Units Of Measurement

So we RB folks have been bouncing around this conversation on TS for a while in which it would really help if everybody playing WT in NNG was on the same page with their units of measurement. So here is my totally honest and completely unbiased analysis of our options.

Imperial (Feet/MPH)

Constitutional amendment #42: America shall adopt the metric system over our collective dead bodies.

Feet:

• Smaller units more precise in judging change of distance/altitude.
• Commonly used unit of measurement for altitude in flight. Can be truncated by “Angels” (1 per 1000 feet) and/or cherubs (1 per 100 feet). Altitude use only.
• Seriously, who the hell uses feet for distance beyond personal punching range?
• For reference, arcade lead indicator shows at ~2420 Feet from target.

Miles:

• Used by people for which large numbers make their head hurt.
• Commonly used measurement for speed where larger numbers can confound performance limits.
• For reference, arcade lead indicator shows at .45 miles from target.
• Please, Please, Please, Don’t use miles for distance…

Metric (kilometers)

Wondering why the US and Britain seem to be behind the ball with the rest of the world in this regard? You can thank the 1700s and 1800s UK’s resistance of all things French.

• War Thunder’s default. Gun convergence set in meters.
• Standard unit of measurement for distance used by everybody who is not an American or British automobile manufacturer.
• Kilometer can be called “Klick” for shorthand which sounds undeniably badass.
• For reference, arcade lead indicator shows at .74 Kilometers from target.

Temperature (Ferinheight /Celsius)

• The only people concerned about your heat are you, yourself, and your engine.
• Don’t let the red countdown timer hit 0:00 and you won’t blow up. Alright?

 

I couldn't agree with Naceo more on this. We need to get standardized on our measurements. The way I have mine set up in game is Imperial everything except distance to target is metric. The reason for this set up is I am American and old , but gun convergence is metric, so distance to target being metric makes sense to me.

 

Feet here

 

Me and Bacon run celsius and meters since it's a Russian game and such.

 

Figured it would be a no brainer.

 

Unless I'm having to discuss something like maths or science with someone from the US uninitiated in the metric system (read: most Americans), I use only SI measurements. Same goes for the game. I use kilometers for distance to plane, meters for altitude, and celsius for temperature. The only non-metric metric I use is miles-per-hour for speed simply because it is an unescapable unit of measurement in my every day life.

It would be a lot easier in this game if it just allowed you to have multiple units of measurement present.

 

I have ran both miles and feet, running feet right now. But I will run whatever the group I fly with most often lands on.

 

Well it isn't as much of a question of how many countries use Metric, if you wish to make the standardization in that regard, the proper way would be to figure out how many NNG members live in the US and how many don't.

That being said, Feet/Miles and Imperial is the aviation standard. I would recommend we use that as a result as anyone else that is like me and has an aviation background will generally be automatically thinking in imperial units (especially those that have military flight background as you point out)

This being said, it's a fairly easy conversion to just divide feet by 3, or multiply meters by 3 to find the conversion.

Despite my aviation background, I can probably go either way since I can't see distance in SB and I'm not exactly going to fly an instrument approach back to base...my main concern is fighting habit as I usually use altitude to determine altitude for a military VFR approach, and if I can do a Split-S maneuver or not (a very useful tactic if you don't already use this).

The US really kind of needs to bite the bullet and make the conversion...the longer we wait, the more painful it is...but that's a separate argument

 

Ever since we started flying as a group, everyone was using Celsius and Meters so we decided just to go with it. We can not force people use what everyone else is using but always ask to convert or understand the conversion of feet into meters. Temperature is not that important but the altitude is. Meters seems to work just fine for many, but it doesn't mean that we have to enforce it.

Use what you like as long as you can understand your wingman correctly.

 

A meter is a little over 3 feet. Or it is roughly a yard.
So divide a meter by 3 or multiple feet by 3 would be the conversion.

Sorry if I sound like a prude but I am studying engineering so I need to recognise units, because if I don't, people can get hurt.