Now is your chance to make fun of me!!

[Rufus_the_Rat]

Originally Posted by thundermuffin

Ok, so I'm pretty new to combat simulators (I know some of you aren't going to qualify BoP as a sim, but whatever) and I'm kind of lost at some of the finer points.

Why, oh dear god why, does my plane stall out on a simple bank?!?!? Maybe I'm not getting the physics of it, but I just don't see what I'm doing wrong. I try taking the bank more gradually, use less speed (which is totally counter intuitive) and use more speed. Some times the plane loves me and handles awesomely, other times it stalls, I sort of get it back and it stalls again.

I hate playing on "Arcade" settings, it makes me feel like a child, and I love a challenge, but I find no resources to help me know what I'm doing wrong.

Please help.
Cheers,
thundermuffin

I have the exact same problem. Arcade is too simple but the controls for Realistic and Simulation are ridiculously tricky.

[H Lecter]

Originally Posted by Rufus_the_Rat

I have the exact same problem. Arcade is too simple but the controls for Realistic and Simulation are ridiculously tricky.

I just played on Realistic mode on my joypad so far. While the controls are tricky, it is possible to master them. I remember how great it felt when I took out tanks, made an Immelmann turn and engaged again without falling out of the sky in my P-51

I'm quite sure that pulling too much on the stick in a real plane will also make you stall. It's like the steering wheel of a car. You don't wanna turn it the maximum range while going 200 on the highway.

[Rufus_the_Rat]

Phew, never mind my complaints, the elevator trick works to solve the stalling issue (you have to turn down sensitivity really low, like to 4.5 white boxes).

[elneilios]

I personally wouldn't change the sensitivity too much if at all. Sure its easy to stall but if you apply full WEP and pull the stick hard, you won't stall that easy even in Sim mode. Now if you turn down the sensitivity you won't be able to turn as hard with WEP on as I can. In other words, turn down the sensitivity, reduce the amount of control available to you. Better to learn when to not turn too hard to avoid stalling and have the extra control for when it can be used.

[Rufus_the_Rat]

I'll experiment with slowly turning up the sensitivity and continually testing it, but for me the game was completely unplayable at the default setting. Extra control is useless if you stall every time you try to turn. Also I'm not convinced that lower sensitivity does significantly impair the flight performance: I actually found it made it easier to aim (line up my shots) which upped my lethality against the enemy bombers.

[cumbo]

Hi all new to forum. the best way to reduce the amount of time you spend stalling>spinning is to understand what causes a stall in the first place, rather than just turnng the sensitivity down.

stalling has less to do with speed and more to do with angle of attack (AoA) which is the angle that the wings are presented to the oncoming airflow.

the wing will always stall at the critical angle of attack regardless of airspeed no matter if flying straight and level/banking/climbing or descending, the only way to recover is decrease the AoA (move the controls centrally forward) any applied aileron/bank whist stalling will induce spin as the unstalled wing overtakes the stalled wing.

the reason its difficult to get used to in the game is there is no sensation of buffet/increased noise/drag increase that you get in a real aircraft that helps you notice the on set of the stall

also the kind of aerobatics these aircraft were able to perform is far removed from modern day aerobatic aircraft that you see at airshows/ red bull air race etc, watching a few videos of WWII aircraft in action would really help your understanding of what the aircfraft is capable of.... its not a fly by wire F/A-18!! trying to turn tightly at full power is not always the answer!!

hope that helps in some way, i fly a real aircraft as a hobby as well as spending too much time with a controller in my hand!!

[loopdreams]

Originally Posted by cumbo

its not a fly by wire F/A-18!!

That's exactly the problem though, it kind of is. Whereas in a real aircraft as you know you can easily make very small adjustments to the controls. Playing this on a pad on full sensitivity makes it far more difficult to make those almost imperceptible adjustments and consequently far easier to make control movements so large that the plane is knocked right out of flying trim.

It's exactly the same reason that when playing racing sims with a pad it's actually far harder to position the car precisely than it is when driving a real car. A steering wheel can help as can turning down the sensitivity of the controls. No different here.

[butterfield]

Originally Posted by cumbo

the reason its difficult to get used to in the game is there is no sensation of buffet/increased noise/drag increase that you get in a real aircraft that helps you notice the on set of the stall

This 'hopefully' will be be patched.. Anton stated it is a glitch that there is no audio cue for buffeting while in cockpit view.

[thundermuffin]

Now that I got that under control, I need more help . What are the flaps doing in their resected settings and I still don't really get what trimmer does. Can anyone explain these things... I'd be nice to know seeing as how I'm currently circling the airfield and would love to land and take a shower

[HauptmannMolders]

Think of trimming like zeroing your controls. In any air plane depending on height, speed, wind speed and direction etc the plane will take considerable effort to have it fly straight. By trimming you are setting the stick and rudders to a point where it fly straight in the "zero" position. Hold the stick/rudders so that the plane is flying straight and hit the trim button. When you then let go of the stick/rudders the plane should now fly straight with little or no effort even if you take your hands off the controls.