Please don't tell me...

[hitech]

You mean because of slowing down, right?

No.

By definition slope = rise / run.

If you turn you are change the "RUN" (shortest distance between 2 points is line and you are no longer doing a line) and hence the same glide slope will not work.

HiTech

[bustr]

Wiley,

Between that book I linked, a gunsight with two lower 45 degree rays, and the offline jabo green cross enabled. You will see that sloppy maneuvering is no impedance to hitting your target with a bomb. The HUD ladder will only give you an indication of how much to lead the drop target along the lateral vector your sloppy approach has put you into.

[Wiley]

You said
" I can be maneuvering all the way in"

Maneuver I assume means changing directions.

What I said was "I can be maneuvering all the way in and as long as I hit the same angle and go stick neutral for a few seconds (probably less?) on drop".

If I understand what I see in the game, as long as the plane is diving at the same angle, wings level, unloaded at the moment of release, the aim point/impact point of the bomb is going to be the same.  Is that correct, or not?  Is speed a meaningful factor?

After maneuvering, there's a bit of slack where the plane stabilizes from the maneuver, but it's ~1 second or less, right?

En order to impact point x with a dive angle means that the horizontal distance to vertical distance  must maintain a constant ratio.

Once you maneuver your turns lengthen the horizontal distance  traveled over the ground, and hence with the same glide slope you will strike short.

HiTech

If you lengthen the horizontal distance, the glide slope will be shallower, in other words, not the same angle, right?

But in your example, if you want a specific angle to hit your aimpoint, and you pull up after the maneuvering to get the angle to your target back on that glide slope with your wings level with the horizon and unloaded, regardless of how you got there or what went before, your impact point is going to be consistent right?  If not, what am I missing?

Obviously the ladder doesn't change the physics of what happens when you drop.  What I'm saying is, the ladder provides you with your angle of dive and wing roll orientation without having to take your eyes off your sight to drop.  No need to check any other frame of reference.  It's much faster, more accurate information available to you than is available through any other means.

Wiley.

[Randy1]

Randy, just checking that you understand zoom and FOV are exactly the same thing in a computer game?

Hitech

Yes, I do.   I can see from my post why you asked the question.

I my be in left field on this one.  My thoughts are the FOV would be preset for the monitor size and resolution, and in a manor of speaking, be fitted to the cockpit.  That is the gauges are can be viewed clearly in a P-38 without using zoom as an example.  The gunsight image on the glass would be the proper size when viewed from the default head position.  The zoom would a non adjustable default to compensate as you noted the inadequacy of the display monitor and or tv outside of the cockpit.

I use the basic thought when I set up a P-38 in AH2 now.   My default FOV is 106.  I set my FOV for the P-38 at 98

My F10 head position is set as close to real-life head position as I can judge.  That gives me a 90 degree left or right view just past the overhead cockpit glass frame.

[hitech]

What I said was "I can be maneuvering all the way in and as long as I hit the same angle and go stick neutral for a few seconds (probably less?) on drop".

If I understand what I see in the game, as long as the plane is diving at the same angle, wings level, unloaded at the moment of release, the aim point/impact point of the bomb is going to be the same.  Is that correct, or not?  Is speed a meaningful factor?

After maneuvering, there's a bit of slack where the plane stabilizes from the maneuver, but it's ~1 second or less, right?

If you lengthen the horizontal distance, the glide slope will be shallower, in other words, not the same angle, right?

But in your example, if you want a specific angle to hit your aimpoint, and you pull up after the maneuvering to get the angle to your target back on that glide slope with your wings level with the horizon and unloaded, regardless of how you got there or what went before, your impact point is going to be consistent right?  If not, what am I missing?

Obviously the ladder doesn't change the physics of what happens when you drop.  What I'm saying is, the ladder provides you with your angle of dive and wing roll orientation without having to take your eyes off your sight to drop.  No need to check any other frame of reference.  It's much faster, more accurate information available to you than is available through any other means.

Wiley.

Speed will make only a very small difference. Your analysis is  correct, except why do you wish to unload for the drop? And how steep a dive angle are you speaking of?

But I don't really see how the pitch ladder will have any effect vs a fixed reference point for the angle.

HiTech

[Mar]

In a modern jet you use the bombsight not the pitch ladder. In any case I'm referring to the more relevant experience in Aces High.

*facepalm*

But I don't really see how the pitch ladder will have any effect vs a fixed reference point for the angle.

HiTech

You line up the target on the correct dive angle line on the ladder and then point your nose at it. The ladder does not follow your plane, it says the same relative to the horizon.

[Wiley]

Speed will make only a very small difference. Your analysis is  correct, except why do you wish to unload for the drop? And how steep a dive angle are you speaking of?

Regarding the unloading, I was trying to take away as many variables as possible, is all.

But I don't really see how the pitch ladder will have any effect vs a fixed reference point for the angle.

HiTech

The scenario I'm generally thinking of is where your view forward has no horizon in it.  Wherever that starts.

Pretend someone's successfully intercepted your jabo dive early on.  You came in at your known alt, you started your dive when you wanted to, but somebody in a good diver was right place, right time to get on your six 400 out.  You keep your eggs, do pilot stuff.  He got on you around 15k and you get him to pull off with your alt being around say, 8k alt.

My point is, due to the defense you just had to do, you're in a relatively unknown position above your target now.

To reset, you now need to get back to a glide path that will allow you to hit.  Just for grins, say you're surgical with a bomb at 45 degrees.  You've got an excellent point of reference on your gunsight glass to use for exactly where your bomb will hit.

