Fatigue ingame..

[zapatista]

Originally Posted by Pit

Personally I am rather dubious as to how "fatique" is going to be modeled...

I can tell you from PERSONAL experience of flying REAL combat aircraft (albeit in jets... F-111, F-4G/E, and F-16 )AND in combat, and having the WONDERFUL opportunity to fly several WWII A/C... compliments of the CAF (Confederate Air Force/ Commemorative Air Force)... pilot fatique is VERY different for each person... a pilot in very good physical shape and using proper techniques can sustain high G maneuvers and higher G's longer, and better than somebody that is not as conditioned or experienced in proper techniques... I also can attest that even if you ARE bone tired, that when bogies are sighted... that fatique goes away VERY FAST and is indeed replaced with serious adrenaline!!! BUT... after the engagements are over and you make it back to base... you almost have to be lifted out of the cockpit you are so beat. Especially if it is not the only sortie you flew that day!!! It is not typically, until AFTER you are safe from the engagments that the fatigue sets in... and in MANY cases the shakes!!!

So how is this going to be modeled properly... ESPECIALLY since they flew several sorties a day??? I am curious but a bit apprehensive as to see how this will be done!!

presuming things you said are true about your personal flight experience in those aircraft (dont mean to be rude, but we had the odd fake guy show up, like the one whom wanted everybody to call him colonel blabla whatever it was), and i hope you are the real deal, then let us consider that....

1) the experience in the modern aircraft you refer to all relates to fly by wire modern jet aircraft that are designed to be control with the light touch of one hand, and have with sticks that are MUCH easier to control than those on an old ww2 prop plane, AND in those modern jets you barely use the rudder pedals in normal flight or combat (rudder is mostly used during landing and takeoff from what i hear).

most "combat" in those jets you mention is with "over the horizon" weapon systems to, so it is not usually in very close with sustained air combat maneuvres in close, like it was in ww2.

so compared to ww2 and the physical exhaustion of having to move and stir a stick which has a lot of resistance with both arms, while stomping on the rudder pedals for hard maneuvering while the enemy is about 200 meters away from you is very different. that experience is very similar to having to continuesly pump weights at the gym with both arms and legs at the same time, and even with sutained adrenaline the fatigue factor rapidly sets in. this is something you can measure with physiological testing, and is very differnet from mental fatigue induced by mental concentration and stress.

2) sustaining G maneuvres is a little different. some people were better at it then others, and the correct training usually mattered, they also used various tricks w scarfs and contracting muscles to delay the blackout and redout effect. but that phenomena has a different threshold, and is induced by slightly different actions (for ex simply the tightness of a turn etc..).


i think there is no need for either of those problems to be modeled differently for axis/allied, or young or old pilots, or tall or short, or trained or untrained, or fit or unfit. that would complicate matters beyond what oleg can do right now.

what we do need however is a way to represent physical fatigue, because some of the behaviour you see online is totally unrealistic (as previous posters in this same thread have illustrated very clearly)