Flight Combat Preview by Dan Crenshaw
	There has been a hue and cry from the flight sim community for quite a while for a good, multi-player, multi-station bomber sim. Two companies have dared to deliver. Both model the venerable B-17, arguably the greatest bomber of all time. But Looking Glass has gone a bit further. You may recognize the name Looking Glass if you're a Flight Unlimited series fan. They have been making flight sims for quite a while and have decided to enter into the combat market. Their first submission, FLIGHT COMBAT, sticks with their well known prop sim experience with WW II aircraft. And not just a few, there are 10 Allied aircraft to fly and 14 German aircraft. USAAC P51D P38J P47D B17G B24D RAF Spitfire Mk.I, Spitfire Mk.IX Hurricane Mk.I Mosquito Fb.Mk.VI Avro-Lancaster Mk.I Luftwaffe Bf109 E-4/B, Bf109 G-6 Fw190 A-8, Fw190 D-9 Ju87 B-2 Me163 B-1A Me262 A1B Bf110 C-4 Me110 G-2, Me110 G-4c/R3 (night fighter) Ju88 A-1, Ju88 A-4/torpedo Ju88 G-7 (night fighter) He111 H-3 While there are a few variants, of the 24 flyable aircraft there are 18 unique aircraft available to fly. The aircraft that have multiple variants are distinctly different in their performance and handling characteristics as well as combat rolls. Take a good look at the list. Several of these aircraft are multi-station. In single player mode, AI can occupy these stations or you can pop in to them while the AI does the other operations. But here is the beauty, in multi-player, if the plane is a multi-crew aircraft, a human can occupy that position. All bold faced aircraft on the list are fully multi-player/multi-station capable. With a planned player capacity of 32 players, you can fully man a couple of bombers and have a full human ESCORT package with you at the same time. The actual number of players over the net will be determined in testing, but the team felt confident that they would be able support a large number of players over the Internet. 32 players over a LAN should be a shoe in. Dynamic entry and exit, as in Falcon4, is also planned. Click to continue		Bf110g Bf110 Cockpit and External Flight models will be on par with the excellent flight models everyone has grown to expect from the Flight Unlimited series of simulations. And the familiar ability to customize your game will be included as well. Planned options will include adjustments for : AutoTrim Rudder-Aileron control (for those without rudder pedals/sidewinders) Flight model, AI accuracy Cheats (unlimited Fuel, ammo ...etc.) Slider adjustments for difficulty Graphics detail (independant sliders for items such as terrain, sky, damage FX, as well as a master slider) Weather on/off (if off, there will still be clouds, but no winds/updrafts...etc.) as well as other common adjustments. Paris: Searchlights Ground objects will interact with each other and with you and fire upon your flight. I watched as a ME110 flew over Paris at night. Search lights beamed from the ground. I was told that if the search lights hit you, the AAA can see you. Then the AAA would become more accurate and your chance of getting shot down goes way up, how much depends upon the difficulty level you are set at. (Click HERE for the belly view from a B17 and HERE for the rear gunner view from a Stuka.) Another neat feature is the "body english" on waist gunner positions, where the view swings with the gun and you get a view similar to what you would expect in real life. At this time, I am not sure of the extent of ground forces interaction with each other. Go to The Mission Editor
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