A2A lead tester's thoughts on MSFS & flight simming in 2023

[Danno 196]

2 hours ago, Mace said:

 but A2A is the best of the best, and if they modelled some junky old 1930's Pou-du-Ciel (aka flying flea) -- if A2A did it, I would still want to fly it.

This is an interesting point, I’ve owned the A2A Cherokee, Comanche and Connie. They were the best you could get in FSX/P3D. But in the MSFS world, we have already been introduced to models that match complexity and flight accuracy. The Kodiak, Chancellor and Black Square projects are examples that bring some of the same features that A2A pioneered last generation. So what might they be introducing in MSFS that pushes them to the top once again? Or will they just be one of many top tier developers? Personally, I’m hoping to see another ‘Career Mode’ like the Connie had. 

[Bobsk8 12,878]

7 minutes ago, Danno said:

This is an interesting point, I’ve owned the A2A Cherokee, Comanche and Connie. They were the best you could get in FSX/P3D. But in the MSFS world, we have already been introduced to models that match complexity and flight accuracy. The Kodiak, Chancellor and Black Square projects are examples that bring some of the same features that A2A pioneered last generation. So what might they be introducing in MSFS that pushes them to the top once again? Or will they just be one of many top tier developers? Personally, I’m hoping to see another ‘Career Mode’ like the Connie had. 

The A2A aircraft that really taught me how to fly a tail dragger, was the T6 Texan. Landing that aircraft was an art. 

[Mace 1,963]

34 minutes ago, Danno said:

This is an interesting point, I’ve owned the A2A Cherokee, Comanche and Connie. They were the best you could get in FSX/P3D. But in the MSFS world, we have already been introduced to models that match complexity and flight accuracy. The Kodiak, Chancellor and Black Square projects are examples that bring some of the same features that A2A pioneered last generation. So what might they be introducing in MSFS that pushes them to the top once again? Or will they just be one of many top tier developers? Personally, I’m hoping to see another ‘Career Mode’ like the Connie had. 

Not from what I've seen.  I own the Chancellor and it doesn't currently have wear and tear, one of the differentiating parts of Accusim.  Do the Kodiak and Black Square projects have wear and tear?   

Wear and tear is different than "persistance" aka state-saving which many add-on aircraft now have.    Wear and tear will keep track of the hours on each cylinder, each light bulb etc. etc. and as far as I know only the FSReborn Sting S4 (and maybe the C310?) has this in MSFS.   If the Kodiak and BlackSquare stuff have it, please let me know.

Edited February 21, 2023 by Mace

[Poncho 19]

I had 4 A2A GA planes in FSX, and all were set up such that I did a walk around pre-flight exterior inspection prior to jumping in the cockpit. Apparently I flew them enough that I had to do repairs and such to worn flaps etc, and oil changes to the engines and selecting what viscosity of oil I used. I am unaware of any aircraft in MSFS that are matching those details.

I only wish A2A would do a nice twin such as the Beech Duke 60 or Piper PA-23. I flew the heck out of my A2A PA-24 in FSX, not sure it would see a lot of air time in MSFS, I’d rather “move on” to something different from them.

Oh ya, and I had to change my fouled up spark plugs from time to time. LOL

Edited February 23, 2023 by Poncho
Added the last line.

[lwt1971 7,464]

FWIW, a rare update and perhaps even a hint re: imminent release by A2A:

https://a2asimulations.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=74087&start=210

We've begun working on the tutorial videos which says a lot about the state of the project. It's mind blowing experiencing this aircraft behaving precisely like an airplane I know so well.

Scott

A2A Simulations Inc.

Edited May 11, 2023 by lwt1971

[AviatorMan 253]

Seems as if we saw an announcement similar to this about a year or two ago.

[ryanbatc 13,047]

IDK - still means it's a ways out.  Probably a mid summer release if I had to guess.  Beta can take a solid six months if they're really aiming to iron out all the bugs.

[Daube 360]

For A2A, "imminent" means "in the next 2 to 3 years". Can't wait to see their next release for the successor of MSFS.

