I was thinking of buying this game. Every sim has it's plus's and minus's, what would be the good's and bad's for this sim.

I figure this is the best way to decide on a sim since everybody likes different things. I just bought WW2 Fighters (as I've read alot of good reviews), and it's a good game, but the damage profile is terrible. It only takes one or two shots to tear a wing off. I'm not sure if I would've bought it if I had this in a list of minus's.

Plus

-Brings actual 1940 air combat with spot on flight models, hundreds (over a thousand towards the end) of aircraft littering the sky.

-Campaign stretching from July 10 through September 15 in the Battle of Britain.

-Has an excellent community (this forum, BDG, etc)

-Graphics, when the Artwork Mod is installed, are spectacular

-Learn to fly the aircraft. Just taking off and landing a bloody Spitfire is harder than fighting a 109.

Minuses

-Some users with crap computers report lots of bugs and crashes.

-Not for the impatient. On the most realistic setting you'll actually have to learn to fly the aircraft and it can be very difficult/frustrating sometimes.

tmdgm

You might post your system specs so we can get an idea of how BoB will run for you. The game is fantastic. Patience is a virtue with it as it may take some adjustments to get it running smoothly. Not tough to do anymore though because of the BDG work. With the BDG V090 and the Modpack the game is both stable and pleasing to the eye.

Once running properly there is no game yet that can compare to it's amazing dynamic campaign. The strategic part of the game allows you to run the whole airwar for germany or Britain. Quite challenging as a standup wargame.

But the simulation is the heart. The massive air battles are solidly recreated before your eyes.

Whatever negatives remain in BoB are no match for the inspired gameplay and historic accuracy.

If you buy it, learn fast. We need all the good pilots we can get.

Hi and welcome!

See:
http://www.simhq.com/simhq3/sims/boards/bbs/Forum40/HTML/004662.html
http://www.simhq.com/simhq3/sims/boards/bbs/Forum40/HTML/004181.html
http://www.simhq.com/simhq3/sims/boards/bbs/Forum40/HTML/003880.html

I would not buy it if you are looking for online fights. In all other cases, I would vote fo it. From the top of my head:

Plus:
- Great community, open source, so it gets better all the time.
- Great AI.
- Good FM.
- numbe of airplnaes in the air.
- Has a strategic part to it (you can largely ignore it, if you just want to fly).
- If you want to look and do something simple, being a gunner is great!

Minus:
- multiplayer code is second rate. Almost no online BoB community.
- If you look for a sim with hundreds of available airplane types, this is not for you.
- AFAIK, there are no interesting research projects going on with it.

Obviously, like in (almost ) any sim there are quite a lot of things that are matters of taste, for example it is quite realistic, so as one pilot you will not be able to influence the war much.

Some good summaries here.

I also found WW2F to be tough to stay with. The enemy can knock you out with a deflection shot from 200 yards in a single bullet. BoB is not like that. In fact you really have to learn to shoot. Convergence is properly modelled and the hitting power of .303s is right (failry weak unless you are at convergence range). You can pump hundreds of rounds at a bomber and not see it go down. Thereagain, you can put an accurate burst into a bomber cockpit and see the plane react. 20mm cannon shells will surely tear you up, though.

I'll say. Hitting a stupid bomber is bloody hard. They may look big on the ground but in the air they're no bigger than a sparrow. As they say in Piece of Cake it's like sitting on a merry go round trying to swat flies with a wet leg and a crowd of maniacs shooting at you.

tmdgm,
I would strongly advise consulting your Physician before playing BoB. Flying into some of the monstrous furballs can be very stressful to the heart!
Welcome to BoB.

Plus:

The numbers man, the numbers! No other sim will put you in fights that size. I just came off a fight involving 108 Germans (110s and Stukas) and 48 British aircraft (all Hurricanes). On day one of the campaign, no less. And I wasn't scooting around knocking them down like flies, either - I got one 110 and didn't even get close to a Stuka.

The campaign itself is excellent, I'd guess it's unprecedented, though Falcon4 was the same idea. BoB is bigger and better.

Graphics are good, very good if you can run 32 bit and lose the hard horizon line, and/or FSAA.

Flight models feel right - parameters need tweaking, roll rate especially, but they just feel good altogether.

And the AI actually doesn't want to die!

Minus:

It's still somewhat unstable. I get occasional, completely unexplained CTDs. No rhyme nor reason. But that's about it for the minuses, although it can be a big reason if it happens in the middle of an epic fight (which has happened to me).

Certainly worth having.

Tmdgm !
One thing for sure , simming will not be the same to you, if you get into BoB.
;O)
Happy Landings
Benny
PS See you in the fray over London !!!!!!

I like it much more than IL-2 (asbestos suit ON! )! Much better for single player and FMs that appear to be more realistic, with clickable cockpits for realistic engine management and start-up sequence!

There are still some qirks in the game, but thanks to BDG it seems that all showstoppers are gone now!

Actually, you get two games in one: A really cool wargame and a realistic and immersive sim!

He he. Not here.

You cannot really argue that BoB and IL2 were conceived with very different emphasis. Single player IL2 is rather sterile IMO. And online BoB is a bit painful. Just different.

And then there's the subject material, of course. They draw different crowds to an extent. On the one hand you have to worry about your engine overheating and the other whether you have enough squadrons available at decent morale to make a dent on the 400 aircraft that will be bombing your airfields this afternoon. Again, just different.

Interesting responses. Thanks for the info. I downloaded the demo and was pretty dissapointed in the flight models as they seemed very 'X-wingish'. But the info here sounds positive. Maybe I'll give it a try if I find it in the bargain bin.

My system specs are:

P3 933
384 SDdram PC133
32 MB Radeon ATI
Win Me
Soundblaster PCI

Are these specs good enuff?

Yes, the specs are good enough.

Don't judge BoB by its demo - it is very different to it by now (release was already different, then Rowan's patches, now the BDG patches). Have a look at some other threads here to see what people playing BoB think about - and compare to other forum(s).

The real Spitfire pilot Richard Ordway liked the FM. Regarding the remaining issues (and yes, the Spitfire roll rate is probably number one), we are looking into them. We have the source, so if changing data is not enough, we can even (re)code things.

You need to be sure to enable the 'Complex AI' setting too as the AI aircraft use simpler flight models by default. I don't know whether the demo allows you to do this.