Yet another first impression (longish)

[Jekyll]

Well, after what seemed like a long wait, Aces High is finally here.  I’ve flown it for about 2 hours so far:  flew the P51, Spitfire and 109 online.

Here are my thoughts:

1.   Terrain – absolutely wonderful.
2.   Graphics – very good.  Stall onset is very nice indeed, and I just love the rotating spinner on the 109
3.   Flight Model – good.  Stall seems to come on early, but it’s consistent between aircraft.  Only problem I’ve found so far is with the 109, which ran out of runway twice at full WEP before I could manage to get one off the ground.  I seem to recall that taking off in a real 109 was a case of ‘hit max throttle, try to keep it straight and just launch the sucker’, so maybe it’s realistic .  
4.   View system – GREAT!  Only thing I hope they change is to get rid of the external view for fighters.
5.   Gunnery – hmmm.  Long range gunnery seems to be awfully easy.  I nailed a couple of aircraft with 800 yard shots which I just KNEW would miss – but the aircraft still registered hits and went down.  And this was without using the zoom feature at all!  Effective gun ranges need to be cut to at most 25% of their current range.
6.   Interface – another hmmm.  The present system of running from the tower, to the hanger, to the map room is just plain clunky and awful.  Forget the transitions and just let us move instantly from place to place.  On the same subject, the convergence setting should be part of the hanger – not the clipboard.  I found myself continually going to the hanger to select ordinance, then back to the clipboard, then back to the hanger for convergence setting.  Just have an icon in the hanger somewhere which takes you straight to convergence setting.
7.   Sounds – well it IS an early beta after all, but on balance I thought the sound was pretty good.
8.   Connection – GREAT!  I flew for about 2 hours and never saw a warp, and I’m based in Australia with 500ms+ ping times.

All in all, a really great start to what will no doubt be a terrific WW2 flight sim.

Congrats to Hitech, Pyro and the whole gang J

[Curly]

Almost like you read my mind  

I was totally impressed. What a grand start
for what I'm beleiving will be a fantastic
sim.

 --Curly

*now? can anyone help me with a spin recovery
 method for the P51? Nothing I use in WB, AW
 or any other sim would work. Not once  

[Aussie]

Well here's my first impressions after flying for an hour or so last night. I'll list them like jekyll has.

1. Terrain. Liked the Canyons but but the flat lands each side of the mountain range is boring. Im assuming the terrain is for the beta test only. Looking forward to the new ground textures. The current ones are a bit repetitive. The sheep are an interesting addition, pity they dont move around hehe. I cracked up when I played the sheep sound. If you need real ones, just ask carrot. He can get his girlfrind to speak into a microphone I'm sure.

2. Graphics.  The banding is quite bad and is particularly noticeable on the internal cockpit graphics as the shading changes in a turn. The same banding was present in Warbirds till the new programmers got rid of it. I assume the internal cockpit graphics are simply there to fill the space. The instruments are nice but I found it hard to see the red tip on the Compass needle so was never cetain of my direction. Perhaps a different shape to the needle or a more obvious tip might help.

I found the speed of the a/c against the terrain very slow when close to the ground. Diving into a narrow canyon at 300 mph felt more like floating in a hang glider at 30 mph. There was no sensation of speed close to the gound. Similarly when approaching or straffing an airfield or a city. Flying at altitude was good though.

3. Flight model. Initially I wasnt sure but after a while I got to like it. I hate the stall warning. Its almost as irritating as the buzz in Warbirds. Prefer the shaking sound that is available from third party sources for Warbirds. Loved the engine sound in the spit. Pity the engine startup and running sounds didnt blend together a bit better. Still this is a very early beta.

4. View System. Makes me seasick hehe, but I still like it. I also like the way g-forces move your head around in the cockpit ruining your aim during manouver changes.

5. Gunnery. Not too sure yet. I didnt like the hit flashes (like the old WB) but I loved the tracers and smoke. The rockets were great too, very realistic.

6. Icons. I thought the Icons were too large. I realise that it makes them clear and easy to spot the aircraft, but I found my self watching the icon and not the aircraft during a dogfight. The distance countdown is good - reminds me of Combat Simulator. I got confused the first time I changed sides though. I forgot the enemy is always red and tried to shoot the wrong colour. Kill-shooter works haha.

7. Interface. I guess I'll get used to it. Got a bit seasick running up and down the stairs though    but then I guess I need the excercise. Would be nice to end up in the Officers mess with a beer rather than the tower though hehe.

Overall Im impressed considering the short time it took to get it this far. It obviously has a lot more to be done on it but its already very playable for a 3 month work in progress.

Well done guys.



------------------
aussie
-----
Any ship can be a minesweeper... once.

[Flathat]

Only had time for two sorties so far (MBA school midterms   ). Both in P-51, one offline and one on.

By some miracle I managed to get off the ground. Framerate blows WB away, at least in what I presume is a less-demanding beta environment. I like the view system, except for the lack of 8-way hat. Actually, I could learn to live without it, but hundreds of DoA sorties have given me a thumb reflex.  

Online was fun, I flew along, checking the clipboard, climbing to 28K in the hopes that I would soon get to Go Diving Down(tm), when a higher Spit came along and shot my rudder off in one pass. Some things never change.  

No magic trim fixes to keep you in controlled flight, either--unless I wasn't trying hard enough. I think this is right. I once ditched a Spad with no tail surfaces at all, which is baloney.

Like the hangar setup *a lot.* Mucho weaponeering for us operations types, when we get some more planes and missions on which to fly them. A Most Excellent Feature.

I shot up a factory offline...liked the Pony's performance in wingovers/hammerheads. Tracers looked great too. Nice to have visual feedback by looking back at rudder. Stall warning is annoying as all get out, I just turn all sound way down for now. Stalled once, just correct once and then let go the controls. Works in Spad if you do it right away; works here in Pony too.

(Edit for Curly): What I mean by "correct once" is that when the warning gets really loud and the ship departs, I push the stick forward judiciously but briskly. When the warning volume drops, I just let go the controls. I get enough speed to recover in a couple of seconds--the trick appears to be don't let the spin get started.

I can't find anything to complain about, other than getting my rudder shot off.   This one's going to be a winner when I figure it out. It's looking like a Silver account for DoA and a membership here, come spring at any rate.

------------------
Flathat
'Black Dahlia'
No10 RNAS "The Black Flight"
Angel on your wing, devil on your tail



[This message has been edited by Flathat (edited 09-30-1999).]

[Curly]

Thanks Flathat, I'll try that out over the next several days. For some reason my sounds are washed out or delayed in starting up and I've not had any kind of warning that I was going to stall. I'll have to play around with the setup and just keep practicing  

 --Curly

[Ogre]

Aussie wrote:
 

1. Terrain. Liked the Canyons but but the flat lands each side of the mountain range is boring. Im assuming the terrain is for the beta test only. Looking forward to the new ground textures. The current ones are a bit repetitive.

Like the rest of the game, the terrain is also in beta    All I was really able to get done before the release was the volcano (which still needs work) and the canyons.  Much of the rest was only roughed in.  I'm continuing to work the on the terrain.

...and, yes, AFAIK it will only be used for the beta.  

Also, eventually the back fields will become important when strategy elements are tested (factory complexes are in the rear) and field captures become more in vogue.

-Ogre

[Dhog]

Reposted elsewhere.

[This message has been edited by Dhog (edited 09-30-1999).]