Damage Model Bug Stomping - Part 2

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by majorfailure

Fw190s do obviously suffer from overdone damage from a few hits - while quite alot of hits are survivable, though the landing will be no fun.

Agreed. My impression of the FW-190 series is that "they're easy to bend, hard to break."

Originally Posted by majorfailure

I don't think the Yak family stands out for being tough because the Bf109 is so fragile. It stands out for being tough because it has an inline engine that is close to indestructible

Respectfully, I disagree. Please play the mission I've uploaded, choosing any of the Yak series as your targets, and you'll see that their engines are actually quite fragile.

Because your posts are generally spot on, you had me worried that my tests were incorrect. So, I went back and tried shooting the Yak series fighters (Yak-1, Yak-3, Yak-9) from different angles. I repeatedly got the same result as I got before - about 1 second of .50 cal MG fire was sufficient to trigger engine failure and/or fire, and to convince the AI pilot to bail out. The Yak-9 is only tougher than the other Yaks because engine fires tend to quickly self-extinguish.

The important trick is to aim for the first third of the front fuselage - just behind the propeller spinner. Hits further back on the front fuselage - just ahead of the pilot - hit the guns or parts that aren't modeled.

Additionally, there seems to be some randomness or error built into damage results, so there will be times when some parts just won't break. You have to "fly" the same mission 4 or 5 times before you can start getting a sense of where the average lies.

Originally Posted by majorfailure

other planes, notably the P-40 and P-51 (though Bf109 not far off - and don't let me get started about the MiG-3 series - that thing burns no matter where and what hit it) have engines that regularly die from a few rifle caliber bullet hits.

Agreed. Inline engines are far too vulnerable across the board.

Originally Posted by majorfailure

Wings may be too fragile, but Yaks are small and light, so damage should harm them more than bigger, tougher planes.
Bf109 not tough -yes. But maybe that is okay, there is nearly no part of that plane that can be hit without damaging something of value.

But, I'm consistently seeing results where just 5-10 .50 caliber bullets scattered across a Yak's (or Bf-109's or Spitfire's) tail surfaces or wings will trigger collapse when it's sitting on the ground. Basically, the plane falls apart because you punched half a dozen or a dozen random 1 inch/25mm-wide holes into several square yards/meters of aluminum or plywood.

Yes, realistically, those 5-10 bullets might break a part, but only if they all hit in the same place while the aircraft was pulling high-G maneuvers. Scattered across a wing or control surface, that sort of damage result makes no sense.

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by Woke Up Dead

Yak engines don't die, but they do sometimes go to an "almost dead" state when hit where they only get 5-10% of normal power out of them; only good enough to extend your glide towards home a little bit.

My tests can't test for reduced power output, other than determining if the prop speed is reduced.

But, my impression is that many engines - particularly radials - behave as you describe. It's not just Yaks.