I love the game, but heres the little things

[Soda]

I just haven't had that experience very often Hang... a couple of times I've mutilated someone and it amazed me that anything was left to ditch, but only when they are really low and scraping the ground when I get them.  If they are more than 1K when that wings left the airplane then they smack the ground with an aweful thud.

I like the idea of a hold time for a ditch... Your plane stays on the ground for 30 seconds or something.. helpless.  The amount of time it would take you to unstrap from the cockpit and run for your life... having your kill sit there on the ground for you would probably help your gunnery % a bit and stop the foolishness of seeing Goonies ditch just cause they see you coming over the hill.

Just my thoughts, delay an .ef at ditch.. maybe make a little panicking pilot run away from the aircraft before it explodes. Just for effect...

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Soda
The Wrecking Crew

[Soda]

Karnak,
  I get more ticked off at the people who ditch perfectly good aircraft when you fly near them.  I'm not going to accuse anyone of doing it, I wouldn't even know who it was since I never get a kill message to know who it was.  I've had it happen more times than I can count whether it be a goonie that sees me coming, a fighter that realizes he's in trouble, or a bomber that bombs the base and then runs for the ground so as not to get killed or to be able to grab a fighter faster to come back.  I think that is one of the things that really sucks and is rather low.  Sure, I've seen the smoking pole that you decapitated land on the ground in what could only be a act of god, but more often I've seen people ditching for silly reasons in the middle of combat.

For all the "Chute Killers Suck" posts, it's been pretty rare for me to get chute killed.  It's happened, but whatever.  I don't do it, only by accident or charity (the 20K ripcord pull).  You get the kill when someone bails since you get the kill for the aircraft, not the pilot.  Just make the ditch thing the same, leave the wreck on the ground for a timeperiod to ensure that it wasn't a cheapo ditch or a total fluke.  If you've got buddies to protect you for that instant, then you get away scot free, if you are away from the action you'll have no problems, if you ditch in the middle of combat or out of an act of god, well, you may not steal the kill from someone who forced you down.

I'm sorry Karnak but when someone ditches to save their butt, that's fine, but when you ditch you'd be risking the fact that you could get strafed while on the ground before you could get away.  I couldn't imagine that getting unstrapped and out of a 109 would be something that would happen 1 millisecond after you stopped.  I'm not sure the 3km thing is totally fair as they'd most probably grant the kill the same way an Ack kill gets given.  Of all fairness to HT and group, what other way would there realistically be to do it without some silly scoring.  This way whomever forced the ditch would most likely have a chance to follow it up for the kill.

but then again, that's just my opinion and I rarely have the opportunity to ditch.  Seems I have too many missing critical aircraft components to think of ditching most of the time.  I'm waiting for the aircraft damage list to include parachute bail out and have nothing happen when you pull the cord...  



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Soda
The Wrecking Crew

[NineZ]

I agree with ya, Soda. Good suggestion. I also think it would be neat to have your actual body weight calculated into the game, so some of the fat guys have a harder time of climbing out of downed aircraft. (no offense, Fat Drunk Bastard Squadron, hehee)

On another matter, Ive heard that some planes are flyable with only half a wing.  Im no pilot, but is this even remotely possible.  I fly a 109 and if you loose half a wing, you better tuck your head between your legs and kiss your tutu goodbye.

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[This message has been edited by NineZ (edited 06-06-2000).]

[Karnak]

Soda, as I said, I think a ditched aircraft SHOULD count as a kill for the guy who forced the ditch, either by blowing the kite mostly to bits or by simply being in the area and scaring him into the ground.

I think that would solve the problems.

Sisu

[Soda]

NineZ..
  I have enough trouble sometimes flying with both wings still attached.  Still, Hang and Zig are right, I've see it happen in the game and in recorded video on AH.  Rarely, but it does...  I bet the low alt kills they are referring to make it more common.

Maybe we should have an option to carry droptanks, rockets, bombs, or a spare wing    That would solve a lot of my problems..

