I'd agree with the need for metric cockpits (or a way for players to be able to do their own gauge faces, similarly to creating your own gunsights, plus ability to scale the output on certain instruments) etc, but as for AH being behind the curve graphically... compare AH with the MMOL opposition.
Seems to me that the ones approaching photorealism aren't MMOL. And it also seems to me that AH and IL2 are converging on the same point, from different directions; AH starting off with the MMOL and gradually improving in appearance, whereas IL2 started with great appearance, but is a long way from MMOL as yet.
As for player - manned GV's, in a flightsim they're nice but not essential. What IS essentail is the ability to have good strategic gameplay, real jobs for bombers to do, interdicting enemy supplies and smashing their means of production. Whilst I have issues with the details of the way strat has been implemented thus far in AH (stuff like target hardness and rebuild times), nevertheless the fundamentals are there, and HTC are working on trying to improve it. Can't say that for the game I've spent two years in prior to starting to fly here; the creators of that one have NO idea of what's needed to lift a WW2 combat flightsim from being capable of bing no more than a simpleminded furball frenzy.
Back to those GVs... they aren't essential, but they've been done very nicely! Having played WW2OL before it went pay for play, I was doubtful that a game like AH could do anything with GVs that wouldnt seem lame by comparison. Whilst the AH GVs arent as sophisticated as the WW2OL ones, they are pretty good, and much better than I expected.
The crux of the matter is that if the gameplay isn't there, it doesnt matter how pretty the game is, it wont be fun. AH's visuals are more than adequate to this Bomberpiloten starved of cloudy skies and night to work with for two years!
Esme
CO of Kampfgeschwader 2 "Holzhammer"
(contact
esmenhamaire@tiscali.co.uk if interested in joining a dedicated LW bomber unit for scenario games)
