Some thoughts on the title so far

[-MG-Cacti4-6]

1.    Spotting:

a.     I think spotting has improved drastically since the dog-fighting missions first dropped. Being able to pick up a/c against ground clutter, against the sky, and being able to pick up ground targets is SIGNIFICANTLY easier and more realistic here than in some of the other WW2 sim I have played recently...most notably WT.  

 

            2.    Flight Models:

a.     Both FM’s feel solid, but could certainly still use some work. I particularly like the compressibility issues that both airframes have. On the downside, it is pretty tough to stall a 109 right now whereas I think the LAGG-3 stall characteristics may be pretty well spot on. There were many reports of the early lagg’s essentially handling like bathtubs…which is kinda what we got here. On the same note, it feels like the 109 is lighter than a feather when it is in the slipstream of another a/c as my video unfortunately showed.  

 

 

            3.    Explosion effects:

a.     This last round showed us that these continue to be a work in progress, the explosions ground explosions look spectacular as do bomb explosions20mm detonations, rocket detonations, and so on. The only ones that really need work in my opinion are when an a/c impacts the ground. It still looks a bit basic at this point and I can’t wait to see what Jason and the crew do with it.

 

 

4.    Lighting:

a.     The cockpit lighting…man…does it look great. I particularly love how the individual needles have the green iridium…it looks so great.

 

 

5.    Shadows:

a.     This is the area I think that I may be the most let down with at the moment. Cockpit shadows look at times jagged. The have been steadily improving as the sim has developed, but they still need some work.

 

6.    World Detail:

a.     This is another aspect that I have been really impressed with. The modeling of snow drifts, tracks in the snow, the undulations in snow when a farm is covered with snow, all of it looks great!  

 

7.    City Detail:

a.     I know this could fall into item 6, but I think it deserves its own segment. I think maybe the city building looks a touch too modern. Flying on the deck through many of these towns, you can see individual fences and things like that, as well as what looks like relatively modern homes. But this is minor I think since most of us wont be flying at 20’ off the deck inspect homes….but it would be a hell of a way to shop for a house.  

 

8.    Damage Models:

a.     I personally think the damage models are closer to accurate now at 35% than they are in that other WW2 “sim”. The only issue I think is that maybe the German 20mm is slightly underpowered, and rockets I think are underpowered. On multiple attempts of hitting a tank (stug mainly) with rockets it seemed to shrug off the damage and keep on trucking. These weren’t frontal shots either, mostly side shots. Overall though, outside of those two things, the dm’s are pretty solid I think.  

 

 

Just some of my observations over three weeks or so of alpha....great progress so far and I can't wait to see how awesome this is once that ticker reaches 50% or greater...should be fabulous.   

Edited December 25, 2013 by -MG-Cacti4-6