Warmaker

Movie accurate Y-Wings would be cool. Lots of exposed parts to get carried away with, unlike most Star Wars craft.

Yep. Boeing wanted money. Boeing owns Grumman now, and Grumman made the TBF Avenger. Sooo... There was even a push for the modern owning company's name to supplant the original. It sounds weird, but think of this. North American P-51 Mustang Instead, if they had their way it would be Boeing P-51 Mustang Vought F4U Corsair Instead, it would be Northrop F4U Corsair Grumman F6F Hellcat Into... Northrop F6F Hellcat Yes, the current companies do own the properties. But to me it's desecration.

I'm guessing it's the aim for this game... being an "X-Com" game and being playable on current OS's, unlike most of the legacy X-Com games that some require sacrificing a virgin on a bloody altar for your computer to make work, *ahem* X-Com Apocalypse! If it is like X-Com, then it's good for me. Why? Because there are no games close to bringing the X-Com gameplay anymore. They may bring parts of it, but not the whole package.

Speaking of Star Wars craft, a modeller by the name of Alfred Wong had produced a series of resin model kits, via SMT. 1/51 TIE Defender 1/51 TIE Avenger 1/51 TIE Bomber 1/51 TIE Droid 1/48 Snowspeeder 1/48 AT-AT 1/48 A-Wing 1/48 B-Wing 1/48 X-Wing 1/48 Y-Wing 1/72 YT-2400 "Outrider" 1/48 R-41 Starchaser (for you X-Wing game fans) I had ordered and received the TIE Avenger and TIE Defender versions (have yet to build them). I was going to get the X-Wing, Snowspeeder, and AT-AT, but the guy got a nasty little "cease and decist" order courtesy of Lucasfilm Not long after news of the order hitting SMT came out, we then get news of Master Replicas' $1000 AT-AT. Also, one of our forum members had this put out, 1/24 X-Wing.

SDFM and DYRL?, before things got ridiculous Macross 7!

I believe so! Here in the US, the IL-2: 1946 Package includes every edition & expansion that has been released for the original IL-2 (which incl. Forgotten Battles, Aces over Europe, Pacific Fighters, Sturmoviks over Manchuria, and 1946). After installing, I think you just need to d/l 1 more patch. Witness the result of poor situational awareness and a moment of poor flying! And my valiant ability in egressing from my Corsair! (excuse the wrong pilot uniform texture, looked fine while I was flying) P.S.- In case you were wondering... the 2 tanks on the belly of my plane weren't fuel drop tanks. They're Napalm. Hence my pilot running from the smoking wreckage with Olympic Athlete speed.

The site says he started the project many years ago. Possibly he's retired by now, so he's not planning on going anywhere. Some of the retired guys who still work on models make some really great stuff. Experience + Lots of Free Time = Great results!

I saw that episode. All I thought was, "Oh my..." But 300 left itself open to that type of humor

1946 brings in alot of aircraft that didn't make it in time historically for WWII or stuff that were in the works. Jets are the highlight. The Germans of course get some interesting projects that are produced for 1946. It also brings in the add-on IL-2's over Manchuria, the very late WWII event where the Russians attack Japanese forces stuck on the mainland.

The later game introduction of the TIE Advanced and TIE Defender was interesting. You get so used to flying unshielded TIE Fighters, TIE Interceptors, and TIE Bombers. Sometimes you had the luck to fly the sluggish but survivable Cygnus Gunboat. But mostly it was unshielded TIEs. Then late in the campaign, you try out the T/A and T/D. Which was weird since you now had shields. The T/A flew wonderfully. But the T/D, IMO, was the very definition and posterboy of "Superfighter" when it comes to games But the excitement was in flying the unshielded TIEs since you were really on the edge of your seat. Later, when multiplayer became possible with X-Wing vs TIE Fighter and onwards, I still preferred the TIE Interceptor. The T/I is a really nasty ship! Fast, highly maneuverable, and possessing highly respectable firepower with 4 lasers. It was tempered with no shields and a flimsy hull. But the better TIE players tended to favor the Interceptor. But flying the TIE Fighter on multiplayer was still fun. Most people don't think much of the standard TIE Fighter, but in the right hands was a good shocker to Rebel pilots. The speed was higher and more maneuverable than any Alphabet Fighter than the A-Wing. It seemed undergunned with only 2 lasers, but it had a very high rate of fire, firing at a faster rate than 4 laser armed starfighters set to single-sequential fire modes. A TIE Fighter had a chance to shred a craft up in short order with a short, fast, dense stream of fire. There was another TIE that if flown right, was a real shocker to Rebel pilots. The TIE Bomber. The TIE Bomber doesn't fly too fast, but was an absolutely wonderful low speed turning "fighter." Acceleration and Deceleration was sluggish, but if you use the maneuverability right, you'll get chances to shoot the rear of your pursuing Alphabet Fighter. It really surprised alot of players, since most players were dogfighters, not boom & zoomers. Most prefer chasing each others' tails in dogfights. But the TIE Bomber was good in that, especially if they fell for the low speed turning trick Oh, let's not forget the flying missile launcher, the Missile Boat!