[lwt1971 7,464]

Ya I agree with you all that it's still probably some time away and perhaps mid-summer like Ryan mentions. Again FWIW, A2A usually release their tutorial/deep-dive videos a couple of weeks before an aircraft release, so the fact they've started to work on the videos maybe suggests they've done the bulk of beta testing (and Scott hints as much).  In any case, good to see Scott so positive about how it's all going, they are one of the few developers who only speak when it's time to speak (be it negative or positive) and so the hopeful me tends to take more stock of what they say 🙂
 

Edited May 11, 2023 by lwt1971

[WestAir 2,530]

Hope soon means soon!

On the topic of MSFS flight dynamics, it has a lot more going for it than any of us could've imagined 3 years ago. Personally I just wish they'd fix weathervaning, tire friction, rudder effectiveness, or yaw inertia. I'm not sure which of the 4 is broken on default, but yaw stability is really bad on every Asobo aircraft in my opinion. I have to fly 3PD aircraft to maintain centerline, and even some of those become uncontrollable at the end of the take-off roll. People say "check your peripherals" but it shouldn't be possible to induce such a severe problem in yaw that has perfect pitch and roll using the exact same curves.

I have 300ish (maybe less?) hours in the 172 SP, some of those on aircraft fresh out the factory, and it's a miracle if I can take-off or land the Asobo version. I cannot maintain centerline on the Piper Cub under any situation. It just needs way more stability in my opinion, and I dunno why stability isn't on Asobo's radar to be fixed. It's not even mentioned in any of the weekly dev updates or Q&A's.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk. 😂

[abrams_tank 7,477]

1 hour ago, ryanbatc said:

IDK - still means it's a ways out.  Probably a mid summer release if I had to guess.  Beta can take a solid six months if they're really aiming to iron out all the bugs.

A2A has a pretty length beta, I guess.

If my memory is correct, the beta for the PMDG 737 was about 3 months?

And for the Fenix, I think the beta was also about 4 months?

For the Maddog, the beta was about 4 to 5 months too, if my memory is correct.

6 months is a rather long beta. But I guess if the Comanche for A2A is that complex, then maybe it requires a longer beta.

[lwt1971 7,464]

The tidbits from Scott continue, and they continue to intrigue (me at least lol):

https://a2asimulations.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=74087&start=210

We want to first concentrate on airplanes we own or have ownership type access too so we can continue stress testing the new Accu-Sim physics and systems. This is why we started with our Comanche. There are countless times we run out to test the Comanche against something new against the system. We do it because when everything is right to the core, it's not just cool to experience, but it makes our quality of life as developers better. When you have this phenomenal platform just chugging along creating this realism, in what is an awesome looking MSFS world, it's just convincing on an all new level.

This new system marks the very beginning of a new way of making an airplane. There is no going back. These tutorial vids are going to take a while then once done we do a final last run with beta and it's out. I can't give a date, we don't know. Just keeping you posted. BTW currently, we have invested over four times the time and resources than any prior aircraft. It's quite THE project for us.

Scott.
 

 

[St Mawgan 1,406]

https://msfsaddons.com/2023/05/15/a2a-now-working-on-tutorial-videos-for-the-comanche-250-for-msfs-their-most-ambitious-project-ever/

[sniper31 651]

Man, I miss A2A...

[abrams_tank 7,477]

31 minutes ago, lwt1971 said:

The tidbits from Scott continue, and they continue to intrigue (me at least lol):

https://a2asimulations.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=74087&start=210

We want to first concentrate on airplanes we own or have ownership type access too so we can continue stress testing the new Accu-Sim physics and systems. This is why we started with our Comanche. There are countless times we run out to test the Comanche against something new against the system. We do it because when everything is right to the core, it's not just cool to experience, but it makes our quality of life as developers better. When you have this phenomenal platform just chugging along creating this realism, in what is an awesome looking MSFS world, it's just convincing on an all new level.

This new system marks the very beginning of a new way of making an airplane. There is no going back. These tutorial vids are going to take a while then once done we do a final last run with beta and it's out. I can't give a date, we don't know. Just keeping you posted. BTW currently, we have invested over four times the time and resources than any prior aircraft. It's quite THE project for us.

Scott.

If I were to use a conservative estimate, it sounds like the Comanche should be released within the next 2 months?

Edited May 16, 2023 by abrams_tank