Aces High Bulletin Board

General Forums => Aces High General Discussion => Topic started by: Jimdandy on January 01, 2001, 07:13:00 PM

Title: Reality what a concept
Post by: Jimdandy on January 01, 2001, 07:13:00 PM
There was a posting a couple days ago talking about adding some reality features to the game that at the time I agreed with.
I'm beginning to back off the reality band wagon. There are so many things that could be added to the game to make it more "real".
I think in the end if we're not careful we'll get exactly what we asked for. Do we want to have to scrape the ice off the windshield of our P-38 while we dogfight? Do we want the wings to pop off the late war Japanese plane do to lack of raw materials? Do you want your perk B-29 to drop an exhaust valve and have the magnesium block catch fire and fall out of the plane do to poor design. Do you want the engines in your 262 to grenade in flight do to lack of raw materials. I could go on but I'm sure you get the point. I think the balance of playability of AH is good. How far do we want to take "reality". Some of the things mentioned above would detract from the playability. I fly the 38 quite a bit and I don't want to have to hit the ice scraper key every couple minutes in flight. The spitfire was nicknamed the "One kill wonder" because on average it only carried enough rounds for the average pilot to shot down one plane. If we get to real I think we may end up hating what we created. Ok now let me hear the din of rebuttal.

[This message has been edited by Jimdandy (edited 01-01-2001).]
Title: Reality what a concept
Post by: dosequis on January 01, 2001, 08:09:00 PM
I agree. The manifold pressure guage is not really used, other than to visibly see if WEP is on. The controls to tone the pressure down to keep the engine from overheating aren't there. Pyro put them there (I think) to eventually have that happen. I think it should be an arena option.

There is a whiner here who complains that Pyro won't acknowledge the Hispano cannons froze over 15,000 feet. He doesn't mention that on planes like the Spitfire, the wings had gun heating ducts to prevent that from happening.

Should we have to hand pump gun oil into our planes cannons to keep them from freezing? Please.

X2

Title: Reality what a concept
Post by: funked on January 01, 2001, 08:49:00 PM
"The manifold pressure guage is not really used"

I know a lot of guys that use it all the time for formation flying.
Title: Reality what a concept
Post by: Kronos on January 01, 2001, 08:58:00 PM
Yes!!!! that way i can become an aircraft
maintenance man just like i am in real life!

I want to be part of the ground crew!

I want to sit in a Deicer truck for hours on end deicing the wings of the 8th Airforce P38's!

I want to scream at the Maintenance Officer that we're being worked too hard, and dont have time to pick up on the local british chicks!

I want to be able to swear at the pilot that belly lands my airplane!

I want to be able to say "R2 the stick actuator" to the pilot that comes up with the bullcrap write-ups that I have to work on a day-to-day basis!

I WANT SOME REVENGE DANGNABBIT!

------------------
Kronos
CO No. 272 Squadron "Whispering Death" http://members.home.net/wchiasson/no272/ (http://members.home.net/wchiasson/no272/)

[This message has been edited by Kronos (edited 01-01-2001).]

[This message has been edited by Kronos (edited 01-01-2001).]
Title: Reality what a concept
Post by: Duckwing6 on January 02, 2001, 05:38:00 AM
Kronos that kindda reminds me of a write up we recently had (verified true I saw it with my ow eyes adn a copy of the techlog is hanging in my office now..)

Pirep: Engine sound not synchronized -> it's on a 737

Maintenance action: Engine sound synchronizer adjusted

 (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/Smileys/default/biggrin.gif)

DW6
(ooops didn't contribute any to the thread .. but what the heck )
Title: Reality what a concept
Post by: Animal on January 02, 2001, 07:04:00 AM
Funked -
I use it that way, but what he means is that manifold pressure should be managed by the pilot. How much manifold to apply to the engine, while risking damage, etc.
I saw in another post that the P-47 could be easily be hot rodded in the field to reach manifold in the 70s. Makes sense with such a nice engine. And with B17, you can add more pressure to another engine if you lost one, risking damage, but also adding the enough lift to evade a fighter plane or reach over a hill.
Title: Reality what a concept
Post by: Kronos on January 02, 2001, 09:24:00 AM
hehe DW  (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/Smileys/default/smile.gif)

Im sure u've heard of this one :

(Generic Pilot Write-up)
"Radar Will Not Work in OFFicial mode"
(Corrective Action)
"Turned Radar to ON position.  Operational Ck good."

Or How bout this?

"Anti-collision lights will not flash in sync"

Yes, Sir! I'll get right on that one  (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/Smileys/default/smile.gif)




------------------
Kronos
CO No. 272 Squadron "Whispering Death"
http://members.home.net/wchiasson/no272/
Title: Reality what a concept
Post by: Westy on January 02, 2001, 02:22:00 PM
 Part of the problem is where is the line drawn? Random failures? Complexity so bad it sucks away the social aspect of online flying/combat? For instance, here is an excerpt from a letter talking about the P-38 (pre "L" model) in the ETO. The whole letter I placed in the Aircraft forumn in a topic on the P-38L. But here is what a real P-38 pilot had to endure or went through quite often. I'm sure other pilots of all countries, flying other planes could share similar stories.
  Some ideas I am al for,  like changing the icon system completely, dumping inflight radar, having engines overheat (for folks who fly 100% for a grid or two) or guns reflecting warping via way of decreasing accuracy for those who hold the trigger down and do the ole spray-and-pray.

-Westy

3.  As a typical case to demonstrate my point, let us assume
that we have a pilot fresh out of flying school with about a total of
twenty-five hours in a P-38, starting out on a combat mission. He is
on a deep ramrod, penetration and target support to maximum endurance.
He is cruising along with his power set at maximum economy. He is
pulling 31" Hg and 2100 RPM. He is auto lean and running on external
tanks. His gun heater is off to relieve the load on his generator,
which frequently gives out (under sustained heavy load). His sight is
off to save burning out the bulb. His combat switch may or may not be
on. Flying along in this condition, he suddenly gets "bounced", what
to do flashes through his mind. He must turn, he must increase power
and get rid of those external tanks and get on his main. So, he
reaches down and turns two stiff, difficult gas switches {valves} to
main - turns on his drop tank switches, presses his release button,
puts the mixture to auto rich (two separate and clumsy operations),
increases his RPM, increases his manifold pressure, turns on his gun
heater switch (which he must feel for and cannot possibly see), turns
on his combat switch and he is ready to fight. At this point, he has
probably been shot down or he has done one of several things wrong.
Most common error is to push the throttles wide open before
increasing RPM. This causes detonation and subsequent engine failure.
Or, he forgets to switch back to auto rich, and gets excessive
cylinder head temperature with subsequent engine failure.


Title: Reality what a concept
Post by: mrfish on January 02, 2001, 02:41:00 PM
i wouldnt mind the realism actually - i think that most people would get bored though as attention spans are pretty short already - htc would probably lose business