So, now that Rise of Flight is on Steam...

[MikeGER]

its 70% off on Steam now until 6/1   ...i am tempted  :)

[Father Ted]

First I would try the free download - at the bottom of this page: http://riseofflight.com/store/- also check the prices there.

[sandman2575]

Agree, give the demo a shot, but overall I'd say you can't go wrong with getting RoF for $15 -- it's definitely well worth that, if you have any interest at all in combat flight simulators, or WW1 air combat in particular --

[MengJiao]

Agree, give the demo a shot, but overall I'd say you can't go wrong with getting RoF for $15 -- it's definitely well worth that, if you have any interest at all in combat flight simulators, or WW1 air combat in particular --

I just reinstalled it.  I've had it on various machines since June 2011.  Bombing barges with the RE8 is my current favorite pastime there.

[sandman2575]

I bounce back and forth between RoF and WOFF, never fully satisfied with either, even though I think both are excellent. RoF with the PWCG offers a pretty decent single-player campaign experience. Not as satisfying as WOFF, but certainly entertaining enough, I think. WOFF is the 'fuller' experience overall, but every time I go back to it after spending time with RoF, I just really miss the gorgeous visuals and more fully fleshed-out FMs. If only the two games could get together to create the perfect WW1 flight simulator baby.

Then, sooner or later, I get frustrated with the inability of WW1 crates to climb at anything like a decent rate of ascent, and pop over to Cliffs of Dover, maybe Battle of Stalingrad, and just think, "Man, why does the SP have to suck so hard in what otherwise could've been fantastic games???"

Jets are just way beyond me. No DCS for me.

[Nefaro]

I bounce back and forth between RoF and WOFF, never fully satisfied with either, even though I think both are excellent. RoF with the PWCG offers a pretty decent single-player campaign experience. Not as satisfying as WOFF, but certainly entertaining enough, I think. WOFF is the 'fuller' experience overall, but every time I go back to it after spending time with RoF, I just really miss the gorgeous visuals and more fully fleshed-out FMs. If only the two games could get together to create the perfect WW1 flight simulator baby.

Then, sooner or later, I get frustrated with the inability of WW1 crates to climb at anything like a decent rate of ascent, and pop over to Cliffs of Dover, maybe Battle of Stalingrad, and just think, "Man, why does the SP have to suck so hard in what otherwise could've been fantastic games???"

+1

[Skoop]

I bounce back and forth between RoF and WOFF, never fully satisfied with either, even though I think both are excellent. RoF with the PWCG offers a pretty decent single-player campaign experience. Not as satisfying as WOFF, but certainly entertaining enough, I think. WOFF is the 'fuller' experience overall, but every time I go back to it after spending time with RoF, I just really miss the gorgeous visuals and more fully fleshed-out FMs. If only the two games could get together to create the perfect WW1 flight simulator baby.

Then, sooner or later, I get frustrated with the inability of WW1 crates to climb at anything like a decent rate of ascent, and pop over to Cliffs of Dover, maybe Battle of Stalingrad, and just think, "Man, why does the SP have to suck so hard in what otherwise could've been fantastic games???"

Jets are just way beyond me. No DCS for me.

Funny you mentioned that last part about pwcg, because just this week a thread on the BOS forums popped up with Jason777 looking for someone with coding experience to convert pwcg to BOS.  I guess pat refused to do it himself even for money because he is only interested in WWI.  He did volunteer to tutor a coder to take the project over for BOS.  This is being developed as a third party project and doesn't include Moscow.  Some suggestions have been made to make donation ware like fsx addons or pay one of the Moscow devs the Russian labor rate to do it so it is done in a timely manner.
Needless to say, they are still looking, but the search is only a few days old so ....we'll see.

Inspite of the mediocre SP, I've been flying the crap out of this sim.  It's been a success for me because I brought the mentality of what I learned from Dcs.  Best flown with custom made missions with a close knit group on ts, and do more coop player vs AI to focus on tactical as opposed to airquake.  The FMB has really helped the sim.

[sandman2575]

Of course, if 777 had just put some real effort into creating a robust single-player experience in BOS (or ROF) in the first place, they wouldn't need to be pleading with 3rd party free-lancers.

Still, if someone is good enough to adapt PWCG for BOS, I'll gladly take it.

What I'd really love is if someone could adapt PWCG for CloD, although I suppose since CloD isn't 777's engine, that's not likely.  Overall, I just much prefer CloD to BoS on so many levels (fully patched up with the TF patches, needless to say).  But even the Team Fusion dynamic campaign for CloD is rubbish, no way around it.

[Skoop]

I prefer east front, so I'm more partial to BOS.  I did love BOB II WOV, that's why I passed on CLOD, no way they were going to top that experience.  I may visit CLOD when they release the Med theater, but that will be years. 

[Jack Nastyface]

So...it IS really difficult to fly some of the planes in this game, right?  I mean....it's not just me or my joystick, but if you are flying a Nieuport 17c, it is a little bit jumpy and you can tear off the wings quite easily?

[Philippe]

Most of the planes I've tried flying didn't pose any problems.  But if you want a challenge, try flying the Gotha bomber.  I've probably forgotten how to do it because I haven't tried flying one in a while, but getting it off the ground was quite the challenge.  I think the trick is to center your controls and think about making slight corrections without actually doing it.  Anything less gentle than that tends to flip it over during take-off.  But it's quite a feeling when you finally manage to get that beast into the air without crashing.

