Wishes for future Condor developments

[RodNoc123]

(...)

- the Condor motto on the official homepage says "from learning to racing", not "just racing". The racing part is already great, in my opinion, but the learning part lags a bit behind in comparison.
- regardless of what your intentions were, you still drove the thread straight into the ditch, even though I mentioned multiple times where I didn't want this to go. And no, I see no reason why I ought to understand that kind of behavior, regardless of how frustrated you are.
- having read a couple of the old threads with suggestions and wishes, I completely understand that the developers don't respond to such threads. At least 75% of the wishes are either just silly our would turn this quality SIMULATOR into a silly GAME if implemented.

Given the present quality of Condor as compared to the quality of the majority of user wishes, I'm glad the developers don't listen to what the majority of forum members ask of them.

And finally, since this is not an open source project, anyone who makes DEMANDS regarding the development of the sim instead of just WISHES has understood neither the principles of half-way diplomatic conversation nor the basic legal foundations of creating and selling a product.

OXO: Feel free to lock this thread. It's utterly useless by now (at least to me).

[OXO]

and I think I have sailed very close to the wind on occasions.

But didn't cross the line. And for that I thank you. The forum would be a poorer place without you.

To the OP: I really don't have anything to add at this stage. We are working on V2 which will have new features and improvements. It's not yet time to share those with you. Sorry. I will do it when the time is right.

[RodNoc123]

To the OP: I really don't have anything to add at this stage. We are working on V2 which will have new features and improvements. It's not yet time to share those with you. Sorry. I will do it when the time is right.

That's fine - as mentioned multiple times already, I don't expect a "yay or nay" or even a response at all - I just wanted to point out where there's room for improvement in my opinion. Not more, not less.

Great to hear that work on V2 is in progress - I'm certainly not the only one that's eagerly waiting to see where this is headed!

Cheers

[OXO]

It will be a combination of many things previously mentioned/discussed/requested and some other new things..

[sir_clive]

The longer we wait, the greater will be the joy when it's here...

[Andy1248]

[sir_clive]

LOL, exactly!

[jjmaloss]

I am surprised that OXO says that streets are not common in real life. First cumulonimbus are generally aligned and big thunderstorms generate flanking lines distant of 20 to 30 km from the main cell. Even benign cumulus generate thermals that are elliptic and heavily flattened. My experience is having to deal with thermals that are 70 m wide and 500 m long. Where I fly, this pattern is pretty standard. This is due to the fact the wind aloft has an entrainment effect on the thermals. My favoured game is to exit thermals on the upwind side where the wind slows me down and therefore I can enjoy a straight flight while climbing. When I made my 500 km flight for my FAI diamond badge (my flight is public, see the OLC file), I had to make a nasty and potentially hazardous transition between 2 ridges. For me, it has been very easy. There were streets perpendicular to the ridge and it it was a simple waiting game. I found a 4 m/s thermal enhanced by the ridge that I maxed out and then, I went full ahead upwind using the cloud street . When I contacted the other ridge I was at 900 metres above ground and therefore, my transition has been very safe. Therefore, a proper model of thermals (streets and ellipses) would add a lot to the realism. I just wanted to share my experience of a modest real glider pilot.

[OXO]

My favoured game is to exit thermals on the upwind side where the wind slows me down

Can you explain what you mean by this?

[Olympia]

My favoured game is to exit thermals on the upwind side where the wind slows me down

Can you explain what you mean by this?

Perhaps you might like to explain why you don't believe in streets. I have some superb photos of streets here in the south of Scotland.

Also magnificent wave - our local club, Millfield, has loads of people with Diamond height, some of whom haven't completed their Silver yet. On average, in stable conditions, I will see several groups of three lenticulars in 'pancake' formation over my house in a SSW wind. Condor needs to replicate these conditions to become more realistic. Very little long distance work is done here in conditions other than wave.

[DarioP]

Aswering to the object of the topic:

I really would like to see the climate of a region modelled on real blipmaps by the Meteorologist and glider pilot: Dr. John Glendening.
This would be a very big step into the simulation realism. Moreover this will also allow a pilot to plan a flight, test it with the -REAL- weather forecasts and then go and try it in real!

[mattm]

OK, I'll wade into this. There's two physics things that do bother me a bit with
the Condor weather model.

The first is that the wind is more or less uniform with
height (it does seem to model wind shadows behind ridges though). It would be
nice to be able to have wind shifts and gradients. I don't know if the weather
model is sophisticated enough to generate real wave systems, but at least
this would be a lot more realistic.

