Setup Idea

[Soulyss]

Sounds like a good idea to maybe run in the middle of a ETO run, sort of a mini-event.  I don't think it would work if left up the entire week unattended.  People want to be able to find the fights, and see who they're fighting.  Once the novelty wore off excitment and interest would be replaced with boredom and frustration.  


Still the idea of running a night raid sometime mid week during an ETO setup sounds like it could be very do-able and fun.

[Squire]

Maybe we could ask the CT staff to setup one night in the week in a setup, say Thursday. Just the one night, next time we have a ETO 1944 set or something. Hmmm.

[storch]

You could also, "bring on the night, I couldn't stand another hour of daylight".  perrmanently, say 1 hour of darkness per 12 hours of game play.  night fighting was challenging.

[Mister Fork]

The more I think about it, the more it sounds like a SEA arena event. Good idea however.  

On the flip side, if I had a way to limit the ability of players to fly by forcing them through missions, the more plausable this sounds.  I've asked it as a 'feature' for AHII - not sure if Pyro will go for it.  I also asked to limit who can make missions as well.

[Reschke]

Originally posted by CurtissP-6EHawk
Here is the main reason I dont fly speacial arena events and mini events......too time schedual consumming.

AMEN TO THAT!!!

I offered up a suggestion to cut down the number of frames for a Special Event from 3+ to 1 frame but have it last 4-6 hours instead and boy was I flamed for that suggestion. I was told then that I could be a walkon for the event instead of a registered participant. If that is the case then why have registration at all and why not just say over Channel 1 in the MA on event days; "Go to the SEA to be a part of the event now." In essence that is what you are promoting with the multi frame events.

Some of us just don't or can't give up 3-4 weekends for a special event. Even if the event is only scheduled for 2 hours you still end up giving up 3-5 hours each day of the event.

To me having the chance to watch my little boy play baseball and help coach his team is many thousands of times better than sitting inside in front of a computer and playing some game. But I am willing to let 4-6 hours slide once every 2-3 months for this game because of the sheer enjoyment I have for the chance to "relive or change" history.

Wow I really need to lay off the Coke's in the morning and take it easy.

[storch]

you are 100% on that Reschke, thats why I have never done an event.

[o0Stream140o]

Originally posted by CurtissP-6EHawk
Here is the main reason I dont fly speacial arena events and mini events......too time schedual consumming.

And to quote someone...

"It's just to late, I cain't fly it when it's passed my bedtime."

I would love to see more set ups where there is an event to go along with the map.  I think everyone has fun at it... even though they don't admit it..

[Skyfoxx]

Being involved with events, I feel that I just have to reply to this post.

Not trying to hijack this thread, but you guys do realize that there are other events that are not only primetime weekends ?
I can definately understand not wanting to take time away from the family, chores etc.

So just in case you are interested or unaware of the schedule, here it is.

Friday - Squad Ops 11:00pm edt- open to registered squads only.
Saturday- CAP: The Great Campaign- 3:00 pm edt- open to anyone.
Sundays- Squad Ops 3:00 pm edt- open to registered squads only.
Wednesdays- Snapshot 10:00 pm edt- open to anyone.
Thursdays- Snapshot 3:00 pm edt- open to anyone.

While CAP and Sunday Squad Ops are not exactly at a "family friendly" time(for the US), the others may be of interest to you. And of course you are not required to fly an entire CAP event. Fly only what you have time for.
Squad Ops do require a bit more from a player as far as attendance and discipline goes.
If you ever wanna give Squad Ops a try, just hook up with a registered squad before the event and fly as a guest. Key word being before the event.

I do have to disagree that you automatically give up 3-5 hours for an event. My wife would have shot me long ago if that were the case. Show up 15 mins early and be prepared for a 2 hour frame for Squad Ops, unless you are an assigned CO, then you would need to be a bit earlier. To be honest though, many pilots won't live past the 1st hour. The real challenge is lasting the whole frame and bringing your aircraft home.

Snapshots are the most flexible type of event, with less formalities and no registration. Just show up 15 mins early, read the MOTD, pick a side and you are set. A typical Snapshot frame will last an hour or less, most times less. Sometimes we will run two frames, but a snapshot event rarely lasts over 90 mins.

Reschke, I'm guessing that many of the players wouldn't be able to set behind a computer for a 4-6 hour frame. That may be the reasoning behind the current 3 frame setup for squad ops. I could be wrong tho.

