Thirdwire combat flight simulation game series
| Thirdwire combat flight simulation game series | |
|---|---|
| developer | Thirdwire |
| Publisher | Thirdwire |
| First title | Strike Fighters Project 1 (2002) |
| Last title | Wings over Israel (2008) |
| Platform (s) | Microsoft Windows |
| Genre (s) | Flight simulation |
The Austin, Texas- based company Thirdwire has been developing and marketing a series of combat flight simulation games for computers with a Windows operating system since 2002 . The unique selling point of the series is the concept of the program architecture, for which the chief developer Tsuyoshi Kawahito offers tools with which interested users who are in possession of the 3D modeling software 3ds Max can create models of airplanes, vehicles and ships themselves and insert them into the game can integrate.
The games
The development goal were simulations that Tsuyoshi Kawahito himself described as so-called "Lite sims", ie simulations with simplifications, and which stand in contrast to programs such as Falcon 4.0 , which strive for a high level of detail in the simulated aircraft.
The series includes the games listed below, all information relates to the delivery stage:
- Strike Fighters Project 1 , published in October 2002. The story is set in two fictional countries in the Middle East and takes place against the background of a proxy war between the two power blocs of the Cold War. The game action takes place between 1959 and the early 1970s and offers the following playable models, all of which are American aircraft: F-100 Super Saber , F-104 Starfighter , A-4 Skyhawk and F-4 Phantom II . The game opponents usually have various types of MiG, u. a. MiG-17 Fresco and MiG-21 Fishbed .
- Wings over Vietnam , published in November 2004. From an American perspective , the three main phases of the Vietnam War with Operation Rolling Thunder , Operation Linebacker and Operation Linebacker II are integrated into the game plot. The player has the choice to compete as a US Air Force, US Navy or US Marines pilot, based on this decision, the aircraft models that can be selected are also determined, playable are: F-100 Super Saber , F-105 Thunderchief , A-4 Skyhawk , A-6 Intruder , A-7 Corsair II , F-8 Crusader and F-4 Phantom II . The opposing aircraft are MiG-17 Fresco , MiG-19 Farmer and MiG-21 Fishbed .
- First Eagles , released in 2006. The action is set over the Western Front during World War I aerial battles in 1917 and 1918.
- Wings over Europe , released in May 2006. The theme of this game is a fictional Third World War in the form of battles without weapons of mass destruction on German soil between forces of NATO and the Warsaw Pact between 1962 and 1984. The player can choose from the following aircraft ready: A-10 Thunderbolt II ; Hawker Siddeley Harrier , Hawker Hunter FGA.9 version, F-100 Super Saber , F-105 Thunderchief, F-4 Phantom II , also as F-4M for the RAF and F-4F for the Air Force and the F-15 Eagle . Extremely extensive modifications have been published primarily for this game: Nato Fighters I – IV , which bring new aircraft and campaigns, as well as Operation Desert Storm , a re-enactment of the Second Gulf War in 1991.
- Wings over Israel , published in February 2008. The theme of the game is conflicts in the Middle East, the user can choose to play for the Israeli side in the campaigns for the Six Day War 1967, the Yom Kippur War 1973 and the Lebanon War 1982 . Israeli versions of the A-4 Skyhawk (A-4E Ahit, A-4F Ahit, A-4H Ahit), the F-4 Phantom II (F-4E Kurnass), the F-15 Eagle (F-15A Baz), the F-16 Fighting Falcon (F-16A Netz), the Dassault Mirage III (Mirage IIIC Shahak) and the locally developed aircraft IAI Nescher and IAI Kfir as Kfir C.2 .
After that, games were released that were optimized for Windows Vista or later. From SFP1 to WOI , adding a mod required adding or modifying files in the program folder , which was very cumbersome due to the user account control. The developer took this into account in such a way that mods no longer had to be installed in the program folder , but could be stored in a special mod folder in the area of the user files, which was no longer recorded by the UAC. The releases to date (December 2011) are revisions of the first series and include a newer game engine and revised 3D models. These are the games:
- Strike Fighters 2 ,Strike Fighters 2 Vietnam ,Strike Fighters 2 Europe andStrike Fighters 2 Israel
Audience adoption
There are large communities on the Internet where fans of these games organize themselves and also offer their own game additions (so-called mods ) for free or paid download. The game engine itself is very similar in every game, so that an aircraft mod for, for example, Strike Fighters Project 1 can usually also be used without restrictions in Wings over Vietnam , but models that were designed for Strike Fighters 2 are only available to a limited extent older games can be used.
swell
- Thirdwire.com , developer's homepage
- Review on SimHQ.com about SFP1
Individual evidence
- ↑ NATO Fighters ( EN ) Column5. Retrieved December 12, 2011.
- ↑ NATO Fighters II ( EN ) Column5. Retrieved December 12, 2011.
- ↑ NATO Fighters III ( EN ) Column5. Retrieved December 12, 2011.
- ↑ NATO Fighters IV ( EN ) Column5. Retrieved December 12, 2011.
Web links
- Combatace.com , Thirdwire division, wide range of modifications
- Checksix-fr.com , French site, also offers a larger selection of modifications for third-wire games.