posted 03-01- 04:30 PM               

---

This post from Scharmers in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.flight-sim:

**********
If you find the opposition on this group a bit too heavy
against your trolling attempts, might I recommend:
http://www.fightersquadron.com

Because they are, to use the common vernicular, easy.

You might even find something interesting about SDOE in the
process. I doubt it, but the natives there seem to be
enthusiastic about it, so you never know.

--scharmers

***************

What a classy guy!

------------------

-< -< -< -<
Esox=FC=

IP: Logged

posted 03-01- 04:51 PM               

---

Hmmm ...

Maybe I'm reading to much into it. The last part almost sounds ... well ... sort'of nice.

[This message has been edited by Zurawski (edited 03-01-2000).]

IP: Logged

posted 03-01- 04:57 PM               

---

Hmm.. take a look at this from way back:

---

Well, since you can't have too many WW2 flight-sims, I traded in a couple of games and EB, and got SDOE for $35. I've only been able to spend a few minutes with it (some free flight, some touch and go, and the A-A training mission), but here's my impressions for what they're worth.

GRAPHICS: Put EAW at one end of the table. Put WW2F on the other. Then, set SDOE right in the middle. The terrain looks better than EAW, if not as "populated", and looks far better than WW2F's carpets. The aircraft models look better than those of EAW -- sharper, and more detailed -- but don't have the high gloss of WW2F. One big consideration, though: SDOE runs at EAW's zippy framerates, not the slow slog of WW2F. It's a reasonable tradeoff. The only big downers are the relatively limited view distance (am I playing Turok here?) and the absolutely goofy tracers (big, round circles...am I playing CYAC here?) Aircraft explosion and pieces/parts graphics are similar, again, to a cross of EAW and WW2F. Closest comparison: a cross of EAW and WW2F.


FLIGHT MODELS: Can you say, "abuse"? Yep. In the training missions, with the flight model cranked up, I was pushing my Lightning through the sky like a Zeke. Speed bleed off and manueverability seem OK, it's just that the departure model is extremely generous. And, for the record, I am goddamn SICK and TIRED of the G-modelling imposed in just about all of these WW2 sims. You're telling me I am going to start to black out as soon as I hit 4.5-5G's? Well, *I* might...but my trained, fit alter-ego shouldn't. FWIW, you get "realistic" blackout effects, i.e. tunnel vision. It's just way overamped. So, in summary, while I'm no expert at flight-models, things feel OK except for the departure model. Closest comparison: MSCFS, without worrying about stalls and spins (at least in my Lightning). I'll leave everything else up to the Ordbot to talk about.


A.I.: The A.I. is a great stallfighter, again, at least against the single Nazi I was flying training missions against. *He* was definitely a better class of pilot -- he used the vertical. He could have been a little more aggressive, but the AI is better than EAW's "hit the deck" pilots, and way, way better than MSCFS's "literally hit the deck" pilots. Closest comparison: WW2F.


Other random stuff:


The views are fine. You got your snap views, and your "autozooming" padlock, which is interesting, to say the least. No Virtual Cockpit stuff that I could see, but I'm not a big fan of VC, anyway.


Enemies seem to be able to soak up a lot of damage.


Deflection shooting, especially when zoomed in with the padlock, seems a little bit off. It could be that I'm used to the deflection shooting of EAW, WW2F, and MSCFS, but I don't know. It may be that SDOE -really- measures the weights of rounds. All I can say is: get used to deflection shooting with the bogey way, way below your nose in turn fights.

Ever want a modern HUD in a WW2 sim? Me too. Call me lame, but hey -- with SDOE's tiny, tiny instruments, you need SOMETHING. (EAW's system is better -- no pitch ladder and G meter SDOE nicely provides you with a HUD if you want it.


To close up, here's how I rank the WW2 sims:

1) EAW. Nearly got just about everything right. If only the A.I. went "up" instead of "down" more, and they got rid of those terminator twin-engine fighter-bombers...anyway, awesome immersability and superb frame-rates.

2) SDOE. Yup. It's a good, solid sim. Of course, it has its foibles, which will no doubt be picked apart ad naseum on this group. Yes, you can fly bombers, and hop around the gun stations. A big word up to my dethstar homeboys out there! Decent immersability, open-architecture, and decent framerates.

3) WW2F. Would be nice, except for the hideous terrain and god-awful system requirements. If I had a PII-450+, I'd rank WW2F and SDOE about the same, since they obviously have similarly-executed design goals.

4) MSCFS. You know, this game wouldn't be half-bad except for the desolutory A.I.. The only reason I'm keeping it around is because it's the only sim to offer Pacific Theatre aircraft.

--scharmers

IP: Logged

posted 03-01- 06:55 PM            

---

What's the URL to this clown's website?

IP: Logged

posted 03-01- 07:29 PM               

---

How many Sharmers are there? This can't be the same guy who posted the other day! If SDOE ranked second out-of-the-box where would he put us if he flew PP 5.3?

He must have taken so much heat for giving SDOE a decent review that he succumbed to public pressure, IMHO.

IP: Logged

posted 03-01- 08:29 PM               

---

Well, I must say, we had an imapact on him.. thats for sure.... I think he doesn't run up against a whole forum that is intelligent and will pick apart every word he says. He couldn't turn around without us hitting his turns abouts and outright lies. We are an easy crew to get going though. ;} I do have to agree.. but I just hate being slammed by someone with no knowledge of what we are about.
One point that I was going to bring up in one of the other threads, but it got just too big.. ;}
This sim does not rely on Parsoft to fix our planes. We do that. Parsoft is for fixing the actual code of the sim itself. Make the world better, so we can make the planes and other stuff work better.
Just thought I would throw that out in case someone is doing another review... I hate when people think that because they have the latest patch, they have the latest FM's and aircraft as well.
I also think that that was his attempt to actually say he could be wrong. Either way it is better than "Who Cares". ;}

------------------
Mirthain=FC=

IP: Logged

posted 03-01- 09:06 PM               

---

Hmmm... what a floater. Time to flush.

If you were unfortunate enough to read his 'follies', you'd see the guy is in pain. Pissing and moaning all over the place, wishing he was somewhere else in life and dragging his personal vendettas into his work. Nothing a good douche wouldn't fix.

First of all, I don’t feel the reference to SDOE in his article was as poisonous as perhaps most of you believe, but I can’t understand why an individual would be so callous as to drag it into the forum. Is this guy for real? All I can think is, wow that IS low.

IP: Logged

posted 03-01- 09:30 PM            

---

You know what? I don't care. Really, I feel as if Scharmers insulted my choice of breakfast cereal. He may as well have said "how can you eat a loser cereal like Cheerios?". He doesn't like SDOE, we do. Big deal. We will all survive.
-Lothar

IP: Logged

posted 03-01- 09:43 PM               

---

SDOE breakfast of Champions!

IP: Logged

posted 03-01- 09:56 PM               

---

Don't give it to Mikey, he hates everything...

IP: Logged

posted 03-01- 11:38 PM               

---

Lothar,
You dont really eat Cheerios, do you?

IP: Logged