homepage Forums Air Combat & Civil Aviation Air Combat - General WW II Whoooo

Well let me be the first to say.. er.. um... Nothing right now I guess.

Anyway, It looks like a few more months till we see B-17II in action. Things look a little desperate right now for Hasbro. I hope they pull this one off without serious bugs.

The relative silence in forums realted to this sim is due more to the tiny trickle of info wayward and hasbro are releasing. I HATE the cloak and dager approach some developers/publisers adopt. I don't see the point at all. It's tough to get excited about when they pull a major feature and then just dummy up.

All,

I hope to be sinking my teeth in this one soon for a preview. If you have any specific areas you want be to really focus on in the preview that you haven't seen give me a shout.





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Ken "KC23" Cook
Contributing Editor,
SimHQ.com
[email protected]

Well Ken, since you mentioned it...

Could you ask the designers if they're managing to keep Hasbro's tentacles off of B-17 II? (I imagine this question could be posed with a little more tact... ) I just dread walking into the software store one day and seeing "BOMBER!" sitting on the shelf, if you know what I mean...

Robert


[This message has been edited by Robert Murphy (edited September 23, 2000).]

I'd like to know a little more about the fighters aspect. I played the hell out of B-17 I, so if the bomber aspect is akin to that, I've no real questions.
Do you jump to an escort fighter like you do in IAF/USAF, with the PC taking over when you leap? Can you leap to ANY plane, or just flight lead? Can you jump to another B-17, say one at the tail of the formation to man the guns where the interceptors are attacking, instead of sitting in your bomber where the enemy ISN'T? Obviously in a career setup it would be absurd to jump to a German fighter, so are those only available in single mission-type deals, or instant action, or mission builder, what? All the data I've seen so far has been very vague on this.
The Jedi Master

Jedimaster,

I think they'll be a lot more to the bomber aspect than the original. Even the Nordon bomb site is pretty detailed.

Never played IAF/USAF, but I believe you can jump into any of the fighters (even the Luftwaffe guys). Good question about when you can get into the fighters and which ones. I be sure to specify that one in the preview.

Not sure As far as jumping into any of the bombers I believe it depends if you are playing the Commader campaign(or what ever they call it) Vs the Pilot campaign. In the Pilot campaign I believe you have control of your crew and I'm not sure if you can get into any of the fighters from that campaign.

I'm a curious about the Commander type campaign where you have control over parts for your whole wing. Using a banged up bomber for parts for your other B17s and stuff like that.

I'm also curious whether you can save mission set ups for particular targets in the Commander campaign. In fact I'm looking forward to really checking out this mission planner in general.





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Ken "KC23" Cook
Contributing Editor,
SimHQ.com
[email protected]

Robert,

I haven't seen B17-2 since last May, but rumor has it that it is pretty darn solid.





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Ken "KC23" Cook
Contributing Editor,
SimHQ.com
[email protected]

I have some concerns for this sim KC.
We all know and have dealt with the demise of multiplayer.
My main concerns are, is this going to be a relatively clean release? I hope so because the prospects of any patches just don't look good.
Secondly, is this sim going to have legs?. Is the architecture open enough to allow the modmakers to work their magic?
With no mission editor we will be left with whats in the game pretty much, and if the game will hopefully be able to be played with different mixes of whatever can be varied.
Of all the new releases coming out, this one has the most question marks associated with it.

plummerx,

I have high hopes that this will be a clean release, but we shall see.

The only thing I've heard regarding mods is that the two skin aircraft make this unlikely. The terrian is also fairly unique in that is isn't tiled ... makes me wonder if mods will be possible for that.

B17-2 is certainly unique enough to get me to check it out in detail even if I wasn't previewing it.

I will be buying it despite getting the preview copy just to support the genre. I like to keep unopened copies of sims that I think will be considered classics sometime in the future.





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Ken "KC23" Cook
Contributing Editor,
SimHQ.com
[email protected]

All the fighters all the time... :-)

We've kept the option open for the player to enter any fighter group, whether it be Allied or Axis, at any point after they receive the scramble order and the pilots reach their aircraft.

That means you can enter the cockpit prior to the start up sequence and do it yourself. If you're really happy leaving your B-17 crew to fend for themselves, you could fly an intercept in realtime, from take off to (crash?) landing.

Ditto with the Escort Fighters.

Oh, ok. Granted, as you're flying a bomber career it would seem absurd to fly a complete mission in the 109 or 190, but I guess if you want to shoot yourself down, a kind of suicidal career mode or something...
The Jedi Master

Ground starts. A definate good sign. Thats the kind of info I like.