I'm waiting for Ilya Muromets to go on sale so I may not be able to comment on the Sikorsky for a year or so.  Plenty to do in the meantime. It's very retro of me, but I'm partial to the Eindekker.

And by the way, I fly with a mouse because everything is in storage and likely to remain so for at least a year. 

[Tuna]

Most of the planes I've tried flying didn't pose any problems.  But if you want a challenge, try flying the Gotha bomber.  I've probably forgotten how to do it because I haven't tried flying one in a while, but getting it off the ground was quite the challenge.  I think the trick is to center your controls and think about making slight corrections without actually doing it.  Anything less gentle than that tends to flip it over during take-off.  But it's quite a feeling when you finally manage to get that beast into the air without crashing.

Landing is a whole other can of worms!!!!.. But you do feel good when you finally accomplish it!...

Most other planes are not that hard to handle.

[Father Ted]

So...it IS really difficult to fly some of the planes in this game, right?  I mean....it's not just me or my joystick, but if you are flying a Nieuport 17c, it is a little bit jumpy and you can tear off the wings quite easily?

Yep - but don't give up!

One of the big issues with most of the planes is using a spring-loaded joystick as opposed to a force feedback one.  This is because where the stick centres is not necessarily in the "right" place - usually meaning that the plane will fly tail-heavy all the time.  So you have to apply forward pressure in level flight, and any relaxing of this (eg when you're thinking about shooting or turning) results in the nose climbing and you over-correcting to get it down.

Now, you can get rid of this by changing your pitch curve in the responses part of the options.  All you do is shift the whole curve down until the plane will fly hands off in level flight at, say, 80% throttle.

That said, the rotary-powered planes (of which the N17 was one) were hard to fly - infamously so in the case of the Camel. In fact I have a first-hand account which describes the Camel looping unless the stick was held forward. So in altering my pitch curves I feel a bit of a fraud.

Of course it's not just about that, but I think the "bouncing nose" is the biggest issue for new Roffers.

[Nefaro]

So...it IS really difficult to fly some of the planes in this game, right?  I mean....it's not just me or my joystick, but if you are flying a Nieuport 17c, it is a little bit jumpy and you can tear off the wings quite easily?

Yes.  It's not just you.

These olde aircraft ('E' for emphasis) each have their own .. personality.. when it comes to handling them.  How close to real that may be is up for debate since our short spring-loaded & center-detented joysticks themselves handle a bit differently than the sticks in those olde planes.  But it definitely conveys the impression that you're constantly trying to keep it from killing you.

This is discouraging at first.  It was for me, when I first tried ROF, although my biggest complaint has always been how much the nose rises when your stick is centered.  That can be offset, to some extent, in the joystick setting curves. 

However, once you get accustomed to flying these kites/deathtraps, it can be very addictive.  Due to the extremely low stall speeds and huge amount of surface lift from all the wing area, you can do some impressively acrobatic dogfight maneuvers.   Sure, you may sometimes die after losing control while learning them, or with a certain model's aerodynamic quirks, but it's damn rewarding when you start improving noticeably.  It also becomes more fun to fly different models.

After flying sim crates in ROF & WOFF, the later era stuff seem so much easier to dogfight in.  I'm pretty sure my multi-player dogfight experience in ROF alone improves my dogfight abilities more than any other single sim.  Even if for no other reason tahn I don't have to devote the extra attention to keeping my aircraft under control so much while doing so.

I also want to point out that once you get past the initial control terrors of ROF, you'll experience how immersive the flying is.  Between the varied sounds of the open cockpit and (preferably with TrackIR), looking around, it's the best out there at providing the sensation of flight.  I mean..it's easy to get used to flying without looking at your gauges - just using the sounds of the wind & your aircraft, along with the view.  That's when I realized how amazing it was, gauging my flight profile and how close to stalling or ripping wings I was by the sounds during maneuvers.  O0


When you're first learning, I highly suggest flying the Albatros D.Va.  It's the most forgiving in flight, turns pretty well, has two guns, and it's inline engine isn't so worrisome as the rotary engines since the inline engine's operation will be familiar to anyone (Rotaries require a little learning).

[Jack Nastyface]

Gentlemen,
Thanks for the kind and informative responses.  I only have the basic game installed with no additional "plane packs" but I will be buying some as soon as they go on sale.
Believing it or not, I am okay at landing the Spad 13, the D.Va, and just okay on the Nieup 17.  I set up a couple of simple duel's versus recruit / rookie 2 seat observer planes, and did okay in the Spad, really good (5 kills in the D. Va) and crappy in the Nieup.  By far the biggest problem I had in the Spad was getting hit by plane debris, and occaisonally going into a flat spin at too low an altitude to recover.  The D.Va is a real killing machine (at least at this stage and setting), but I am finding the Nieup just a bit jumpy.  In four different "quick combat" engagements, I tore the wings off the plane whilst starting a "tight circle" fight.
@Phillipe - like you, I enjoy the early war planes, which is why I gravitated to the 17.  Can't wait to try the DH2, eindecker, etc.