Aircraft toughness

[=LD=4brkfast]

As usual I'm compelled to express how impressed I am with the game. It's equally as beautiful as fun to fly. It's a new challenge for me personally changing from one air combat game to another and I enjoy flying just about every fighter.

 

I'm writing this to suggest tweaking some of the aircraft's toughness. I find many of them to take engine damage even without a direct hit to the motor. This is particularly unhistorical for the IL-2, which according to a Luftwaffe ace flying a 109, the most certain way to bring down an IL-2 was an attack from below to hit the radiator, only then is downing the aircraft a certainty.

 

I like the damage model, don't get me wrong, wing damage stressing and bending the wing, the detail in fuel leaks and structurally the airplanes seem very historical. It's the motor damage in particular that feels too easy to achieve.

 

Thanks for reading

[voncrapenhauser]

It's the motor damage in particular that feels too easy to achieve.

 

 

Sometimes the wing on your FW 190 folds up after a slightly bumpy landing too.

Considering this aircraft had a separate twin spar this seems also unlikely unless you have a heavier landing.

 

Engine damage Especially in SP the rear gunners with their never miss aim for the engine every time.

I looked at a replay after and they, with one hit take out my engine virtually every time on a rear attack.

So slashing attacks are the order of toady.

 

Don't get me wrong I have found in MP it's a very different story.

Edited February 18, 2015 by voncrapenhauser

[=362nd_FS=Hiromachi]

Engine damage Especially in SP the rear gunners with their never miss aim for the engine every time.

I looked at a replay after and they, with one hit take out my engine virtually every time on a rear attack.

So slashing attacks are the order of toady.

Not only gunners, but even fighters are really accurate. They open fire even being out of range and score hits from various "weird" or hard for player to shoot positions. Especially on night mission this is annoying when you struggle to see and they hit like they would have nightvision. 

 

My main concern in regard to engines is of course radials, both La-5 and FW-190 dont seem to benefit from this type of engine. Even a small caliber rounds can effectively destroy them with very few hits and this is contrary to multiple historical accounts and documents. I could even quote a report made after Pearl Harbor attack when Japanese machines returned to the carriers and it was discovered that a lot of low caliber rounds were embed in the engines, a .303 or even .50 caliber bullets could be found stuck between the fins of the radiator. 

But this is only my observation of this issue, maybe others find it different.

[=LD=4brkfast]

The AI's accuracy I can understand. They're cheaters. haha.

 

From behind it's easy to damage a motor, this is my main point. You should need a direct hit and in some cases multiple direct hits to cause serious damage. Though I wouldn't say any of the fighters in game currently are renown for toughness in any way(not until the P40 and even then a golden bb could hit the radiator and would bring it down), so I understand that they would take damage from serious hits.

 

Having said that, these aircraft were tougher than they are in game currently generally speaking. If they were really this weak or if the weapons were this affective than I wouldn't think any ace would have survived the war.

 

This is a good sim game and shows amazing promise. Making the aircraft not only flyable but also retaining their lethal nature even with battle damage will add to the playability and overall fun that can be had. The aircraft seem to take lethal damage very easily. This is true for the single-engine aircraft, the Pe-2 for example does not necessarily seem to have this issue. They seem require a lot of hits to really bring down. toughness more akin to how an IL-2 should behave. Perhaps my main point is all of the aircraft seem to have the same overall toughness or lack of toughness, they seem to have the toughness a Lagg would have, which I believe was called the Wooden Coffin? I may be mistaken, I am nowhere near an expert about Eastern Front aircraft lore.

 

A good example of this, appropriately(I may have seen the video on this forum) is a 109 F ace tailing a Yak1, attacking from behind with multiple passes and in a turn. You can watch the 109F pilot scoring multiple hits to the Yak's fuselage with it's 20mm while turning(Kudo's as the 20mm hits look remarkably like they do in the game currently). Based on memory I would say the Yak took at least 10-20 hits from the cannon and was still flying and turning. The Yak wasn't leaking fuel, coolant or oil, not until he was downed and set aflame, if memory serves.

 

I think that's the primary problem. A fuselage hit seems to invariably damage the motor in some way and this is unreal, especially from dead six. Direct hits to the motor should be required.

 

Having said this about the motor damage, it's difficult to shoot the wing off an aircraft. This feels good, as does damage to the tail section and other things. The airplanes frame toughness feels good, it's the motor damage that feels off.

 

I hope this issue is understood and addressed!

 

Thanks for reading.

Edited February 18, 2015 by =LD=4brkfast