Do we need ammo indicators???

[Kaz]

There seems to be some people for and some people against the current accurate Ammo counters so why don't HiTech change it to an approximation like the approximations they use for the distance that a plane is from you (I find the new system annoying and prefered the exact distance counter).

This would mean you could keep the current selected weapon boxes and the ammo read out box next to it but in the case of ammo you could have several steps such as 600, 500, 400, 300, 200, 150, 100, 50 bullets left with it getting slightly more accurate as you get towards the bottom of the scale (50 bullet intervals instead of 100).

This would mean that there would be:
- no accurate measurement for 'realism'
- but an approximation for people who want an ammo indicator
- it would mean you wearn't entirely sure when you were going to run out of bullets but you'ld have an idea
- a good way of NOT allowing the NME to know when your low on ammo

[SNIP]

This sounds like a great compromise. What are your thoughts?

[1K3]

Can we have an ammo and bomb/rocket counter indicator similar to when we man an ack gun?

ps The ack gun ammo counter is located at top right in green text. If HTC implaments this, AH cockpit will look less gamey(!) and equal or surpass that from Fighter Ace 3.7.

[Schutt]

I would like to have the cockpit as realistic as possible, with no ammo counter if the original had none, knots/miles/kilometers and so on.

So.. say some planes didnt have ammo counter but have combat flaps, german planes had ammo counter but didnt have combat flaps.

Why is it german planes get strict start land flaps, with notion of realism but other planes get ammo counter with relation to game decision.

ciao schutt

[ALF]

Originally posted by Schutt
I would like to have the cockpit as realistic as possible, with no ammo counter if the original had none, knots/miles/kilometers and so on.

So.. say some planes didnt have ammo counter but have combat flaps, german planes had ammo counter but didnt have combat flaps.

Why is it german planes get strict start land flaps, with notion of realism but other planes get ammo counter with relation to game decision.
 

Its called gameplay considerations.  If it makes the game more fun and accesable to newbies, and it doesnt have a significant impact on gameplay, Im fine with it.

In WWII, many planes were loaded out with special tracer rounds to indicate 1/2 ammo and 90% gone.  When Im in a fight, Id actually be able to use that more, cause I dont got time to be looking at no stinkin gauges!

[Urchin]

Regarding metric units and "native" cockpits..  

What is the Ki-84's cockpit in?  Still in mph, feet, right?  

You could change that to metric and odds are good I'd never even notice...

As far as ammo counters go... anyone still think they are still "evil" and lead to outrageously long shots?  The gunnery has changed quite a bit, but we've still got ammo counters.

[Kweassa]

Noone has particularly promoted that the ammo counter was 'evil'. It's importance lies in the fact that it is merely another factor which persists, that might effect gunnery. The virtual pilots of AH still can count exactly the rounds left, and assign a certain level of controlled risk by "wasting it" at whim.

 For instance, if I am in a P-47 with some 3400 rounds of ammo, I'd try a little spray up to even 600 yards, perhaps about 1000 rounds of .50s can be "afforded to be wasted", and it'd be an acceptable risk since I can stop exactly at 2400 rounds when I wish.

 Clearly, without any specific ammo counters one cannot take the luxury of affording some rounds to be wasted.

 More rounds in the air does increase the chance of hit upto a certain point - and it basically comes down to how willing the pilot is, to waste his ammo.

 If he feels the risk is not worth it, he wouldn't bother taking pot shots at an enemy at 600 yards. Maybe fire a couple of streams and forget about it.

 However, with the ammo counters the risk can be contained, so what we get is some people can still steadily shoot at a target in bursts, upto 600 yards, and know exactly how much more they can risk wasting.

 Thus overall the realism of gunnery (at least IMO) have improved, but not to a point where people would be thoroughly discouraged to even try a shot at 400+ .

 But however, since the average level of gunnery in AH2 has been brought down to a much more reasonable level, I don't have any particular gripes with it. I guess it could be viewed as a 'compromise point'. A Spit9 may land behind my 109 at 400 yards, and I still have a decent chance of outaccelerating it and stay unscathed from his relentless gunfire(unless the pilot's an ace and a pretty good shot).

 I guess that's good enough.

[ccvi]

Originally posted by T1loady
As far as the metric/feet call, I have flown  (I’m in the USAF as a Loadmaster on C-130's) in over 40 different countries and nearly every country with the exception of former Soviet(which uses the metric system, all use Feet for altitude, Knots Indicated Airspeed and wind in miles per hour for air traffic control. I know that this is a "historical" game, but as long as you know the parameters in which you need to keep the aircraft (i.e. don’t let the airspeed in the 190A8 get below 300KIAS) what does it matter which unit you are using.

A 190 doesn't even do 300KIAS.
Wind isn't given in mph but in nautical miles per hour, which is the same as knots.

[Midnight]

While I don't see a need for ammo counters, providing there was some other means to guess how much ammo is left (i.e. more tracers, different color, whatever) I disagree with any argument about some planes had them, some didn't, take them away from planes that didn't.

There are some things that either have to be universal for all aircraft, or everything has to be changed to only what an aircraft actually had.

Ammo counters - if you change this, then you will hear arguments for

Automatic flaps
Automatic engine managment features
Lead-calculating gunsights and CCIP type bombsights
Pilot adjustable trims (some planes could not be trimmed from the cockpit while in flight)
Guns that jam under certain flight conditions
Guns that jam just because they were poor design
De-icing equipment for high altitude flight
Range finders on guns and turrets

The list goes on and on. The bottom line is that the realism aspects, though wanted by some, are probably not going to happen because it would either scare away the gamer crowd, or just make more people choose the equipment with the best features.

[iKo]

This is just my opinion but I see a lot of things relating to realism in theses posts. Like ammo counters. I think that there has to be some unrealistic things for game play. It has to be fun and enjoyable to play for most of the people not all coz you can’t please all the people and that’s where our choice to play and pay or move on without complaints it’s your money.
    I flew a lot in Air warrior 8 years ago and met a lot of great people that I see the names again in AH. I was an addict and loved it I was so disappointed when AW ended that I stopped flying for 4 yrs.    My love for flying in WWII sim was still alive but the only choice was only WWII Online which is very realistic if you get low on ammo in that game the guns sounds got lower in volume and that’s how you knew.
There was no dar and no map displays you could only see like 20 square miles of a very large realistic map. You might fly for 2 hrs and not see any planes and this wasn’t any fun at all. I don’t have the time I wish I had, to fly as much as I would like because of the other thing we do, real life. This is why I and a lot of people left WWII Online.
    I would say if possible that when we have the WWII sanario’s in the other arena maybe they can do what people want like total realism for theses events that would be great. But as far a Main arena I think it has a great balance of realism in it already and almost perfect for game play. If you have 1 hr to fly and you want a fight you can do it fast and fun or just stay on 24-7 hats off to you HTC and thank you for bring back one of the most enjoy things I have done in many years and hope many more.  those people that have been around since the old AW days understand what I mean.
   For those that want realistic **** pits well that’s easy just hope that one of the skinners will make them and you can customize your own just like the sound packs that are out there.