I know this is a heated topic in all simulations of all types, but I would really enjoy hearing your input (as well as watching punches being thrown back and forth) about realism in EAW. So lets here it? What set up do you fly? And why do you think its "realistic"?

I fly full realism within EAW options as well as the following...
1) No flight info, target range,ID,or target box - No fighterpilot was given this information during battle.Why should I?

2)I fly with the target director on ONLY, ands that b/c I am limited to my view of a flat computer screen and cant move my head like a real fighter pilot could, therefore i believe by using the director...I am compensating for that of which the real pilot is not resrcited.

3)I fly with IAS b/c thats what was used back in the time.

4) I use actual tactics, I very rarely go in on intercepts which I know I will fail at, I dont attack a bomber alone (Ju87 is exception ) and I dont try to combat my Hurricane and Spitfire as a spaceship or starcruiser.

All my smacking being done,Let me in on how you fly EAW.Maybe Ill get some ideas, and maybe youll have some complaints about the way i fly

I do select "easy" landings however. I don't mind learning how to land my fighter of choice on realistic settings and I enjoy landing practice in CFS and SDOE. But after a tough mission in EAW, especially in a campaign, I go nuts if I blow it on landing.

I know, landings can be tough, especially with a damaged aircraft and tired pilot. But that's my cheat- I admit it.

If I haven't flown in a while and I feel out of sorts, I move the enemy AI down to veteran for a while.

I never use the easy enemy setting and I never turn stalls and spins off. Also, I use engine overheat, blackouts etc.

Tonight, I was having a fantastic mission, shot down six bandits and barely escaped their angry buddies. While humming along at full throttle toward home, I blew my engine! Oh well. I hit the silk and took a dip.

Good hunting.

I fly much the same way you do. All the realism settings are on high (realistic gunnery, mid-air collisions, blackouts, stalls and spins, wind, torque effect, etc.), enemy AI is set to Ace, and cockpit indicators are historical (IAS; metric for German, Imperial for Allies).

I prefer to fly with the cockpit left visible (since real pilots can't see anything that's below their plane's nose!), but when the fighting gets heavy I must hide the cockpit or my framerate suffers (I have a mere 200MHz Pentium with a Banshee card). I suppose I could remedy this by disabling the virtual cockpit gauges, but then that damn "ENGINE OVERHEATING" message is sprung on you without warning!

I, like yourself, fly without target ID, target box, or target range -- but like you said, it is only fair for us computer pilots to be able to toggle the target padlock as compensation for our sensory-deprived state. However, I really think the target padlock should lose track of the target more easily, not just when you stall.

I do use the zoom function -- I see it as the equivalent of me in a real plane leaning forward and squinting at my target! After all, real pilots see with better resolution than 1280x1024!

If I'm flying in a serious career, I don't do anything foolishly bold or daring, and I don't continue a career if I get killed (unless I think my death was silly -- like if friendly planes shoot me up while I'm tailing my target closely!).

I also go easy on the aerobatics in careers. I have always thought the blackout effect was unrealistic -- when you start to black out in real life, sure, your vision seems to fade gradually to black, but you also gradually lose consciousness. This is not realistically reflected in the game by the screen fading to black, because you have total, unimpaired control up to the point of total blackout! Oh well.

That's how I fly, like it or not!

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Der Opa