After years of jet sims, 1999 has proven to be a banner year for prop sims. And there is no sign of any slow down! My last update on coming WWII Sims for 1999 was in May. Time to revisit the scene, since a few more titles have been added since then.

The combat prop fan currently has a choice of the following sims:

• Combat Flight Sim
• European Air War
• Fighter Squadron
• Flying Corps Gold
• Luftwaffe Commander
• MiG Alley
• Red Baron II
• WWII Fighters

and online:

• Dawn of Aces Flying Circus
• Warbirds
• Fighter Ace
• Air Warrior 3

That is quite a collection of talent! But believe it or not, there are eleven more combat prop sims in development. Here is the list of coming prop action:

• HiTechCreations: Aces High
• Simguild: Battle of Britain
• Wayward Design: B17 II
• Sierra: Desert Fighters
• Microsoft: Combat Flight Sim II
• VR1: Fighter Ace II
• Psygnosis: Nations Fighter Command
• Looking Glass: Flight Combat
• Crosswind Simulations: Stormbird
• Maddox Games: IL2 Sturmovik
• Playnet: WWII Online.

Somewhere out in the distance Rowan has already begun work on their own Battle of Britain, and Parsoft is working on a follow up to Fighter Squadron. (For fairly serious add ons, note Battle for Midway and Fighting Tigers by Abacus.)

Aces High

The division in the iMagic community resulted in a new effort to produce a worthy successor to Warbirds. Here is part of the press release from HiTech Creations (at least one of the principals is an ex-Warbirds designer.)

"Aces High is an online multi-player combat flight simulator utilizing a variety of World War II vintage fighters and bombers from six countries, each modeled in intricate detail. Whether you love airplanes, history, the thrill of competition, or social recreation, Aces High has much to offer. Unlike stand-alone sims, there's nothing artificial about the intelligence of your opponents and allies. The challenge of combat, teamwork, camaraderie, and social interaction are all real."

"Aces High is about the science and art of air combat. It is designed to be very representative of air combat through the use of real world tactics. While the game is easy to learn, it is difficult to master. However, you don't have to attend ground school just to figure out the start sequence of an engine. We don't model complexity for the sake of it, but we don't shy away from those factors we feel are inherent to the real experience."

B17. Click HERE for internal shot.

SimGuild's Battle of Britain

The first simulation from SimGuild to utilize 3d hardware, Battle of Britain is currently in alpha. Here is the description of the alpha, and a quick summary of the results.

In the Battle of Britain alpha test, only two airplanes are available: the BF109 E4 on the Luftwaffe side and the Hawker Hurricane Mk I on the British side. The battle area is centered on the East side of the English Channel between Dover and the Pas de Calais.

The aircraft armament is modeled to be historically accurate. The Hurricane has eight wing mounted .303 machine guns and the BF109 has two nose mounted 7.92 mm MG 15 machine guns and two wing mounted 20mm MG FF cannon (for all of you who don't know this the E3 and E4 models of the BF 109 did NOT have provision for an engine mounted cannon firing through the propeller spinner.)

The beta test will have these four aircraft: Hawker Hurricane Mk I, BF109 E4, Supermarine Spitfire Mk I, and BF110 C4. Note that all of these are fighters and will not have provision for carrying bombs.

The BF110 C4 is a two place aircraft as modeled in the game. The pilot will have the ability to man the dorsal gun of this plane (while it flies along pilotless). There will be server directed anti-aircraft defenses around the various airfields that should render airfield vulching a bit dangerous.

Long range anti-aircraft artillery (via server direction), also known as flak, will be placed near the airfields and along the coasts to provide air defense for the land area of the respective sides. (The flak guns are already in place in internal tests, and they are DEADLY at altitudes below about 8000 feet).

There is provision for setting your gun "Harmonization" or convergence range, radio channel setup similar to Flying Circus, and you can bail out of your aircraft. If your aircraft explodes, you can quit after a 5 second wait without having to ride your airplane all the way to the ground (other players see your plane explode when you quit after either a pilot kill or a bail out). And NO, you will not be able to shoot the dude in the parachute. Side selection is made in the game so you won't have to re-log to change sides.

