Author Topic: Fuel loads (Read 614 times)

Seeker · « **on:** February 15, 2001, 09:12:00 PM »

Why are the fuel loads so low in AH? When one considers that the spit, Me 109 and Typhoon not only made it over the channel, but hopefuly back again, one has to ask: where did they stop for fuel?

XNachoX · « **Reply #1 on:** February 15, 2001, 10:27:00 PM »

Fuel loads have been shortened because they have to be proportional to the map size otherwise you could fly for hours on end without refueling.

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[This message has been edited by XNachoX (edited 02-15-2001).]

Jigster · « **Reply #2 on:** February 15, 2001, 11:01:00 PM »

Well for the most part it's to keep people flying with somewhere near historic fuel loads for the map scale.

If there was no multiplyer, you'd only need 25% fuel to go just about anywhere, and for most fighters, they never fought on such a fuel load because they were generally headed home by that time

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funked · « **Reply #3 on:** February 16, 2001, 12:01:00 AM »

The main effect is to give US planes an artificial altitude advantage, and limit many non-US offensive aircraft to a defensive role.

Vermillion · « **Reply #4 on:** February 16, 2001, 06:43:00 AM »

The Fuel Consumption modifier is set somewhere between 2.0-2.5 (I'm guessing).

It use to be 2.5, but I've noticed that recently it seems to be lower, but I haven't sit down and actually tested it.

The reason behind it, contrary to Funked's words of wisdom

, is to make fuel management more of an issue in the game, as it was in the real world. For instance in WB's and AW, how many times have you taken more than just 25% fuel?

Personally, I like it, and I fly one of the shortest ranged aircraft in the game, the Yak-9U.

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Vermillion
**MOL**, Men of Leisure

Seeker · « **Reply #5 on:** February 16, 2001, 07:59:00 AM »

I like the fact that fuel load is an important consideration, and I fully accept your point that as a strategic limitation, fuel has never factored in to AW or EAW (how was WB's?).

Nonetheless, some planes do seem to have unusually short ranges.

I'm still getting used to the relative strengths and weaknesses of the AH plane set (and as allways, the relative strength of the deck....), but comparing the Spit IX (a known short range interceptor)to the Typhoon, it seems the Typhoon should be air to air refueling right about the end of the runway.

I've no factual basis for this at all, and I'd welcome a more informed discussion, but that Tiffie just don't feel right in the range department (which is a shame, as I almost nearly had a kill in one. Once.)

LLv34_Camouflage · « **Reply #6 on:** February 16, 2001, 08:15:00 AM »

Interesting how differently people approach things in AH:

Some pilots take as little fuel as possible so that when they engage, they would have the advantage of being lighter. Others take as much fuel as they can so that they can engage and disengage at will and not worry about running out of fuel. And then there's the rest of the infinite options between these two.

I wonder how often this kind of thinking leads to the first group in not RTB'ing? On the other hand, the second group might not enjoy the thrills of furballing as much.

In any case, I believe every plane in AH has a big enough tank to keep it flying atleast 45 mins at full throttle in the MA. Thats 10 mins to fly to target, 25 mins of fighting, 10 mins to rtb. Should be enough?

Camo

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Lephturn · « **Reply #7 on:** February 16, 2001, 08:18:00 AM »

The fuel multiplier is necessary.

Without it, we lose one of the most important attributes of air combat. In Aces High, having a plane that is good on fuel with a long range is important. Just like it was in the real deal. In AH, not only does this fuel burn affect range, but it also affects the weight of the planes and their CG. This great stuff, and without it you lose one of the most important factors in real air combat.

There is a reason they didn't use Typhoons to fly escort on raids into Germany. I find it very valuable that those same limitations exist in this game. Without the fuel multiplier, one of the great strengths of planes like the P-51 and P-47 wouldn't come into play, artificially hurting them versus shorter ranged aircraft.

The fuel management and multiplier system in Aces High is great IMHO. It's just one of the things that sets this sim above all the others I've tried to date.

