a-10 feels weird

[an_enlarged_stomach 1]

Hey guys.

I have been trying to practice with the a-10 for some time now. However, the a-10 feels very uneasy still.

The guns are definately inaccurate, and the pane is very shaky.

Any tips for me?

Oh and is the accuracy the true accuracy of the gun?

[Messiah 2]

i think its more a true reflection of the person flying it - joking aside, I have no problems lining up the A10 and succesfully strafing a target with the GAU - and thats with a keyboard and mouse

the cannon certainly has a large spread, but the GAU isn't designed to be a high caliber sniper rifle after all

I find lining up to the target in 3rd person is useful for a wide appreciation of your surroundings and range, and then once you're in the right direction going into the cockpit for final approach, and then pressing V to make your eye sight zoom onto the crosshairs - then its just a question of good timing.

lowering your flaps a tad may help if you're having problems at low speed.

[ArmaVidz 0]

i think its more a true reflection of the person flying it - joking aside, I have no problems lining up the A10 and succesfully strafing a target with the GAU - and thats with a keyboard and mouse

the cannon certainly has a large spread, but the GAU isn't designed to be a high caliber sniper rifle after all

I find lining up to the target in 3rd person is useful for a wide appreciation of your surroundings and range, and then once you're in the right direction going into the cockpit for final approach, and then pressing V to make your eye sight zoom onto the crosshairs - then its just a question of good timing.

lowering your flaps a tad may help if you're having problems at low speed.

On the topic of the A-10 feeling "weird," does anyone notice that sometimes the A-10 just loses power? It's like the engines just can't crank out enough juice no matter what, and whalla, you're a dirt dart.

Typically happens at low-altitudes, while trying to gain some altitude, or bank left or right.

[-ZG-BUZZARD 0]

The whole plane flight model is too strange to be useful because it's just an adapted version of the helicopter flight model... I must implore to BIS to implement an urgent interim patch to fix it ASAP, since it's really worthless!!! Whilst with OFP the plane's lack of power were compensated by a flight model that took a normal plane's flight model into account, in ArmA, which favours the helicopter flight model, drastic cuts in power for going forward will result in sharp stalls and altitude loss, as if you wouldn't be flying a plane at all, especially one with perfectly straight wings like the A-10... I reiterate my plea to BIS to fix this rather sooner than later!!!

[Commando84 0]

hasn't it always been since ofp too that planes could stall or crash into the ground if you turned around or climbed altitude that the engines speed went lower and lower and you had to fly straigt for a while to make engine get back into speed again

[shadow 6]

the a-10 feels very uneasy still.

The guns are definately inaccurate, and the pane is very shaky.

The flight-model is very basic plus the thrust to weight ratio is very low in Arma. The A-10 should have alot more thrust.

The GAU-8 is accurate and the dispersion is pretty accurate.

The problem is that Arma doesnt have CCIP in the hud (continously calculated impact point). So we have to guess the impact point, making it difficult to hit targets far away without wasting alot of ammo.

[Mobious 0]

I think it flys just fine... You have to remember not to dive to 30 feet at full speed and expect to pull out of it. The GAU can be hard to line up because I cant see its tracers or even the gun smoke.

[bobby budnick 0]

I also think the A-10 needs a lot more thrust and it does seem to lose power at random as well. The problem isn't pulling up in a dive, it's stalling out and losing power in a turn.

[wika_woo 182]

Yeah, the a-10 is surprisingly weird to fly, it handles like a brick.

@ armavidz, I get that too as well..

attack Heli's all the way man...

[mattxr 9]

I think they updated it to fly great in 1.08 so i dont no what versions you are using but it flys great for me in 1.08.. If you bank too hard yes you will loose power but you gotta know how to fly it before you say its bugged :S

[Maddmatt 1]

The A10 in ArmA is pretty fun to fly. But I do think the cannon is way too inaccurate, and the rudder is too weak. In Lock-On the cannon was much more accurate than this. The Harrier in ArmA has a very precise cannon (maybe too precise), but if you can aim it then it can be more effective than the A10 cannon

Having a CCIP for the cannon would awesome too, ArmA seems to allow for some pretty advanced HUD elements. We already have landing indicators and some other details. CCIP should be next on the list

Right now the dispersion of the cannon means you have to get pretty close for it to be effective, and that means taking damage from the machine gun on the tank. As well as taking the risk of a bullet hitting the pilot. If you use SIX tracers you can see the dispersion of the cannon, and it is overdone.

The rounds from the A10 should be explosive, from videos I have seen before. Would also help you see the impact point better.

[Maciver 0]

After playing lock-on for 2+ years, I just can't fly these planes with a serious look on my face. I didn't expect anything from the flight model coming into this. My fellow Lock-on players told me not too. lol So it really doesnt bother me. They are fun to fly only because you can help the team. Plus, who does'nt like blowing stuff up.

