding you can get it looking and flying nicely, and it can be rather fun. I own/fly all three of those.