Falcon BMS for dummies

[greybeard_52]

I know what you old bones are thinking: Falcon BMS is NOT for dummies! But I, mindful of the hours of fun with Falcon 3.0 thirty years ago, and of all the positive things that are said about the current Falcon BMS campaigns, as a singleplayer enthusiast, would like to give it a try.
I already tried, with all my strength, almost three years ago with version 4.36, but I had to give up, overwhelmed by the difficulties.
I discovered the latest update 4.37 by chance, I downloaded and installed it and I appreciated the improvements. This time I took a more direct approach, starting from the dogfight, rather than the flight lessons, with greater satisfaction. But I fear that between this and the campaign there is still a chasm for me to overcome.
I wonder if there is therefore a guide "for dummies", for those who have passion but not much time and ability; for Falcon 3.0 I remember that a specific guide from Prima Publishing helped me a lot.

[greybeard_52]

Yesterday I unreasonably started a campaign, with only a smattering of air-to-air weapons and no idea how to use air-to-ground ones. Of course I was shot down, although I don't know by what. But I had fun: always better than navigating through paperwork (i.e.: manuals).
What strikes me is that this simulator so faithful to reality, paradoxically plays like a videogame, immersed in the unreal silence of the cockpit, interrupted only by the beeps of the various information systems.

[pgm316]

Dogfighting is good, also not at all easy as the AI pretty good. Tacview software is helpful, I've got the free version from Steam and you can record your flight and replay it after to see what worked and didn't.

Campaign isn't so bad, you could just do BARCAP which is patrol with maybe some air to air. But it gets you navigating and dealing with ATC (if you want).

I started with Tactical engagements but it probably wasn't the best idea as you have to learn a lot to work through them and really isn't needed as in the campaign you can choose what to do and even the weapons so you're not stuck with one's you don't understand.

A recent thread lists YouTube channels worth watching.

And things will always go wrong, even when you theoretically know what you're doing.

[greybeard_52]

Thanks for your suggestions. Adjusting the amount of different mission types in the campaigns is another great feature of this simulator and I've already thought about using it.

[Maulet ||*||]

I have the F4 cdrom, but my pc does not have a cdrom drive.
Do I need F4 installed for playing BMS?

[greybeard_52]

Originally posted by Maulet ||*||:

I have the F4 cdrom, but my pc does not have a cdrom drive.
Do I need F4 installed for playing BMS?

Yes you do (actually it's the only requirement to play BMS, to have an authorized copy of the game installed). If you have no means to install Falcon 4 from your CD (like an external drive), you could buy a licence from Steam for a few euro (indeed, you should already have a licence to post on this forum).

[pgm316]

I believe it checks for files and Windows registry entries.

The Steam sale is currently on!