[Skybird]

Sorry for having "derailed" this thread a bit, since it was meant to be about real tabletop games, and I mentioned computer cosims only because OT starter said something like he was curious for Flight Leader, and there I got started...

As I said, i ended up with getting Flight Commander 2, and I again must reiterate how damn good that game is. I have sunk already a lot of hours into it, and in Advanced Game Mode. It is absolutely immersive, the graphics can easily fool you. The interface for moments put you into the cockpit, since you enter your moves for every turn via stylized throttle and joystick, as if it were a flight simulator. Much nicier than just rightclicking onto a unit, and then setting values in some pop-up menu. The Advanced Game rules again remind a lot of those in Flight Leaders, here you find consideraton of vertical speed gain in climbs and dives, phased game turns where plane and missile movement is resolved square by square,G-Loc, Immelmanns and Split-S, barrel rolls, visual and radar lockons before you can fire, effects of one and two seater cockpit workload and the differenc ein radar reaction time, battefield radar operators, rear and full aspect missiles, probabilities of different attack angles, terrain altitude, time of day, pilot quality rated for air combat, ground combat, aggressiveness/defensiveness, toughness; fuel management and considerations of fuel levels when game begins depending on the flight distance you already covered (distance to your home base), and so forth. The tactical depth is immense, yet after you wrapped your mind around the interface and heard that clicking sound inside your head, you enter your commands and moves quickly and comfortably, and the gameplay becomes unexpectedly fluid for a cosim. And it is then when time starts fleeting, and not just the Migs but also the hours fly by!

A very, very good game, I am totally happy that I found it. Exactly what I was looking for since - well, practically since it came out in the early nineties. I just did not know that it existed.

I started a cold war campaign, and had a first huge airbattle. My six Eagles with Aim-9Ms and Aim-7s versus three attack groups with almost 2 dozen Mig-23, 27s, Su-24, a few Mig-21s. I had not expected that many attackers, else I would have send up more interceptors. Squadron management and ressource management is a game element here, both over the campaign and within the single active mission, you must manage both with the length of the conflict on mind. The air battle was absolutely furious and crazy, including both short and long range missile combat, and cannons. I lost two Eagles in the end, but saved both pilots, but shot down 17 attackers and damaging 2 or 3 more. The Sovjets however mauled my fuel base ont he ground, and did seriosu damage to gorudn units and some cirticla buildings. The troops on the gorudn however greeted them with some shoulderpad SAMs as well, scoring two downings. You can expect my surprise when then all of a sudden, with my missiles mostly gone, another attack wave came in, which always was on map, but stayed outside visual range - different to a boardgame cosim, you can switch on and off radars and jammers in this PC game, and can avoid detection maybe, but then also being blind for the things hidden by the fog of war. Also, terrain cluttering your radar if you are not below your target and lightening it up against the empty sky, is a factor. You see, there is plenty of details included that bring more realism into it all, but all accessible via a quite elegant interface (for the year 1994). That it is no hex fields, but square fields map, is no issue at all, I found. And the AI, well there are three levels, and the medium one already is a challenge, but the highest level is Maverick and Iceman having a baby and calling it Arnie.

This will be played a very, very lot. It ticks all my boxes. This thread gave me a very pleasant surprise and present. Thanks, Lesrae!