Author Topic: 20 years since Air Warrior, Warbirds, etc.....  (Read 5918 times)

Offline Rockdog

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20 years since Air Warrior, Warbirds, etc.....
« on: August 27, 2014, 08:09:06 AM »
I know there are a bunch of you still around, but who remembers?

Any of you have screen caps or video of the old days? I think it would be cool to compare where we came from on our 14.4k dial up and no textures to where we are now. It's amazing how far HiTech and Pyro have brought this simulator over the years. Every time I see some complaining about the slow progress I have to shake my head.

Thank you for staying with it HiTech (and team)!

Though life has had me drift away a few times, I always seem to find myself coming home.

RAJI
http://www.348thfightergroup.com/
a.k.a. Raji (Warbirds 1994-99)
a.k.a. Rockdog (1999-2002)
a.k.a. Hayduke (2002-04)
a.k.a. Rockdog (2004-Current)

Offline Shrike

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Re: 20 years since Air Warrior, Warbirds, etc.....
« Reply #1 on: August 27, 2014, 09:44:19 AM »
I have no film only memories of AW furballs over A/B and A/C land.  The fights were a blast but I much prefer the AH game today.  I recently found and installed my Falcon 3.0 disks.  The graphics back in the day were satisfying but they look like vomit today.  I imagine installing and running AW would bring the same experience.  I liked AW but I like AH even more.

 :salute
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Offline DarkHawk

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Re: 20 years since Air Warrior, Warbirds, etc.....
« Reply #2 on: August 27, 2014, 09:59:11 AM »
I have AW on a CD (still have the CD), now compared to then is like wright brothers to jets
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Offline Badger85

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Re: 20 years since Air Warrior, Warbirds, etc.....
« Reply #3 on: August 27, 2014, 10:24:14 AM »
I used to play WarBirds and even Air Warrior (I think) in the late 1990s when I was a wee lad of 12 or so. I had no idea of ACM back then (just turn and burn) but I did catch the bug. It was only in 2012 that I came back to flight sims, starting with Aces High. Now I'm glad to be back "home" too  :aok
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Offline FLOOB

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Re: 20 years since Air Warrior, Warbirds, etc.....
« Reply #4 on: August 27, 2014, 10:32:47 AM »
There are some videos on youtube.
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Offline Kirin

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Re: 20 years since Air Warrior, Warbirds, etc.....
« Reply #5 on: August 27, 2014, 11:04:42 AM »
Shout out to my Italian boys of the 51° Stormo 'Gato Nero'! They taught me the joys of flying online in Air Warrior many moons ago.  :salute

AH beta was a revelation to me back then and I've been coming back ever since. I wonder what the future holds!

 :noid
Real men fly Radial!

Offline Drane

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Re: 20 years since Air Warrior, Warbirds, etc.....
« Reply #6 on: August 27, 2014, 11:10:11 AM »
In Air Warrior I was "DDY" and "YYZ", and for a time was in the Avengers squad. Only flew FR unless the arena was down. yayyyy!  :salute
92 Squadron RAF - Aut pugna aut morere - 'Either fight or die'

Offline Mister Fork

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Re: 20 years since Air Warrior, Warbirds, etc.....
« Reply #7 on: August 27, 2014, 11:47:13 AM »
Ugh. Yeah, I remember them. Heck, I remember calling a local BBS on a 300 Baud (this one). When I got my Commodore 64, I went out and paid $200 for this puppy... .

I was floored on how fast it was compared to the old 300 baud modem. And when the 9.6k came out, I had a PC running a AM486 (overclocked) and a CD with Air Warriors from the PC Management. I think I had to connect to AirWarriors through CompuCom(?) and it was like $100 a month or something stupid - late 1980s-1990s. And then Warbirds came out in 1995 - that was a game-changer.

And then in late 1999, Aces High came out.  

Nuff said.
"Games are meant to be fun and fair but fighting a war is neither." - HiTech

Offline Arlo

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Re: 20 years since Air Warrior, Warbirds, etc.....
« Reply #8 on: August 27, 2014, 11:54:49 AM »
There's some neat old stuff on the web:








Offline zack1234

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Re: 20 years since Air Warrior, Warbirds, etc.....
« Reply #9 on: August 27, 2014, 03:37:59 PM »
Awesome the new update is fantastic :aok

Cheers Hitech :)
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Offline colmbo

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Re: 20 years since Air Warrior, Warbirds, etc.....
« Reply #10 on: August 27, 2014, 03:56:00 PM »
Did Air Warrior on Genie at $6/hour.  I knew a guy that had a 4 digit bill one month….which was also his last month of flying when his wife found out.  I was home on a work comp injury and wracked up a $300 bill.  IIRC started with a 2400 baud modem….eventually up to 14.4.
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Offline Brooke

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Re: 20 years since Air Warrior, Warbirds, etc.....
« Reply #11 on: August 27, 2014, 03:58:49 PM »
I know there are a bunch of you still around, but who remembers?

Any of you have screen caps or video of the old days? I think it would be cool to compare where we came from on our 14.4k dial up and no textures to where we are now. It's amazing how far HiTech and Pyro have brought this simulator over the years. Every time I see some complaining about the slow progress I have to shake my head.

Thank you for staying with it HiTech (and team)!

Though life has had me drift away a few times, I always seem to find myself coming home.

RAJI

A big  :aok on that!

Offline Kirin

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Re: 20 years since Air Warrior, Warbirds, etc.....
« Reply #12 on: August 27, 2014, 04:11:26 PM »
Amazing, what one can find on YT!  :O

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gFuqEDTpzc
Real men fly Radial!

Offline Brooke

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Re: 20 years since Air Warrior, Warbirds, etc.....
« Reply #13 on: August 27, 2014, 04:39:13 PM »
I started playing Air Warrior in 1988 when it looked like this (only black and white, as I was playing on a Mac SE):



I *LOVED* it, but I didn't play much until the early 1990's as it was too expensive (at $12/hour).  In the early 1990's, I played a lot once it became available on the PC.  It first looked like the above picture but improved over time.  The later SVGA version for the PC looked like this:



I played in the first scenario when they were invented by DoK and loved scenarios from then on.  Pics of the action of those past scenarios (including the 18 frame mega-scenario "Longbow") is here:  http://electraforge.com/brooke/flightsims/scenarios/scenarios.html

Tales from the early days of Air Warrior are given here by DoK:  http://www.gonzoville.com/games/t-rex-ala-mode/

I wrote a manual on ACM for Air Warrior ( http://electraforge.com/brooke/flightsims/air_warrior/awtaman.txt ), helped to start the Air Warrior Training Academy (AWTA), and helped to found the first organization devoted to making and running scenarios (the Scenario Masters' Guild).

I flew in the last flight in Air Warrior (on Dec. 7, 2001, the 60th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor).

After the demise of Air Warrior, I looked around for the best on-line flying with the best community, and of course found Aces High.  It is a dream come true.
« Last Edit: August 27, 2014, 04:41:19 PM by Brooke »

Offline Randy1

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Re: 20 years since Air Warrior, Warbirds, etc.....
« Reply #14 on: August 27, 2014, 04:57:28 PM »
My first venture was when they first tried to get the Vox to work.  It didn't so never went back till a couple of years ago.  Vox works great now. :aok