Give me some "holy sh... did that just happen" ideas

[_RAAF_Firestorm]

Good call Ilya - a few have called up systems failures but there are some subtle ones that could add atmosphere, here are some suggestions:

1. An unexpected noise - something starts to clatter in the back of the cockpit, you cant make out what it might be... just makes you nervous, need to go through a systems / control check again.

2. Static over radio - can still hear but it's not clear, adds frustration to the heat of battle.

3. Morale failure, your wingman calls an engine failure and proceeds to RTB, do you let him go and proceed alone, or do you see him back to base?

4. Fatigue, your wingman falls asleep behind the stick - you have to wake him up through frantic radio calls.

[erco]

Thanks for asking, Ilya. My thoughts are that a big ol' dose of the unexpected is always good- missions that don't go as briefed; changing conditions that demand a DECISION by the pilot (with the attendant consequences), finding that the 20 109's you just went out to intercept are 50! That sort of thing. And I wouldn't worry about making such events play-balanced- David vs Goliath is very interesting!

Other things that would be interesting: As you taxi in or out, a flight of (whatever) comes in low and fast, makes a snappy break and comes round to land; A training aircraft blundering into a dogfight; CAPing your downed comrade in his raft, as you try and cover the rescue boat or plane so that they can make the rescue before the other side can capture him.

A bomber intercept with hundreds of aircraft in a very small volume just HAS to be exciting! With tracers, collisions, explosions, smoke and debris flying around it makes for an incomparable picture.

But, the one thing that keeps coming back to me is that you guys just HAVE to leverage the weather abilities of your new engine. Taking off into a fog, breaking out into a brilliant sky above, or having to shoot a GCI approach to land after combat, possibly damaged, possibly in formation. Or shutting down your plane to see the first snow starting to fall- gentle and delicate after the stress of combat. Or trying to beat a thunderstorm to the field.

And having the weather worsen during a mission. One scenario that would be cool would be a bomber intercept in the midst of rapidly growing thunderstorms. Around the clouds and through the valleys between, lightning, turbulence and heavy rain when you inadvertantly penetrate a cell, popping out of a cloud to find yourself point blank with an enemy formation. That would be awesome!

How about an airshow mode? Fast-forward from the war to modern times and have the games' aircraft all staged for the greatest airshow ever. Or a setup for a spot landing contest?

There's so much that could be done. Thanks again for asking our opinions! I can't wait to see what the finished product will be!

[Romanator21]

One idea: I imagine pilot's would not have the same plane for every flight. It would be nice if a damaged plane is returned you get another on the field which may have different weathering/performance issues. The damaged plane could appear in a hangar for repairs. If during a mission only a few non-damaging bullet holes are made that these remain for the next mission or two, or are patched in some way. It would also be nice to see that in a flight, the numbers are not totally in order. Ex, in a flight in IL-2 all aircraft are marked 1, 2, 3, 4 and fly in that order. If one has MatManager, then you can have a flight numbered 5,2,9,3, etc. For Bob, maybe the change in letters: ex. FH G, FH L, FH A, FH, Y.

[drafting]

I think there are a lot of 'Holy sh..' moments in ground strafing...

Watching Youtube, usually when strafing ground targets you'll see some smoke or maybe fire, but every now and then, you'll get a 'HOOOOLLLYYY SHHHIIII' gigantic fireball and shockwave and see the pilot frantically yanking back and away from the towering inferno:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3t8nlIaQJaI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKomzCUZZDw

There're tons of stories too of pilots clipping trees and getting branches stuck in their wings, knocking off chimneys, sawing off the last half of their propellers from flying too low, and even flying through and out of those huge fireballs.

If Storm of War allowed that kind of stuff, I bet you'd hear all sorts of 'I can't believe I made it out of that!' stories.

[Alien]

And you could make real-time bail outs. I mean when Heinkel is being shot down on 3000ft it's almost impossible that every crew member will bail out in the time. It would be very violent, but reallistic view, if you see Heinkel shot down by you and only 2-3 men bailed out.