Been gone to Long - my view on Warthunder vs AH

[Butcher]

I've been out of aces high for a while now, I just now got to sit back down and recreate my account. I read before about the new tanks, which is nice and the Yak. I am glad the Yak got an update, hopefully this interests HTC to add more soviet planes in the future.

I wanted to take a look at war thunder to get an idea of what competition Aces has. I just started playing it for two days, and my opinion is nothing more then an opinion. I unlocked the ability to fly Hurricanes (Level two or so for the british?) The gameplay is pretty simple - you have so many targets to destroy in arcade mode before time runs out and your score is added up for points. This is nothing more then what we have in the Main arena. The biggest difference is we can fly all planes except for perked without the need to unlock them. I did jump into a BoB Mission (Historical event) and it was disappointing. The gameplay is extremely arcade like which I can see would appeal to arcade gamers who can fly with a mouse and do just fine. A little symbol that shows you where to lead your bullets to score hits every time. In fact my first sortie with a Hurricane I managed to shoot down 7. Using Third Party view, the game was far to easy.

The graphics are stellar, however when I compare them to Aces High - I realized something, I focused less on the Graphics themselves then the gameplay. I never really seen Aces high at max graphics until last year, it blew me away when I could go from 15 fps to 50 and have max graphics.
The graphics really just didn't appeal to me in war thunder, although they are quite nice - it doesn't make up for the game play difference. FSO's, Scenarios, Dueling Arena and Main Arena is where I find home. If I am lucky, someone puts up a bombing mission in the Main arena and I have Scenarios more then once a week.
I am not bashing War Thunder, I think it appeals to players who don't want the learning curve, Aces does require a serious learning curve vs a game thats based on arcade. Its been fun tinkering with it, but I honestly doubt I will open war thunder again.

Anyhow, I hope to be flying soon again - a few months ago I boxed up my thrustmaster and haven't even touched it since, not that I didn't want too - I just lost all hope and heart. Things are better now, hopefully I can push myself a little and get my butt back in the Main arena.

[LCADolby]

Secretly you just missed the tanks

 

[Zoney]

I'm glad you will be returning Butcher, I missed you.  Thank you very much for the write-up on the competition, I've always found you to be a fair and intelligent guy and appreciate your opinion on this.  AH really has everything I want, but you know how it is, ya just never know what else is out there untill you try it.  You have saved me the time and trouble to go check it out myself.

Butcher is my friend

BTW after 20 years, through AW, WB, and now AH I have changed my name.  You will now find me flying as Hartmann with JG11 buddy.

[Rich46yo]

The game mechanics of Aces High are very good. At least for what I expect in a flight game.

[madrid311]

Tried all the others. Aces high truly rocks. Long live aces high !

[Citabria]

Aces High is my favorite ww2 sim of all time.
 
 
the only thing War thunder has that is decent is their full realism mode which has only a handful of people and is an orphan that is basically unsupported by the developers. hell it was added by player request only lol.
 
full realism mode has everything I want in the way its setup... historic matchups, rapid action, no icons, great graphics that make no icons realistic and close to real world aircraft spotting, smooth fluid head tracking, decent flight model (its early Il2 FM quirky not so great at below stall speed modelling but close enough to be called usable). clouds, love them just wish long range dots were not visible through clouds though. (why am I the only plane thats VFR on top through a thick overcast layer? lol IFR currency is another big advantage when having to use these partial panel ww2 planes in thick clouds with no autopilot )
 
in such a scenario the more realism you add in the more you exclude regular players who havent had years of real world flight experience (or lots of flight sim experience is just as good perhaps but lots of experience using real world spotting techniques in the real world REALLY DO MAKE full realism spotting easy) to the point that they are just cannon fodder for players like me and they find it too difficult to learn or bother with and go back to Arcade  or historical arcade modes and let the ai fly the plane for them while they point it at the nearest big neon billboard they want to shoot at.

 
when you think about leveling up mechanics in War Thunder and grinding and putting in the time in the game the irony that the more realism added to a game with a good setup could keep people hooked for a decade the way Aces High has because its so difficult may be lost on the masses and Gaijin War Thunders developers too. not just grinding stats to give yourself an advantage but getting better at flying and air combat maneuvers and spotting enemy aircraft and developing those skills through actual practice takes a long time for some. many are naturals, some will never get it. thats what has made Aces High continue for over a decade. it has become a form of golf with all the addictions and frustrations that that entails.

[ROC]

Welcome back Butcher, just in time for a Real BoB scenario!

[Babalonian]

<snip>

Sometimes it's best to take a break or to make a radical shift in your play style (compfort zone).  IE: Last night I upped a KI84 for the first time in I'm guessing 2+ years.....                be afraid, be very afraid.

[ink]

Sometimes it's best to take a break or to make a radical shift in your play style (compfort zone).  IE: Last night I upped a KI84 for the first time in I'm guessing 2+ years.....                be afraid, be very afraid.

 

[Zacherof]

Sometimes it's best to take a break or to make a radical shift in your play style (compfort zone).  IE: Last night I upped a KI84 for the first time in I'm guessing 2+ years.....                be afraid, be very afraid.

Ki84's are awesome! remember what happened to your 190D?

[projoe]

Oh noooo Butchers coming back?....well there goes the neighborhood.  
Welcome back Butchtard!!!!...btw we switched to Rooks bout a month ago...stop by and
fly one or two with ur old squad mates!!

[Butcher]

Ouch before I posted I didn't realize there was a post in the officers club about War thunder, sorry Skuzzy.

Oh noooo Butchers coming back?....well there goes the neighborhood. 
Welcome back Butchtard!!!!...btw we switched to Rooks bout a month ago...stop by and
fly one or two with ur old squad mates!!

You know I miss you and that guy who I randomly call drunk at 2 in the morning..hmm whats his name... DH367th yeah that guy.... Was trying to call a buddy of mine so I can hail a taxi in st. paul, I end up calling DH wondering if the "cab company" can send me a damn cab.
DH on the other end like WTF?? butcher

[FLOOB]

Warthunder sux. I don't know what full realism battles are like because after waiting 6 minutes for a "session" to start I gave up.

[MrKrabs]

Wait until I drag ya to CrabbyLand 

[Nathan60]

Thanks for the write up Butcher, Its nice to break now and then but home is home welcome back