is it similar to Project Wingman?

[StarBreaker]

better? worse? the same? looks very similar, project wingman is brilliant. If this is anything like that then i will pick it up.

[Belligerent_Herald]

It is as easy to pick up and fly as Project wingman (which just dropped a DLC if you haven't checked it out yet) but the game style is different, a lot like the old simulators of the 2000's. Basically, everything is equally as deadly as you are (including and especially ground units, the SAM is real), you will get shot down, and that's ok. Grab another bird, takeoff and seek revenge.

[HuskyDynamics]

It's in the sweet spot between "hero" plane games like Ace Combat and Project Wingman and the more hardcore flight sims like DCS. You can hop in and start fighting without needing to look up a manual or deal with hitting all the right cockpit switches, but the physics are much more on the realistic end and you can use real tactics and maneuvers pretty well.

[IxianMace]

Nuclear Option vs Project Wingman:

Ammo and Damage:

- Aircraft carry limited munitions/ammo as opposed to hundreds of missiles. Once a weapon disappears off a weapon rack, it does not respawn until you land and rearm.
- Aircraft have numerous individual components that can be damaged rather than an overall percentage-based 'health' pool.
- Damage to your aircraft can degrade performance in various ways, unlike Project Wingman where your aircraft continues operating at maximum capacity right up to the moment it's destroyed.
- You carry a set number of flares that do not reload in flight. Flares do not immediately cause incoming missiles to lose lock when deployed. The number of flares deployed, your aircraft's engine heat, and the direction the missile is coming from all play a factor in how effective flares are at breaking a missile's lock on your aircraft.

Flight and Controls:

- Aircraft handle semi-realistically and will bleed speed with hard turns. Pulling a lot of Gs at high speed will cause your pilot to eventually lose consciousness.
- Nuclear Option can be flown with a virtual joystick controlled by the mouse, where you manually control all the aircraft's movements. Project Wingman uses automatic mouse flight where you point the cursor to where you want the aircraft to go and the aircraft orients itself accordingly.
- In terms of overall flight characteristics, it's important to be able to perform fine and gradual inputs in Nuclear Option. In Project Wingman, hard and sudden inputs will do just fine.
- You'll be doing most of your flying from the cockpit view in Nuclear Option. Switching to the external view will disable flight inputs unless you're flying with the keyboard.

Technical:

- Unlike Project Wingman, you will have both radar-guided and infrared missiles fired at you. Flares have no effect on the former.
- In Nuclear Option, air-to-air missiles cannot be effectively used against ground targets. There is no 'standard missile' that works generally well on both air and ground targets.
- You can land your aircraft in Nuclear Option at any time as opposed to only via scripted sequences.
- The AI in Nuclear Option (including allied aircraft) is generally competent, can be quite deadly, and will happily do its own thing. You feel more like a single unit in a battlefield rather than a 'protagonist' of a show.
- Radar/detection is simulated in Nuclear Option. You can lose track of where an enemy unit is even if you've previously spotted it and know it exists if it's able to avoid both optical and radar detection long enough.
- You do not purchase/unlock aircraft and then carry them over from scenario to scenario in Nuclear Option. You pay for your aircraft, including its fuel and weapons, using in-game currency in the scenario you're playing. Each scenario is self-contained with its own settings and objectives.
- Dying in Nuclear Option is not necessarily the end. Most scenarios allow you to respawn with a new aircraft, though you will have to buy a new one.

Here's the most recent video I recorded of gameplay of Nuclear Option. It features mostly air combat in one of the smaller official scenarios (Domination):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0EKWvbsH0Y

This video is older but features the 'Escalation' scenario, a massive full-scale war featuring both air-to-air and air-to-ground combat:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqCK4TVpHAg

[Raubritter]

Originally posted by IxianMace:

Nuclear Option vs Project Wingman:

Ammo and Damage:

- Aircraft carry limited munitions/ammo as opposed to hundreds of missiles. Once a weapon disappears off a weapon rack, it does not respawn until you land and rearm.
- Aircraft have numerous individual components that can be damaged rather than an overall percentage-based 'health' pool.
- Damage to your aircraft can degrade performance in various ways, unlike Project Wingman where your aircraft continues operating at maximum capacity right up to the moment it's destroyed.
- You carry a set number of flares that do not reload in flight. Flares do not immediately cause incoming missiles to lose lock when deployed. The number of flares deployed, your aircraft's engine heat, and the direction the missile is coming from all play a factor in how effective flares are at breaking a missile's lock on your aircraft.

Flight and Controls:

- Aircraft handle semi-realistically and will bleed speed with hard turns. Pulling a lot of Gs at high speed will cause your pilot to eventually lose consciousness.
- Nuclear Option can be flown with a virtual joystick controlled by the mouse, where you manually control all the aircraft's movements. Project Wingman uses automatic mouse flight where you point the cursor to where you want the aircraft to go and the aircraft orients itself accordingly.
- In terms of overall flight characteristics, it's important to be able to perform fine and gradual inputs in Nuclear Option. In Project Wingman, hard and sudden inputs will do just fine.
- You'll be doing most of your flying from the cockpit view in Nuclear Option. Switching to the external view will disable flight inputs unless you're flying with the keyboard.

Technical:

- Unlike Project Wingman, you will have both radar-guided and infrared missiles fired at you. Flares have no effect on the former.
- In Nuclear Option, air-to-air missiles cannot be effectively used against ground targets. There is no 'standard missile' that works generally well on both air and ground targets.
- You can land your aircraft in Nuclear Option at any time as opposed to only via scripted sequences.
- The AI in Nuclear Option (including allied aircraft) is generally competent, can be quite deadly, and will happily do its own thing. You feel more like a single unit in a battlefield rather than a 'protagonist' of a show.
- Radar/detection is simulated in Nuclear Option. You can lose track of where an enemy unit is even if you've previously spotted it and know it exists if it's able to avoid both optical and radar detection long enough.
- You do not purchase/unlock aircraft and then carry them over from scenario to scenario in Nuclear Option. You pay for your aircraft, including its fuel and weapons, using in-game currency in the scenario you're playing. Each scenario is self-contained with its own settings and objectives.
- Dying in Nuclear Option is not necessarily the end. Most scenarios allow you to respawn with a new aircraft, though you will have to buy a new one.

Here's the most recent video I recorded of gameplay of Nuclear Option. It features mostly air combat in one of the smaller official scenarios (Domination):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0EKWvbsH0Y

This video is older but features the 'Escalation' scenario, a massive full-scale war featuring both air-to-air and air-to-ground combat:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqCK4TVpHAg

Pretty much said it all. I would add that Nuclear Option has no story whatsoever as of now, just 2 factions fighting each other with identical vehicles, so I guess some kind of civil war.

[Wild Beret]

This game reminds me https://youtu.be/SukxKJDRy28?feature=shared

[GunmanX]

Project Wingman is better in my opinion. Project Wingman is simple fun like Ace Combat and has VR support. Nuclear Option has nukes which is cool, but can't decide what it wants to be yet, simulator and an Ace Combat style game and the player feels that strife while playing.

[GoatseWithTheAwesomeSauce]

Originally posted by GunmanX:

Project Wingman is better in my opinion. Project Wingman is simple fun like Ace Combat and has VR support. Nuclear Option has nukes which is cool, but can't decide what it wants to be yet, simulator and an Ace Combat style game and the player feels that strife while playing.

it doesn't want to be either