Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Aces High General Discussion => Topic started by: Bottoms_Up on February 23, 2003, 09:01:06 PM
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I have played IL2 on line.How do the two games compare.I only have a 56K connection will I be able to play
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AH has a free 2 week trial, sign up (no creditcard info needed) and find out for yourself.:)
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Good plan why do you fly Ah I would like to here your opion, sir
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Originally posted by Bottoms_Up
Good plan why do you fly Ah I would like to here your opion, sir
1) Online vs 32+ real pilots ( 700 today !! incredible )
2) Flight model is challenging.
3) Virtual pilots are more challenging.
4) Game is dynamic, ie: upgraded / supported
5) I've made some great friends.
5) Has the Bf-110
(http://www.innercite.com/~sunking/bf110%20copy.gif)
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Freedom of choice.
The type of game your used to; smaller, private servers where the host has full control over reality is included in the free down load, it's what we call Head to head, although there's no AI to "flesh the scene".
In addition to that, your subscription gives you access to HTC's game servers, of which there's five:
The Main Arena (MA). This is basicaly a three sided war, in which all three countries have access to the full set of vehicles modelled in AH; thus it's not so unusual to see a 109 escort a B17. Very active, with truely massive furballs.
The Dueling arena. One on one (or more) fighting.
The training arena, the nearest there is to "easy mode"; with the possibility of enabling targeting and flight aids.
The Combat theatre; a two sided "themed" war, with a terrain and plane set to match; such as Battle of Britain, or Pearl Harbour
The Special Events Arena (SEA); where AH's events are held. These vary from a single two hour re-enactment to full scale scenario's that can spread over a month. The current scenario is :
The Battle Of Nieman (http://www.btinternet.com/~fulltilt/niemen/battle.html)
You'll find the plane set familiar :)
Some would say that events are what make AH. Check the events newsboard for more.
Basicaly, the consensus of opinion is that as software AH has slightly better flight models while IL-2 has superior graphics; but both are more than good enough flight sims. However, the breadth of different action available in a multi server massivly multiplayer game should mean that the type of action you're after is available when you want it, without having to waste half your night waiting to find a decent game on an IL-2 server.
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Call us when IL2 has 100+ in an arena.
Until then you might as well ask which is better, checkers or chess?
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56K? no problem,
I had 2 computers networked on ONE DIAL UP internet access
had a fellow pilot over, we both flew a heavy bomber mission....on two different accounts, with voice....no problems.
have cable now.........sweet.
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hey ty for the response. Many planes in the air sounds cool . but with a slow dial up I was worried. Comp USA has AH 3.5 for $5.00 I guest I can't go wrong . I downloaded warbirds III it was ok but button mapping was difficult. I also like the idea of replay can you tellme about it? thanks again guys
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AH is a free download. Why pay Compu USA anything. And what's 3.5?
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Originally posted by Bottoms_Up
hey ty for the response. Many planes in the air sounds cool . but with a slow dial up I was worried. Comp USA has AH 3.5 for $5.00 I guest I can't go wrong . I downloaded warbirds III it was ok but button mapping was difficult. I also like the idea of replay can you tellme about it? thanks again guys
That's not AH you found at CompUSA but rather Fighter Ace 3.5.
Ack-Ack
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I play both IL-2 and Aces High but IL-2 for me is a nice diversion, a boxed game with limited online play whereas Aces High is like 'the main event' Hundreds of players online 24/7 with a variety of arena maps. The fact that when I saddle up on a con it's not predictable AI it's a human so you never quite know if that player is a vet who will turn the tables on you and send you down in flames or a less experienced pilot who may not even know you are there. There is a real war going on, you can capture airfields and move your team forward or find yourself fighting to the last airfield to save your countries defeat. On top of that add some really great historical events with terrains created specifically for that event and also built-in voice comms that allows you to speak on a private channel or a 'range' channel so you can call out a warning to a friend to take evasives if you see an enemy plane dive on him. The flight recorder also works great, not only do you record yourself but everyone in the vicinity so when you've finished flying you can watch your whole sortie again from a different view point and assess what you did right or wrong. On top of that Aces High is always being developed and every few months see's a whole new batch of planes added.
The only possible downside is how much you care for eye candy coming from such a beautiful looking sim as IL-2, Aces High's graphics are getting a little old now despite constant updates but AH2 due in Q3 2003 will have new graphics and a mission based arena.
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You are right that was fighter ace at comp Usa
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It is worth the free download, even at 56k, to try it for yourself (Il-2 and Aces High both blow Fighter Ace away, don't waste your 5 dollars).
Il-2 is much nicer in the sound and graphics department, but I can't take the artificially limited view system. Aces High's view system is a bit too generous in several ways, but it is closer to the real deal than any other sim's.
Flight model wise they both have their pros and cons, but I feel that Aces High has the over all better flight model.