Post beta additions to the game will be made periodically, possibly during the beta test, and afterwards. These aircraft will be added: Ju87 B2 Stuka, Ju88A1, and the He111 on the Luftwaffe side, Bristol Blenhiem Mk I, Vickers Wellington, and Bolton Paul Defiant (though who knows why someone would want to fly a fighter that has no forward firing guns) on the British side.

Look for these enhancements (which means we are working on them but it will probably take us a while to get them done)..

1. Multi-player aircraft (you can have a crew for the planes that have crew manned gun positions.)

2. Custom aircraft artwork (this is a big one, we still have to design the system to allow this to work between squadrons or teammates and still have the original art for the same planes that are flown by others (like non-squadron pilots flying on your side in the same plane type.)

Pricing:

We do not have an hourly rate figured out yet for Battle of Britain. When we do rest assured that it will be very reasonable. You will not have to make a separate account. Our business plan establishes that your one account allows you access to ALL of our games (this of course excludes alpha and possibly beta tests, although the Battle of Britain beta test will be available to all account holders.)

Q&A

We sent a few questions off to SimGuild and they were kind enough to respond with these answers:

Q. How will you differentiate BoB from other online sims?

A: First and foremost, game play will be smooth with high frame rates in our target platform. The individual aircraft will be modeled accurately and the flight models will be devoloped such that the craft fly like like real airplanes. This is based on actual pilot experience since two of our current staff are licensed pilots.

The client server program that we design our games around provides these key elements:

a: The server will be up ALL the time (except for very brief periods for maintenance).

b: We maintain very tight control on bandwidth at the server side which minimizes net delays (hence - low "warp").

c: The "central server" based design allows massive player numbers in an arena without over-running an individual players bandwidth.

d: The server is always at the same place so there is no searching required.

We don't like "shooting at dots" and we think a lot of our players don't either. We design our games so that "aspect and closure" can actually be judged visually, aircraft type can be identified visually, and dogfighting tactics based on countering enemy craft manuevers (again by visual recognition) is easily accomplished. This goes for you and your potential opponents making the development of tactical skill very important and a very real consideration.

We estimate that the average player will require about two months of consistent play (read "practice") to become just a "decent" dogfighting pilot. This is based on our original game "Flying Circus" but could be a bit conservative since BoB requires much more accurate gunnery, and the energy considerations during manuevering are more complex.

Q. What are the key features?

A: As noted above, and in addition there is an "autopilot" feature that maintains an aircraft in level flight and adjusts "trim" for it's airspeed. This will allow players to concentrate on other game aspects while enroute to a battle area. There is also a "formation autopilot" feature that flies a player's airplane in formation with a selected leader.

There is a simple and flexible system of "communications" within the game based on a "channel" system. There is a broadcast channel that can be used to send a typed message to all players, a "Guard" channel that sends only to players on the same side, and a Radio channel that sends and receives messages from only players on the same "channel". Players can select and change their radio channel in flight and there are more than 60,000 available channels.

Aircraft damage is modeled in a complex fashion. Different parts of an individual aircraft can be damaged, and the damage depends on the type and characteristics of the "collision" (i.e. a bullet strike) that causes the damage. Also, different aircraft have different abilities to absorb damage. This results in very complex tactics and targeting during a fight based on the armament and ruggedness, as well as manueverability of the different aircraft.

Q: Tell us about flight modeling and physics.

A: The flight models are real rigid body models with force and moment equations developed with simplified aerodynamics. Atmospheric conditions at different altitudes and individual aircraft and engine behaviors at altitude also are considered (i.e. the spitfire Mk I was a good performer at medium altitudes but the BF109 E4 was the master above about 20,000 ft.)

Q: How many players will be able to fly in one world?

A: At present an individual arena can hold up to 256 players. Future enhancements may increase this number.

Q: Will there be offline play available?

A: At present there will be very limited offline play. You can fly offline to practice takeoffs and landings or become familiar with the terrain. The major game play will take place online. Future enhancements may include some offline "drone shooting" for gunnery practice.

We have been discussing the possibility of releasing a "head to head" ability in the future to allow players to practice formation flying, basic combat manuevers, or possibly some "head to head" dueling.

Q: What resolutions are available?

A: Currently BoB supports either 800x600 or 1024x768 and does require a very good D3D compatable 3D video card with 8Mb minimum (check out the system requirements below.)

