I'm not completely sure if this would be better in the Physics site or not as this question is more about how hydraulics should work in game as opposed to how they really work (although that is taken into account) - So I apologize if this is in the wrong place.

A project we are on, we have a machine with hydraulics that are powered (They don't just look like they move something, they are the only thing moving/turning/lifting something) - However, the hydraulic extends the same speed no matter what it is pushing. So, say there is a 10 ton object attached to one end of the hydraulic and the other end is attached to a plate on the ground. In real life it takes a few seconds to build up pressure depending on how heavy the object is, but in our project the hydraulics don't care about that. It will lift a 100 ton object the same speed as a 10 ton object.

We have a way to fake the hydraulic pressurizing by reducing the 'drive amount' (how fast or slow the hydraulic extends) when we sense that it is touching the ground and that does a relatively decent job but we would like to be able to take other things into account like engine speed, ratios, loads, etc. but we aren't too sure what we need to think about.

I'm kinda wondering if anyone here has any experience with this and could offer some suggestions on what to take into account?