Aces High is my favorite ww2 sim of all time.
as for war thunder...
skip arcade completely and only bother trying historic battles if you cant get a match quick enough in full realism.
the only thing War thunder has that is decent is their full realism mode which has only a handful of people and is an orphan that is basically unsupported by the developers. hell it was added by player request only lol.
full realism mode has everything I want in the way its setup... historic matchups, rapid action, no icons, great graphics that make no icons realistic and close to real world aircraft spotting, smooth fluid head tracking, decent flight model (its early Il2 FM quirky not so great at below stall speed modelling but close enough to be called usable). clouds, love them just wish long range dots were not visible through clouds though. (why am I the only plane thats VFR on top through a thick overcast layer? lol IFR currency is another big advantage when having to use these partial panel ww2 planes in thick clouds with no autopilot )
in such a scenario the more realism you add in the more you exclude regular players who havent had years of real world flight experience (or lots of flight sim experience is just as good perhaps but lots of experience using real world spotting techniques in the real world REALLY DO MAKE full realism spotting easy) to the point that they are just cannon fodder for players like me and they find it too difficult to learn or bother with and go back to Arcade or historical arcade modes and let the ai fly the plane for them while they point it at the nearest big neon billboard they want to shoot at.
when you think about leveling up mechanics in War Thunder and grinding and putting in the time in the game the irony that the more realism added to a game with a good setup could keep people hooked for a decade the way Aces High has because its so difficult may be lost on the masses and Gaijin War Thunders developers too. not just grinding stats to give yourself an advantage but getting better at flying and air combat maneuvers and spotting enemy aircraft and developing those skills through actual practice takes a long time for some. many are naturals, some will never get it. thats what has made Aces High continue for over a decade. it has become a form of golf with all the addictions and frustrations that that entails.