System Requirements:

• 200 Mhz Pentium class processor with 32Mb Ram.
• 80 Mb hard drive space
• 8Mb D3D compatable video card (DirectX 5.0 or greater required) Joystick is REQUIRED

B17 II: The Mighty Eighth

We have hosted around sixteen pages of coverage on B17 II to date, and most of our readers are more than familiar with this coming simulation. The visuals are very impressive, in fact easily the most impressive graphics engine yet seen on the PC. At E3 in Los Angeles we watched the aircraft rise and fall slightly on the thermals, an amazing effect when combined with conn trails or smoke. Resolution and object detail was simply stunning.

A few other effects caught my eye at E3: watching the gun turrets swivel from the outside view, with both guns firing, was impressive. As most of you will know, the graphics engine in EAW did not allow for this type of detail.

But for many this is all eye-candy, however delicious it may be. The heart of B17 II is a simulation with as much detail as Longbow II, but more aircraft to fly. In fact, B17 II breaks new ground by offering complete control of any station in the Flying Fortress, and motion captured animation to boot!

Me 109 in B17 II. Notice the shell casing.

That's right, you can occupy the pilots seat, and turn your head and watch the navigator at work. Or, you can leave the controls in the hands of the pilot while you as co-pilot scoot to the back of the aircraft to tend the wounds of a fallen gunner. Watch for this one in January, 2000, with full support for the new T&L engines under DX7. Click on the title above to get to our interview.

Visitors to ECTS in London are now coming back with reports that are simply astounding. One fan of Jane's WW2 Fighters, for example, has claimed that the cockpits in B17II are actually SUPERIOR to those in WW2 Fighters, so much so that he was convinced that they were rendered until he found he could click on them and watch switches move, and he could pan around the views!

Here is an excerpt from our forum based on hands-on experience at ECTS in London:

. "When I first saw it live, on screen I really couldn't believe it. Forget the screenshots you've seen because they don't mean a single thing. I had to pick my jaw off the floor as I watched.

"I spoke to two members of the team, one of them 'I think' was Graham Davis, I was so focused on the sim I couldn't remember. Graham (if that was Graham) displayed the 3D virtual cockpit of the P-51 I think it was. At first I thought to myself, "what's he chatting about, that cockpit is pre-rendered." Then he showed the working rudder pedals and I thought, "Ah, a pre-rendered cockpit with 3D pedals and switchs, clever move."

"Then he panned around and I was gobsmacked. Before I thought that Flanker 2.0 had the best looking cockpit, F2.0 cockpit was fantastic but the P-51 cockpit was unbelievable. I still do not understand how Wayward have managed to accomplish what they have.

Click for 1024x768.

"The external view showed the mosted detailed, most graphically pleasing planes of any sim or game I've ever played. The aircraft had a metallic shine on them which worked perfectly.

"Incredibly, the control surfaces had depth, so if you you made a turn and watched the ailerons, you could see a small cross section of the wing where the ailerons are cut out, that was one small thing which made a great deal of difference to me. It made me realise exactly how devoted Wayward are.

"I am definitely not the best person to judge the flight model of a WWII aircraft, however the P-51 felt fantastic, she was extremely smooth and more maneuverable that I anticipated. The plane was very responsive and just felt right.

"As I flew along I strafed a lake to see the effects from the shells and it was superb. You could see spouts of water shoot up into the air; the effects very well done. The terrain bump mapping was like none ever witnessed before, there is no point me attemping to describe it because I can't and I'd just run out of superlatives in trying to do so."

Doug Johnson, Designer of Desert Fighters, is a personal fan of Aces of the Pacific (AOTP), and estimates that he may have flown a thousand hours in that sim. While there was much he loved about AOTP, there were weak areas that stood out to him, such as the flight modeling.

Dynamix Desert Fighters

Doug personally places fun before realism, yet his goals for the modeling in Desert Fighters will still place it beyond AOTP. "Fun" to Doug means such things as allowing users to paint their own aircraft, and a fully dynamic environment. It also means being able to impact the course of the war to the extent that a successful pilot can eventually rewrite history. Doug has confirmed that fidelity on high settings will please the hardcore crowd.

The sim will depict the struggle for North Africa which took place between March 1941, and May, 1943, though the sim will stretch the end date of the campaign to December, 1943. The heart of the campaign is the "Battle of Supplies" that took place in North Africa at that time. The ground war is modeled in detail, especially as it relates to supply convoys and ground support in the strategic environment of the North African desert.