" it was there just a second ago... I'm sure of it, I wonder where it went? hmm... my downward vision has certainly improved though"



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Soda
The Wrecking Crew

[Pongo]

Leaving the plane or tank in the air or on the ground after a bail is the best solution it seems obvios. If you manage to evade and live then fine, but your rides gonna get riddled with fire. That is very realisic.
And the kill really ought to go to the last guy alive. Not the last guy to bail...
Ditching an  aircraft to save the remains of the airframe is a very historically realisic motivation. Both sides rebuilt near right off airframes to new standards.



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"Stupids are like flies. they are everywere, but are easy to kill"
RAM

[bloom25]

I've damaged many aircraft only to see them ditch and get away.  About a week ago the knights were having a good battle with a group of rooks up north.  In one of the fights I managed to saw the whole tail and 1/2 the right wing of a spit that had just dived on a wingman.  The spit, probably going 300+ mph, managed to ditch as he was only 1k off the ground when I hit him.  

  A while back I posted a film of myself attempting to kill a tank with a 190.  After making 4 passes (LW cannon doesn't hurt tanks   ), I skimmed the ground and lost my engine.  I was able to glide out of range of the tank and ditch.  Later in the same film you see me kill the tank with a few blasts of HS cannon from a Typhoon, but I had my whole tail removed by the tank's gun.  I was able to ditch this one as well.  The plane was going 350 mph when I hit the ground, but I somehow managed to get it to touch down parallel to the ground.  After breaking EVERYTHING off the plane, I ditched it.

LOL, I remember one night a long time ago where Pongo and I got into a fight.  He was a F4u and I was a 205.  After some great fighting I managed to take off his wingtip and disable his engine.  Thinking he was dead I left the area.  After not seeing a kill message for a long time I doubled back to see him ditch.  
 Later that same night I flew a p38 and had the exact same thing happen with a 109 I shot up to lawndart state.

I agree with you all, it needs to be harder to ditch AND if you aren't 3k away from the nearest enemy it counts as a kill.



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bloom25
THUNDERBIRDS

[Koed]

This might sound silly, but because I'm on win2000 I can't use my keyboard, so I have all my controls mapped to my joystick. One of the controls I didn't have room for is the wheel brake. So I've gotten used to a landing style where I approach until stall speed drop the plane on the landing strip and just roll out.. If the strip is too short I'll just whip my rudder around and make it ditch on one side. As long as you don't leave the strip it's a succesfull landing anyway, with or without wings.

I'd rather they'd make the entire airfield a safe landing spot and call a ditch when you break something.

[Nash]

This is prolly gonna sound dweebish, but I love the ditching the way it is. I just find it pretty exciting to try and wrestle my plane in safely. If this is made any more difficult we'll have to immediately admit defeat when a wingtip is knocked off and just bail.

As it is, I often  think to myself "Bail? Nah...I can do this... full left rudder.... nope.. tipping... lower throt... no no.... full throt... reverse rudder!" I usually end up dying... But I dunno... it sure is fun. Dweebery? Yah... more than likely.

But to those who pipe up on channel #1 with those "Nice ditch" comments... or think that ditching is purely to deny another pilot the kill.. well... If I didn't need to ditch, if my plane wasn't crippled - u can bet yer bellybutton I'm gonna still be trying to bring ya down. And I'll be damned if I'm either gonna float there like a balloon or auger in on your account.

All this being said... though... Yeah, the ability to safely ditch is a bit unrealistic as it stands. I just like it though. Sue me  .

[StSanta]

I dunno how planes interact with rough ground, but I do now how cars tend to look after going very fast and skidding onto a field. They usually flip and are somewhat mangled (at hi speeds). Now it would seem to be that a plane would face roughly the same challenges, only with higher speeds and less structural strength.

100mph skid off the road for a car means flipover if it hits a rock at a bad angle. 300mph aircraft should be tantamount to certain death.

Sure, it might be funny to ditch a very injured aircraft (I never do; if alierons etc aere shot down, the plane is still airworthy, if stabilizers or wingtips, my 109 goes crashing down), but it would also be amusing  to have powerups  

I say increase ditch lethality and maybe connect some attribute to the ground terrain, a "ditch" multiplier if you will. Grass have a low, rocky terrain high.

Just an idea.

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StSanta
II/JG2