New idea what do you ladies and gentlemen think.

[Simaril]

Originally posted by hitech
.....
Each person did not wish to give up their country to balance the numbers. And because they were not willing to change sides they didn't want the time limit. Well isn't this the basic problem we have right now? That people are not willing to change sides, they want some one else to have to change sides. Or they want to give somthing else to the underdog to apease them, but they are not willing to give up anything to solve the issue.

Even the suggestions of the new guys beeing put into the low number country is imposing limits just like the time limit. And the suggestion of not letting people switch to the high number side is just as limiting as the wait to fly limit. ....
HiTech

I have to respectfully disagree here, HT. One MAJOR difference in the various proposals is clear -- whether you get to fly or not. Your proposal explicitly limits the whole purpose of AH, getting in the air. And I just think that's a bad idea.

After all, the outnumbered teams really just want an even chance to fly and fight. Why should that pain be shifted to the high numbers side? There have to be ways of rebalancing that don't limit anyone's ability to fly and have fun.

I would switch countries if my social unit -- my squad -- switched too. I would be surprised if a none of the larger squads would refuse a citizenship based request from HTC to cahnge countires for the good of the order.

I suggested the "spigot control" method because I know it works.   In my practice, when I started to get busier than I wanted to be, I didnt limit current patients -- I preserved their access by limiting new patients. After a few months, normal attrition (like people moving away, etc) brought the numebrs under control painlessly.

In AH the same thing would happen. I'm torubled that the burden off your plan would be inordinately felt by newbies and less skilled players, who are more likely to quit the game entirely if frustrated. I'm not surprised to see that BBS members don't believe how short the average sortie for the average player is; HT, dont forget how we journeymen feel, adn dont give the vets another advantage.

I again strongly feel that efforts short of forcing people off the runway should be tried first.

[humble]

Originally posted by hitech
Flackbait, ignor mode went on when you opened with this line.
 
 


HiTech

Sigh...

One day you may figure it out HiTech...

Your skins thinned faster than the hair on my head, you used to actually listen a bit. Customers aren't always right (in fact they are more likely to be wrong) but they deserve to be treated with a minimum level of repsect regardless....

And in a case like this when the customer IS right you ought to consider his point of few...you did ask for it. An awful lot of people actually care about this game as much as you do. Why not cut them a break. The rocks they throw are aimed at the glass house you built...not at you personally.

[Overlag]

as most people have already said, the perk system doesnt work because the planes everyone flys arnt perked.......

perk everything from 30ENY (or more?) onwards and perks will start to matter..... And if a side has a large numbers advantage, there perk planes cost alot.......

only bad side i see to this is people will fly there perk rides and run alot more...........


What is the current perk cost for planes @x1 modifier???
 
Im thinking 5perks for 30-25 ENY, 10 perks for 24-15 ENY, 15 perks for 14-10 ENY, 20 perks for 9-0 ENY....

and with lets say a 0.6 perk modifier those 20 perk planes cost alot more........

[Overlag]

Originally posted by humble
Sigh...

One day you may figure it out HiTech...

Your skins thinned faster than the hair on my head, you used to actually listen a bit. Customers aren't always right (in fact they are more likely to be wrong) but they deserve to be treated with a minimum level of repsect regardless....

And in a case like this when the customer IS right you ought to consider his point of few...you did ask for it. An awful lot of people actually care about this game as much as you do. Why not cut them a break. The rocks they throw are aimed at the glass house you built...not at you personally.

humble, your a bit late......hitech and flaik have sorted this out.....

[Overlag]

Originally posted by Toad
I’ve always preferred encouraging something rather than discouraging something.

Right now, this “numbers imbalance” has generated a discussion on ways to “balance” the sides by giving people “timeouts” to persuade them to switch countries or delay their return to the fight if the won't switch.

It’s pretty clear that switching countries isn’t a desirable outcome for lots of folks, particularly those in a squad. Nor do people want to sit around doing nothing waiting for a timer to run down.

To me, these are “stick” approaches to solving the problem.

So, here’s a “carrot” proposal. Take it for what it’s worth, just an idea. Maybe it’ll cause someone else to think and come up with a better idea.

Let’s say the three countries are X, Y and Z so we don’t offend anyone. Let’s say on Sunday night, Country X has 200 players. Country Y with 135 players is getting absolutely hammered by Country X. As usual, Country Z’s players are fight both Country X and Y, not really bothering X much and just adding to already serious problem for Y.

Country Y needs some help. It just doesn’t have the numbers to withstand this attack from both sides.

First off, give Country Y free perk planes. Yep, free. Not free all nite, but use HT’s formula or something like it to trip the switch on the “Free Perk Planes in Y-land” lamp. It might go on and off several times during the night. This gives Y players a bit of help using aircraft technology and something to interest other folks in switching sides VOLUNTARILY.

Now, accepting the assumption that some players “will fly for perks” (because we know there are some that don’t care about either perks or score), program a “perk awards” feature that will encourage Country Z’s players to hit Country X and leave Country Y alone for a bit.

This can also be triggered by HT’s formula. When Country Z takes a Country X base, all Z players are immediately awarded 5 perks. Heck, make it 10 intially; it can always be fine tuned as actual MA experience dictates. Or, to reward those actually performing the capture, give all of the Z players in the same sector as the captured base the perks.

