Hi all.....
I haven't been back here in a while, but I notice not much has changed except Pyro is now locking some of the more inappropriate discussions. <S> Pyro....
At least you still haven't inherited Field Marshall -bobn-, or some other dysfunctional character called "avenger" who seems to be frequenting AGW and the WWIIOL BBS's lately.
Cross your fingers.
Anyway, since I've been spending a lot more time enjoying Aces High as opposed to playing the BBS control game, I've discovered some real golden nuggets about Aces High, that some of you may not have tried as yet. I never realized that the Head to Head function of AH was so powerful and designed as a menu driven system. It's an excellent software design and I'd like to <salute> HT for the elegance and ease with which he implemented it. Besides permitting a HOST to set up an arena for up to 8 players, it permits the hosting player to set all of the various field, plane and arena in-game parameters just as a CM (Community Manager) would do. The really nice feature is that the HOST can use any custom terrain such as Luzon and if others join, it automatically downloads it to them in the same fashion as the main AH server would do.
If you choose Head to Head when you start up Aces High, you get the option to pick from a menu which displays ALL of the current on-line custom arenas that any players have set-up, or select HOST and set-up your own arena that will now display as being available for others to join. All in all, a fabulous environment and a feature for Aces High that I've really been enjoying a lot. I had always thought it was like the old WB Head to Head, but this is far superior to that capability.
I've been hosting some early war plan sets lately with just two sides and single planes. For example, Spit 5 versus 109f and F4U-1D versus A6M5b. These have made for some great 1vs1 up to 4vs4 engagements using RW. I've also noticed that there are some really good virtual pilots who log on to these Head to Head servers, perhaps some old WB or AW vets. So, if you find yourself on any day getting bored with quaking around the MA, choose the head to head menu option and select a game.
If most of you were already aware of this great Aces High feature, I apologize for this message, as I wasn't until I got my head out of here and into the actual game more.
A few caveats. First, RW doesn't work via channel selection with Head to Head, but you can use it just like you used to with older versions of AH or WB. Second, be careful with virus invasiveness if you HOST. I've picked up two of them in the last few weeks and until using the AH Head to Head HOST, I'd never experienced any of them on our in-home four P3 systems, Linksys Router and a Cable modem network. I used to turn off my Norton Symantec Antivirus 2001 and BlackIce Defender programs to increase FPS when I used AH on-line, but I now leave them turned ON when I HOST only, which seems to have blocked the Trojan planters. Finally, there's no documentation that I can find on using the arena and field settings, so it's an OJT "on job training" learning curve. I hope that there are DOCS out there somewhere that I've missed, or that someone is writing this stuff up. If not, feel free to send me an email and I'll try to help you with the settings that I've become familiar with.
Hitech ! One feature that would be really helpful for this environment would be the ability to display a TEXT file as AH does when you enter the on-line training arena. It would be real handy to be able to display for new people logging in, what the various planes in use are, fields being utilized and other important arena settings. It would save a LOT of typing to every new guy who joins. Thanks....and again, great job on this function.
Regards,
Badger
Looking for a different kind of environment to discuss your favorite on-line flight simulator?
http://www.egroups.com/group/flightsimsonline 
