Enhancing the "Game"

[earl1937]

I know we would all like to see certain changes made to improve the "games" appearance! I realize Hi Tech has to try to balance the game between "real" pilots and video players and that is where the "rub" is. I see aircraft in here doing things everyday which a "real" aircraft could not do! We have guys who try to fly the aircraft as it should be flown and we have the "point and shoot" players. I think there is a vast potential customer base out there, but, does Hi Tech want people to say, "what a great video game", or do they want them to say, this is as close as it gets to the real thing. If #1 is their answer, then everything is OK! If #2 is the answer, then Hi Tech needs to add things which appeal to pilots, both military and civilian by adding clouds, aircraft sitting on ramps and in hangars, rotating beacons during dusk and dawn time, maybe a NDB with ADF 2 in 1 pointer installed on instrument panels, with a printed instrument chart for all to use. Railroads with trains running from time to time. How about PBY-4's and landing craft with 20 troops which can run from beachhead to map rooms! With the animation available now to computer nerds, the possibilities are unlimited as to what can be done. Someone just has to have the desire to do it! I would spend the time to build some of these things and submit them to Hi Tech, but I am a 78 year old computer "dumbie"

[colmbo]

I'm LMAO thinking about an arena full of guys trying to do an NDB approach so they can land and get their perks.  People wouldn't be wish quite so hard for wind!!

[bc21]

  sounds great except for the frame rate hit my cheep donut computer would take!!

[hawkeyeluke13]

I agree, I know we are all great historians, but us young 16-30 year old guys need to let those guys who are 60+ say it how it is. I think he is right on all counts. Us young guys need to move over and let em tell us how it is. He has some great wisedom.

[ImADot]

Ideas are great - they show that a player like the game and is trying to think of ways to make it better. Unfortunately, some ideas are just not ones that add anything to overall gameplay.

There is, and should only be, one flight model for everyone. The reason some fly "point and shoot" and do things they wouldn't in a real plane is simply because their lives don't depend on it. If they crash or get shot down, they are not hurt and just re-up with a shiny new plane.

Winds, better clouds, and a re-vamped strat system would add a great deal to the gameplay; beacon lights and NDB/ADF equipment with instrument charts would not.

The fact is, this is a game and not a simulation. It is a very good game with a very good flight model and good physics, but I don't believe it to be a simulation in the strict sense of what many consider what a simulation is. To be a "simulation", they would have to model engine management, catastrophic failures due to mis-management of systems, etc., etc. People would be spending more time on the ramp starting up the plane, setting all the dials and switches, and properly warming it up, than they would be playing the game and flying around shooting other planes. Once in flight, they'd spend more time fiddling with stuff to keep the engine working instead of looking for bad guys to tangle with. While this has appeal to the hardcore simmers out there, numbers would dwindle and gameplay would plummet.

Keep the ideas coming, though. At least some people are giving some positive thought around the game. 

[hitech]

earl1937:

I reject your premiss that it would be more appealing to pilots.

I have come to learn that real pilots tend to branch into 2 categories.

1. System management pilots.
This group of pilots love to have the latest avionics, like to fly cross country. But have never been upside down in an airplane.

2. Stick and rudder pilots.
These pilots love to fly doing nothing but looking out the window. They are interested in perfection of flying not of managing the aircraft. These are the type of pilots who love aerobatics, and also would be interested in learning ACM.

Obviously these are generalizations and there is some cross over. But I am always surprised at the number of pilots who have never been up side down and fall into the first category.

The point of this is that the same thing tends to happen in a flight sim, Aces High is aimed at the stick and rudder guys. It is a very detailed simulation in what it tries to accomplish. That being, giving you the same feel as the real plane. But navigation and engine start procedures are not something that it aims to simulate.These type of items would detract instead of add to normal game play.

HiTech

[earl1937]

earl1937:

I reject your premiss that it would be more appealing to pilots.

I have come to learn that real pilots tend to branch into 2 categories.

1. System management pilots.
This group of pilots love to have the latest avionics, like to fly cross country. But have never been upside down in an airplane.

2. Stick and rudder pilots.
These pilots love to fly doing nothing but looking out the window. They are interested in perfection of flying not of managing the aircraft. These are the type of pilots who love aerobatics, and also would be interested in learning ACM.

Obviously these are generalizations and there is some cross over. But I am always surprised at the number of pilots who have never been up side down and fall into the first category.

The point of this is that the same thing tends to happen in a flight sim, Aces High is aimed at the stick and rudder guys. It is a very detailed simulation in what it tries to accomplish. That being, giving you the same feel as the real plane. But navigation and engine start procedures are not something that it aims to simulate.These type of items would detract instead of add to normal game play.

HiTech

I appreciate your response to my thread and thanks for the insight to your thinking and planning about how the game should proceed in the future. I would like to add something to your quote about pilots in general. In my 60 plus years in aviation, I have found 3 types of pilots: #1 those that are trying to prove to someone else they are a pilot. #2 Those that are trying to prove to themselves they are a pilot. #3 Those who really want to fly and be a pilot. I respect your attitude towards the goals of Aces High, but I would still like to see a little more realism added to the game for us old guys who are trying through your game to extend our "flight" life! With one bad eye and 78 years of age, I no longer trust myself solo anymore, (10 surgeries in last 6 years), but this game has given me the opportunity to meet some really great people and to "fly" on through the twilight years of my life! Thank you for that!

[uptown]

 Well what about this? I like this idea------> Railroads with trains running from time to time. How about PBY-4's and landing craft with 20 troops which can run from beachhead to map rooms!