The Aces High Hangar
by Hammer

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The hangar is where you select your plane or vehicle and its load-out, but there are several other functions available in the hangar which you will want to take advantage of. Besides your plane and how it is fueled and armed, you can decide what paint scheme it has and how your mission will be scored. The hangar is also where you select a formation of bombers instead of just a single plane. The functions discussed in this write up are:

Choose Your Plane / Vehicle
Select Your Fuel, Weapons and Ordnance
Set Your Convergence
Choose How Your Mission Will Be Scored
Select a Paint Scheme for Your Plane / Vehicle
Other Information
- Modifying the Plane List
- Perk Points
- Enable auto-downloading of skins

Selecting Your Plane from the Plane / Vehicle List

The first thing you will want to do when you enter the hangar is choose the plane or vehicle you are going to use on your next mission. When you enter the hangar, the main window of your clipboard will look like the image to the right. To select your plane or vehicle, simply scroll down the list until you see the plane or vehicle you want and left click on it. This will highlight the plane or vehicle. In the image above, the P-51D is selected for my next mission.

If you are flying bombers, this is a good time to decide whether or not to take a formation. By clicking the select formation box, you will take up a “V” of 3 bombers instead of a single plane. This can make a difference in your bomb selection.

If you are new to the game, read my write-up on Choosing a Plane to Learn In

Fuel, Weapons, and External Stores

Once you have selected your plane, you are ready to select your fuel load and ordnance load-out. To do this, hit the [ESC] key to move your clipboard out of site. This will leave you with a picture that looks like the one below.

Fuel Selection: Along the bottom of your screen in the hangar are a series of fuel drums. This is where you select the fuel load-out for your upcoming flight. The possible selections are: 1 barrel = 25% fuel, 2 barrels = 50% fuel, 3 barrels = 75% fuel, and 4 barrels = 100% fuel. It is important to note that the fuel loads of the planes are not equal. A 100% load of fuel in the N1K2-J will give you significantly more flight time than a 100% load in a Spitfire Mk IX. You should also note fuel weight is an important factor in how well your plane performs. A Spitfire Mk IX with 50% fuel will out-perform a Spitfire Mk IX with 100% fuel in every category (except fuel endurance).

Internal Ordinance: Next up is the internal weapons load-out. Some planes have more than one possible set of weapons. These weapons combinations are selectable by moving the mouse over the various weapons sets which are in the center of your screen, just above the fuel, and clicking when the one you want is highlighted.

External Ordinance / Drop Tanks: After selecting your internal weapons, decide what, if any, external stores you are going to carry. Depending on the plane, external stores can be carried either along the centerline or on the wings. The external stores available are plane dependent and can include drop-tanks, bombs, rockets, and external cannon pods. In the example above, there are bombs or drop-tanks available for the wing pylons and rockets available for rocket rails, also on the wings. If you are flying a bomber, you will find the available internal load-outs and any available external loads listed in a similar manner.

Why Drop-Tanks? Why might you want to carry drop-tanks? The obvious answer - to extend your range - is not as applicable in Aces High as it was in the real war. After all, few of your flights in Aces High will require all of the fuel you can carry internally in many of the planes, much less the internal and external load combined. Drop-tanks are still useful, though. As mentioned above, fuel weight is one of the factors affecting your plane's performance. This is especially true in its turning performance. You don't want to enter a turn-fight in a Spitfire or N1K2-J with full tanks. In fact, the less fuel you have, the better. If you take off fully loaded and find a fight earlier than you anticipated, you can find yourself overloaded with fuel and at a disadvantage. Drop-tanks allow you to avoid this situation by using the fuel in the drop-tanks to take-off, climb out, and find your fight while maintaining a smaller internal load for when you are actually ready to fight. You can take off with an internal fuel load suited to the type of fight you anticipate and use the fuel in the drop-tank to look for a fight. For example, if you fly the N1K2-J in a turning fight, I would recommend not having more than 50% of your internal load. If the fight happens to be right at your airfield, you can take off with 50% and immediately enter the battle. If the fight is not over your base, you can take off with 50% internal load and a drop-tank, use the fuel in the drop-tank to transit to the fight, then drop it before entering the fight.

One important point… DON’T FORGET TO DROP YOUR TANKS BEFORE YOU ENTER A FIGHT! To select drop tanks, hit your backspace key until “DT” appears in your secondary ammo counter and drop them just like bombs.

