Friends;
If you're new to AH from FA2, you may be interested in this. Back in the olden days (January 2000), in hopes of enticing more of our FA2 Tiger Squadron M8s to join Bader, Titanium and myself (TS_BigMac, TS_Gumpy and TS_Beegerite) in AH, I wrote the following review for them. Time has passed and new versions have come out so I've updated it and would like to share it as it provides quite a bit of insight into the progress AH has made. I'm also re-sending it to my old squaddies to see if we can squeeze out a couple of more members.
Comparison AH vs. FA2 (Jan 2000 & Dec. 2000)
Aircraft - Bombers
One resounding victory for AH on this one. Absolutely breathtaking to fly a B-17 The drone of the four engines is
enthralling and when you find that you and your friends can move about the various gunner positions it's absolutely nirvana. The B-17 is absolutely a dream to fly. Totally stable and with all the goodies including auto-pilot I can see that at some time it will be possible to fly tight formations into enemy airspace.
Update: Since I originally wrote this, they have added a B-26 and a Lancaster capable of carrying 14,000 lbs. of bombs. They have also added user manned vehicles e.g. Panzers, Halftrack, FlakPanzer (37mm), Troop carriers and C-47 transports.
Aircraft Documentation
AH is extremely superior in this department. Though they have just begun to document how they modeled the aircraft they are going out of their way to provide users with details that we can only guess at in FA2. Power settings, Performance at different altitude charts, flap extension speeds for the full 0 to 50 degree range of flaps on the P51-D, WEP settings and timing etc. etc. are all there.
Update: They give you the basic info as described but I guess due to priorities they haven't expanded on it.
Aircraft Modeling
AH holds the advantage here. Under their Rooks, Bishops and Knights country scenario the actual aircraft flown is left up to the pilot's discretion. Each aircraft seems to be modelled extremely well and capable of showing off those characteristics which most aviation enthusiasts know quite well. Zoom fighters zoom, turners turn and rollers roll.
Update: There's been a couple of version upgrades and with each one various factions complain or praise the FM. I'm very satisfied as long as I'm looking for a game. Perhaps because I have substantial real life esperience I find that many things are toned down. Believe it or not I really miss the stall characteristics of the A8s in FA. It was challenging to learn what to expect and to learn to compensate for it. Personally I would like to see the stall/spin modeling become more realistic to insure that some dweeb who doesn't know diddely squat about lift and drag doesn't kill me solely because he wasn't afraid to yank on the stick while I was because of my real life flight knowledge. (see additional info below)
Control - Joystick Support
AH is very superior in the support of joysticks. A full calibration program is provided which can be accessed even while you're in the game. You can program any key on either the keyboard or the joystick and multiple configurations are supported which can be changed on the fly.
Update: This has been expanded upon though I personally don't worry too much about it as I now use a Saitek X36 in combination with CH Pro USB pedals. I can program something like 240 different functions.
Countries
FA2 has the advantage in this department due to it's historically accurate inclusion of most of the primary participants in WWII. Great Britain, Germany, USA, USSR and Japan are all represented each with a compliment of fighters and bombers. AH on the other hand, has only three countries somewhat cautiously named Rooks,
Knights and Bishops. The only advantage we can see in this is that instead of being tied to the historically accurate fighters flown by each combatant in WWII, in AH you can fly any aircraft you wish. However, Doug "Pyro" Balmos says that free servers will be available and in those you can set up any kind of scenario you want. These servers will only hold 8 people at a time. Pyro has also told me that when their base increases they will consider setting up different scenario rooms.
Update: I've totally changed my mind on the country issue. I love being a Rook! Rooks are Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean and Reverent! Knights and Bishops on the other hand (if you can't say etc. etc.). Rooks operate any kind of airplane and vehicle and there are absolutely no political connections to the past in our game. I love it. The Head to Head rooms are now up and running so if you want to play Dick Bong vs. the Japs knock yourself out. There have also been very well run scenarios such as Afrika Korps The Final Days which concludes this sunday.
Eye Candy - Tracers and Smoke
AH has done a much better job of depicting tracers and damaged aircraft. Their tracers leave a smoke trail and when an aircraft is on fire the smoke trails back and slowly discipates. The smoke can be either white or black depending on the type of fire overall AH has done a much nicer job in this department. Rockets are also neat and also leave a puffy smoke trail behind them which is neat to fly through.
Update: Add chest pounding exploding ack bursts over the larger bases and beautiful thick black smoke over fubared bases. This stuff was so appealing that I had no choice but to go out and buy a new puter with super graphics so I could enjoy it even more. Should you be so sneaky that you can totally sneak up on an enemy then you'll love the fact that you can now turn tracers off. Your enemies will arrive at the pearly gates not having any idea of what killed them.
Eye Candy-Clouds and Sky
AH is clearly superior in this eye candy. While in FA2 the clouds are painted in the far horizon, AH shows them as puffy and as you approach them in a climb they slowly move towards you and suddenly envelop you in a cloud of grey. You immediately have to refer to your instruments to maintain your desired attitude. The idea of being able to use clouds to hide from the enemy should prove of extreme value at some time.
Update: The best keeps getting better!
Reality - Sounds
AH is much more realistic in the sound department than FA2. Starting with the fact that you must start the engine and it coughs and sputters before coming to life with a deep throated roar. The sounds in a B-17 are truly awesome. The only place where I find better sounds in FA2 are in the thuds you hear when you're hit. However, I would rather do without those sounds.
Update: Various folks have come up with custom sounds which can be uploaded into the program. Also recently AH has begun to give us external sounds which add a lot of realism.
