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rhondabrwn -> RE: Non- wargames you play and why (11/13/2005 11:05:18 PM)
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MS Flight Simulator 2004
Favorite plane: A DC-3
A very stable plane, great cockpit and external view capability, easy to land... I use it to just cruise around someplace scenic (like flying over the Rocky Mountains at dusk). I can just sit back and relax and enjoy the sights.
Now that is about as far from wargaming as you can get!
New arrival: TRAINZ Railroad Simulator 2006 (I have been following this one since the original TRAINZ was released).
I'm not a railroad buff so I do not enter into the intricate depths of engineering, but as a "tourist" it is so much fun to drive a train over huge routes with incredible scenery... it's like being there. The land version of cruising in my DC-3.
Highly, highly recommended!
The game is very versatile and users can develop (and share) their own trains, cars, buildings, routes, scenery and so forth. In fact, they have hundreds of thousands of downloads available for every conceivable railroading experience. Even tanks and armored cars and fighter planes (yes, you can have invisiable train tracks in the sky and fly aircraft and also seagoing vessels can be tracked through the oceans and rivers). Now if a wargamer got involved in this... I can see a scenario set up that shows "the front" with trenches and troops and then uses the trains to support the troops, transport tanks and equipment, and so forth [:D] The simulator supports detailed industries, car loading and unloading, automated schedules and train drivers etc etc so this would be quite workable. I can see the messages popping up now... "ammunition and troops needed on the Meuse" and your troop train quickly leaves Paris to save the day.
Hmm... has potential.
Seriously, check out this simulator. It is way too easy to dismiss this as being the sole province of the model train in the basement set, but it's much more.
Check it out at: Auran.com
And guys, both of the above can really appeal to your wife [;)] if you approach it from the "tourist" angle. "Honey, I got you a trip to Paris for Christmas... ergh... a simulated one, I mean" [:D] Seriously, an easy to fly plane over Paris at midnight... gorgeous. Driving a steam locomotive through the Canadian Rockies... priceless. Simulated trips that would cost you a small fortune to do for real.
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