Puma started a topic thanking ET on running some missions last night here...http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,364702.0.html
I posted my thoughts on the missions I was in and was wondering what others think of missions and mission types.
I'm not here to "bash" Earl or anyone for that matter on how they run their missions. Earls a great guy and I appreciate ANYONE who runs missions in any form as I know how tough it is to do well, but I would like to see if there are any others that think the missions should be more involved, or is the smash and grab type all any one really wants.
The current mission editor doesn't help. There was a time when you could put together a mission and on one plan have 5 or 6 different aircraft leaving from different fields fly different routes and each route was displayed on the mission map with staggered departure time and assigned altitudes. I know AH says that the same thing can be accomplished with the current tool, but I have tried and it's not easily done and almost impossible to coordinate the different plans that must be posted to accomplish the same thing.
There would be better, more complex mission plans if we have a better tool. So for now the general announcement over text that everyone interested in capturing so and so field meet at airfield X on the NE runway in a Heavy fighter is just much simpler and faster to get a mission launched. No one is interested in flying more then 1 sector , let along flying 3 or more sectors to rendezvous at altitude with bombers in bound to a target another 3 sectors away to provide high cover. Its tough enough to try to find one guy that can actually hit an assigned target let along get 6 to fly as a winged element to attack a specific target after navigating a serpentine route laid out on their mission map , that is if they even know how to view assigned routs.
Gone are the days when WWII enthusiast, planned and built the complex missions reminiscent of the actual 8th air force missions. Today it appears that anything that involves any thought or commitment of time is frowned upon. Pilots only want to drive direct A to B . While each side appears to have several mission gurus that because of their popularity or Good Old Boy status are able to muster a hoard/mission/following , to roll fields, not very much planning is put into the next base capture, seldom is a formal mission posted. I can only speak for Knights as my experience is limited to that team, our mission guru, has what appears to be an unnatural hatred for Bishop and all of his efforts with few exceptions are to run his missions against Bishop real estate. Even when its so lopsided as it was the other day , Rooks 100 fields, Bishop 60 fields, Knights 80 fields, the Knight mission guru continued to call for mission/hoard action against Bishop fields, with no thought to the fact that at that point he is actually working the numbers to favor the Rooks for a win and like lemmings the Knight followed.
The demand by the player base for instant gaming action with tiny maps and fields every sector has relegated any strategic game play as useless and as a result of the loss of strategic game play we now have what's left. A once popular game that is perhaps in its twilight years, with dwindling numbers/revenue , at some point it will hit the break even point and that will be it. HTC has very expensive hobbies, this game won't be one of them.
