Man, this Beta takes the cake.
I've been monitoring the time it took for Beta17, and saw that it was taking considerable more time than other betas.. so I think to myself,
"Man, it's gonna be some serious updating..". And lo and behold, it is!!
This is the most excellent thing I've seen so far. I'm not sure if it's finalized, but if there's some more fine-tuning the looks of it, then the visual damage might evern look better than IL2FB/AEP!
I notice that when two bullet holes land close together in the cockpit glass, a crack will form between them. Also, the subtle things such as bullet holes landing in the front portion of the Bf109G-10, but not penetrating it(I think that's correct - I see the front armoured glass battered, but not penetrated.. or is it just generic? Either way, it's impressive).. it's just excellent.
Also, it seems that the way how damage is portrayed, seems to differ according to how the bullet hit from what direction. When a round "skids" off a surface, it seems to leave a "teared" mark facing the correct direction which the bullet went through, instead of the conventional bullet hole - also excellent!
A few suggestions on my part
...
1) What about using a "hybrid" form of visual damage depiction?
Currently, it's the most excellent thing I've ever seen, but if enough rounds land on a certain surface and it's still just full of holes, it might start to look awkward.. How about dealing damage visually in the current way, but changing the damage texture to a bigger one(like gaping holes, large torn surfaces, tattered control surfaces.. etc etc..) when enough bullet holes accumulate on a single surface? That'd be really cool...
2) Now, with the new excellent visual damage, the "pings" are reall starting to look old. I'm more or less sure that this is something already on the list of "to-do"s, but just lower priority.. but if it's not, please consider better hit sprites..! Small explosions for HE shells landing, more bright white flash of AP shells connecting! The pale yellow low-res hit sprite looks so improper now!!
3) This might be a major upgrade request.. but..
I won't ask for full internal DM - but at least, with the bullet holes, can the flight characteristics of the planes be altered according to the damage done?
Ofcourse, I'm talking about the "surface damage" - the visual damage portrayed, but the actual parts not damaged enough to turn "red, indicating it's broken off"... like, the wing tips or flaps or ailerons are still intact, but a lot of bullet holes slightly increasing drag or lowering lift factor, making the plane more prone to dipping to one side, or losing maybe 3~5mph off the top speed.. etc etc..??
Seeing a plane full of large holes, but reacting perfectly as a normal plane because none of the damage accumulated "ripped off" something, might look awkward..
..
In any rate, the Beta17 is most excellent! WTG!!!
