WarBirds goes into its 20th year of service with a new 2016 version

[Yskonyn]

I've heard lots about this sim, but never actually played it.
Now it has a new release to celebrate its 20th birthday. Well not a new release as in a new game, but its now on Steam!  ;D
It doesn't look too bad either. Probably gives insane framerates which is great for MP action.
At 15 euros I am going to try it.
Any of you simmers among us have any experience with WB? Care to share some tips?

[ArizonaTank]

Not to steal the thread, but I just got an email from WWII Online (Battleground Europe), and it is also still alive and kicking.  I believe original release was 1999.

But back to WarBirds, I played it about 10 years ago and had a great time.   Maybe I will try it again.

I would pay extra for a more mature gaming community.  And maybe that is what these old warhorses offer.

[Swatter]

WWII Online?

I can still remember all the broken promises and missed potential. I thought it was a great idea and had some fun even while it suffered growing pains.

[bobarossa]

Warbirds?

I can still remember all the broken promises and missed potential.

Fixed it for you.  I played from about 96 to 2001.  Tried it one time about 5 years ago and it didn't seem any better.  Owner stopped caring about pleasing customers and just did anything to make money. 

[Bardolph]

Best part of WWIIOnline was the automated forum censor they used that brought such wonderful words into play as "hecko" and "cirbodilyfluidstances" and "chickenpit" and "armor asian".

[Yskonyn]

Well, that seemed a waste of 15 euro's. :(
The game is truely a dinosaur. Its menu system is clunky and I don't know what they did with the trailer, but the graphics are much sharper and much less jagged there than I've seen in the game.
On top of that once I am in the pit my mouse is screwed and only works in the top left corner of the screen until I kill WB.

Their forums seem pretty Dead too AND you aparently need to get a sub to unlock all features. That seems like far too much of a trouble to sort out.

[Staggerwing]

Best part of WWIIOnline was the automated forum censor they used that brought such wonderful words into play as "hecko" and "cirbodilyfluidstances" and "chickenpit" and "armor asian".

Don't forget 'Female Dogging'.

[Toonces]

Sorry to hear about your blown cash, Ys.  I never played it, but I also never heard anything good about it since the old days.

I'm an Aces High 2 man.  If  you're interested in online MMO-type air combat you might want to give that a look.  I believe they offer a free 2-week trial to see if it works for you.

I don't play it anymore.  There are so many free options for online air combat now that I don't think AH2 warrants the $15 a month.

[Jack Nastyface]

Sorry to hear about the lost $$.  FWIW...I used to play WB quite a bit back in the day, and mostly enjoyed it.  Although it WAS possible to "game" the multiplayer experience (ie: ram your airplane into a bomber, kamikaze into a flak unit, fly heavy bombers, etc with lots of gunners (known as "deathstars") etc) most of the sessions I played were with moderate-to-serious combat flight simmers.  I think this was because the game wasn't very "flashy", and you did need to have some virtual piloting skills (not to mention a joystick) so you tended not to have very many griefers / trolls.  Two of the things I favorably remember was artillery spotting from a WWI recon plane (a task which required you to fire spotting rounds, make adjustments using x y coordindates, spotting again, then finally firing for effect - an experience which I don't think has been replicated, again), and the concepts behind "taking over" an enemy base (which included softening up the airbase, destroying AA guns & vehicles, and finally dropping troops.  Meaning - you HAD to work together as a team, or you would never win).

[steve58]

Yskonyn -- don't forget about Steam's new refund policy.  If you put less than 2 hours into it, you should be able to get your euros back...

You can request a refund for nearly any purchase on Steam—for any reason. Maybe your PC doesn't meet the hardware requirements; maybe you bought a game by mistake; maybe you played the title for an hour and just didn't like it.

It doesn't matter. Valve will, upon request via help.steampowered.com, issue a refund for any reason, if the request is made within fourteen days of purchase, and the title has been played for less than two hours. There are more details below, but even if you fall outside of the refund rules we've described, you can ask for a refund anyway and we'll take a look.

You will be issued a full refund of your purchase within a week of approval. You will receive the refund in Steam Wallet funds or through the same payment method you used to make the purchase. If, for any reason, Steam is unable to issue a refund via your initial payment method, your Steam Wallet will be credited the full amount. (Some payment methods available through Steam in your country may not support refunding a purchase back to the original payment method.

http://store.steampowered.com/steam_refunds/

[Yskonyn]

Thanks Steve, I'll certainly apply for a refund then!  O0

@Toonces, thanks for the tip. I guess you're right, there are a lot of options, but I was hoping for a more sim-like experience, with a healthy community.
Rise of Flight is a great title, but I am looking for something WW2.

[Toonces]

Check out AH2 then.  It really is best if you get into a good squad.  I lucked into a squad early on of a bunch of ex-military, like-minded guys and played with them for about 2 years solid.  It was almost all I did.  Eventually the group broke up due to real life issues and I lasted about 2 more months solo before I quit.  I started again about a year later and lasted another month or so solo before I quit for good. 

If you find a group that you enjoy flying with it is just way more fun.

[Slick Wilhelm]

Oh boy, what a trip down memory lane.

I flew Warbirds from 1996-2000. It was my first mmpg, and it was fantastic. The teams were colors, consisting of Red, Green, Purple and Gold. Long live Goldlandia!

Back in the stone ages of the late 1990's, we paid $2/hr. to play Warbirds. No, I'm not kidding. And we all thought they were nuts when they changed to a $29.99/month pricing plan. It was quite the bargain after paying $2/hr.

There was some internal strife at ICI Games, and one half of the team left to form HiTech Creations, the developers of Aces High 2. I followed them and played AH2 from 2000-2006. At the same time, I also played WWII Online before it became Battleground Europe.

If you're looking for a good WWII online flight sim, AH2 is a good bet. The people there are mostly good sticks and serious simmers.

[Skoop]

Thanks Steve, I'll certainly apply for a refund then!  O0

@Toonces, thanks for the tip. I guess you're right, there are a lot of options, but I was hoping for a more sim-like experience, with a healthy community.
Rise of Flight is a great title, but I am looking for something WW2.

If you like rise of flight and your looking for WWII, you should look at IL2 battle of Stalingrad.  The game has had a ton of improvements with Summer maps releasing the end of the month.  It's going for 60 bucks on steam and they have quarterly half off steam sales.  There's a fair amount of guys flying online, and they are in the process of transferring over pat wilson's campaign system to improve the sp game.  It's eastern front so, it will be a while before they get to a western front map, but they just released the p-40e1 last week.

[Yskonyn]

Thanks for all the suggestions, guys.
I think I might try my hands on AH2.  O0

BoS is a fine sim (at least now it has become), but I am not really interested in its setting at the moment.
CloD with the Team Fusion patches is getting praise too -and I already have that title-, so perhaps I should also look there.

BTW The Steam refund got through; my 15 euros have returned into my pocket. ;)
Thanks again for the tip!