This feature should encourage Z players to hit Country X instead of already beleaguered Country Y. In effect, you have brought more players to Country Y by redirecting Z’s attacks onto Country X. An alliance as it were. Again, this wouldn’t have to last all night. It would be turned on and off by player number parameters or even total number of bases per team.

Anyway, the thrust here is ENCOURAGING players to negate the numbers imbalance without the need for a timeout or semi-forcing folks to switch sides.

It’s just an idea to get folks thinking. Lots of room for improvement, so go ahead and improve it.

you know what....i like this....

if there was incentives for the two small sides to gang up on the other side it might work...but since perks are next to useless with the current perk plane list, i doubt it will work.......

[DREDIOCK]

Curious as to what HT and just about anyone else thinks about the alternitive ideas posted such as zone limits and/or logistical implications when upping in huge numbers

At this point its pretty obvious as to what a large percentage of those that frequent the boards and are  posting think of the orginal question.

A thought might be to logicaly explore all  alternatives to come up with the best possable solution that would be fair to all sides as opposed to only considering/debating one

[daddog]

any person that cant wait 3 mins for up to 10 mins to 40 mins of flight time needs help

Spoken like an individual who can’t see past their own life. You might find this hard to believe, but there are members of this community who work, sometimes long hours. Then when they get home they have more work to do on the domestic end. Sometimes they only have 10 or 15 minutes to play. Waiting 3 to 10 minutes could be most of their flight time.

I know, I know, hard to imagine people having a full plate.

[Mugzeee]

The common denominator I am seeing is that players are actually against anything that will force them to switch sides. The "Getting to fly" thing is just a distraction.
As HT said...you could always change sides IF it is the Flying that means so much to us.
Guess we could expect that.
The Limited flight slots per base or zone would help to thin the hoard...and at the same time wouldn’t force players to switch to (Fly).
But i do believe that the subtle result would be a slow migration that would eventually even the sides again.
And if it didn’t... The problem is still solved. Because if the Flight Slots were full at a given base/zone...you’d have to operate from another base 50 or some 75 miles away and that lovely Hoard you sooo wanted to fly in would be WAY over there.
HT I salute you for stepping up to the plate and trying to work out this problem. It is a hard one to approach and you are doing a great job of being objective.
This deserves respect.
Thank You:  Salute

[tactic]

Raises hand>>>   I'm one who doesnt always have or want to take a bunch of time to fly for hours and hours straight, and I do like to get online and up a quick sortie, one to several times a day .. so to spend the time to get online and enter game  , just to see it say ,  well ya gunna have to wait 10 min while the numbers decrease in your country or what ever it would say, that would really get old fast...

[culero]

Originally posted by Virage
keep it simple.

restrict switching to the country with the most numbers first.  See how the MA reacts.

It will nudge the numbers towards balance and my be enough in and of itself.


btw I am against the time restriction idea.    you will have more players frustrated about that then are currently upset about numbers.

I can't agree more. This is the best idea I've read in this thread, by far.

culero

[JB66]

Nope...I don't like the time restriction idea.

Just sweeten the pot to encourage side switching to balance the numbers.  The "floaing perk value was a good idea".  

But, then again, most people that I know don't fly for perks anyway.
Maybe limit late planes, but this will bring out the "it's my $15.00 and I'll fly what I want crowd".

[DrDea]

Originally posted by Mugzeee
What if… Each zone had an allotted number of flight slots. If the slots were currently full…then you would have to launch from another base say 50 to 75 miles away or wait till some one else moved to a different zone.
This could work well to disperse the Hoards. Because you would have to wait…or chose another base of operations…The new base of operations being far enough from the original base that your fuel would be rather low by the time you made it to the zone you were originally trying to Hoard…err fly in.
 Could work to deter hoarding or gangbanging.
Aces High with its zone structure could maybe benefit from this setup.

BTW…this isn’t new. Nor is it my own idea.

   And the dolt Idea goes to............  Can you say kills any form of missions????

But I loved it.

[DrDea]

Originally posted by Zanth
I find most notable and encouraging that both hitech and pyro both acknowledge that there is a problem.  This by itself is the good news, that they are considering doing something about it, even more so.

 

Ya know Zanth I have found everthing youve said to have a nut of sanity to it except for this.ARE YOU FUGGIN NUTS?This is a unilateral problem put up with by EVERY country at some time.The ratio shifts and it changes on a regular basis.To all of a sudden say we need to make a change is insane.Every side has had the advantage over months of time and every side has been outnumbered for months.It all evens out and I think NO course of action is what we need right now.To say that this is a fluke as some insinuate is just BS.Every side since Ive played this game has had overwhelming numbers.Ive been here for 3 years

[DrDea]

I dont see anything in the perk section fixing this.Some people believe it or not dont give a rats bellybutton about perks or score.They just want to fly a few and have a good time with the squad.If we limit the time they have to fly its going to have negitive responce.I STILL FARGIN say this has happened to alol sides and will also happen to all sides.It evens out eventualy.The only screwdriver in the works seems to be more than usual score potatos.Thats something that any change will be hard pressed to change.

[Simaril]

Originally posted by DrDea
I dont see anything in the perk section fixing this.

Agree 100%