That said, yes it's pretty horrid to fly the a-10. It's weird and an entirely false representation. But its not meant to be exact.

I dream of the day when flight sims and combat sims are one.

[hailstorm 4]

On the gun, it doesn't have tracers for a reason - the real gun has a muzzle velocity so fast the that no-one actually sees the rounds - only where they hit. accuracy-wise, from what i hear, it does need a bit tightening, but from my experience if the target passes through the aiming reticule when the gun is firing you are pretty much guaranteed a kill (but this could also be due to the fact that the flight model is so atrocious that you are already pretty close when you get a target finally lined up).

BUZZARD @ July 09 2007,19:17)]The whole plane flight model is too strange to be useful because it's just an adapted version of the helicopter flight model...

you know mate, i think you've hit it right on the head there! ALL aircraft all the way from OFP, have this handling querk. aircraft are not supposed to bleed speed like they do in turns - it's a throwback to how turning a rotor disk into the flightpath on a chopper results in a braking effect. also, all the planes arn't really stable - the flightpath moves around wildly in relation to airframe direction. not to mention they are all seriously underpowered. (to BI: fix these! )

i guess tips for flying the A-10 (and generally most of the aircraft) is:

1. apply only the tiniest amount of backpressure in a turn. any more, and your speed will decay way to fast and you'll fall out of the sky and crash. i won't say 'stall' per se, cause in RL if you stall a plane, you damn well know about it!

BI's jets will slowly slip out of controlled flight and hit the ground without actually letting the pilot know.

2. watch that little dot that moves around wildly on the HUD - it's your flightpath director and is telling you exactly where your jet is heading. if you place it on the side of a mountain and keep it there, it's exactly where your crater is going to end up.

3. (A-10 only) keep your speed above 250kmh, unless you're trying to land. generally this keeps the flight director dot between the gun crosshair and where the nose points, so you dont hit the ground when lining something up (something that happened a lot with the OFP A-10)

4. Don't over-reach your goals. go for 1, maybe 2, targets on each attack run. remember you can always turn around and try again, provided you didn't auger yourself into the ground cause you went for 'just 1 more' tank in the first place.

I think they updated it to fly great in 1.08 so i dont no what versions you are using but it flys great for me in 1.08.. If you bank too hard yes you will loose power but you gotta know how to fly it before you say its bugged :S

mate, i have 1.08 and i'm saying this now, ALL the fixed-wing aircraft have bad physics and need fixing. yes, i can fly the ArmA jets, and i can ALSO fly in real life. these planes have almost zero relation to the real thing, besides the fact they look like real planes and need speed to take off. besides that, BI need to go back and get someone with experience to put a half-decent flight model into their games.

The rounds from the A10 should be explosive, from videos I have seen before. Would also help you see the impact point better.

AFAIK, the A-10 never used explosive shells. the rounds used were basically solid slugs of depleted uranium - one of the hardest substances available. the sheer muzzle velocity and density of the round is what gives the cannon it's killing ability - it just smashes it's way through armor. my guess is that you saw the result of these powerful rounds hitting the ground, and the dirt they kick up, looks like some sort of explosive is used, but generally it's just because of how the weapon works.

[Maddmatt 1]

The rounds from the A10 should be explosive, from videos I have seen before. Would also help you see the impact point better.

AFAIK, the A-10 never used explosive shells. the rounds used were basically solid slugs of depleted uranium - one of the hardest substances available. the sheer muzzle velocity and density of the round is what gives the cannon it's killing ability - it just smashes it's way through armor. my guess is that you saw the result of these powerful rounds hitting the ground, and the dirt they kick up, looks like some sort of explosive is used, but generally it's just because of how the weapon works.

Thanks for the explanation. Would be nice if that effect was in game, with some experimenting I managed to do it. It's very basic though, just using effects from the hand grenade.

[an_enlarged_stomach 1]

Yeah..... right now, the harrier has a better tank killing ability than the a-10. That is messed up. I believe the gun is supposed to be more accurate than this, becuase at 4000 feet, the gun has only 4 meters of spread, while in ARMA, the gun has 30+meters of spread at 3500 feet even when the aircraft is stablized. I think the loss of power is used to simulate the loss of one engine. Someone sticky this please.

[Mak 0]

BUZZARD @ July 09 2007,11:17)]The whole plane flight model is too strange to be useful because it's just an adapted version of the helicopter flight model... I must implore to BIS to implement an urgent interim patch to fix it ASAP, since it's really worthless!!! Whilst with OFP the plane's lack of power were compensated by a flight model that took a normal plane's flight model into account, in ArmA, which favours the helicopter flight model, drastic cuts in power for going forward will result in sharp stalls and altitude loss, as if you wouldn't be flying a plane at all, especially one with perfectly straight wings like the A-10... I reiterate my plea to BIS to fix this rather sooner than later!!!