Desert Fighters will feature 30 aircraft, with approximately 18 flyable models. Included in the simulation are some unusual aircraft, such as the Ju-87 Stuka, the Italian Macchi MC 202 and the French Dewoitine D 520, along with the Spitfire and the P-51 Mustang. Players will even be able to take the tail-gunner position in the Stuka. Yes, you will be able to paint your own aircraft and add your own squadron IDs.

Damage modeling will be at the level of Red Baron 3d but improved. Multiplayer support will be virtually identical to that of Red Baron 3d, Doug expects up to sixty virtual pilots in the air in a single online game. Desert Fighters is being produced by Mike Jones, look for it in October '99.

Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator II

Virtually nothing is known on this new title except that it is in development. I can speculate that we will see the addition of wingman and formation commands and greatly increased object detail. Furthermore, we might see a graphically oriented mission editor and new theatres of operation. Hey... maybe we will even see a Pacific Theatre!

Typhoon in Trouble

Fighter Ace II

I had a quick peek at this one at the Microsoft booth in LA. It was looking VERY good, comparable to many of the new generation graphics engines. However, the game was still relatively early in development and the cockpits weren't finished. Goals for realism are quite high, however, and the game will be configurable enough that it should please a wide range of virtual pilots.

Finally, we can't tell you anything about Rhino because the interview we fielded was never returned. And Rowan's Battle of Britain simulation is so early in development that no details have been released. It's set for Q2, 2000 so is not one of the nine for '99.

Needless to say, the experience of building the models and flight dynamics for the Mustang in MiG Alley will be useful in Rowan's next project, and since MiG Alley has a fully dynamic campaign system the following sim should also have one. Personally, I am looking forward to this one greatly! Once MiG Alley is out the door we will probably have more info on Rowan's next project.

Nations: Fighter Command

Nations: Fighter Command was showing at E3 this year, but the display wasn't well planned and there was no joystick available for control when we saw the sim in action.

In the clouds.

A month or so earlier I had my hands on an alpha version, and the graphics were impressive. Feeling of flight was also quite good, surprising for an alpha release. Since that time Nations hit beta, and release is looking to occur in early October. No dynamic campaign in this one, but the fighting AI is supposed to be very good and it will ship with advanced support for AGP.

The lighting engine is quite advanced, and general detail in effects should be stunning. Volumetric clouds come as standard equipment.

Sunset in Nations.

Physics and systems modeling has received careful attention also. In fact, while I was flying the Focke-Wulf I cut the throttle suddenly then heard the engine sputter and the exhaust manifold belched a puff of smoke as the engine leaned out. Look for a hands on update later this month.

Ju87 from Flight Combat.

Flight Combat

Here is an update from the Producer of Flight Combat with regard to flying bombers in that simulation:

All stations are accessible and we are doing TRUE co-op (that is, you and all your buddies can be on one bomber, each manning a different position) as well as regular adversarial multiplay. Some of the bombers featured are the B-17 Flying Fortress, B-24 Liberator, He-111, Ju-87 Stuka and Ju-88 and a few others that I can't comment on yet.

At E3 we watched a B24 Liberator coming in over a German city. The searchlights scanning the sky up ahead looked menacing. If the key light (blue beam) found you, all other beams would then focus on you and you would be easy prey for the AAA.

Conn trails in Flight Combat, as in B17 II, are tactical since they make your position visible from much further away. Conn trails start at appropriate altitude.

Night fighting will also be modeled with the 110 Zerstorer. This German bomber should make for some interesting gameplay, though I wouldn't want to fly without a good escort!

I was pleased to learn that Looking Glass have planned dynamic entry and exit in multiplayer, as in Falcon 4 (though F4 hasn't worked well up to this point.) And Stuka fans will finally be in heaven!

Crosswind Simulations: Stormbird

On their now long outdated web site, you can find the following information: "Crosswind Simulations is a company devoted to the development and production of Extraordinary Flight Simulators. We strive to bring our customers affordable games that do not compromise on graphics, accuracy, and realism.

"Our first release will be Stormbird, a flight simulator based on the WWII German jet, the Me 262 and rocket interceptor,Me 163. Stormbird will be shareware and pricing is projected to be under $35 for the game and $10 for expansion packs to enhance gameplay. For more information on Stormbird, check out the site, e-mail us directly, or join our mailing list that will keep you informed on all developments.