For your first flights in the planes I recommended, I recommend the following fuel load-out:

Spitfire Mk VIII: 75% internal with a drop-tank. RTB at 1/4 tank.

Spitfire Mk XVI: 100% internal with a drop-tank. RTB at 1/4 tank.

N1K2-J: 50% internal with a drop-tank. Return to Base (RTB) when fuel is between 1/4 and 1/8 on internal tank.

P-51D: 50% internal with drop-tanks. RTB between 1/4 and 1/8 tank.

Setting Convergence

Before you fly any plane, you should set your convergence. This is done from the hangar by clicking on the "Set Convergence" button. This changes your point-of-view to the rear of the plane looking forward. Once this is done, you will want to once again put your clipboard away by clicking on the <ESC> key. This will give you the view shown to the right.

Colored lines extend from the various weapons point and converge at some distance in front of the plane. To change the distance at which the weapons converge, move your cursor over the convergence point until the cross-hairs and distance appear. Once this happens, click on the cross-hairs and drag it out or in to the distance you want. Different sets of weapons may be set to different convergence distances. While you will want to experiment and find a range that is comfortable for you, your flying style, and your gunnery skills, a decent range to start out is 300 - 350. This is suitable for most of the planes although you may find that you can set if farther out for Hispano and U.S. .50cal equipped planes. For more detailed write-ups on this subject, see the write-ups on convergence under the "Gunnery Concepts" heading on the trainer's web site.

Score as

Once you’ve selected your plane, you will want to decide how to score your mission. Most fighters are capable of carrying out attack missions. If you are flying one of these, you will have the option to score as either a Fighter mission or an Attack mission by clicking on the appropriate button. The main difference between Fighter and Attack is only air-to-air kills (plane vs. plane) are counted for a fighter sortie while all kills (ground vehicles, etc) are counted for an attack mission. You also do not receive any credit for buildings destroyed while in Fighter mode. Fighter and Attack scores and rankings are kept as separate statistics on the scores page. Basically, if you are carrying bombs and rockets, you probably want to score it as an attack mission. Otherwise, score it as a fighter mission.

Some bombers are also capable of flying attack missions. The main difference here is air-to-air kills are not tracked for bomber missions while they are for attack missions.

Skins

Aces High II allows us to pick the paint scheme, or "skin", of the aircraft we are flying. Most, if not all, of the skins are created by the players and submitted to HiTech Creations for approval and inclusion in the game. The two pictures below show what can be done with skins. On the left is the P-47D-25 with the "Default" skin. On the right is the same plane in the skin of the the 56th Fighter Group, 61st Fighter Squadron, by Nopoop.

P-47D-25 with Default Skin (left) and with the 56th FG, 61st FS by Nopoop

To change the skin of the plane you are flying, click on the drop-down box located at the top of your plane list and select the skin you wish to use. These are usually listed by the unit the skin is from. Once you have selected a skin, close your clipboard and take a look!

Other Information

There are several options on how the plane / vehicle list is displayed. Right-clicking anywhere on the list will bring up the menu shown below:

Checking Enabled Only will list only the planes and vehicles available at the field you are at. This is very useful given the ENY limiter currently in effect in the arena.
The buttons labeled All, Fighters, Bombers, Attacker, Vehicles, and Boats modify the list to show only the types indicated by the button.
Speed Chart shows you the speed chart for the selected plane.
Climb Chart shows you the climb chart for the selected plane.
Add Favorite allows you to add a plane or vehicle to your favorite list. To add a model to your list, right-click on it and select Add Favorite on the list. If the plane / vehicle is already on your list, the menu will read Remove Favorite.
Save Default Skin is used to save the default skin bitmaps for the selected plane. These bitmaps can then be modified into a new paint scheme. The files are located in the folder ../HTC/Aces High II/skins/planename/.

Ready for Flight

Once you have made your selections and set your settings, you are ready to fly. If this will be your first time flying this plane, you will want to make sure your views are adjusted. If not, decide whether you can take off and adjust them in flight, or possibly go to a safe airfield, go out to the runway, adjust them, and come back to the field you wish to fly from. For instructions on this, see the View System page.

If you are ready to go, you can fly directly from the hangar by clicking on one of the direction buttons on the bottom of your clipboard but you might want to go back to the tower for a last look at the radar map to make sure the situation is still what you think it is. Kind of a last check for your situation awareness.

The Aces High Hangar by Hammer