4-12 wish list (Merged)

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by Janosch

That reminds me:
- Remove padlock completely from the next version.
- Erase the whole concept of padlocking from human consciousness.

Hypothetically, that's a great idea, BUT:

1) Without padlocking, how do you quickly command AI planes?

After all, a real human pilot could tell another human pilot - "Attack the column of T-34's 200 meters south of the ridge line." or "Attack the trailing Fw-190 in the formation at 9 o'clock low just outside of the low squadron of B-17s."

IL-2 AI doesn't have that level of sophistication, nor does it have any ability to command AI by voice.

2) Without padlocking, how do you deal with the limitations of computer graphics?

A human with great vision is going to be able to pick out little details at a distance which are necessarily simplified by the IL2 graphics engine - things like flashes of light on canopies, national markings, and so forth. A trained human is also going to be able to estimate range to a particular object and do things like estimate its speed, direction of travel, likely course changes, etc.

Padlocking allows you to keep track of a particular plane (or vehicle) despite the fact that the game doesn't give you the same visual acuity and visual clues that a real pilot would have.

So, to some extent, padlocking is realistic in that it gives the player the same information a real pilot would have - like the g-force indicator in the "wonder woman" view cockpit.

I don't like padlocking much either, but until we get God's Own Flight Sim, which gives the player 3-D vision, photoreal scenery, high-poly models with no LoD needed, photoreal skins, a graphics engine which can perfectly render objects, light and shadow with no loss of detail at a distance we still need padlocking.