Poll, would you like to see Biplanes?

[AKSWulfe]

Originally posted by Dago
CT - This arena and anything done for it is a waste of HTCs time in my opinion.  Hardly anybody ever flies in it.   Having the CT players requests guide the future development efforts is a bit of the tail wagging the dog.  The MA pays the bills, CT is just a distraction.  hahahah I bet you dont like that.  

Don't like what? I hardly ever fly in the CT.. so, uh, yeah... anyway, they'd be good for scenarios in the SEA. Which is why the previous set of planes was added. Excluding the later models that were added. The MA might be the main attraction, but a lot of people still fly in the scenarios.. and you can't have an early Eastern front scenario without bi-planes, it'd be like having the Battle of Britain without Ju87s.

Originally posted by Dago
BiPlanes are fine for DOA, but they would just be a differant version of Baby Seal in the MA (and CT).
 

So are virtually all of the early war planes, but they still get added...
-SW

[cajun]

And 1 thing advantage about biwingers in the main arena is it would be a great perk point earning plane, would have a high eny value and would be good for furballing since it could out turn and gennerally out manuver any other plane on the game!

I'd fly them in the Main Arena, I'd Even fly them aganst an ME262... that would be very interesting fight I may not be able  to catch it but it wouldnt be able to go slow enough to shoot me LOL

[Tumor]

Couple of Biplanes added is a great idea.  (AKSwulfe.. I thought it was the I-16?, anyway in IL-2 the game its a pretty tough plane to get behind (err..and stay behind) and kill)

[Duedel]

NO! Only the ones that were used during WWII.

[julle]

http://www.sci.fi/~ambush/faf/bulldog.html
http://www.sci.fi/~ambush/faf/gladiatr.html
http://www.sci.fi/~ambush/faf/polik153.html

[Hortlund]

No.

Well, perhaps after every other WWII fighter, bomber and transport has been added. But ONLY then.

[Durr]

While I would like to see some of the more commonly used biplanes eventually (Swordfish, Gladiator, CR42 etc) I dont think the time is yet.  There are many planes that need to be added that played a major role in WW2 that would be survivable in the MA and useful for scenarios and in the CT as well.  The biplanes were largely sidelined or used for roles where they did not meet enemy fighter opposition.

 Biplanes were very much obselete during WW2, since air combat during the war was pretty much all about speed.  Biplanes are actually much slower than has been listed here for there top speeds.  My sources show the top speed for the Gladiator as 250 and the CR42 as 286 but those speeds are at higher altitudes.  Near the deck, the Gladiator would probably have trouble attaining 170 in level flight, and the CR42 probably wouldnt top 200, if even that.  Contrary to what has been asserted, the Zeke is about 30 mph faster than the fastest biplane fighter of the war.

 The manouverability of the biplanes cannot be denied, and their short ground roll probably would make them viable around a vulched field, but anybody that is smart enough to not turn with them would never get shot down by one.  Not to mention the fact that their armament was truly weak, 4 .303s for the Gladiator, and 2 12.7s for some versions of the CR42.  People would certainly get some kills in them, due to the fact that many people would probably be dumb enough in the MA to try to turn against them.  Pilot skill is always the deciding factor, so Im sure that some of the better pilots would fly them a lot and constantly make claims about how great they are, but the truth is, that given = pilots, the biplane would NEVER win in a 1 vs 1 fight.  

 Captain Eric Brown, the famed British test pilot, tells of how he once chased 2 He-111s in a Sea Gladiator, and was unable to catch them.  Thats right, the slow old He-111 was able to outrun the Gladiator.  In another case, 6 Swordfish tried to torpedo the German battlecruisers, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau as they tried to break out of the English Channel.  Bf-109s led by Adolf Galland shot down all 6 with great ease.  

 I have always had a weakness for biplanes, and I love the Gladiator especially, but there is no way they would stand much chance in the MA, and they would have limited usefulness in scenarios and the CT as well.  There are about 20 airplanes that I think need added before the biplanes are brought in.  Eventually, though I think they should be added.  

However, it seems to me that I remember HTC once saying something about biplanes being hard to model with this graphics engine or something like that.  I cant remember excactly what was said, but it seems like they more or less vetoed biplanes.  Im searching for that thread now.

[robsan]

yes



I'm happy with divebombing Ostwinds in my Fw190F-8, but it would be so much more humiliating if I'd kill 'em in the Henschel HS 123

"Variety is the spice of Life, that's what the Judge is gonna tell my Wife..."
The Doors

[Wutz]

YES.... Cr.42 (best biplane of the war)

[hazed-]

yes but only those used for combat in WW2 or for recon if it get a role in AH.

[AKSWulfe]

Originally posted by Tumor
Couple of Biplanes added is a great idea.  (AKSwulfe.. I thought it was the I-16?, anyway in IL-2 the game its a pretty tough plane to get behind (err..and stay behind) and kill)

The I-16 is the monoplane Ishak. It has retractable gear, and an open cockpit.

The I-15 is the bi-plane "base" model. It didn't have retractable gear, and was slower.. the I-153 incorporated retractable landing gear.
-SW

[Kuben]

A hearty NO!

Kuben

[Oldman731]

Originally posted by cajun
So I was wondering how many people would like to see Biplanes in Aces High?

I'd love it.  Probably wouldn't work well unless you had enough of them to do a Spanish Civil War setup, or China 1938, something like that.

Arlo must be lurking around here some place.

- oldman

[brady]

Yes

[Esme]

Give me a Hs123 Stuka and I'll happily fly it! :-) (That's Stukaa as in "Sturzkampfflugzeug", or "dive-bomber").  They were very effective ground-attack machines, and there were cals to start making them again as late as 1943, because they were so accurate, versatile and all-round USEFUL.  In real life.  

Real life didnt have planes of every country vs planes of every country, so IMO it's silly to say planes aren't useful because many wouldn't fly them in the MA.  If you think they wouldnt be useful in the MA, that's one thing, but not useful in more realistic scenario flying? That's quite another thing.

Some of the most useful and popular planes in the MA hardly made any impressio at all on the course of WW2, because they were made in very small numbers and/or too late to make much impact.  From the point of view of those of us interested in more realistic flying than one gets in the MA, those are the "useless" planes, whilst many a "useful" one - Wellingtons, Blenheims, Halifax, Beaufighter, Catalina, Buffalo, Val, Kate, Betty, He111, Do17, Do217, Ju188, Ju87, FW200, Hs123, Ju52, CR42, SM79, Pe2, I-16, Pe8 and plenty more I can't recall ATM  remain to be modelled.  Yet many/most of THAT list would be sneered at by those who enjoy MA-style flying.

The question was: would you like to see biplanes in Aces High?

Yes, because they would add to the richness of the game, the range of things that we could possibily do with it.   And I'm sure even MA-type flyers might enjoy things like racing some of the biplanes, aerobatics contests, etc. now and then.

Also, as AH gets larger and larger, if ground fighting becomes more common, there'll be more need for close-support aircraft, and most of the biplanes were pretty good at that.  Heck, if artillery is introduced, we might even want types like the FW189, Hs126, Lysander, Storch...

:-)

Esme