Reality-Stall and Spin Modeling
AH has a distinct advantage over FA2 in this department. Where in FA 1.5 it was possible to recover from spins utilizing normal spin recovery techniques, this has completely disappeared in FA2. The stall spin is more of a snap roll along the horizontal axis from which most pilots are not able to recover. AH on the other hand though no immediate down pitch is noticiable does allow you to utilize normal recovery techniques.
Update: When I wrote about this above I guess I was remembering FA 1.5 AH still doesn't quite give us the kind of stall and spin modeling I would like to see and it is most definetely toned down to keep non real life pilots from killing themselves on every sortee.
Stability - Aircraft
AH holds a commanding advantage here. Airplanes fly as they're designed to. You can trim your rudder, aieleron and elevator to maintain your desired flight path. FA2 on the other hand has a trim control which doesn't seem to have much effect and the aircraft flip flops all over the runway and sky.
Update: This has continued to improve in AH and now they offer an automatic combat trim which some say is excellent and others deride.
Stability - Connection
AH has a distinct advantage in this department. FA2 is presently providing a very unstable connection which is jerky and laggy. AH on the other hand is very stable and only occassionally do you perceive any aicraft moving in a jerky way.
Update: In the good ol' days (first quater of this year) before HTC started offering discount subs this was 100% true. Now new increased numbers seem to be causing a little more lag and other connection glitches. This assumption is general in nature since I personally can't complain but I'm on an ISDN line.
Terrain - Features
No question here, AH holds an edge. Their mountains are very realistic and the valleys and canyons between them are always there and do not suddenly pop up into sight as they do in FA2. FA2 has some mountains that could only be found in the Himalayas with jagged peaks that sometimes look more like Christmas trees. Not to say that AH doesn't have some weird looking mounds, just that they're a little rounder and they're always there. In both
games airports and scenes seem to be laid upon rather than being part of the terrain.
Update: New terrains have been introduced in addition to the Beta terrain I was describing. We now have a Mediterranean terrain which is geographically accurate as well as a Luzon Terrain which was developed by a member with the Terrain Editor which was released a couple of months ago. This Luzon terrain is extremely realistic and rivals that of CFS.
Terrain - Maps
Though initially FA2 seemed to hold the advantage on maps, it soon became apparent that AH's are much better as they actually provide a scale and coordinates which though different that FA2 are very accurate. Various players provide maps which can be printed on their websites.
Update: This continues with no basic changes.
Views - Directions
AH has an advantage over FA2 even if they do not at this time provide a padlocked view. They do provide a much greater variety of view which are not only the 8 standard compass views but additional slanted views in each position e.g. front left and up or front left and down. All of these views can be assigned to the joystick creating an environment where in spite of the lack of a padlock you can look around your entire universe to find your fleeing enemy. As stated elsewhere, the lack of a padlock adds to the reality of the dog fighting environment.
Update: A padlock has been added to AH though I've yet to get it to work like that of the FA2 padlock. In any case, I've become a master at flicking my thumb over the hat to be able to look in any direction (except where the enemy is killing me from) in an instant. I've become a believer in the reality mode of no padlock.
Views - Film
FA2 holds an advantage in it's film making capability. FA2 allows you to name your films rather than they being called Film 1 or Film2. In actuallity this feature may not yet be fully implemented in AH and it may also be a case of this reporter not having fully RTFM.
Update: AH films have greatly improved and perhaps through RTFM I've learned that AH film capabilities are very superior specially for purposes of learning from your mistakes. One very nice feature is the capability of adding trace lines to your playback to allow you to see where you where and where the enemy was as well as the flight paths to your demise. The best thing about AH films is that you create films on the fly by toggling R. After the battles you can go in and name those of particular importance. Now, if I could only force myself to trun the gun camera on before engaging!
Views - Irritations
AH's flying clipboard drives me nuts but it can be auto minimized. Why can't you just have a menu system rather than clicking on a clipboard and then being levitated down a flight of steps as though you're some over eager 20 year old? Should you pick another field you're actually taken there sans airplane by way of the clouds. Doesn't have to be this way. FA2's menu driven system is a lot more user friendly.
Update: Here's another case of RTFM. None of these problems esist for me today.
Views - Message Window
AH provides you with a see through windown which can be repositioned anywhere on the screen. The method of messaging everybody, only your team mates and squad mates are pretty much the same in both games only differing slightly. AH seems to hold an edge once you get used to their radio system. The log of previous conversations seems better in FA2.
Update: AH has greatly improved here and has also added the integration of RW into the radio system though it still has some glitches in it.
Views- Tags
FA2 holds an advantage to those pilots who truly like to replicate the dogfight environment by flying totally without tags. The only way to positively identify friend or foe is to see their markings or the color of the position marker on the map when that feature is not turned off or trusting the enemy lock view which can become quite confusing in a furball. Most pilots setting up private games will only allow you to know where you're
team mates are and you are forced to detect and report enemies. Overall FA2 will allow you to more closely replicate real battle conditions. All the tag combinations e.g. Rank, Squadron, Distance can be toggled either on or off individually or by anyone crazy enough to fly without tags when everybody else is using them. AH tags seem always to be on and show dist in K Yds. until you get up close and personal and the distances change to feet. The capability of flying without tags will be available in private rooms according to Doug Balmos.
Update: This has changed completely swinging to the AH side. Tags are fully controllable; on, off, friendly only and normal. With the 1000% better graphics in AH it is an absolute and totally immersing pleasure to fly without tags. Needless to say that with the enemy capable of flying exactly the same airplane as you, this should not be tried in the main arena or you will find the "kill-shooter" is as accurate as you are.
That's it, there ain't no more. AH Rules! Rooks Rule!
Beeg
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[This message has been edited by Beegerite (edited 12-02-2000).]
[This message has been edited by Beegerite (edited 12-02-2000).]
