Clouds and their impact on gameplay.

[Fariz]

Clouds are in the game. Impact is not. If I used them 10 times for getting a kill in AH it is it, not more. They are now just another eye candy. I really do not want to be more of them in the arena, because they are killing my fps, I want something different.

Clouds were a big part of the air warfare. When you read fighter pilots memoirs you meet mentioning of using the clouds quite often.

Probably, it will be nice if we will have cloud fronts implemented. I do not want them to look great. I want them to be what they should be -- something which help to hide, gives lower plane cover against the higher plane etc.

Adding such kind of clouds can improve gameplay greatly, esp. in scenarios. Right now the best tactics is to go as high as possible to bounce low planes. With cloud fronts planes will have some choice -- eather to stay high and do not see what is under the clouds, or go low and be in risk to be bounced.

Just couple of thoughts,

Fariz

[Vermillion]

I agree Fariz, I too believe that clouds really add to the immersion.

But due to their impact on low end machines framerates, HTC has decided to keep the number of clouds so low, that I hardly get to fly in them.

The most important thing I can say about clouds is:

MORE MORE MORE  MORE!  

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Vermillion
**MOL**, Men of Leisure

[brady]

 I agree completely I would love to see a randomized weather pattern, with summer type clouds like we have today and totally overcast days as well, what about fleeting periods of morning or evening fog, or very low level clods just to spice it up a bit or fog patches that move about at those time and dissipate,it would make for some interesting armor assaults,then as it lifted LOOK out! JABO'S...
  Also a night period with a moon for some light would be a cool "eye candy", and fun too boot.We would of course need a He 219 to go with this as well as a working radar sys on board ,don't forget those cockpit instrument light's
     
         Brady

[GRUNHERZ]

Hi

The clouds in AH are by far the best in any sim ever and even the new boxed sims dont compare well. I actually used the clouds once while flying a N1K2 a month ago. I was at 22K or so lonewolfing to an enemy field, when I see 2 or 3 dots higher than me. It turns out to be a P38, P51 and a Spit. I stared to fight them but soon it was obvious they were working togeter well and that I was gonna die soon. I disengaged with them hot on my tail and dove for some lower clouds, tracers flashed by me as I made some wild turns inside and lost my pursuers. It was one of the most realistic
moments in any sim I ever flew. The best part was watching them franctically circle the sky looking for me above the clouds as I made my mad dash home at low level.  
The more clouds the better it is. Plus I just loved this time when I caught A P51 napping at 33K with his tanks still on, I closed to 150 and tore him a new one.  All the while there was this enormousy tall and crisp cloud on our left. It was just like a few of the gun camera films Id seen. Great job on the clouds HTC!

thanks GRUNHERZ

[Ketil]

I know I am new here, but I think I will be stickin round and one of the reasons is the clouds  
The first time I saw them I did something that totally reminded me later of something I read a long time ago from a WW1 pilot...I was so lost in space playing with the clouds that I forgot where I was and what could be up there with me. Was brought back to awareness when I finally spotted some red headed my way, but for awhile there I was lost in the clouds as it were  
The clouds rock.......gimme more!
Ket

[LLv34_Camouflage]

Maybe something like the clouds in CFS2?  

Camo

------------------
Camouflage
XO, Lentolaivue 34
 www.muodos.fi/LLv34

Brewster into AH!

"The really good pilots use their superior judgement to keep them out of situations
where they might be required to demonstrate their superior skill."

[Rickenbacker]

Yes, WEATHER! that'd be a first in a combat sim  .

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        Rickenbacker (Ricken)

                -ISAF-
the Independent Swedish Air Force

[tshred]

I still don't understand why you can see the enemy dot in the clouds! Are they not supposed to 'hide' the a/c?

So I guess they are nothing more than 'eye candy and braggin' rights for HTC'.

But they still are effective somewhat. I've been bounced by enemys above I did not see the 'dot' in time, and I've been on the delivering end in this sit as well.

Hmmmpphhh.

ts

[SKurj]

I've had some great fights in and around the clouds as well i think they are great!!

However as Fariz mentioned, one of the problems with most of the flight sims I have flown online is the lack of cover.  The alt dweebs can be discouraged with more cloud effects.

When ya can climb to 30k to get an advantage (alt dweeb) and then proceed to BnZ at will, it starts to become an altitude war.  I come into a fight at 20k and find 25k bogeys all over me..  next run I come in at 25k.  The enemy sees me at 25k, he radios his teammates then they come in at 30k and so on, and so on, and so on...
You get the picture...

Larger cloud masses could change this.  A cloud layer at 25k would help in keeping the fight within reasonable altitudes, the buffs would have to drop through the cloud layer to drop (YAY no more 35k porkwarriors)  and the very altitudinous amongst us could climb up and have their fights above the clouds, and leave those of us who don't wish to grab for 20 minutes every run alone.

As far as how detailed this cloud layer could be... not very IMO.  If it could be modelled as a very basic shape (angular) with the current cloud models scattered around its edges sparsely it would still look great I think.  

Holes in the cover at random would work well too.

A randomizer of sorts that could vary the cloud layer (or layers) altitude on a daily basis or even whether it appears that day or not IMO would add alot to the sim.

At present it is sometimes possible to see dots from inside the cloud cover of AC outside of it, though I don't notice this occurring 100% of the time.

Clouds do hit my frame rates quite abit when close in; however I am running on a cacheless celeron 266 (@448) 128mb ram and a v3 3000.  Once I upgrade the cpu i'd expect my frame rate issues to be significantly reduced.  A 450mhz cpu these days is practically the bare minimum for a gaming machine.  If you call yourself a gamer and wish to enjoy these state of the art simulations available today, you will ensure you have the power to play.

my thots....

SKurj

[Buckwheat]

PROBLEM: framerate
SOLUTION: get a better computer

[iculus]

Clouds have no effect?...

Last week I led a raid of three Lancasters (thanks guys!) to hit an ack factory.  Peering through the bombsight, almost on target, and a cloud rolls in and completely obscures target!  Part of me says "doh!"...but for the most part I thought "COOOOL!!".

IC  

[iculus]

Ketil,

I don't think we had an artificial horizon the first time that I saw the clouds in AH. I went in one right side up, and came out upside down !

Salute,
IC

[popeye]

Agree iculus,

The first time I had to abort a bomb run because the target was hidden by clouds was one of the most immersive sim experiences I can remember.