Without the ladder, you've got to take your eyes off your bombsite and target, use whatever point of reference you need to to get level, then get yourself to the appropriate distance from the target to line up whatever marker it is, either nose geometry or monitor to turn in for your 45 degree run.

With the ladder, you can do whatever you want to to put the target on the 45 degree angle, you've got a perfect frame of reference that will allow you to get there from any orientation you want without taking eyes off the target.

You can hit that angle coming out of any maneuver you like as long as you get that angle and aren't pulling G's when you release, you've got the same point of impact as if you were unmolested for your entire run in, all faster and with less effort on your part.

Could a guy that's good at it judge the angles by horizon and feeling do it as quick?  Likely.  All I'm saying is the ladder takes out a bunch of the steps the guy who took the time to become good at it needed to do to get there.  Now it's merely a 2 step process of align target with appropriate holographic marking, obtain sight picture and release.

Not exactly game breaking, but I do think it will result in significant gameplay change.  It will be harder to throw a jabo off his game if he chooses to try to survive your defensive attack.

Wiley.

[bustr]

Wiley,

How come you are only worried about the jabo guy when it will help anyone who needs the reference points to pull a smooth lead shot against a now defined guide? Players using the K-14A fixed with rocket aid, NAVY Mk8, N9, L3A1 and PBP1 historic gunsights will quickly see the relationship because of the 45 degree quadrant markers.

There is a very good chance only a statistically small number of players will even bother to horrify us with your jabo scenario, or spend some time offline in the drone circle and discover what I described. Considering how large the mask area in the F4u and Tempest really are, you can run vector lines to within 5pixels of each bitmap border and almost have the lines touching the HUD primary ladder tick marks.

You now have half of a K14 gunsight. Your brain based on experience and practice will replace the gyroscopes.



100mph principle, HUD ladder is a 375mph (3.75 50Mil radii) at 300yd lead for a .50 or 20mm Hiso. to a plane traveling 90 degrees of you. Or just a good 300-200yd lead aim.

[Wiley]

Or being able to tell in the vertical when your bullets are going to start dropping the other way.

*shrug*  It's not even necessarily going to need to be codified into words, it will just be something people use because it's there and become part of their routine.  Instead of needing to know where on the nose of each different plane is the right spot to start diving, it's, "when the ladder says 45" or whatever.

Wiley.

[JohnnyHeelz]

10 years ago there were 7500 of us paying 15 bucks a month. Now they have less than half of that.

They aren't going to take the realism away but if all those Texans want to keep making a living they are trying new things.

All of you "no way" people should make a substantial donation to Hi Tech Creations. Put your money were your fingers are.

I love this game and if adding arcade style effects will keep them out of bankruptcy, so be it. 

[bustr]

If you are old enough, you have passed through enough games to catch my drift in the satire below.

---Satire---
In my day we had to put a marks on our CRT screen to aim our guns, and we wore out hat switches and key boards every 6 months because we were real Air Warrior pilots.

Now back to our regular programming....

Anyone remember that hoaky lead computing gunsight in AW? All the cool kids used it to pad their scores....or something like that. My room mate swore by it. I used the red dot and red tracers so I could see them against all of the back grounds. I wore out hat switches so fast I made a copper and brass replacement for the toggle plate and stem in the Thrust Master. It lasted through two Thrust Masters.

Wiley, you will survive, probably grumpier.

I suppose you can grumble later while being shot down about players actually reading this whole forum post. Looked at my screen shots, and understood how to make their personal gunnery easier. This in a game dominated by angry old men who want them to play the game for 3 years before they can accomplish much of anything other than be kill message landed statistics or auger on their jabo runs. Yep those kids need to pay their dues.   

[Wiley]

Wiley, you will survive, probably grumpier.

I suppose you can grumble later while being shot down about players actually reading this whole forum post. Looked at my screen shots, and understood how to make their personal gunnery easier. This in a game dominated by angry old men who want them to play the game for 3 years before they can accomplish much of anything other than be kill message landed statistics or auger on their jabo runs. Yep those kids need to pay their dues.

Like I said, not a game breaker, I just think it has the potential to change gameplay and takes away some of the stuff that I think is part of the reason the game's enjoyable.

Will I be squeaking about people using HUD feature x?  No.  Do I think HUD feature X will have an impact on gameplay?  Yes.

Wiley.

[danny76]

I would prefer the option of setting up a second, smaller screen below the main screen which displays the aircraft instruments. Now I am an almost complete technotard, but I can't see this a posing a massive problem, whilt at the same time adding immersion and realism.

[hitech]

I would prefer the option of setting up a second, smaller screen below the main screen which displays the aircraft instruments. Now I am an almost complete technotard, but I can't see this a posing a massive problem, whilt at the same time adding immersion and realism.

You also can now set your default forward view angle. Simply press f8, pan down slightly for better instruments. Then save with F10.

HiTech

[LilMak]

Am I the only guy in game that has a seperate head position that includes only the gauges? My forward/down view shows me nothing but the panel. At the click of a button I can read every instrument in the cockpit.

I personally see no need whatsoever for the HUD. It's pointless and especially gamey if clouds are going to become a regular part of the game (who cares if the horizon is gone if you have another one on the glass). You can manuver and fight in a WWII fighter in IMC.

That being said...I'm surgical with bombs if I'm able to start above 4k and maneuvering has little effect on my ability to hit targets as long as I have the appropriate speed when I release. I don't see how the HUD could make me any deadlier unless I'm releasing bombs at a ridiculously high altitude using it as a reference.