Overhaul the drag model
SimplePlanes is a simulation game, which is great because you can build whatever you want and then expect it to fly exactly like it would in real life!
Not exactly...
One massive thing is stopping any aircraft's flight dynamics dead in its tracks: drag.
SimplePlanes drag model in its current state is so bad in fact, that I recently had to cut my aircraft's drag by almost 98% and that only got it close to flying properly. Engines need to be more powerful to make adequate thrust (which really messes with takeoff performance) and when you send your power to idle at 10,000 feet it feels like you just ran into a wall with how fast your plane decelerates, and you need to enter a vertical nosedive to gain speed again.
THIS IS NOT REALISTIC!!!
This is why the drag model needs a total overhaul. Airplanes simply need to make less drag than they currently do in SimplePlanes. As in, 98% less drag. This will allow for some awesome stuff like better gliders and more efficient engines, as well as much better thrust physics.
Also, instead of focusing on individual parts, I suggest that the drag model looks at the plane as a whole and figures out how much air resistance the entire shape will create. Do away with the drag points system and instead use a Drag Coefficient to determine how much drag your airplane will create.
Implementing both of these things would help the flying part of the game a lot, and would help builders like me improve realism as much as possible on our builds. Thank you for your consideration.
ForeverPie
shared this idea
2 comments
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YoDudeChase
commented
I'd say cut it by 25% and see how that goes, also it would mess with previously made builds therefore it will never happen
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rexzion
commented
while this is a big problem, I don't really care too much if it's fixed or not, I can just go into XML and take away some drag and usually it works (it might need a bit of fine tuning but it works). I will go out of my way to fix the drag, some people won't. you might have some really nice looking plane on the highest rated but it would accelerate to mach 1 in about 5 seconds, this person did not bother to make the flight characteristics realistic. but not like anyone cares about the planes flight, it's all about how much parts it has and how good it looks. I think people going out of their way to make something realistic shows the effort that has been put into it flying well. it's pretty easy to do manually, so I don't see much reason for it but it'd be nice.