AH events are great and do tend to take up most of my flying time except for the CT. Like anything else, some frames or setups are better than others, but imho the good far outweighs the bad.

If you have never tried any of the weekly events, then you are missing out on one of the best aspects of AH imho.
I'll be glad to try and answer any event questions you may have and if I can't answer them, I'm sure I can point you to the right person.

Back to Lowe's original point. Some limited night fighting might be interesting. Storch's recommendation of 1 hour night for every 12 hours daylight seems like it would be a good start.
One of my biggest desires for AH2 is the inclusion of an instrument panel light like they have in IL2. Imo, that would go a long way in making night missions much more enjoyable.

[Eagler]

Originally posted by Mister Fork
The more I think about it, the more it sounds like a SEA arena event. Good idea however.  

On the flip side, if I had a way to limit the ability of players to fly by forcing them through missions, the more plausable this sounds.  I've asked it as a 'feature' for AHII - not sure if Pyro will go for it.  I also asked to limit who can make missions as well.

not knowing how the setup works from ther inside, is it not possible to go into it say right now and keep the clock up to 12 midnight while slowing the game clock so the 6 hours till dawn would last say 24 hours?

or does changes to gameplay like that need to be run, compiled, through an inside AH guy .... i.e. Skuzzy?

If the former is true, you could then just post it on the board here and the pop up inside the game

and this is coming from someone who can live without nights

[Reschke]

Originally posted by Skyfoxx
Reschke, I'm guessing that many of the players wouldn't be able to set behind a computer for a 4-6 hour frame. That may be the reasoning behind the current 3 frame setup for squad ops. I could be wrong tho.

Real quick reply to this on for you SkyFoxx. I have tried the CAP, Squad Ops (used to be a regular attender for several months) and Snapshots when available for me to fly in and have enjoyed each one when I have been able to make it. BUT to me after having been in the events like BoB and such they still take up way to much time. In my experience if you don't get there more than 15 minutes early then you are behind the 8 ball and rushing to get all the "walkons" briefed up to an acceptable point.

As for the 4-6 hour events those were in Fighter Ace and were hugely popular in that we had 3-4 servers with the max player number in each one (which made scoring a nightmare). The last big event I was part of in Fighter Ace before moving over full time to AH was one that represented the Phillipines and was the Allies invading Luzon and moving in on Manilla. In that scenario you were alloted 3 lives and then you were out of it. With the server limitations then we had around 400-500 players in the scenario. I think it ended up just over 4 hours from start to finish for me in that scenario.

If you registered for it then you really pushed hard to set aside that entire day just for the scenario because the next one wasn't happening for 4-6 months. In AH there doesn't appear to be a neec to register because you will still be able to fly as a walkon.

[Soulyss]

not knowing how the setup works from ther inside, is it not possible to go into it say right now and keep the clock up to 12 midnight while slowing the game clock so the 6 hours till dawn would last say 24 hours?

I haven't really messed with the time settings much yet but what I think you can do is set the time for dawn/dusk.  So if you wanted to prolong the night you could just set them a few hours apart.   I think.

[Löwe]

Originally posted by o0Stream140o
And to quote someone...

"It's just to late, I cain't fly it when it's passed my bedtime."
 

I 'll give this to The Hawk. At least he pronounces can't the same way he spells it.

[Squire]

Snapshots rarely go past 45 minutes.

CAP on saturdays is up to you, its a 2 hr event with 4 lives.

How is that so time consuming?

Sorry, arena only flyers dont get nearly as of a much of a taste of WW2 flying...you guys miss out big time. Too bad.

CV vs CV, escorted bomber runs, torp runs in squad strength, and fites where one side doesnt just re roll after being defeated, are all things that the events have that even is rarely seen in the CT, or certainly the MA.

[Reschke]

Sorry Squire I didn't make myself clear I guess. I am not talking about the Snapshots, Squad Ops and CAP series events. Those I get to when I can because of the amount of time that they don't take up each time you fly and you still end up with a good feeling. I will not commit to giving up 3-5 weekends in a row for a "historical" event. I have tried to do it a few times and each time I got so frustrated because I couldn't stay with it all the way through like I wanted to.

[Squire]

I hear, ya, Scenarios can be a lot of work, I been there.