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Seeker · « **Reply #8 on:** February 17, 2001, 12:24:00 AM »

I definatley agree that the way AH forces fuel discretion is a good thing, and it way well be more stressed here than any other sim.
I just feel the Typoon is over done.

As far as I'm aware, the Typhoon usualy operated sans drop tanks but with wing ordinance under a top cap of drop tank carrying spits; which would certainly suggest that the typhoon had greater range than the Spit did. I've not done any testing, but I'm not sure that's the case in AH.

Vermillion · « **Reply #9 on:** February 17, 2001, 05:27:00 AM »

Seeker, if your discussing just the Typhoon, as far as I know, it should be correct.

Yes there is a overall fuel modifier, but each aircraft has its historic fuel loads, and for every plane that has been tested by a player and posted here has historic fuel consumption numbers for full power (some of the mid range throttle settings fuel consumptions seem to be off, in most aircraft).

Does that bit of rambling make sense?

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Vermillion
**MOL**, Men of Leisure

funked · « **Reply #10 on:** February 17, 2001, 11:06:00 AM »

Seeker, if you fly the Typhoon and the Spitfire at the same speed and altitude, the Typhoon will have a significantly longer range.

Power loss due to drag increases with the cube of speed. So if you fly the Typhoon at top speed, it will indeed have worse range than the Spitfire, because it is going so much faster.

Some good boost settings for the Typhoon are 6 psi for climb, 4 psi for cruise, and 3 psi for maximum economy.

Don't mess with the RPM setting because it does not work properly. The key is reducing the speed of the aircraft, and with the current modeling, you get better efficiency by doing that with the throttle instead of the RPM regulator.

[This message has been edited by funked (edited 02-17-2001).]

Seeker · « **Reply #11 on:** February 17, 2001, 03:11:00 PM »

Thanks for the replies guys, I guess I'll just have to learn to live with it :-)

What prompted the particular interest in the Typhoon was that the other night, I upped from one end of one of those little islands to hunt around an enemy base on the other end of the same little island in a spit IX, 100% with drop tank. As soon as I came into visual of the airfield, I saw a bogey, droped tanks and got one of my rare kills (he must have been drooling to hard when he saw me). I flew back and landed the point.

Then I upped in a typhoon, 100% and rockets, and ran out of fuel at the same base on the way in to the second strafe.

That just jibed with my understanding of how the planes were used.

As far as the RPM/Boost relationship works, this is new to me. In AW there's just an Airspeed guage, in EAW the only difference walling the throttle makes is engine heat, you never run out of fuel.

So how does this work then? I should be using the throttle to regulate boost, RPM is merely a side effect, not to be bothered with?

Help a glider pilot, will yas? :-)

Seeker · « **Reply #12 on:** February 17, 2001, 03:15:00 PM »

How do you edit posts?

I wanted to add the suggestion that should any one care to reply to my question on boost/rpm, would it be possible to move the thread to the training board? I imagine a good explanation could be a usefull resource there.

airspro · « **Reply #13 on:** February 18, 2001, 06:44:00 AM »

Hey there Seeker . We air guys fly the Typhoon quite a bit . I read your post and believe you might have thought you had 100% fuel in your Typhoon but really didn't that time . Try it again guy , some times it looks like you have it selected but it didn't set right in the game .

"Then I upped in a typhoon, 100% and rockets, and ran out of fuel at the same base on the way in to the second strafe."

We always take 100% and hardly ever runout of fuel . We like Camo posted like the option to engage , disengage at will

, hehe follow me

I fly fast and usually have lots of extra fuel to drag ya's WAY away from your home base if I have too .

I sent a book to my mates about BoB and seems they didn't tell there fitters to just fill up there tanks "part" way , hehe .

The Typhoon IMO is the best MA ride right now . But WTF do I know

I also like the 190a5 with the 2 cannon options , has one hell of a wep . Another short fuel ride

cheers spro

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[This message has been edited by airspro (edited 02-18-2001).]

Nashwan · « **Reply #14 on:** February 18, 2001, 06:49:00 AM »

Of course if the Typhoon was allowed a combined load of 4 rockets and drop tanks, like the US planes and the real life Tiffie...