Flying Circus damage model

[US103_Baer]

Are there plans to revisit the DM for Flying Circus?

4.005 introduced terribly flimsy wings after receiving even minor wing damage (3-5 hits). At this point it became too risky to maneuver and pilots had to leave engagements.

 

4.006 promised some hope owing to incorrect wing spar correlations having been found. However this has only served to turn 2 or 3 planes (D7, Dr1, Bristol) into tanks and the rest are effectively the same as 4.005

 

Data from over 100 PvP controlled tests has been provided to demonstrate that this large, uneven impact across the planeset is real.

Pilot records and combat reports from the time do not support planes like the SPAD, CAMEL, Dolphin and SE5a having wing strength issues or being massively more vulnerable post-damage than their contempories. If anything, the reverse.

 

While we assume damage modeling is not based solely on Wing Spar Size and does not avoid the many other aspects of wing construction contributing to strength and damage resistance, the effect in-game is that it is all about spar size.

 

Pre-damage wing strength is fine, but now bears absolutely no relationship to post-damage strength. While it has been suggested that pilots should modify their behaviour post-damage, pilots of the D7, Dr1 and Bristol are immune from this requirement and can fight on even harder than before, whereas other planes effectively become non-combatants.

 

Pre-4.005 the DM in FC was universally praised. While going back is not possible, the current model needs more development to address the issues above.

Edited June 1, 2020 by US103_Baer