07.08.2009, 13:53
"Self-sealing" fuel tanks aren't the same as indestructable fuel tanks. Damage modeling in the simulation already takes this into account, compare shooting at a plane with self-sealing fuel tanks (e.g., P-47 or B17G) vs. shooting at one without (e.g., A6M2 Zero or G6M1 Betty). If you get a fuel leak while flying a plane with self-sealing tanks, it's because you've taken sufficient damage that the self-sealing function doesn't work anymore.
Fuel-dumping apparatus isn't commonly fitted on airplanes, and I'm not sure it was even invented until after WW2 was over. I don't believe that any World War 2 era fighter had such capability.
That said, IL2 doesn't accurately model fuel tank systems, so you can't say, pump fuel from one tank to another or shut off or draw fuel from a particular tank, nor does it measure fuel levels in a particular tank. This means that fires are just as likely to start in full or empty tanks as in partially filled ones (unless you have a vacuum or inert gas over the fuel in a partially-filled tank, there is increased risk of fire due to the fuel-air mixture, should a bullet pierce the tank. Some planes deliberately piped engine exhaust into the the tanks in order to prevent this from happening). It also means that you can't shut off the flow of fuel to a burning engine, and you can't selectively drain a certain fuel tank to improve the plane's center of gravity.
While improved fuel control and fuel tank modeling would be nice, you'd have to reprogram the simulation to do it. I'm not sure that anyone's up to that task, even if it's possible!
Fuel-dumping apparatus isn't commonly fitted on airplanes, and I'm not sure it was even invented until after WW2 was over. I don't believe that any World War 2 era fighter had such capability.
That said, IL2 doesn't accurately model fuel tank systems, so you can't say, pump fuel from one tank to another or shut off or draw fuel from a particular tank, nor does it measure fuel levels in a particular tank. This means that fires are just as likely to start in full or empty tanks as in partially filled ones (unless you have a vacuum or inert gas over the fuel in a partially-filled tank, there is increased risk of fire due to the fuel-air mixture, should a bullet pierce the tank. Some planes deliberately piped engine exhaust into the the tanks in order to prevent this from happening). It also means that you can't shut off the flow of fuel to a burning engine, and you can't selectively drain a certain fuel tank to improve the plane's center of gravity.
While improved fuel control and fuel tank modeling would be nice, you'd have to reprogram the simulation to do it. I'm not sure that anyone's up to that task, even if it's possible!