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  • Please see the most recent updates in the "Where did the .com name go?" thread. Posts number 16 and 17.

    Post 16 Update

    Post 17 Warning

Alphasim....how the mighty have fallen, discuss!

tigisfat said:
A couple points:

--People have been producing conjecture about the downfall of Alphasim forever. They once produced a jillion models a year, they once had a jillion employees. Production times are on a J-curve in flight simming. The great Mike Stone used to barrage us with models we loved constantly, that simply cannot be done anymore with the clarity and fidelity demanded from competitive products now. To sum it up, it's possible that Alphasim is on a very acceptable production schedule given the complexity of their projects in addition to the amount of employees they have.

--As bitter as people claim to be about Alphasim, they keep coming back. Why? Developers plan projects smartly for the most part. They don't like to do what others have done, and they produce to fill our needs. When we all are foaming at the mouth for a native FSX jaguar (and starting gripe at alphasim threads the whole time) and Phil releases one, who'd gonna buy it? You're darn right we are. Don't talk about poor customer treatment and services from Phil (yes, I've been burned too) because Alphasim's other employees have met us in every forum for solutions and handed out personal email addresses to assist us many times.

--Alphasim has possibly reached a point where they have a fairly decent lineup of products that are still selling. Most other devs are killing themselves getting their fourth aircraft out. Less visibility and releases do not bequeath the fall of Alphasim.

--The departure of some of our favorite artists and developers over the years from Alphasim employment do not neccesarily mean that Alphasim will fail. Probably half the big names I can think of 'round these parts used to work for Alphasim and Alphasim kept going.

--Internal conflicts and pay problems? We only think we know what's going on because maybe a few friends have told us bits and pieces. I've been privy to a chunk of Alphasim drama over the last few years, and I'm sure I don't know the half of it. The drama goes both ways from owners to employees and from employees to owners, and it's common in business.

--Piracy? I don't advocate it, participate in it or see any justification, but let's be real. Piracy's impact on the software industry CANNOT be quantified, and thus, the 'fall of Alphasim' can't be blamed on it. Blaming poor sales on piracy in a rough economy is BS. 99.99999999% of the time, a pirate was never going to buy it anyway, so no money was lost. There are also no lost manufacturing or production efforts on a single pirated piece of software if it's downloaded. The only thing that happened is some jerk has something illegally that he has no right to use. On the same token, price increases to account for piracy are BS, because there is no way to substantiatei your liquidated damages from piracy.
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Unfortunately, there is a cost. That cost comes when those very same pirates show up expecting to get help because this that and the other thing don't work. That's time and time is money in this biz, like all others. Besides... it REALLY hurts to see your (my) stuff going up on pir@teb@y within two hours of it going on sale. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. There is no quantifying THAT.
 
krazycolin said:
Unfortunately, there is a cost. That cost comes when those very same pirates show up expecting to get help because this that and the other thing don't work. That's time and time is money in this biz, like all others. Besides... it REALLY hurts to see your (my) stuff going up on pir@teb@y within two hours of it going on sale. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. There is no quantifying THAT.
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We actually had stuff pirated before it went on sale. It was obvious that someone we sent a pre-release copy to for a review was responsible.
 
Paul K said:
Loved every Alphasim release up until the utterly dreadful B-24D, and will happily consider every Alphasim release from here onwards. Judge each product on its own merits, not by the label sewn into the collar.
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The Alphasim B-24 has given me a lot of pleasure since I bought it, so in what way is it utterly dreadful?
 
The nose was far too short on the D model, Roger. I won't resurrect that controversy again, because I can almost hear the sighs and eye-rolling as I type this.

Driving past old 2nd Air Division airfields such as Shipdam, North Pickenham and Hethel as a boy generated a life-long interest in the Liberator, so suffice it to say the Alphasim D-model was a huge disappointment.
 
Hi Paul,

I guess thats one of the problems associated with being in love with a plane.

It's what got me building planes for FS2000 to start with - I wanted an SR-71 to look right, couldn't find one so I started building one, then another, then another, and so on :icon_lol:

To the bystander, the AS B-24 looks fine, but to the lover, anything small or large that is wrong with it makes it dreadful.

Do what I did, pick up the tools and get to work! It's the only way to ensure that you get what you want!
 
krazycolin said:
Unfortunately, there is a cost. That cost comes when those very same pirates show up expecting to get help because this that and the other thing don't work. That's time and time is money in this biz, like all others. Besides... it REALLY hurts to see your (my) stuff going up on pir@teb@y within two hours of it going on sale. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. There is no quantifying THAT.
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That's why I don't go looking any more. Ignorance is bliss. Neither do I assist anyone who isn't on our customer list. A simple check to do.
I still agree with Tigisfat when he says no sales are lost as the morally challenged low lives wouldn't have bought it anyway.
Look on it as an accolade and free advertising. I think I'd be upset if it wasn't on a torrent site.
 