Multiplayer speaking Aces High has Il-2 trounced becase Aces High is a dedicated massively multi-player game, whereas Il-2 is a single player game with a reasonably robust multi-player capability. Aces High has no sigle player game to speak of, you can fly around and shoot at target drones and ground objects, but that's it.
Personally I have both, but practically never play Il-2 as it lacks British and Japanese kites.
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I also play both IL-2 and AH regularly, but of the two more time is devoted to AH.
IL-2 is obviously very good in graphical features, and the gunnery model is simply the most convincing I've seen yet.
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However, the view system is a head banger. I play with 'hands-on-stick-and-throttle' configuration(not necessarily meaning a HOTAS stick), and I control the stick with right hand, manage plane functions with left. Obviously I'm not giving up one of my hands by confining it to a mouse-look. I use the hat keys and what can I say, the head movement is slow. Too slow.
Also, the head position is very uncomfortable, and can't frankly figure out why 1C:Maddox did not implement customizable head positions as in AH. Sweat Jesious, the 'neck-brace' head movement is something from the mid-1990's!!!!
Because of this, some planes practically fly around with about half of the forward screen covered with struts and metals. Frickin' frustrating. The zoom is also set in three levels, and cannot be customized.
Also, one the most frustrating thing about IL-2 is the 'mushiness' in controls. Ofcourse, about 70% of the reason is in the insanely delicate stick calibration. If it is even most slightly wrong, the pitch control is wild. But the rest of the 30% is inherent in the flight model. Trim is way too sensitive, and wrong trim configuration means nose bounces grandeuer. Also, the yaw axis is also incredibly unstable compared to AH. Few slight rolls left and right, and the aim is thrown off.
Another big problem, is the super high E-loss tendency.
Anybody who plays both AH and IL-2 can feel this. The average speed they fly around and fight in IL-2, even in 1944 planes, is around 300~400kph. Make a few turns and the speed drops under 300kph. Translated in AH yard figures, the planes fight around 185~250mph, and a few moves will drag your plane down to 100~150mph level.
At first, I thought the compression/stiff controls factor was strange in IL-2. Also, I thought the black out was too lenient. Then I realized that in IL-2, planes rarely, if ever, get to fly speeds over 600kph(370mph) so basically there can't be a black out or stiff controls. Yak-9Us and Bf109G-6/AS fight at speeds the F4F-4 and A6M2 would have fought in the War.
Overshoots are almost impossible because the E-loss is so high that a plane dives from behind from alt, he sees a plane breaking away, just lowers throttle and engage flaps and you get a dive-break working even better than the SBDs and Ju87 in AH.
So basically, the concept of ACM in IL-2, is coming in from alt, and just saddling behind the other guy. No matter how high, how fast you come in, lower the throttle and you can just saddle up.
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Bascially, the IL-2 FM, is like flying around in 70% throttle in AH.
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Other than that, the features are nice. I hear they redoing FM and E-retention/loss factors in "Forgotten Battles".
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Never played IL2 but when FB comes out I'll have no choice but to try it out.
(http://www.sturmovik.com/Warstory/_ws_b0.jpg)
Swwweeeeeettt!
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BNM,
What is FB?
Magoo
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Originally posted by Magoo
BNM,
What is FB?
Magoo
"Forgotten Battles", it went gold recently. Basically, an add-on to IL-2.
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It's a full game not an add-on due around March 4th for the US and March 20th for Europe, well worth a look for offline fun (and limited online fun)
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Originally posted by Revvin
It's a full game not an add-on due around March 4th for the US and March 20th for Europe, well worth a look for offline fun (and limited online fun)
I stand corrected! :)
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Well,..at least your standing Rip. :D
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Originally posted by Skuzzy
Well,..at least your standing Rip. :D
Sometimes...just like a tripod! :D
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Your arms that long eh?
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Originally posted by Skuzzy
Your arms that long eh?
We need those fancy :flip off: icons, Skuzzy! :D
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Ahhh Rip,..no need to thank me. :D I was just stating the obvious.
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So here is another question. What about Fighter Ace how does it stack up? I played off-line it looks like a good game has anyone tried it.
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Poo.
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You aren't going to find many honest reviews of Fighter Ace on this message board. Most of the people here will simply call it names and dismiss it as trash (whether they've actually played it or not). Honestly it's a pretty good game and a worthy alternative to AH.
I'd say try AH (since the download is free), and if you aren't sure whether you like AH, spend the 5 bucks and try out FA (offline at least). FA has more gameplay options than AH has (particularly in the area of flightmodeling, with both "normal" and "easy" modes), so it may be worth a look.
There is also a game called WARBIRDS available, but it's not a whole lot different than AH and doesn't have anywhere near as many players. The online gameplay of WARBIRDS is somewhat more "historical" than that of AH however, so if that's what you seek than it may be worth a look--though it's pricey compared to AH and the AH "CT" arena arguably provides a similar sort of historical gameplay
J_A_B