Fine Scale Modeller had this ship featured on an issue some years ago, many pages, even a foldout, dedicated to it. Very impressive build. The best thing is that the ship itself was scratchbuilt, a very impressive feat for a project this size.

Again, the X-Wing game series was bada**. For TIE Fighter, I did not play the original version. I played it after extensive time on X-Wing vs TIE Fighter (finishing with 3000+ kills against X-Wings alone ). The version of TIE Fighter I played was through the X-Wing Collector's Series. It had everything up to X-Wing vs TIE Fighter, which they only gave a demo of. The version of TIE Fighter with this set was using the XvT engine, but the interfaces with the briefings, secret meetings, etc. were still TIE Fighter. I know there was another set called "X-Wing Trilogy" that had X-Wing, TIE Fighter, demo of X-Wing vs TIE Fighter, and X-Wing Alliance. I loaded up the XWCS version of TIE Fighter on my sister's laptop that had WinXP. You needed to d/l a special XP patch for it to run right. Other than that, it was flawless. If you deal with the oudated graphics, you're in for some great space combat, not the utter trash of scabs like Rogue Squadron and Rogue Leader. For those that still do have X-Wing Alliance, the last of the X-Wing game series, here are 2 of several still existing sites for it. Darksaber's X-Wing Station X-Wing Alliance Upgrade Project XWAUP is a fan project to update X-Wing Alliance's graphics to current standards (check the screenshots section). It has been slowly worked on since XWA first came out in 1998. Their work is quite wonderful. The team are sticklers for as much canon accuracy as possible, unlike most official Star Wars games these days considering the technology available. Both Darksaber's and the XWAUP sites are related since Darksaber is a big figure in the XWAUP boards and has contributed to the project. The game TIE Fighter like I said was tough. Any schmuck can fly a shielded starfighter. ANYBODY. But can you fly, fight, and survive in a flimsy, unshielded craft like a TIE Fighter or TIE Interceptor? A single grazing shot almost brings you to a cold death in space. It is a challenge to participate on a starfighter strike / suppression of point defenses against a warship just flying a TIE. It is a challenge to fly a TIE inside a minefield in space (mines that shoot) with enemy fighters shooting at you... and maybe a warship also. Succeeding in a TIE meant very aggressive flying, flying like you were going to die in the next few seconds, yet still retaining situational awareness and control. I recall an awesome moment in TIE Fighter, where you flew a very hard mission to destroy a discovered station and supply point supporting the Rebellion. You finally clear off the main starfighter defense, then a transmission from the Imperial commander let's out: "For the greater glory of the Empire, destroy everything!!!" The "Imperial March" theme song begins to play. The Rebel survivors are trying to flee in shuttles and transports are releasing their cargo to get away faster... the Rebels are in a total rout. You and follow on Imperial forces begin to chase down and annihalate them. It was highly satisfying P.S.- X-Wings are easy to shoot up. Their shape acts like a big, huge, inviting "BULLSEYE" and it lines up perfectly with my laser sights / sensors.