NO MULTIPLAYER !!!!NO MULTIPLAYER !!!!NO MULTIPLAYER !!!!NO MULTIPLAYER !!!!NO MULTIPLAYER !!!!NO MULTIPLAYER !!!!NO MULTIPLAYER !!!!NO MULTIPLAYER !!!!NO MULTIPLAYER !!!!NO MULTIPLAYER !!!!NO MULTIPLAYER !!!!NO MULTIPLAYER !!!!NO MULTIPLAYER !!!!NO MULTIPLAYER !!!!NO MULTIPLAYER !!!!NO MULTIPLAYER !!!!NO MULTIPLAYER !!!

Sorry , got carried away . Still pissed that Wayward/Hasbro gutted this game . Please do not support Hasbro in the name of supporting the genre . They ARE NOT a part of the genre , there are killing it with their lies and half finished games . Atleast Bills boys will deliver what they promised with CFSII , not lie about the game for 16 months , allow people to spend countless hours on multiplayer projects and squads then pull a "Gotta dump this thing by Christmas" scam like Wayward/Hasbro . Support people like Oleg Maddox/Blue Byte and IL-2 , not the thiefs and liars . How many times must we be smacked by Hasbro before we learn ? I respect anyones right to buy any garbage they please , but not in the name of supporting the genre , because it doesn't . Just my less than humble opinion . Feel free to flame away , asbestos suit installed !!

vV

How about buying the game in the name of flying the most detailed ever simulation of a World War 2 aircraft? How about buying the game in the name of playing a very different take on the Flight Sim genre? How about playing the game because it's fun? How about playing it because it's good?


Iain

Iain has a point, vV--Hasbro is out of the sim business once B-17II comes out, so no matter how it does, they won't be doing it again. Not for the forseeable future, anyway. So buying it just "to support the genre" is, as you say, a bad idea. However, if the game is good, then you shouldn't refrain from buying it just because you don't like Hasbro. They've got Pokemon, this will be small change for them, plus or minus.
I think it comes down to this: did you like the original B-17? If "yes", get B-17II because it will do it all better. If "no" or "never played it", wait for the reviews here and elsewhere to make up your mind.
The Jedi Master

Not me, If I can get a free copy,i;ll try it otherwise B-17II, to hell with it.

After all this time of waittin and being lied to,even if Betty Grable was a naked powder monkey,no way.

.....My dog doesn't even....

So it's good enough to play, but not you object to buying it fairly? On moral grounds? Interesting....

Iain

Vamp, my beloved friend and squadmate, I have to disagree with you on this one.

I too am upset MP doesn't work and hope (repeat hope) that Ian and Wayward can somehow get it working in a later patch. I know you (as all the rest of my JG 26 buddies) planned on switching over to this game almost as soon as it shipped.

I think this game will work well without MP. As long as it is tight, not buggy, and accurate I will complement the game, even without the Multiplayer. If Wayward had released a game with crap multiplayer (like some companies have) we would be really upset about it. If the time spent trying to get a non working feature working was spent putting the best flight models, best visuals and best immersion into the game then I will be happy to play the game without Multiplayer.

Ian, a question? Is MP completely off the table or is this something you will try to get working later on? If B-17II takes off maybe it could be part of an add on pack, something like a Liberator Add with an Italian theatre campaign (can you say Ploesti?).

Just some ideas. If this game takes off, please don't dump it like some other games have. MP would make this one of the outstanding sims of all times.



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Tom Cofield
Contributing Editor, SimHq.com
[email protected]

Disagree with you my friend. All publishers look at sale data. Why do you think all those "Me-too" shooter clones come out? If you want to support the sim genre, BUY THIS GAME.. at least if it is good

Eric

"Do you jump to an escort fighter like you do in IAF/USAF, with the PC taking over when you leap? "

yep, pretty much!

"Can you leap to ANY plane, or just flight lead? "

ANY plane

"Can you jump to another B-17, say one at the tail of the formation to man the guns where the interceptors are attacking, instead of sitting in your bomber where the enemy ISN'T? "

yep, but heck, don't know why you would. One second the 109 is coming at the tail of your neighbor, then he's gone. Then there are two on your own tail, then another comes swooping by from 2 o;'clock.. Its amazing. Have read about all this, but seeing it.. whew.. it all happens so quickly. What is incredible is that you WILL get hits on these guys, and the gunners in the buffs seem to be pretty good.

"Obviously in a career setup it would be absurd to jump to a German fighter, so are those only available in single mission-type deals, or instant action, or mission builder, what? "

Guessing that's true but have only been in quick and single missions so far..

I'm with the crowd that says BUY IT. Even with mplayer it's ground breaking and very very immersive.

Just posted an "I was there" based on the mission to Brest. posted at bombs-away.net .

PS. Get yourself an extra stick of memory, esp if you want to run at max detail.

PPS. Get yourself at least a GF2 MX board. Hardware T&L is supported and makes a difference. This is one sim where Nvidia will outshine 3dfx, esp with AA enabled.



[This message has been edited by Leonard Hjalmarson (edited October 03, 2000).]