Originally posted by Steve44
How accurate are the flight models for the aircraft as compared to the planes they depict. Looking a maybe getting on here but don’t want to waste my time flying aircraft that fly in unrealistic ways. Don’t get me wrong, it is just a game but for me part of the fun is seeing how you would do if you were flying a certain plane, or as close to flying a certain plane. I think you know what I mean.
There are two questions in that post, one is how close the aircraft in aces high compare to the planes they depict, and the other is about aircraft that fly in unrealistic ways. The first is a function of the data used to load the flight model, the second is a function of the flight model itself. I'll deal with both.
Regarding the flight model itself, I've been involved with flight simulations from the time they first appeared in computer games around about 1983, and with the first multi-player online flight Sim, Air Warrior, that appeared in 1987. Since those days I've flown the vast majority of the combat flight simulations released, with very few exceptions. I also know how to write a flight model, apart from having the source code to three commercial flight simulations I have my own flight model running in a test program used to analyse aircraft performance. I've also worked with flight simulation developers on flight modelling so I can say with some confidence that the flight model in Aces High is second to none!
With regard to the data used to load the flight model, and the comparison to real world aircraft, the issue isn't quite as clear.
The reason is that what many would consider to be reliable and accurate sources of data for an aircraft, sources such as the manufacturer, various scientific establishments and test agencies, and of course the air forces that used the aircraft operationally, often conflict in the precise values for aircraft performance.
The simple fact is, that unless they all tested the very same aircraft, at exactly the same place and at exactly the same time, you would expect to see differences in their results. There are so many factors that contribute to those variations, it is more surprising that the numerical values for such data agrees as closely as it often does. For that reason experienced and competitive flight Sim’ pilots won’t assume that the aircraft being modeled will compare exactly to their expectations. By using statistical methods, the errors can be kept to single figures, and depending on the quantity and sources of data they can sometimes be impressively small single figures. You will often see threads here where players who have done excellent research, will argue over just a few mph, that itself is testimony to the degree of fidelity here.
More importantly, most of the players expect the combination of physics modelling and data to be sophisticated and accurate enough that real world tactics can be successfully employed against their opponents and that is certainly true in Aces High, and in my experience, more so than in any other online simulation.
Hope that helps.
Badboy
