A few questions from a returning player

[Litjan]

Hi fellow AHers,

I used to play AH2 back in the years, but somehow got tired of it (waiting for the AH "Tour of Duty"). Now with my new Oculus Rift I have rediscovered AH and I am having fun. Yeah, the arenas are way too big for the number of players and some other things, but those things have been discussed ad nauseum already, and there seem to be proponents for every side. Heck, you would even find someone who would like there to be only 2 people online, "so no one can steal my kill!" 

Anyway, I have a few questions that I canīt find answers to in the manual or here on the forums. Maybe someone can help?

1.) How far out can bullets "hurt"? Is there a limit?

2) Are projectiles loosing energy during their flight (i.e. less damage/penetration)?

3.) What do the SAP and AP bombs do? Armor piercing, I guess, but why would anyone use them? Is there a good reason?

4.) Whats the new deal with Icon range? Airplanes below a certain altitude have none? How low? What about GVīs? I heard that its "only" 600 with engine stopped - are there different ranges for different vehicles? Different when engine running, or "moving"/"firing"?

5.) What are the units used in Aces High? Feet for altitude, I guess, but distance? Meters, yards? What about airspeed, is it knots, MPH?

6.) New mechanic for capturing - I guess the troops can "hold out" in the map room for a while if not enough get in? How long? Can I see this somewhere? Whats the deal with the "pilot hiding in map room"?

Its fun to be back, even though some of the old shortfalls still haunt AH that prevent it being more of a success in numbers (and yes, numbers are good!).

See you in the skies, Litjan


2.)

[The Fugitive]

Hi fellow AHers,

I used to play AH2 back in the years, but somehow got tired of it (waiting for the AH "Tour of Duty"). Now with my new Oculus Rift I have rediscovered AH and I am having fun. Yeah, the arenas are way too big for the number of players and some other things, but those things have been discussed ad nauseum already, and there seem to be proponents for every side. Heck, you would even find someone who would like there to be only 2 people online, "so no one can steal my kill!" 

Anyway, I have a few questions that I canīt find answers to in the manual or here on the forums. Maybe someone can help?

1.) How far out can bullets "hurt"? Is there a limit?

Yes there is a limit. Ballistics are as close to "real world" as they can get. What the limit is, Im not sure but farther out than 600 for most is going to lose a lot of punch.

2) Are projectiles loosing energy during their flight (i.e. less damage/penetration)?

yes, and gravity acts on the path as well.

3.) What do the SAP and AP bombs do? Armor piercing, I guess, but why would anyone use them? Is there a good reason?

specifics wize Im not sure what each is, but they have different hitting power. Check Here

4.) Whats the new deal with Icon range? Airplanes below a certain altitude have none? How low? What about GVīs? I heard that its "only" 600 with engine stopped - are there different ranges for different vehicles? Different when engine running, or "moving"/"firing"?

Aircraft icon range is 6k in all directions, dot s are 8k. So if you have a bunch of alt you wont get an icon on someone on the deck. Vehicles have a shorter range when stopped to simulate being easier to see them moving (dust trails and sounds). The Fi is a spotter plane and can see longer ranges for both stopped and moving vehicles

5.) What are the units used in Aces High? Feet for altitude, I guess, but distance? Meters, yards? What about airspeed, is it knots, MPH?

Its all US measurements, feet, yards, MPH

6.) New mechanic for capturing - I guess the troops can "hold out" in the map room for a while if not enough get in? How long? Can I see this somewhere? Whats the deal with the "pilot hiding in map room"?

Its fun to be back, even though some of the old shortfalls still haunt AH that prevent it being more of a success in numbers (and yes, numbers are good!).

See you in the skies, Litjan

I believe surviving troops that get in have 15 minutes for you to get the rest in. Some pilots will bail from their planes and running in to the maproom and using the pistol, shoot the troops as they enter. That is why most base capture will have someone drop a bomb on the map room to kill that player. Another tactic is to up a Fi at a vehicle base, bail out with out launching and run to the maproom and shoot the troops as they come in.

Welcome back. There is a lot to learn, but just ask. <S>

[Lusche]

1)
Depends on the guns. Most plane guns max out at around 1000 yards - You could determine the absolute value with help of the .target dot command.
Wirbelwind bullets exist until about 1800 yards, larger caliber shells much longer. Maybe someone else has the exact numbers at hand.

2)
Yes, they lose energy and thus destructive potential (of course, cannons are less affected because they do not only use kinetic energy to cause damage).
However, this is only applicable when shooting at enemies (GVs, Planes), damage vs objects (for example town buildings) is fixed and the same for all ranges.

3)
SemiArmorPiercing and ArmorPiercing bombs do more damage at the cost of a significantly smaller damage radius. It's almost never worth using them.

4)
Vehicles which are not moving will have their icons spotted by planes up to 3750ft, twice that distance when moving. The Fi 156 "Storch" will spot them at double those ranges.
The icon of a plane flying right on the deck will also often vanish.

5)
Altitude = feet, distance is shown in yards. Speed is given in mph.

6)
Should be 15 minutes (half of maproom 'downtime' in object settings). And bailed pilots have a gun... 


EDIT: 2 minutes too slow 

[Litjan]

Thanks for the answers!

Cheers, Jan

[Vulcan]

1)
Depends on the guns. Most plane guns max out at around 1000 yards - You could determine the absolute value with help of the .target dot command.
Wirbelwind bullets exist until about 1800 yards, larger caliber shells much longer. Maybe someone else has the exact numbers at hand.

Don't forget to take lag into account when someone is behind you. You see their ghost that is ms's old, and they see yours which is ms's old.

A 300mph chase is ~ 133m/sec. A couple of players with bad lag could have anything from half a second to a second delay.

So its like this (each > is 100m)
Actual:
THEM>>>>>>>>YOU  (1000m)
What you see:
THEM>>>>>>>>>YOU (increase in separation)
What they see:
THEM>>>>>>>YOU (decrease in separation)

So sometimes you think you're out of gun range when in fact you are just in.

Also note this is why when you rear end some one the collision doesn't necessarily happen on their end.

[Brooke]

I hope that you can join us in the next Scenario (to start sometime in June).

Scenarios are a lot different than the melee arena and so add variety that you might like.

Info on Scenarios:

http://ahevents.net/index.php/events/scenarios/about-scenarios

[DaddyAce]

I hope that you can join us in the next Scenario (to start sometime in June).

Scenarios are a lot different than the melee arena and so add variety that you might like.

Info on Scenarios:

http://ahevents.net/index.php/events/scenarios/about-scenarios

Welcome back Litjan!     

Scenarios and FSO's are great fun if you like more realistic WW2 type action!