The second is that thermals don't undergo expansion with height. In Condor
it's possible to contact a thermal at ground level (I kid you not -- I've climbed
out from below treetop level!) and climb. Real life thermals are too small
down there. Also, real life thermals weaken with height because they
expand. On my pda in RL I see thermal strength graphs that reflect this:
weaker down low (too narrow to stay in the core), strongest at mid height,
and weaker above (thermal core has expanded out until it's too dilute).
With Condor the lift strength is constant from bottom to top, unless the
thermal starts to die.

Hopefully those are specific enough goals to work with. I don't know if
they're actually implementable though.

Thanks,
-- Matt

[drombach]

Condor can be used as an intro to soaring and some basic principals , but it is not truly a simulator. But its too real to be called a video game either. However some users will never and have no desire to fly real gliders and Condor is it. They are either too old, fat or have no access to gliders either physically or finacially. All of the above apply to me. That being said , safety is not an issue. I enjoy condor for the commerardiare of intellegent conversation with others of simular interests.

[Olympia]

OK, I'll wade into this. There's two physics things that do bother me a bit with
the Condor weather model.

The first is that the wind is more or less uniform with
height (it does seem to model wind shadows behind ridges though). It would be
nice to be able to have wind shifts and gradients. I don't know if the weather
model is sophisticated enough to generate real wave systems, but at least
this would be a lot more realistic.

The second is that thermals don't undergo expansion with height. In Condor
it's possible to contact a thermal at ground level (I kid you not -- I've climbed
out from below treetop level!) and climb. Real life thermals are too small
down there. Also, real life thermals weaken with height because they
expand. On my pda in RL I see thermal strength graphs that reflect this:
weaker down low (too narrow to stay in the core), strongest at mid height,
and weaker above (thermal core has expanded out until it's too dilute).
With Condor the lift strength is constant from bottom to top, unless the
thermal starts to die.

Hopefully those are specific enough goals to work with. I don't know if
they're actually implementable though.

Thanks,
-- Matt

Hey! that gives me an idea. Why don't some of those clever folk busily adding yet more scenery to Condor (which we do not need, and cannot store) turn their minds to modifying the weather model? If GR and Uros are willing to allow any TD &H to write scenery, surely they should allow the weather model to be expanded by other software writers. We know the developers are not going to release their iron grip on the gliders, but maybe if they are so busy, as we are told endlessly by OXO, they could spend more time messing with the gliders if others dealt with the weather? How about it GR and Uros?

Personally I think the deficiencies in the weather model we have are by far the most important to be remedied, even more useful than getting some new gliders.

[JJJ]

OK, I'll wade into this. There's two physics things that do bother me a bit with
the Condor weather model.

The first is that the wind is more or less uniform with
height (it does seem to model wind shadows behind ridges though). It would be
nice to be able to have wind shifts and gradients. I don't know if the weather
model is sophisticated enough to generate real wave systems, but at least
this would be a lot more realistic.

The second is that thermals don't undergo expansion with height. In Condor
it's possible to contact a thermal at ground level (I kid you not -- I've climbed
out from below treetop level!) and climb. Real life thermals are too small
down there. Also, real life thermals weaken with height because they
expand. On my pda in RL I see thermal strength graphs that reflect this:
weaker down low (too narrow to stay in the core), strongest at mid height,
and weaker above (thermal core has expanded out until it's too dilute).
With Condor the lift strength is constant from bottom to top, unless the
thermal starts to die.

Hopefully those are specific enough goals to work with. I don't know if
they're actually implementable though.

Thanks,
-- Matt

Hey! that gives me an idea. Why don't some of those clever folk busily adding yet more scenery to Condor (which we do not need, and cannot store) turn their minds to modifying the weather model? If GR and Uros are willing to allow any TD &H to write scenery, surely they should allow the weather model to be expanded by other software writers. We know the developers are not going to release their iron grip on the gliders, but maybe if they are so busy, as we are told endlessly by OXO, they could spend more time messing with the gliders if others dealt with the weather? How about it GR and Uros?

Personally I think the deficiencies in the weather model we have are by far the most important to be remedied, even more useful than getting some new gliders.

Do you want a planepack with gliders who are not exact the same as in real?
Then I think the beta testers can release thousand of planepacks now..

I think you don't like this Simulator, so please stop commenting and go play tetris..