Connor "Cman" Anderson

  FLIGHT MODEL and COCKPIT

You're loaded up and ready to rumble. Hit the "fly" button on the clipboard and off to the runway, where the canopy neatly slides shut and in you go. Addink commented that he thinks that the AH flight model is "pretty close" to the maximum flight model fidelity that is possible given current PC technology.

Says Balmos, "This flight model was basically designed from the ground up to handle all the stuff we figured we'd ever want to do. And it's put together in a really nice package." He adds that at this time, they are still, "working on getting everything working solidly in there, but in terms of potential it's not lacking anything we'll wish it had."

Cockpit Shot from the FAQ

Addink points out that while there are a lot of methods for modeling the various systems of the aircraft, the physics engine of AH offers a full six-degrees of freedom axis system. "That has always been the key difference between the two types of flight model out there. Is the aircraft capable of flying backwards."

Realistic it is. These planes really "feel" like high-performance aircraft. While Warbirds and Fighter Ace allege to have "full realism" in ground handling, I found the AH fighters to be totally new beasts as far as running them up to takeoff speed on the runway.

This is especially true in the legendarily squirrelly Spitfire and Bf-109 with their narrow landing gear. Lots of rudder and aileron pressure is needed to get up straight. The fully loaded P-51D will need just one notch of flaps, an early run-up on the throttle and the entire runway to take off. Can't wait to see the much talked-about but never seen, infamous "Corsair Flop."

Once in the aircraft one will appreciate the 3D rendered cockpit. While the 3D art is not as sharp and clear as the finely done 2D graphics in Janes WWII Fighters, for instance, the 3D model does produce Aces High's very flexible view system. Views around the plane can be set to one of three modes: smooth panning where the view glides á la real head motion, snap panning where the view pans but very fast, and snap view which instantly takes the viewpoint to wherever is selected e.g. font-top to rear.

All quite nice, but the most important aspect is how it works in combat. Here the only view that matters - as far as I am concerned at any rate - is the six view. AH allows the pilot to lower or raise their head perspective (within reason, of course) and also to move forward and back in the cockpit and to save some of the head positions. So get this -- in the Spitfire for example, one can set the rear view to be high and to the right, allowing the pilot to see around the armored headrest. To some extent, anyway. U.S. Navy pilots rejoice!

Each aircraft's gauges have been nicely reproduced. AH has set a new mark in realism here as well. Instead of a non-accurate "throttle" for engine control, pilots will have to master the intricacies of the constant-speed propeller and the manifold pressure control. There are also manual trim indicators, gyrocompass, individual turn-and-bank indicators, clock and so on. Not all gauges are fully functional or accurate for all aircraft as of this writing.

Click to continue

AH Loadout Interface

As for the dynamics of flight, I am not a licensed pilot, and have never been closer to any of the aircraft modeled here than the ropes at the museums. I do however, have quite a few hours in gliders and light planes and once got a ride in a Czech Mig-21Y -- long story. Disclaimer aside, it all feels pretty good to me. Stall behavior and pre-departure "mushing" of the controls seem quite accurate. The Mustang flat spins quite realistically, as I can attest.

Rob "Robocop" Coppock, a former Australian Air Force test pilot and member of the PC Test Pilot staff, posted his early impressions of the .33 beta to the HTC bulletin board.

"I am very impressed with the flight modeling. Roll acceleration and inertia are superb, far better and more realistic than in Warbirds. Flick rolls are realistic. Stalls, turn rates, performance, all look excellent at this stage," Coppock wrote.

Coppock's only beef is the same as mine, which is the simulated head-jerk every time one performs a roll or pitch. Planes just don't do that except in rough air or particularly violent maneuvers accompanied by opposite stick force, like in a four-point roll.

For those inclined to nit-pick even further, Balmos adds that the flight models are far from complete. "They're still just kinda' been roughed in. There's so many forces acting in the model… there's lots of inconsistencies and little wierdnesses right now."

Even though it is an early beta, Aces High appears to be well on its way to setting the standard in realism and historical fidelity. There were several times during extended combat sorties in high-threat situations that I had to remind myself to "get my head out of the cockpit" as I fiddled with trim, manifold pressure, prop speed, and fuel load to get the most out of my aircraft. It makes for an intense experience right out of a Bob Johnson memoir, except without the Jug- yet.

MULTI-PLAYER TECHNOLOGY

The server-side technology seems very stable. According to HTC, they have had some early problems with arena capacity. However, in my entire beta experience thus far, I have not experienced a single dump or disconnection. PYRO says they don't even have the T-1 line in yet. Lord knows what they are hosting it on, 128k ISDN?

The day after the .34 beta was released, I got into my first really big fur ball of about fifteen aircraft at low level in the lovingly rendered canyons. Although rather preoccupied, I did notice that I saw absolutely no "warping" or jerking about the skies of any aircraft due to network lag or dropped packets.

My frame rate was rock-solid smooth right up until the point I was run to ground (literally) by a Lavochkin in a very nasty, very low-level scissors. Some players have reported warping, but by and large, the smoothing code is very good. The warping phenomenon is a problem that is likely to exist as long as there are dial-up connections and limited bandwidth; which is to say, for the foreseeable future.

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