Nerfing the Flight model

[-EVO-Crash 10]

I'm getting a little worried that BIS is nerfing the flight model of TOH in order to make it more accessible to KB&M players. This is a sim after all and dumbing down the FM for the sake of people who are clearly not dedicated simers is pretty bad.

A lot of people wished that Arma 2 had a more realistic FM. Anyone who knows squat about heli flight mechanics can tell you that it isn't even remotely realistic. With TOH those people got their wish. But now, the same people who flew super simplified choppers badly in arma 2 are now finding it impossible to fly at all in TOH with the more realistic FM. Well, I'm sorry to come across as rude, but that's just too bad. TOH is a sim, made for serious sim players. You know, the sort of people who will more then likely fly a real aircraft at some point in their lives, be it regularly or just once; Certainly the types of people who will fork out a little cash for a joystick; and definitely the sort of people who will type HELICOPTER into the source of 50% right some of the time information wikipedia and try and learn something.

TOH offers the unlimited potential of the Arma editing engine plus its terrain and environment detail plus the realism of a proper flight model. Pandering to the cries of talentless people whos skill is comprised of 98% ego and only 2% ability is making it a mongrel pretender to the flight sim genre.

There is no point whatsoever in modeling asymmetrical lift, transitional lift and about a dozen other rotary flight phenomenon when you relent to bit*hing about torque induced yaw being too hard to handle! I mean, what are you thinking?!

[jedra 11]

Said with some feeling!

I still don't think that BI have really worked out which side of the Sim/Game divide they wish to be. Although I think there is some mileage to be somewhere in the middle in theory, I am not sure it's working. We are getting a lot of 'too hard' and 'too easy' comments which shows that people from each side of the divide are maybe unwilling to move into the middle ground.

Maybe BIS have to decide where they want to be with this game and then pursue that aim. The indecision may leave it no-mans land.

Having said this, I like the middle ground and am enjoying the game thoroughly. I guess I am just a middle of the road kind of person when it comes to flight games. I own DCS:BS and A10, FSX and X-Plane 10 and I just find them all a bit too technical to be fun. Flying in Arma is functional and a means to an end and from that point of view I don't find it that much fun either. ToH has given me a bit of a challenge without it being too far out of reach.

I see some mileage in them making the flight model more technical for those that wish to fly that way (I would certainly give it a go) and maybe having an alternate model to suit those with less suitable input devices. I guess in the end it depends where they think the income is and what it is they want to experiment with for Arma 3.

I am a joystick flyer by the way.

[-EVO-Crash 10]

I see you point Jedra. And having played DCS BS I know where your coming from with regards to technicality. What I really liked about TOH in the beginning though was the DCS levels of flight dynamics without the DCS button functionality :D Thats where I think it has a great advantage. You can't just pick it up but the manual is under 5 pages haha

[[evo] dan 79]

I agree with both of you. I would like to see the FM stay on the realistic side, even if its only on expert (because expert is supposed to be uber realistic), and leave it easy on beginner mode for those who wish to play with K&M. I also like not having all the buttons of DCS or LOMAC as they did take a LONG time to learn.

BIS should pick a side they want, otherwise they are going to end up like the last game that took the middle ground (which was Dragon Rising) with very few liking the game at all.

[max power 21]

From sort of passively following the criticism of the flight model from the beginning, the real pilots on this forum were expressing that the flight model had waaaaay too much torque induced yaw, and waaaay too much roll caused by dissymetry of lift in forward flight early on.

At any rate, we can use this thread for discussing issues with the flight model: http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?126712-Flight-dynamics-%28important-issues%29/page30

Thank you :)

[Serclaes 0]

I see you point Jedra. And having played DCS BS I know where your coming from with regards to technicality. What I really liked about TOH in the beginning though was the DCS levels of flight dynamics without the DCS button functionality Thats where I think it has a great advantage. You can't just pick it up but the manual is under 5 pages haha

I concur. While I haven't played DCS for months I still can remember how to start it and I guess I could figure out most of the other steps as well but it isn't about flying. I like ToH because it's about flying the helicopter, not turning it on. You know, just how I'd like my gf to be :D

The flying is what is fun to me, so it can't be realistic/hard enough because it's about the way to mastery!

Edited March 19, 2012 by Serclaes
added quote