UFO: Extraterrestrials Website

I forgot that Lucasfilm officially made the SSD back to the glorious size it deserves. I never was a believer in the 8km version, I was in the 17.6km club (for those that don't know the whole SSD size debate... you don't want to know ). But 19km? Fine by me, since 8km was far too small if one kept their eyes open in ESB and RotJ. Anyways, the Eclipse is no longer as large, but it is more powerful. It still has a scaled down version of the Death Star Laser on its bow. ---------- There are a few things in the EU that are noteworthy IMO, in how they enhance the feel and theme of the movies, not trivialize or completely go against them. GAMES X-Wing series of games by Lawrence Holland. - X-Wing, to include expansion packs B-Wing and Imperial Pursuit - TIE Fighter, to include expansion packs Enemies of the Empire and Defender of the Empire. The gameplay was hard (flying an unshielded TIE and such) but the story was truly outstanding. It is the ONLY Star Wars game where you get a chance to fly as Darth Vader's wingman to kick some serious a**! - X-Wing vs TIE Fighter, to include Balance of Power expansion. - X-Wing Alliance, the last good Star Wars space game before utter trash took over (*ahem* Rogue Squadron series) and their limited scopes of flying. Knights of the Old Republic I, great Star Wars story! The sequel was ambitious, however it was buggy and horribly, blatantly incomplete. BOOKS Most of Timothy Zahn's works. The cream of the crop of his works and the EU novels: - Heir to the Empire Trilogy, his first and best set of books for Star Wars. Set years after RotJ, the books really do feel like a true sequel to RotJ, a sort of Ep.VII. Best introduced character and the EU in general? Grand Admiral Thrawn. - Hand of Thrawn Duology, his follow up books to Heir to the Empire. - Outbound Flight, set before the Clone Wars, it covers a big aspect from Zahn's previous books as well as a critical period in the last years of the Old Republic, as well as Thrawn's earlier years. Survivor's Quest is so so by EU readers. Some like it, some think it's too slow. I thought it was ok, but that was just me. Next I pick: - Revenge of the Sith Novelisation by Matthew Stover. Simply put, as a book, it was much more in depth, much more detailed, and far more satisfying than the actual movie. Also, the key thing was that Anakin Skywalker's fall was much more believable in the book than the hasty downfall in the movie. In the book, it was slow, gradual. Several important scenes from the movie were done in a superior fashion in the book. A highly recommended read. - Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader by James Luceno. Taking place right after Ep.III. The book is focused on Vader's early years in the new Empire, especially his injuries from Mustafar, and the interesting relationship between Sith Master & Apprentice. I'm still in the early stages of reading Zahn's "Allegiance," set in the aftermath of ANH.

Ha, they never showed Destroid crews in DYRL?.

Another hilarious tidbit from the EU is a criminal STEALING an Eclipse Star Destroyer, a ship larger and far more powerful than ESB/RotJ's Executor Star Destroyer. Courtesty of the ridiculous Forces of Corruption expansion pack to Empire at War.

Still waiting...

I'm just not a Hellcat fan. I love Grumman, but I love the look and power of the Corsair. I guess I watched too much "Black Sheep Squadron" as a kid and hanged around the Corsair displays at airshows. Another reason I like the Corsair is that as a Marine, it presents alot of history. WWII Marine Aviation? First platform I think of for Marines in those days is the Corsair. I'm quite familiar with the contributions the Hellcat made. It's just not for me and my style! Edit to add: Another reason I love the Corsairs are certain variants. F4U-1C - x4 20mm cannons but was a rare bird F4U-4C - 20mm cannons again! 20mm cannons were not the typical Corsair armament with x6 .50 cal's dominating loadouts. But they did exist. When I flew online with other people, if no one had a problem with it, I flew a 20mm armed Corsair. The other reason I love the 20mm armed Corsairs was that when I prepared to and during fire, I treated it just like the heavily armed Fw190's that have numerous 20mm cannons also. I withhold fire until everything's right, then I let loose with a quick, short burst of all 4 cannons. Most fighters easily go down after that. Zeros and most Japanese aircraft just disintegrate. A P-47 rates maybe a half second more extra fire to be safe (when flying Fw190's). If I come across bombers, the 20mm cannons work wonders.

Mind Control when it works for you was hilarious. Run in front of his friends, maybe get shot, then throw a grenade or fire a disruptor point blank into them. Another favorite of mine from Apocalypse: Get into a firefight. Use lots of smoke, explosives, etc. to make vision in the target area bad. Get a trooper with MarSec Flight Armor, fly over the target area. Prime a grenade, and drop it straight down. Fly to another section nearby, repeat grenade drop. Hilarity ensues. But the effect is better when you drop a Demolitions Pack instead of a grenade. Edit to add: Biggest X-Com Apocalypse mistake is when you... Take your trooper, turn a corner and see aliens who are surprised to see you. I had an Assault Rifle in my right hand and a grenade on the other. I primed the grenade, took another look, and selected "Throw." "I got those bast**ds now!" Then, to my horror, I see my Assault Rifle flying in a neat arc and landing in front of the aliens. I'm also now out of Action Points. In front of angry aliens. In front of angry armed aliens. With a primed grenade in my left hand. This might hurt a little.

