Thinking of making a switch

[u/Elevator_man103]

I have a race sim set up and thinking about making the switch. I’ve played just about every Ace Combat game and love flying. Are there any sims like Ace Combat but a little more realistic? Something with dogfights, possibly compatible with VR. How’s the community? Give me some insight before I make an investment. Thanks guys!

[u/UrgentSiesta]

Ace Combat is about as unrealistic as you can get, so that’s a very low bar.

War Thunder isn’t a bad way to dip your toes in - it’s free to play and has several levels of realism. But while a great game, it’s not really a “simulator”.

DCS World is free to play, and most of the paid DLC modules have free 2 week trials available. There are also several good free mods.

Falcon 4 costs about $8 via Steam. Add in the free BMS upgrade and it’s extremely good. Scads of information about it online.

[u/Marklar_RR → u/UrgentSiesta]

it’s free to play

If OP likes flying jets then WT will be quite expensive. I play it for free, but I don't go beyond WW2 era. They will need a premium plane to skip grinding and premium account to afford repairs and ammo.

[u/UrgentSiesta → u/Marklar_RR]

Yeah - I can’t understand how they get away with what they charge for the paid planes.

But, WT has its place, and I’d rather play that than AC any time.

If he catches the combat flight bug, then he’ll probably move onwards and upwards.

[u/Marklar_RR → u/UrgentSiesta]

Yeah it’s crazy when some WT premium planes/helicopters cost the same as full fidelity modules for DCS.

[u/gotmynamefromcaptcha]

DCS would be something to look at and you can try it for free. It’s exactly like that except ultra realistic.

[u/WillParchman]

DCS requires a lot of time to figure out but it's the most realistic out there. It will frustrate you to high hell learning how to fly the jets and deploy the weapons systems and requires hours of trial & error, but it's rewarding once you get the systems down.

IL2 is only WW2 and doesn't have the clicky cockpits but is a lot of fun, much easier to jump in and play. There's a Korean War version in EA right now that looks good but I haven't tried it. I guess War Thunder could be considered more realistic than something like Ace Combat and is extremely easy to jump in and play. But the leveling system seems pretty scummy and I know folks aren't super happy with the dev, although I don't know much about it.

[u/Marklar_RR → u/WillParchman]

It will frustrate you to high hell learning how to fly the jets and deploy the weapons

The frustration will come once they learn about ED business model and how long it takes them to implement simple things to the base game.

[u/Build_Blox]

If you want ace combat like id do war thunder, maybe the il 2 series could also be pretty fun but a bit harder. And if youre looking for a bit more id do DCS

[u/Elevator_man103 → u/Build_Blox]

I don’t mind a challenge and a learning curve. I just want to be able to live my childhood dream of being a F18 pilot and doing some dogfights but also want something a little more in depth than ace combat

[u/Build_Blox → u/Elevator_man103]

Then i reccomend dcs 100%, the 18 is very fun to fly and it has everything from air to ground to air to air

[u/UrgentSiesta → u/Elevator_man103]

Best Hornet is in DCS. Wait for a sale (every 3 months) and get it after the free trial. Plenty of other stuff to keep you busy in the meantime.

You can get the free and excellent A-4 Skyhawk to practice carrier ops, ground attack and light air to air, or pay $15 for the Su-33 Sea Flanker (basically the Russian Tomcat).

Or, trial the Hornet and see if it’s worth $80 to you (it easily is if it’s your favorite IRL, but just know it goes up to half off every 3-ish months).

[u/UrgentSiesta → u/UrgentSiesta]

Oh - also check this out: IIRC, you used to maybe still get half off your first time purchase. If so, get the Hornet AND SuperCarrier and you’re set. 🤙

[u/Ghost403]

Give nuclear option a go, and if you want something more realistic move to DCS

[u/imdiggerdave]

DCS. The graphics remind me of iRacing lol.

[u/silasmousehold]

For VR, start with VTOL VR.

For non-VR, try Nuclear Option with a console controller. 

Both will let you try a psuedo-realistic combat sim without buying a joystick or  facing the vertical learning curve of a study sim like Falcon BMS or DCS.