What does "I'm not a newbie at flight sims" mean? I sincerely cannot understand, because, the most of the gripe-issues you have posted are actually
the very "newbie" issues.
When I first came here I also thought very simular things. I used to fly at FA2, where the flight model is very 'forgiving'. I had exactly the same problems with barrel rolls, turns, split-s, loops .. every sort of ACM, you name it. And in those days, I actually thought myself as a 'good pilot'
. Not suggesting anything here, just commenting that you might be having same sort of confusions I went through.
It took me a lot of time to learn from the beginning again, start researching, reading.. looking up sources and archives etc, etc.. before i understood that this AH stuff was reasonable, and made sense.
Therefore , while I see that some of your points are valid(especially with team play observations
), the gripes concerning flight issues, from my point of view, are pretty much typical misconceptions that the 'experienced' people get when they first enter AH.
1. Barrel Roll
"I just think they bleed way too much E too fast. I couldn't do a proper barrel roll (not aileron roll!!) because I would be at stalling speed by the time I entered the 2nd"
Though the concept of this maneuver is simple, it's actually not such an easy move to do for the beginner. Especially when it is done by planes that have bad rate of roll, or with planes that have bad handling at lower speeds. The radius of the BR is determined by the amount of rudder and stick you pull, and since this move wildly puts off the plane from level conditions, while simultaneously the plane has its rudders and elevators working, and the direction of is continuosly changing, loss of lots E is
only natural.
In short, when you have to enter into two consecutive BRs, then it means that your BR is a failed move... and only a handful of pilots can do a fast, fairly sized barrel roll and still keep their E as much as they need.
And another factor is, BR is a moved designed to cause an overshoot. It is an effective defensive move against planes attempting high-speed passes from your behind. It is not a move designed to be used in a low speed turn fight - the sort of fight that is most frequent in AH. Nobody's gonna risk losing speed and control authority when they are defending themselves from a tight turnin Spitfire behind him.
2. Application of the Barrel Roll
"And...before you say...barrel roll, hah, easy...how come I never saw one person do it in combat? "
People who fly n BnZ fashion planes use it frequently, I use it frequently also.. and nobody does ACMs just like the way that it is described in 'the book'. I may have to attempt a BR, then change my mind and pull off other direction.. someone may fake it as a BR and level his plane with just an aileron roll and etc etc.. Complaining you don't see a BR in play is like complaining that the circle of the loop for many pilots is not a perfect one.
3. Split-S
"Split-S...this was nearly impossible at low speeds because I would stall once in inverted dive and the plane would roll making it impossible to stay inverted and I would get into a vicious circle of stlling, trying to stay inverted and gain speed but cant due to rolling over...etc..."
You enter a stall during Split-S when you pull the stick too much. Losing minimum altitude and maintaining a small, tight downward half-loop radius is not easy as it seems. Only skillful pilots can do that.
Besides, it seems you cannot reverse yourself out of a stall triggered spin... it could be the plane you are flying. P-51s, F4Us and sort(usually American planes) have very nasty stall characteristics.
4. Engine Sound
The engine noise would stay the same no matter the AoA, speed etc...
Engine sound is different when throttle setting is different, it does not differ by the altitude, or the speed. While the observer may seem to notice differences, this is due to the Doppler effect, and we DO have doppler effects here. Also, engine sound pitch is different with different throttle settings. (But you may not seem to notice a big difference, because the generic sounds HTC uses are admitabbly a bit "dull". try using custom sounds)
5. Landings
"the planes (fighters)were really hard to get under 100 mph..for example when landing, I like to flare at the bottom, like you normally would but I was always forced to land nose down because as soon as I flared the plane would start climbing instead of losing altitude and speed...it could never go below the critical speed to get it to stall ten feet above runway!!!"
That's because you are not doing it right. It starts climbing because your pitch is too high considering your airspeed. Your trim settings or flap settings could be wrong, too. There indeed are ways to 'easy land', but I also do it the 'historical' way. No problem whatsoever in my case...
Another reminder is, WWII planes
weren't supposed to land with nose higher, at least not as much as modern planes. These types of landings were frequent when the triangular landing gears were in action. You are supposed to land a plane with two main gears and a tail wheel almost level, tail dropping a bit lower.. where the main gears would contact first, and after then the tail wheel would touch the ground.
...
Hope to see you in the skies of AH MA soon.
ps) three consecutive edits.. doncha just hate it when you remember you left something out when you are reading it over?
[ 11-24-2001: Message edited by: Kweassa ]
[ 11-24-2001: Message edited by: Kweassa ]
[ 11-24-2001: Message edited by: Kweassa ]
[ 11-24-2001: Message edited by: Kweassa ]