The last thing with Modern Submarine games is that ASW is really, really nasty. Those fancy torpedoes work both ways, y'know! Then there's maritime patrol aircraft like P-3's that drop nasty things... like those same torpedoes on you. But yeah, as has been said earlier, patience is still the primary virtue, along with tempered aggressiveness. As for WWII sub sims... there's nothing like closing in on a juicy target. You pan the periscope around for other targets... and see a Destroyer Escort bearing down on you at full speed. That's when you cr** your pants. "Periscope down!" "Dive! Dive!! Dive!!!"

It's from a game, European Air War! Like I said, there were alot of great moments. The game was awesome if you fly on singleplayer (with a kicka** Dynamic Campaign) or online. The singleplayer campaigns were very good. - Hangar and Barracks "screens." The hangar is where squadron management and records, maps were kept. The barracks? You stored your medals / awards there, that kept track of when you got the awards and for what. There was also music playing on a radio that came from the era, and you could change it to more music from the era. - You chose a nationality, starting year, and squadron. The unit you join determines what type of aircraft you flew. For example, most of JG26 was flying Bf109's for the entire war, but there were was 1 group that flew Fw190's. I started early in the war with that group, flying 109's and then we transitioned into 190's. The unit you joined also determines where you are stationed out of. - When you progress through the game, it keeps track of your victory count. IIRC, Germany awards a Knight's Cross at 50. There's also subsequent and sequential Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamonds for the Knight's Cross that could be awarded but you had to have very high victory count to get them as a pilot. - The key thing that I still remembered what I typed earlier was this. Your squadron's roster was persistent for the campaign. Pilots stayed with the squadron. The more they flew, the more successful they became, the more of an impact they made... these were AI pilots! Since the roster was persistent, you began to remember ranks and names of certain AI pilots in your squadron. The game also kept track of their own victory tallies. The high point for our squadron was mid 1943. We had numerous veterans since the Battle of Britain era that still were with us. Some rotated out. The replacements had ample veterans to watch over them. The newer pilots didn't compare but given enough flight time and combat experience, you saw them improve. As a Major, I would hang back and let my wingman try to get a kill himself, and I would cover him for any mistakes he did. Like I said, you retained pilots in your squadron and they could improve. You saw some of them skyrocket in ability as pilots, some not as much. It made you care about your squadron mates, they weren't just so-so names to fill the roster before a mission. But it got better when you became a Colonel / Oberst, a rank making you fit to be a squadron leader. Before a mission, YOU managed it all before leaving the hangar. YOU determined how many planes you would send up out of so many available planes. Do you want to send everything? Or only some, allowing your maintenance crew time to patch up planes some more? What loadout do you want on your planes? Drop tanks? 1 big bomb? Or several smaller ones? Rockets? You decide. Aircraft availability... there are periods where Luftwaffe units get little to no replacement aircraft AND replacement pilots. That's why it's a fun challenge to fly a Luftwaffe unit in 1944 onwards. What kind of challenge is it to fly and lead a unit of Allied fighters when you outnumber your German opposition 3 to 1 at the very least? How about the challenge of leading your Luftwaffe squadron to intercept a huge formation of American bombers being escorted by 1-2 fighter groups of P-47's AND P-51's? How many and which pilots do you want to send? Naturally, most people would say, "The best, all the time." Not a wise move in European Air War. Why? The game records aircrew fatigue. I have noticed ace pilots in my squadron perform poorly, not spotting easy to spot threats / targets since they've been flying like heck so many times a day for the past 3 weeks in a row. As a squadron leader, it was wise to maintain a pilot rotation as a routine. Give pilots, veteran and new, time to fly and rest. Also, new pilots need to fly alot so that they improve and see combat action. But you can't fly them into exhaustion. This is why you actually care about your squadron and what kind of people you had. They did alot more than "just man the control stick and throttle" of another plane. They improved or worsened. They were mediocre or became great pilots. Fly enough missions, and you start remembering, "Oh yeah, 2 days ago, Haupt. Schneider flew up 6'oclock low on a flight of American Mustangs... I saw him light 2 of them up in quick order with his 20mm cannons before they split in panic. He then gave chase but the Ami's escaped! Those 2 victories right there made him an ace!" You also feel it when you hear or see one of your squadron mates get shot up. Sometimes, you see a big, catastrophic fireball. No chance of survival. Sometimes, you see his plane get shot up, then begins to descend trailing fire and smoke... you hear his wingman calling him to bail out, but there's no reply. Sometimes, you see someone bail out. Sometimes, you don't and can see his plane descend and smash into the ground. If they bail out, they may recover from injuries given alot of time and be back again! Still, there's more than enough chance of a permanent loss. Aircraft were replaceable. Good pilots were not. That's what the EAW single-player campaign drilled into you. To re-emphasize again the importance of training up your new pilots in European Air War. Like I said, there's enough threats to slowly kill off your veterans (if they don't get transferred). With that in mind, your remaining veterans need to "pick up the load" more when it happens. Having decently experienced group of junior officers goes a long way into a good experience for everyone when you flew. In my best campaign, I flew from 1942 into the surrender of Germany in 1945, ending the war flying Fw190's with JG26. I watched my roster with great memorable pilots slowly be depleted through 1944. I watched the replacements' quality drop as they arrived from Germany. The lowest point was when it was 1945 and we were in Western Germany. Not counting myself (Oberst), I had 1 longtime veteran of the squadron still, a Major who was an Experten himself. But all the other old hands of the squadron were killed, MIA, wounded and not fit to return, or transferred out. We had three other pilots, all brand new lieutenants with little flight time... THREE! Our squadron had a maximum of 5 total pilots. And 4 flyable aircraft. I think we were lucky compared to other Luftwaffe commands. Fuel was getting scarcer and so was ammo. Yet we were still told to fly against Allied Air Forces that were numerically vast, very experienced, and equipped with fine aircraft. When the war ended with a German surrender, my turned over "squadron" was reduced to a Schwarm of 4 aircraft with 5 pilots. At one point we were part of a Luftwaffe that stood against the combined American and Commonwealth Air Forces, giving and taking. Then at the other point our squadron was depleted of men and aircraft, eventually into surrender. Going through a EAW campaign to get into that last point yielded alot of awesome sim memories along the way that no other flight sim has replicated so far, not even IL-2. --------------- Last EAW memory before logging off: Flying a campaign during the Battle of Britain. Suffered damage from a Spitfire and belly landed my Bf109E... near an RAF airfield I opened the canopy, exited, and greeted the Tommies who surrounded me, and raised my hands --------------- Nothing like flying into a formation of American bombers. Machinegun fire all over the place! Well, they didn't call 'em Flying Fortresses for nothing. As a Boom & Zoom flyer: Yes, it's not as varied but there were "turning fighters" for the ETO. The Spitfire dominates that. US aircraft favored energy fighting, ETO or PTO. However, to me, the Bf109 is a weird plane. By mid-late eras of the war, I'm not sure if the Bf109 variants are dogfighters or energy fighters. They're not as fast with the extra armor and armament. They also don't turn as well. They do handle well however, but nothing like the Fw190's that I favor when I fly for the Luftwaffe. As for my preferred mounts in these air forces when I sim: US Army Air Corps: Tie P-47 (firepower & durability) and P-51 (power and handling). Me hates the P-38! British Royal Air Force: Pickings are slim early on, IMO, so the Spitfire. I'm not a Hurricane fan... Luftwaffe: Fw190 US Marine Corps / US Navy: F4U Corsair (I say no to Hellcats) Imperial Japanese Navy: A6M Zero Imperial Japanese Army: Ki-84 Hayate! European Air War had some fan made add-ons to make a more realistic flight and damage model. It also added alot of aircraft and variants to the list, depending on the timeframe.

