Perhaps I've missed it, but has there been any mention of damage model, and pilots? As the man is so exposed and unprotected, will the effect of bullets on various parts of the body be modelled? For that matter, how is it done in most sims? Human equals a hitbox, with x amount of bullets=wounded/dead? Or would it be possible to model injury to say, legs, so you couldn't use the rudder? I'm beginning to think campaigns will be quite short without a parachute...

I remember flying in RB3D, cruising the Front in my N17, hoping to find an infantry attack to wreak my vengance upon!

I disrupted many an attack with my trusty bird. Now I'll admit they were just stickmen, but they went down when hit.

I'm sure that with the great advances in software, etc. they can come up with something we can shoot at!

Copterdrvr

Sort of OT, but I thought this is the place to post this link:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2099-2381797_1,00.html

It's a TimesOnline article about a 90 year old movie "The battle of the Somme" that will be available on DVD later this year.

Also on the first page a link to a short film with British artillery in action.

Cheers,

Willem.

Partly just for bumpage

Hadn't noticed these before, nice Handley page bomber model.

Nice update (makes for a big bumpage, huh)!

Comparison view sure shows off the Hippo's size:



The big question is......will it be flyable in the first edition?

This week's update:

http://www.gennadich.com/index.htm#

that certainly is a piece of modelling art... - The crumpling damage model must be amazingly complex!

http://www.gennadich.com/id/502/

I have a question about the sound modeling for this game...

When the pilots and gunners flew in these open cockpit wonders, they would often if not always wear earplugs to reduce the incredible noise from these older and somewhat un muffled motors.

Will GT model the unaltered clearly defined motor sounds? Or will they provide the engine noise in a muffled ear plugged quality?

Obviously we have the advantage over these vintage airmen in that we can simply reduce the volume on our headsets or speakers - but what I mean is, there is a difference in audio quality between the un-protected ear and the sound you would experience through ear protection - so would you want that to be modeled or not?

Because turning the sound down would also reduce the machine gun sounds - and since the motor may be a few meters from your ears and the guns directly in front of you - you might want to think about it a second.

Please excuse me, I've been out of the loop for some time now and this thread must be an all time record ; would someone be so kind enough to summaries what this WW1 sim is all about (current statues, progress, expected completion dates etc).

Many thanks

S!ap(first in line to place order)

As Slap has asked.... what is the latest prediction (if any) for release?

Geez you'd hope so wouldnt ya?...Bloody EAW had the odd bunch of little fellas runnin around and they died nice when touched up with some .50 cals or whateva was on the bird i was flying....they were rudimentary but they were there.....it is definately one of the bigger immersion killers in flight sims.....T

MiG Alley lets you napalm soldiers. Laughed so hard I flew into the ground the first time I noticed that. They can run a surprising distance on fire before collapsing.

It's probabbly going to take more than a year. I haven't seen any terrain, nor FM nor sky. This is just a gut feeling.

Oh yes, people running hither and thither whilst burning to death in a most unpleasent fashion is quite hilarious. Don't worry squiffy I laughed too, though that was more in with your lawn-dartian reaction to it.

so u never laughed while jerry burnt tom's tail?

Simulated soldiers in front of a background that is made to be a recreation of historical, real scenarios are not cartoon characters.
I'm all for infantrie in flight sims; not because they are fun to slaughter but 'cause it creates more realism.
Finding it funny to kill little pixel men might be fun; but I cannot laugh about it hence I know that it did happen in reality and I cannot stop feeling sorry for the real poor b@stards that were shot up and died on the fields; bleeding to death.

Salute

IL-2 has pilots who are shot in their parachute harnesses, shot on the ground, fall to the earth when their parachutes stream.

No one complains about that.

I think it is essential that we have infantry in a WWI game.

The reasons are quite simple:

In a WWII game, planes are usually travelling near the ground at speeds between 160-560 kph, (100-350mph) with most maneuvering taking place at around 320 kph. (200mph) At those speeds it is difficult to see anything on the ground. Also, planes tend not to get so close to the ground for fear of crashing. For that reason, it is not so nessesary to have visible people.

However, in a WWI game, the aircraft are going to be travelling near the ground at speeds between 80-200 kph. (50-125mph) Maneuvering speeds will be at around 110 kph. (65 mph) At those speeds, and at the proximity to the ground that combat will likely occur during strafing etc, the absence of people is going to look very strange. Unmanned guns, empty trenches, MG's and Artillery firing by themselves, all of this will be very obvious and odd.

The game should have all MG and Artillery weapons manned by soldiers, as well as sections of soldiers who can be deployed in trenches. (the sections don't have to be capable of fire, since most rifle fire was ineffective versus planes) Balloons should have visible crew, and so should trucks, trains, etc. And of course, there should be pilots and crew on the aircraft.

This will add tremendously to the sense of immersion in the game, and likely increase its popularity.

Salute

Another point regarding light AAA.

The game should differentiate between MG's which are dedicated AAA, and those which are set up to attack enemy infantry.

Only AAA MG'sn on pindle mounts should fire at Aircraft, not the MG's deployed in a normal mount. Historically it was not possible for an MG in a heavy mount to elevate its barrel enough to fire at a fast moving aircraft.

The same should apply to Heavy AAA and Artillery. Artillery should not fire at aircraft the way they do in IL-2. Only artillery mounted on the high elevation AAA mounts should be able to fire.

Cheers Buzzsaw

The inclusion of infantry ia all about Immersion - it's all about that temporary suspension of disbelief. Without those little touches, the game world is a sterile place of polygonal targets. I personaly do not get caught up in the "Real World" representations of individual elements in a game. Always keeping in mind - it is a game.

For me it's no different than seeing a visceral presentation in a military FPS game.

Actually, no. To be honest I found the whole Tom & Jerry thing to be horribly cliched and vastly unfunny; whenever one of their shorts came on I would invariably turn the channel in search of other entertainment -- of course those were the days when I still watched television somewhat regularly, which have since passed into history.

But no, I don't find the idea of mud crunchies getting strafed and bombed 'funny'. One can, however, understand the distinctions between real infantry and their pixelated counterparts, and the consequences thereof for each set getting shot up. No it isn't sporting to strafe helpless ground forces, but whoever said war was sporting?

Whoops.

It's more the fact that they were still shouting Hai! Hai! Hai! that cracked me up. Now if they were screaming with pain, that would be a little different.

However, if the acts of war are to be simulated, there seems no reason to me why they should not be portrayed as accurately as possible. If you're going to get squeamish, there's always MSFSX.