Thanks War Thunder!

[pembquist]

I would be very very interested in what you son likes about WT vs AH.

HiTech

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[Dawger]

Hitech,

Most of my group left AH (possibly all) and some are now flying WT in simulator battles mode.

WT has three modes, Arcade, Realistic and Simulator.

If you really are interested in why we are there instead of in AH, I would be happy to share.

[waystin2]

Hitech,

Most of my group left AH (possibly all) and some are now flying WT in simulator battles mode.

WT has three modes, Arcade, Realistic and Simulator.

If you really are interested in why we are there instead of in AH, I would be happy to share.

OH Boy this should be good! 

[Krupinski]

When it comes to graphics, WT/IL2 are on top, when it comes to flight modeling, IL2 - DCS - AH are all pretty close, when it comes to the best multiplayer experience, it's AH.

What I'm trying to say is that all these combat flight sims, they all have certain features that are better than the others, some large differences and some small.

I think that all game devs of any genre should play their competitions games at least once... get an idea of what makes those games good, and what makes them bad. Then use this knowledge to make their own game better.

Just my opinion of course.

[Spikes]

OH Boy this should be good! 

[pembquist]

I've been trying IL2CODTFMATAG server and it makes a nice switch from AH3 but it is a difference that works for me and maybe not everybody, If I had to give up one it would be the IL2. Whenever I have tried WT I didn't like it, simply can't see the point of the arcade modes and the FRB type thing....I guess I didn't have trackIR and I couldn't really enjoy it with the view mechanism and a hat switch. I don't like the idea of upgrades and experience levels for gunners, I just want to fly the effing planes. The guys on the ATAG server seem like a nice bunch, one guy sent me a track IR3 and another a hatclip and they refused postage! It is very different than AH3, there is only one terrain (It is basically the end of the battle of france, BOB, and operation Sea Lion) with fixed objectives for a rotating list of missions, no icons, you can easily blow up the german engines, you've got to stay on top of prop pitch and manifold and radiators a bit, very limited plane set, I have no idea how you use the bombsite, I need the trackir they gave me, teensy populations, AI flying fighters and bombers, occasionally dubious flight models, no visual radar or information about where you are on the map, you slosh around in the cockpit quite a bit, slightly lousy control setup control, etc etc. And for me a biggy is there is no ALT-X to let you run to the bathroom or give your arm a break.

From a user interface point of view AH3 is superior. The only thing lacking is a good comprehensive indexed/searchable manual. The information about the game is a bit diffuse and can be difficult to track down. WT I found hideous with too many steps between logging on and flying, and a bunch freemium nonsense clogging up the works. The only thing I would add to AH3 is something like the single player individual missions in IL2COD. Pre-scripted Icon Launched Air Start simplicity to basically practice maneuvering and shooting at AI aircraft.

I'm guessing that the people that actually LIKE WT enjoy playing a game about flying while the people who like AH Warbirds IL2 etc. want to fly. (The tanks....well that's another thing altogether.)

I'm not deluded enough to think that flying ah3 is like really flying a high performance airplane but with these things you bring your own fantasy and suspension of disbelief with you and I think it is frankly easier for me to suspend disbelief with a joystick, rudder and the AH view system than it is with mice or game controllers or even trackIR. Maybe it is the reverse for somebody else who isn't hung up on interfaces or has a younger brain.

[Krusty]

WT has amazing models as does their battle damage appearance.  A shot hits a turret and pens, you'll see a hole in the turret for the duration of the battle, providing you survive the pen and of course, the entire battle.  If it doesn't pen, it leaves a mark that also is persistent.  Mind you, I run WT on absolute MAXED graphics.

The FM on the other hand, bleh.  I've tried some of the things I can do here over there, and only met the ground.   This is with flying mouse.

The problem is the same as the entire IL2 franchise, on which the WT game is heavily overlaid. The graphics are disassociated from the actual "effect" of the damage. The engine damage is arbitrarily stupid. The graphics are just alpha masks showing "through" the wing like IL2 used to do. Overall it's super arcade and disassociated from any realistic modelling at all. And, naturally, the Soviet planes absorb 75% more damage pound for pound than any other plane or tank type in the game... You can be set on fire several times or bombers can burn forever with no ill effects, leaking oil, gas, coolant, flaming from every engine and still be 90% combat effective at a perch they airspawned in with no risk from any enemy fighters getting up to them most of the time.

I, too, was eager to test the WT waters, back when they swore up and down til they were blue in the face about modeling every plane's handling and behaviors to historic specifications -- which meant arbitrarily following soviet "secret documents" (it's a Russian company folks) instead of actual physics-based responses like AH has. They kept straying more and more and more from simulation, and the last straw for me was when I tried for months on end but could not get it set up so that my joystick inputs actually controlled the plane. Even in sim battles they just sent desired inputs to the AI pilot so the fly-by-wire system was interpreting everything you did. Even in level flight or a shallow climb in the P-40 you'd see the elevator twitching and the nose wobbling. You couldn't keep it even, couldn't compensate for actual angles with rudder inputs, it was all 100 % nonsense. You were never actually controlling the plane, ever, and it felt like it too.

Horrible game. I should know. I had over 300 hours in it all told.

[Krusty]

OH Boy this should be good! 

Especially since WT openly killed of SBs and disavowed any interest in pursuing it past the money-grubbing arcade game they have. They want the cash cow, not the prestige.

[AAIK]

Only thing WT really has is the massive variety of planes and country represtentation.

AND

The system that closely matches them up: A majority of the planes in WT would end up as hanger queens here.

[puller]

Only thing WT really has is the massive variety of planes and country represtentation.

AND

The system that closely matches them up: A majority of the planes in WT would end up as hanger queens here.

 

[AAIK]

 

They have all these biplanes and early war rides that would basically be unused even if they were modeled here.

[Krupinski]

The problem is the same as the entire IL2 franchise, on which the WT game is heavily overlaid. The graphics are disassociated from the actual "effect" of the damage. The engine damage is arbitrarily stupid. The graphics are just alpha masks showing "through" the wing like IL2 used to do. Overall it's super arcade and disassociated from any realistic modelling at all. And, naturally, the Soviet planes absorb 75% more damage pound for pound than any other plane or tank type in the game... You can be set on fire several times or bombers can burn forever with no ill effects, leaking oil, gas, coolant, flaming from every engine and still be 90% combat effective at a perch they airspawned in with no risk from any enemy fighters getting up to them most of the time.

Yeah if you're comparing WT to IL2 1946, and CloD I would agree. The current IL2 BoX series on the other hand doesn't suffer from anything you've mentioned, and is nothing like WT/1946/CloD. It's an entirely different dev team from the old games. It's more closely related to Rise of Flight than anything, which had some of if not the best damage modeling in any Flight Sim to date.

[Devil 505]

OH Boy this should be good! 

He probably want his own forum to do it too. 

[Dawger]

OH Boy this should be good! 

The reason we left AH Melee and the reasons we left FSO are actually very different. And the responses to this thread reinforce my total lack of regret for doing so.

However, there are things AH could learn from WT and there are certainly things I wish WT had that AH and WB did have once upon a time.

If HT is interested I would be happen to discuss them as I would love for AH  to move in a direction that would draw folks like myself and my group back to AH.

If he isn't interested, no skin off my back and I shall go back to my War Thunder/DCS flying coffin.

[waystin2]

He probably want his own forum to do it too.