That was the nice thing with SWG until the focus on Jedi. The game was centered on the regular people that populated the Star Wars universe. Then one day the devs said, "People don't want to be Owen Lars when they want to be Luke Skywalkerl!!!!!15jh!" There was a point that going into PvP as a Non-Jedi character was a liability and got you booted from a group. That's how many Jedi there were in SWG "We don't need healers. Boot the Doctor off and get Jedi Master WhatzHizNutz in!1!!11one!" Duke Floorwalker: "Hey, what about me? I'm pretty good with a ligthsaber too!" The other 30 Jedi: "So are we." On the Imperial side: Dorth Sadius: "We need more Jedi. Hey, there's another, Darth Mool. Boot off the guy wearing Stormtrooper Armor. We need Jedi, not Stormies." That game became a travesty. Are you still on SWG or did you leave? It sounds like you were there in 2003 or 2004 before disaster struck. I left shortly after the introduction of the NGE debacle

Screw the Republic and Glory to the Empire!

Yes, but don't tell FPS gaming development that "Lead? Oh, you mean massing your team online and rushing as in WWI? That type of lead?" At least the movies had it right. The Clone Commanders only fielded standard Carbines or Rifles, maybe with Pistols for backup weapons.

Kind of. A Dark Jedi is really a Sith Wannabe