EA Planes explode, but don't go down burning?

[Hellshade]

Has anyone else noticed that sometimes when you hammer away at an Enemy Aircraft particularly hard, you apparently hit the fuel tank because it suddenly explodes in the air? That's really cool, but it's a little jarring that after it explodes the plane itself doesn't usually catch on fire. It generally drops from the sky, yes. But shouldn't it catch on fire and go down burning? If it's supposed to be like that, does anyone know why? If it's just a glitch, hopefully it will get tossed onto the list for things the Devs plan to address in the future. And yes, I'm nit picking here but I've seen that happen several times so I wondered what was the story. For what it's worth I run with everything, including Effects, on 4 so I do see flaming aircraft from time to time. Just NEVER one that just exploded.

 

/salute

Hellshade

[Test Pilot]

Ive seen that explosion followed by nothing far more than seeing a plane go down burning.

[+Polovski]

Make sure your effects sliders are on 5. Most people will see fire or not after explosions randomly, no guarantee all is random depending on what is hit and how badly whatever. Maybe the explosion used all the fuel, or maybe something else went bang ammo etc?

[Hauksbee]

So using that logic, if he's at 17000....

It is my understanding that oxygen levels gets pretty thin above 10,000. How high did open-cockpit flyers go?

[UK_Widowmaker]

Italian pilot Mario Pezzi reached an altitude of 56046 feet.. closed cockpit and Oxygen...but still the highest in a prop plane (apparently)

Edited April 29, 2009 by UK_Widowmaker

[shredward]

As high as 20,000. Will Barker was stalking a Rumpler crew (who were on O2) at over 20,000 when he was hit from below by a prop-hanging DVII, at the start of his epic VC winning fight against odds on Oct 27 1918. He was no doubt suffering from hypoxia, reducing his awareness of what was going on down below.

Cheers,

shredward

[+Dej]

As high as 20,000. Will Barker was stalking a Rumpler crew (who were on O2) at over 20,000 when he was hit from below by a prop-hanging DVII, at the start of his epic VC winning fight against odds on Oct 27 1918. He was no doubt suffering from hypoxia, reducing his awareness of what was going on down below.

Cheers,

shredward

 

In his recent book 'Aces Falling' Peter Hart cites James McCudden in a modified SE5a reaching 21,000ft in early 1918. McCudden had fitted high compression pistons in the SE's engine himself, so that he could reach the high-flying Rumplers and LVGs that were his specaility. Hart also quotes McCudden's writings that note the effects of oxygen starvation and particularly the intense cold.

[Hauksbee]

17 or 18,000 sometimes, the German 2 seaters as high as 21,000. In say 1918, the Germans experimented with oxygen

This was all new stuff, obviously high altitude sickness was unknown

 

All right. That's higher that I had suspected.

 

As you say, it was all new stuff. But hardly unknown. Zeppelin crews suffered terribly from it, especially when the pursuing planes got better and forced them to ever higher altitudes.

Edited April 29, 2009 by Hauksbee

[+Hasse Wind]

It takes some guts to fly in those crates in the first place, but to climb all the way up to 20,000 feet without oxygen gear... the cold alone must be unbearable in an open cockpit at that altitude!

 

I've never been able to make enemy aircraft explode, though I've seen AA do it occasionally, once to my own plane.

[Hellshade]

Vaporized fuel Explodes, Liquid Fuel Burns. So if he has 3/4 of a tank, chances are he burns. But if he's running on fumes chances are he explodes

 

Then it gets more complex, because the higher you go the colder it gets. Fuel doesn't Vaporize as easily in the cold. So using that logic, if he's at 17000 he'll probably burn IF he has a half tank, but if he used most of his fuel getting up that high, there's no garentee of anything

 

Ok well that makes sense for why it would sometimes explode instead of just burning. But it still leads to the fairly jarring sight of an aircraft exploding and then falling to earth looking perfectly intact. I'm wondering if there is a way that when an aircraft explodes there is a way to show actual damage to the aircraft? Perhaps some wings could come off? I certainly have no idea how the Damage Model system works and since there are two official DMs (did I mention the Devs rock?) that certainly makes things trickier. But is there a way that explosions could generate a certain amount of damage to various parts of the plane, thus causing them to show rips, tears or even lose wings? I think it would add tremendously to the immersion if this were possible to incorporate.

 

Polovski, I'll put the effects slider to 5 to see what that does. What do you think about the idea of explosions assigning a certain amount of damage to various parts of the plane? Is that feasible?

 

/salute

Hellshade

[Hellshade]

If you get-off an seeing parts on explosions, I hit a DR1 once with Rockets, it was raining wings . .

 

 

ohhh. Then it would seem that it is possible to set the explosions so they do damage to various parts of the aircraft. It's not so much that I "get off" on seeing parts exploding as it is that I think it just seems odd an aircraft "explodes" but then it falls to earth completely intact. I would think if you hit the fuel tank and it explodes, the plane would break apart in some fashion or at least catch fire to the canvas and wood frame and send it down burning. But yes, it would make for some pretty killer videos too, wouldn't it?

 

/salute

Hellshade

[Test Pilot]

Took a Dr1 up against 6 Pups. Got 3 of them to burst into flames. Now Im getting somewhere!!!!!

[Fortiesboy]

Took a Dr1 up against 6 Pups. Got 3 of them to burst into flames. Now I'm getting somewhere!!!!!

 

6 Pups - quite a litter.

 

Skill like that , you were born too late and in the wrong country. The jastas would have been clamouring for you!.

[zoomzoom]

Oddly enough, I've seen an even greater oddity, and quite regularly. I hole the fuel tank, the enemy plane explodes dramatically, big flame ball, and I fully expect him to spiral in as the pilot must be a toasted marshmallow by this time. Instead he noses down, regains control and putters along like nothing ever happened!!!! Even re-enters the fight on occasion. WIERD!!!!....no?

 

ZZ.

[Hellshade]

Oddly enough, I've seen an even greater oddity, and quite regularly. I hole the fuel tank, the enemy plane explodes dramatically, big flame ball, and I fully expect him to spiral in as the pilot must be a toasted marshmallow by this time. Instead he noses down, regains control and putters along like nothing ever happened!!!! Even re-enters the fight on occasion. WIERD!!!!....no?

 

ZZ.

 

I've seen that a few times myself. Quite odd. So to stop that from happening, if I see an explosion I keep on shooting as long as possible. Sometimes you just have to be sure you got em.

 

/salute

Hellshade

[Test Pilot]

6 Pups - quite a litter.

 

Skill like that , you were born too late and in the wrong country. The jastas would have been clamouring for you!.

 

 

Failed to mention I crashed into a tree watching my last pup go down. Skill like mine and I think Im better off behind a computer...