Troubleshooting the Corsair I DM
Not surprisingly, there are a few oddities.
1) The fuel tank seems very vulnerable to small caliber bullets.
The armor plate in front of the oil tank, which also provided partial protection to the fuel tank from the front, doesn't seem to be modeled.
Even one hit by a .303 bullet to the fuel tank often starts a big, unstoppable fuel leak. It's as if the fuel tank isn't self-sealing at all.
Regardless of where a bullet hits the fuel tank (i.e., whether above or below the fuel level) you still get a fuel leak. For a big, basically rectangular fuel tank like on the Corsair, that doesn't make sense.
While you don't get the "one shot, instant fire" effect like on some planes, even one later .303 bullet will often start a fire. It's as if every bullet in the game is an Incendiary, API or APEX round.
The overall effect is that the Corsair's fuel system seems very vulnerable, almost as if it were a A6M2.
2) The engine is comparatively vulnerable.
While I haven't compared the Corsair's DM to that of the Hellcat, compared to the P-47D-10, which used virtually the same engine, the Corsair can stand far less damage before the engine conks out. Counting the bullets, I'd say that the same R-2800 engine mounted in a P-47 can take 50% to 100% more damage than if it was mounted in a Corsair.
Additionally, just about any hit to the engine seems to be a cylinder hit, when much of the volume of any radial engine was radiator fins. This might be realistic for .50 caliber and larger bullets, but for a .303 bullet, there's actually a good chance that you'll miss the cylinder.
This isn't a problem unique to the Corsair, but it's one of the ways in which .30/.303 bullets are overmodeled in the game.
3) While it's not exactly an engine-modeling flaw, the Corsair's forward fuselage - the area between the engine and the the fuel tank where the supercharger, etc. were seems to be very vulnerable to damage. Even a very few .303 bullets in the engine, none anywhere near this area of the plane, will trigger a "light damage" result.
This seems strange since contemporary U.S. reports hold that the Corsair was about as tough as the P-47.
4) The machine guns aren't well modeled. Hits to a MG which go right down the barrel don't disable the gun, but hits which arguably might have missed the gun receivers or ammo trays always cause a gun jam. This is a very typical DM problem, especially on the older planes.
5) The wing oil coolers aren't modeled. Bullets that go right into the oil cooler don't cause oil leaks.
6) There's no logic to pilot hits. On one mission I collected an arm wound when none of the bullets actually hit the pilot's arms. On another mission, I merely got a "pilot wounded" result from a bullet right between my pilot's eyes. Normally, that would be a straight "PK" result, or at the very least a "Serious Wound."
Maybe this is a systemic problem, but it seems especially bad on the Corsair I.
7) The armor glass seems to be undermodeled. While I can't say for sure, since I collected most of my "PK" results at relatively short ranges where a rifle caliber bullet might conceivably penetrate armor glass, out of the many QMB missions I flew, I'd estimate that about 15% resulted in PK results through the armor glass.
http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/attachm...1&d=1406108019
Bad DM for the machine guns. Notice a bullet that goes right down the barrel of one gun but doesn't result in a gun hit.
http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/attachm...1&d=1406108155
About those Ace gunners. . . Lots of hits on a fast-moving and maneuvering target at 400+ meters.
http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/attachm...1&d=1406108337
The forward fuselage is extremely vulnerable to damage, as is the engine. Strange considering that the Corsair was considered to be as rugged as the Hellcat and the P-47. Notice, there are more and bigger bullet holes in the light damage texture than there are actual bullets in the plane!
http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/attachm...1&d=1406108531
Just one .303 bullet in the fuel tank starts a gigantic, unstoppable fuel leak.
http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/attachm...1&d=1406108677
A direct hit to the oil cooler doesn't start an oil leak.