Originally posted by Crumpp
AH is not an artificial flap fest like IL2. Why? Hitech has designed the game so that you cannot "game the game" with them. It's stupid and totally unrealistic to think even "combat" flaps were dropped and used for sustained turn fights. Hitech is right, not folks lobbying for their favourite plane!...........
Why there are those who do not see this!
That is exactly what is going on. P38 pilots want to fly their plane beyond it's limits, nothing more.
Crumpp, of course low speed dog fighting in the 38 was discouraged, especially in the PTO with the nimble jap planes. However when you say "It's stupid and totally unrealistic to think even 'combat' flaps were dropped and used for sustained turn fights." that just doesnt match up with how things happend. Combat did degenerate into less than by the book conditions.
I specifically recall accounts from the 475th on how McGuire preached never to dogfight the jap planes and then would proceed to do it on a regular basis in combat. Tilly described that more often than not, an engagment would begin around 20K, and deteriorate to everyone "milling around on the deck". He also praised that the 38 was at its best "at low altitudes and low airspeeds of 90mph. Tilly's 2nd victory aginst an oscar was a full 360 "on the deck, in a verticle bank, the airspeed under 90 mph...That turn was nothing more or less than a controlled stall."
That is just a little "stupid and totally unrealistice accounts" off the top of my head.
I also previously posted in this thread an example of where one of McGuire's wingmans plane showed significant abuse just trying to keep up with Mac in the initial part of a few engagment. The point being that while there lives depended on taking care of their planes, that did not prevail when faced with the choice of being shot, or wringing everything they could out of their bird.
In AH a frustrating example where I would like to see a similar choice is in a low speed 38 loop fight. If the apex of the loop is around 120, the speed at the bottom peaks over 150 mph by 1-5 mph for about 1-2 seconds. The max full flap speed is 150. Auto-anything does not account for the full scope of the situation. The situation may be that without interference by auto-retract the engagment would be over before the next apex. Or it may not. Only the pilot can assess the risk/cost/benifit and decide what action will keep said pilot alive. In this example I dont see where auto-retract either causing a fatal spin, or forcing the player to lose position makes "realistic fights" when 1. The real plane would not react that way. and 2. The limit is pushed so little in time and stress perameters, that it defies engineering standards to say that there must be an absolute failure in that situation.
Lastly, I made the same arguments months ago (and reposted a snipet here) as cobra has stated here. The only difference between what the two of us said was were he suggested a (what I'll call) "stress log", I suggested a rapid sample rate for a damage condition. Both are geared to "the more you abuse it, the more likely you break it". I dont quite see where you find such a difference that when someone else says it, that its a "good system", but I pleased to find you are able to see the point and resonableness of a suggestion when your own bias's are not blocking your view.
