Originally posted by Maverick:
Hazed,
You and I are not that far apart here. Your idea about the strat additions and AI convoys sound like a neat feature. I don't have any objection to that kind of stuff.
My objection with the "realism" crowd is their selectivity of realism. They call for the minutia of flying without adding anything of real substance to the game.
If you want a truly realistic sim you have to give up many items that make the game viable in a mass market arena...
Mav
Even your version of "realism" falls short. What about growing up first before starting flying training? i.e. coming out of the womb, learning to crawl, going to school, etc.
I play AH because overall it is presently the most realistic combat flight sim around. IMHO, "realism" has a very simple defintion in a flight sim, or even a "fighter sim" (which is a subset of flight sims, not a separate category).
Every control and indicator critical to flight should be implemented as realistically as possible given the monitors, keyboards, and joysticks available to the target market. Use of these controls should get as close a response as possible to the real controls they are modeling. AH does a better job of this than any other sim I have, but that doesn't mean there isn't room for improvement.
I personally want as much realism as possible for air combat in terms of graphics, controls, and sensory burdens from engine start to stop. If a real pilot couldn't fly a P-51 safely and effectively without knowing its flight manual inside and out, I expect to experience the
same level of difficulty in anything that claims to be a sim (not more or less difficult because it would be more fun). I want to be as close as possible to being able to fly a real mission in a real fighter given the limitations of pc's, but I have no interest in modeling what pilots do when they are not flying a combat mission (since this is a computer, I can afford to lose planes learning to fly the hard way, instead of spending years being schooled on military flying skills). Though hearing the air raid siren, jumping out of your bunk, and running for your F4U while being strafed by Zeros would be fun once in awhile
Any good sim can always be dumbed down for those that don't have the time to fool with all the details: i.e. things like "combat trim" which don't give anyone a real advantage, but ease the burden on those not interested in realism.
Correct controls, indications, start up, inflight management, and shutdown for engines would be great. It might not "add substance to the game" (I didn't know anything that was meant to be fun was supposed of have substance) but it would add a ton of immersion and substance to the sim. As with combat trim and auto-takeoff, I would have my "ez mode throttle" turned off. I personally would help buy the flight manuals and do research if HTC could and would incorporate all of the information in them to make their great game into a great sim.
"Realism" doesn't have to mean a reduction in fun for others. It can and should mean extra fun for those who crave it.
On a weeknight, I would do something like what we have now, but with as many "realism" options as possible given my time constraints, including random maintenance failures. On weekends, I would be more than willing to fly full escort missions from England to Berlin in real time. If no fighters showed up, I would strafe the hell out of anything I could find on the way home. That is realism: a long, uneventful flight. I would never say a "boring" flight, because I don't ever find any kind of flying boring. I once flew a Piper from 5am to 5pm on a simple cargo run hopping all the way around and back Tampa Bay. By the end of the day, I was tired, but never bored.
You can rag on people all you want for asking for more realism in areas you consider to have no substance, but what are you asking for? Are your wants and needs truly more important or more substantive than any other person who plays Aces High? I am quite sure HTC listens to everyone, but I am also sure they decide to do what they believe is in their best interest. Until the competition does a better job of fulfilling my needs, playing Aces High will continue to be in my interest.
Maybe someday I will finish school and be able to afford being a paying customer so my opinion will worth as much as all you rich guys