"Developed by people passionate about flight simulators, Stormbird was conceived out of a desire to make the most historically and at the same time, adaptable flight simulator. Additionally, the simulator had to involve each user from the highly advanced to the beginner. Since the game could be distributed via CD ROM and or downloaded via the Internet, production costs could be reasonable if not Extraordinarily affordable!

Stormbird includes: Five Me 262 Variants with several weapon options (See Aircraft section for more details); Me 163B Komet; Dynamic Campaigns; Mission Builder; Historical Missions; "What-If..." Missions.

All good and fascinating information, so I wrote to Brent Ward at Crosswind to ask him what is up? The short story is that there have been some complications, but Crosswind is on track and we can look forward to an update very soon.

IL2 Sturmovik

IL-2 Sturmovik

This last spring I asked Oleg Maddox of Maddox Games about plans for bombers in IL-2 Sturmovik. He replied:

In add-ons we plan a lot of planes and there will be present famous Russian middle range bombers Pe-2 and Tu-2. Pe-2 was also used as a heavy fighter and was a very dangerous enemy, especially for the bombers and Stuka's. Pe-3, which really was a re-engined version of the Pe-2 was very similar to the English Mosquito, but with more powerful weapons and good armor. (The Pe-2 was the first aircraft in the world (1939, in series, not experimental), which had electric-buster control of the flight.)

IL2 Sturmovik

When IL-2 succeeds, one of our add-ons can be with the Pe-8 - a four engine long-range bomber similar to B-17. The Pe-8 was created in 1938 and in a series was built from 1940. The first real battle experience was in August, 1941 with the first bombing of Berlin and some other German cities. (Click HERE for an image showing damage modeling.)

Pe-8's lifted off from Moscow and bombed Berlin, then returned to Moscow without any landing during this flight. Escorting of Pe-8s was with long-range twin engine bombers, called AR-2, flown all years from 1941-45. The best operation of Pe-8's was the destruction of Koenigsberg fortifications and communcations at the end of 1944.

Some other bomber types, like the TB-3, weren't used in the war as a bomber because it was too old (1933-35.) But several operations with this plane involved the TB-3 flying as a great bomb itself with a radio control from an escorting plane, or from ships in the sea and ground radar control.

While at E3 in May we had a chance to see IL-2 in action. Development has continued and the graphics engine is looking better and better. Goals for realism and accurate flight modeling remain high and we expect to hear good reports from ECTS.

WW2 Online

Playnet Inc., was founded in May of 1999 by some of the former creators and developers of WarBirds. Playnet is now developing an online gaming service providing cross platform services to gamers. Translation? You own a Mac or PC, you're in. The service will include three levels of games: free, subscription and premium games at a single online destination.

Playnet is developing a new WWII simulation, "World War II Online." WWII Online is a vehicle simulation allowing players to participate in air, land and sea combat using a single front end which will be available for download. In addition to taking control of vehicles, the design will allow players to access a first-person shooter model putting them in the role of infantry. Air, land AND sea in a historical theatre? Sounds great! Chris "Mo" Sherland comments:

"It will "unfold" as the actual war did to the extent that theatres and vehicles will become available as the timeline moves through the 40s. Players will be able to take on new and more advanced game features as they gain experience, such as supply flow, and vehicle distribution.

"As a country's assets get damaged or destroyed, the sim's supply model will automatically route supplies to replace and repair. If, that is, the routes have not been interdicted. Also high ranking players from the three different branches of service (Air, Land, Sea) will be able to respond to situations by altering the flow of supplies themselves.

"The commanders will be able to determine how some of their resources are used, "customizing", in a sense, their country's war footing, and perhaps providing assistance to their allies.

Q. Why not just do a good boxed simulation like everyone else, and then maybe release add on modules that expand the universe?

"Because that has never worked. In fact I believe that the paradigm you refer to is exactly why real time battlefields have failed in the past. We specifically chose alternate routes from what has come before. The reason to do it all is simply because it's logically the next step in online combat sims…it has been for years and yet no one has attempted it. And yes, Playnet is made up of crazed visionaries.

"Beta should hit by the end of the year, 1st Q of 2000 at the latest, and yes there will be an open beta stage.

For more on WW2 Online see our Interview