Ha Ha i found the EAW thread 8)
ok FMs and DMs are very very accurate and we still have newbies coming in every day and also oldies drifting back to the game owing to its playability and the constant whining about FB flightmodels...i cant speak for FB as i have only played the demo (which wasnt worth mentioning
) but i will get it one day as the graphics look good and being a demo its not really relative to what the game is.
If you want a game that is all about seeing the detail on a screw head then EAW is not for you ...but the whole game is in hi res now and is being constantly modded every day by a dedicated group of guys (hex editors-programmers and plane /tank/terrain modders) and it is so far removed from when it was launched as to be a different game.
The biggest drawback at the moment is the amount of points the modders have to play with when making planes as we only half of what FB has ..but it is under discussion to double the points which will put our graphics way up towards FB ..but it will not change the game as a whole..just add eyecandy
and most of the people who play EAW are not phased by this as the current hi res is very nice when in game unless you are constanly pausing and looking at stuff like screw heads
We have a program called OAW (Online Air Wars) which lets you download all of your mods into and then you launch OAW and select what you want from there..skins-planes-ground objects-skies-terrains-scenarios-cockpit and target locking options-amount of planes in the air-flight models of certain planes (which will select say a BF109E and give it the right armament and flight model or an FW190A4 which will select the the a4 with an 1080m initial climb ratio-553 at sea level-660 at 6000m altitude-2 mg17-2 mgff and 2 mg 151/20) its up to whichever of the 300 plus planes you want to fly including bombers like the ju88 do217 stuka b17 b24 beaufighters etc.
The attraction is that it with 150 plus planes in the air the battles are enormous and you have to keep control of your squadron and your wingman if you are doing a campaign (we have new campaigns coming out with Carrier Air Wars on the way -Spanish Civil War-Nachtjager amongst others)like BoB ..and all the planes are correctly skinned for whatever battle you are doing .
Online you select whatever skin you want and the other plaers see whatever skin they have loaded..nothing clashes in that way..the only problems are if they have wrong flight models and we get a no launch message on that player who resets.
We can do campaigns or single missions and free for all online but there seems to be about an 8 person limit otherwise it gets laggy(most people have cable now so its getting better)
There is one guy who is in touch with a lot of the ww2 veterans in the states and he skins there planes that they flew - they love his work and it is good for the memories of these guys ..he also does some of our skies and has been excellent for the game.
The sound effects we have now are bloody unreal the cannon mgs and engine noise are superb and the FW190 series are real recordings so when you are in the 190s it is hard to get out
.Rate of fire and drop of shot has been alterd drastically in the last year and is now very good as is the hit bubble sizes ..to take on B17s at 20000 odd feet with your 190s can be very challenging if you decide you want to survive the mission and get home in one piece.
The things that are missing are searchlights(being worked on) proper 3d clouds..also constantly being looked at but we do have clouds just not as good as FB or Lomac ... To get up to date with where EAW is at the moment is a fair bit of downloading but its easy when you have people to point you in the right direction
If you want a sim that flys well..stalls well..shoots well....gives you over 300 planes..and you get your ass shot off every now and again even if you are a veteran gamer ..one where you need to fly good or die and lose your wingie and the mission plus have good immersion /radio chatter and pretty good graphics ..especially medium distance which is lacking in other games..then you will love EAW.
Its the feel of the game as a whole that keeps people coming back to it and the constant updating.
cheers
pic below is an early mission by SG2 on its way to wake up the russian front line.(my pics are a bit jaggy perhaps becuase i just snap them straight out of game and then jpeg them with no editing or cleaning up)