Awesome shots Paul.

Funnily enough I have a single FSX native B-58 Hustler test model, Hustled up on my hard drive that will be getting some attention in the future :icon_lol:
 
2048 x 2048 .dds textures ready when you are, David!!

centuryseries said:
Awesome shots Paul.

Funnily enough I have a single FSX native B-58 Hustler test model, Hustled up on my hard drive that will be getting some attention in the future :icon_lol:
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I'm still working on the rivets........!:wavey:

DaveQ
 
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I wish aircraft were still made that had those elegant lines.

Good job on the detailing :mixedsmi:

I personally fell in love with Super Sue.
 
Well, I've seen a lot of comments here that seem to equate Alphasim's relatively low end cockpits and polygon counts with equally “simple” flight models. I'm not so sure that “equation” is valid. All you jet jockeys just try taking off with the AS F-105 with a full load a fuel and turning around in the pattern and landing. A “Class A mishap” will probably follow. Do the same with 50% fuel and the newspapers will have less to report the next day.... And try “throttle yanking” the B-58 and F-104 with reckless abandon and see what happens. Smoking hole, that's what! Now, what I know about flight model making could probably fit on one page, but this “conventional wisdom” around here that “Alphasim = easy & simple” is not so easily borne out, not by me anyway.
 
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PRB said:
Well, I've seen a lot of comments here that seem to equate Alphasim's relatively low end cockpits and polygon counts with equally “simple” flight models. I'm not so sure that “equation” is valid. All you jet jockeys just try taking off with the AS F-105 with a full load a fuel and turning around in the pattern and landing. A “Class A mishap” will probably follow. Do the same with 50% fuel and the newspapers will have less to report the next day.... And try “throttle yanking” the B-58 and F-104 with reckless abandon and see what happens. Smoking hole, that's what! Now, what I know about flight model making could probably fit on one page, but this “conventional wisdom” around here that “Alphasim = easy & simple” is not so easily borne out, not by me anyway.
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Hard doesn't equal realistic. I may not have ever been an F-104 or F-105 pilot, but I am a pilot and those two flight models were garbage. As I understand it, there was a real F-105 pilot who insisted it be that way while Shane scratched his head. F-105s would have never been produced if they did rediculous things on final in anything but mild conditions. It's too bad I love the AS F-105....
 
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PRB said:
Well, I've seen a lot of comments here that seem to equate Alphasim's relatively low end cockpits and polygon counts with equally “simple” flight models. I'm not so sure that “equation” is valid. All you jet jockeys just try taking off with the AS F-105 with a full load a fuel and turning around in the pattern and landing. A “Class A mishap” will probably follow. Do the same with 50% fuel and the newspapers will have less to report the next day.... And try “throttle yanking” the B-58 and F-104 with reckless abandon and see what happens. Smoking hole, that's what! Now, what I know about flight model making could probably fit on one page, but this “conventional wisdom” around here that “Alphasim = easy & simple” is not so easily borne out, not by me anyway.
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Well, many aircraft have a gross weight for takeoff higher than the limited weight for landing. And when you find yourself needing to land above that limit, you dump fuel. Other than that, turning with full fuel isn't an issue unless you go under the stall speed at a given weight, and stall speed increases as the bank angle increases.

I would find it strange that you cannot turn the aircraft at all at max gross takeoff weight, else it would be impossible to fly the aircraft. Since approach speed can vary with weight, provided you stay at approach speed and don't try to land above max landing weight, I don't see an automatic ticket for a Class C mishap.

I do know that the century series fighters had a constant problem with the slow spool up times of those older jet engines. And they had high wing loading. So, if you lost an engine on takeoff, it was pretty dicey given those old ejection seats couldn't really help you that much. On the other hand, I've heard many of those pilot say the planes were quite easy to land.

One pilot of the F-100 claims it was the easiest aircraft to spot land he ever flew.

So, it really depends upon the details.

Cheers,

Ken
 
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Ken Stallings said:
One pilot of the F-100 claims it was the easiest aircraft to spot land he ever flew.
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An old instructor of mine was an F-100 and F-105 pilot. He said that they used to plant those aircraft on so they didn't spend any time fooling around in ground effect. A few of those jets had 175KIAS approach/landing speeds, and most had primitive brakes, therefore they needed to get down. If you landed one to a full stall, I guess it could get ugly too. I think they had long legged struts with good damping to aid in the harder no-flare landings.

A cool video I just watched showed an F-100 pilot keeping the nose steady and throttling up over the chevrons to stay in ground effect, then staying about 5 feet up for 1,000 feet before chopping it and planting it on.
 
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