What I have been saying for all this time and people keep shooting down my opinion. I don't see the point of having fixed-wing aircraft currently in ArmA, simply because the flight model is basically like BattleField 1942's WWII Flight Model.

If we can't get it even in the vacinity of "useful" then what's the point of having them? It's not just the A-10, all flight models for fixed-wing aircraft is just terrible in ArmA, and I hope BIS will fix this soon. I'm not asking for a full-blown flight model like IL2 Forgotten Battles, Pacific Fighters, and Microsoft's Flight Simulator X, but lets at least get the basics down first.

[Maciver 0]

Another thing we need for the aircraft is the ability to adjust the properties of each axis.

My x52 sucks in this game because the only thing we can alter is the deadzone. Need to be able to change the curve and sensitivity.

The mouse is far more accurate and easier to handle than my stick. Thats just wrong.

You know the flight model sucks when your better off using a mouse rather than a HOTAS. LOL

[Col. Faulkner 0]

What I have been saying for all this time and people keep shooting down my opinion.  I don't see the point of having fixed-wing aircraft currently in ArmA, simply because the flight model is basically like BattleField 1942's WWII Flight Model.

If we can't get it even in the vacinity of "useful" then what's the point of having them?  

@Mak; FWIW I totally agree. The aircraft in Arma are so

awfully bad it just isn't worth trying to use them. They are

OK for AI flyovers, but little else. If I want to "fly" a virtual

aeroplane there are any number of much better programs I

can use.

[stobbsy 0]

Yeah, the a-10 is surprisingly weird to fly, it handles like a brick.

Hehehe Ive used that comparison before myself. I dunno what an A10 handles like in RL but I heard the nickname for the A10 is the Warthog

Dunno why its called a Warthog, maybe its cause it handles like a great big fat pig.

[ID7 0]

AFAIK, the A-10 never used explosive shells. the rounds used were basically solid slugs of depleted uranium - one of the hardest substances available.

The gun is usually loaded with a mix of AP and HE rounds.

The current implementation of GAU-8 in ArmA looks like an infantry MG with the power of SABOT.

[Grodin 0]

Its not a flight sim, feels good enough for some arcadish bombingruns

[Mak 0]

Its not a flight sim, feels good enough for some arcadish bombingruns

I think the game would be better if Fixed-wing aircraft were erased period. And dare I say this, but maybe even if we didn't have any Helicopters either?? Nah, we need to get places fast, after all it is a big map we are talking about. I just don't see how BIS can get away with this. The infantry are fine I guess, and the vehicles could be improved a little bit, but the flight model even on helicopters in this game is just disappointing, and almost ruins the fun of the game. Correct me if I'm wrong, but ArmA IS supposed to be a realism game and/or simulation, right?

[ArmaVidz 0]

Its not a flight sim, feels good enough for some arcadish bombingruns

I think the game would be better if Fixed-wing aircraft were erased period.  And dare I say this, but maybe even if we didn't have any Helicopters either??  Nah, we need to get places fast, after all it is a big map we are talking about.  I just don't see how BIS can get away with this.  The infantry are fine I guess, and the vehicles could be improved a little bit, but the flight model even on helicopters in this game is just disappointing, and almost ruins the fun of the game.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but ArmA IS supposed to be a realism game and/or simulation, right?

Fixed wing aircraft removed? *cough* <span style='color:olive'>Over my cold, dead, clasped hands</span>  hehe

I understand it's not a flight sim. That's ok. I can live with that. The problem is the total and complete inconsistency in thrust and your ability to recover while moving slowly (120mph). Flying low is like suicide.

Now conversely, try this:

Start a mission.

Immediately upon the mission loading, press your "Left Shift" aka Turbo key. You will climb and climb and will be able to get completely vertical in the climb. It's retarded. Yet you can't even bank left without losing altitude and crashing. Ermm? LOL.

<span style='color:red'>That requires a patch IMHO.</span>

[Messiah 2]

i have no problem flying, and a lot of things being described to me here I've never encountered

the main one that pains me is the sudden stall rate - I was landing an SU34 for pretty much the first time actually (weird when I think about it) and didn't know the ideal landing speed, so slowly decreased the speed with full flaps to work out what the optimal speed would be for control yet not hitting the tarmac too fast

suddenly i hit the stall point and the plane nose dives instantaneously - no warning, no chance for recovery - is that accurate? I'd have assumed there would be a loss of control and a more subtle start to the stall, rather than instant nose dive?

[Maciver 0]

Yeah, the a-10 is surprisingly weird to fly, it handles like a brick.

Hehehe Ive used that comparison before myself. I dunno what an A10 handles like in RL but I heard the nickname for the A10 is the Warthog

Dunno why its called a Warthog, maybe its cause it handles like a great big fat pig.

Haha, you would think so from this game. But it actually is very nice to fly. I'm basing this completely from lock on. It's really nimble and a blast to fly.

What is the thing in our game? I dunno, but its not an A-10 lol