Open Letter as sent to Hitech (from me, a Bishop)

[TBolt A-10]

Edit for flaming everone.

[phookat]

Originally posted by TBolt A-10
over-management

It's how it works in other games.  When you log in, you join the team with less numbers.  Maybe it should work that way here too.  That would get rid of a lot of this "betrayal" silliness.

Drink some industrial sludge, your stomach will feel so bad you'll forget all about that headache.

[Kev367th]

Exactly HT.
Funny how we are getting 'Why weren't we asked to change sides' comments now.

Boils down to one thing -
You shouldn't have needed to be asked. It should of been more than apparent there was a 'problem', you just chose to ignore it. Or as is more likely, were more than happy with the way things were. People weren't asked to change in the past, it was done because it was the right to do for the game.

Actually TBolt I don't think 'the community' dropped the ball, more like one part of the community was quite happy with the situation and wouldn't have done anything to change things.

[lasersailor184]

HT, while we are at it, can we have night back?  I don't care if other people turn up their gamma, I thoroughly enjoyed playing during night time.

[MOIL]

Lev states:

"I wasn't offended. I said that if I were in HTC's position and just read what you wrote, I would be offended and insulted"

-- Todd/Leviathn


Why ?

[Dead Man Flying]

Originally posted by MOIL
Why ?

Because it condescends, makes assumptions about motives, assumes certain business practices, and implies some level of incompetence or at least ignorance about game design.

All from someone who thinks that an ability to program translates to an ability to design games when the two have little to do with one another.

-- Todd/Leviathn

[Arlo]

Originally posted by ROCrats

I have ... political activities

I want to fly my plane, for my country ...

It would be nice to be able to layout a mission plan in advance, possibly apply some strategy along the way.  

1: Leave the political activities to real life.

2: It's not really a country ... you know that, right?

3: Lay out a mission plan that explains in detail to the rest of the squad how to switch sides as a group. For details, look for my simple explanation on how to format such a plan and technical detail on how to switch to a specific side in the AH FAQ thoughtfully provided at http://www.hitechcreations.com.

That ... or carry on with a heated political campaign to save "your country" from having to deal with "an unfair system" (that seems to be perceived as a direct attack on "your country").

[madness]

I have to say, implementing the ENY is a start in the right direction, but I think there may be a better way to balance out the numbers.  IMO a system that worked as follows would help: Instead of limiting the planes, how about lowering the max amount of people allowed to join the side with most numbers, and increasing the max amount of players allowed on the unbalanced side. This seems a little harsh but this way people will not be able to join the side with more numbers and thus join the unbalanced side evening up the numbers.

Another Idea- Implement a system where it autosets players that are just joining into the MA to the unbalanced side untill it balances out, then have it distribute them evenly among the groups.

*Please note: im not whining I am giving ideas to actually help the game, and note these are ONLY ideas im not DEMANDING them as some people may think. Im merely giving my thoughts to what would make the game better for everyone

S!

[Chortle]

Originally posted by DoctorYO
Zazen is a paying customer like myself, ghostH and many many others..

In fact look at the dates registered we have been paying for a long time..  and yet people with 3 months onboard are yapping to us to say nothing..What we are not allowed to disagree with where the game is going.. (I like the perk system, if you refine it; it will work..see below**)

I see your point but seriously, it couldn’t be further from the truth. I disagree with Zazen on virtually everything I’ve ever read by him – I’ve never met him in the MA but from reading his posts, his flying style and others that fly like him, is possibly the most annoying and irritating thing I find about the MA.

I also find his post’s pompous and self-indulgent, never use 1 word where 5 long ones will do

But at the same time, I think he’s sincere. I agree with his own reply, he does love this product, he does think before he posts, he doesn’t have some hidden agenda and I think that’s great. I take cheap, sarcastic shots at him for his style, not necessarily the content.

And lastly and least importantly, I never pay attention to someone’s join date unless it’s relevant. As its an issue for you, I’ve never lasted more than about 7 or 8 months under one account, be it in the MA or on the bbs due to my own peculiar circumstances – that is chronic laziness and a spectacularly bad memory.

Yap Yap Yap!

[SlapShot]

The ironic part of all this is the fact that WE, the community, still have the ability to make the ENY disabler a dead piece of code.

It is a binary switch that is turned on when the population becomes un-balanced according to a parameters that HT has set.

We still have the choice to try to balance the arena ourselfs, and I believe that if HT sees the effort, the parameters that turn on the ENY disabler will go up, which in effect, is turning it off.

Go ahead  ... be "loyal" to your chesspiece ... it's your choice ... you will just have to fly a lesser plane when your numbers trip the switch.

[Octavius]

Hey moil,

I could give two ****s about your business.  It has zero impact on this game.  Your unhappy customers are HTC's fault?

Renovation? Please point out the "renovations" to me
I'm not here to put down there game, I call it as I see it.

Let me ask you this:  At what date did you first read about, see screenshots of, or log into Aces High?  

Said it once, twice a hundred times, I, from day one have supported HTC, offered ideas, help, insight whatever. Put together one of the most sought after squads in AH, had some of the best online battles I and my squad have ever played, against some of the best, if not THE best squads the game has to offer.
For some silly reason people think I hate HTC or the game, this is so far from the truth it isn't even funny.

How the hell are we supposed to interpret your rants then?  You love the game, and yet you rip it left and right - any chance you get it seems - and you question why others might get that impression of you?!

Let me make this clear Moil, you cannot win this argument.  Not with the post from which I've snipped these quotes.  Your view is skewed and biased.

Take a real close look at the BB's for the last two months and tell me or anyone else that the majority is "happy" ?
You've got the "pi$$ed off crowd" that's leaving or left, the "I don't really like what HTC has done" but I have to much time & $$$ invested to quit now, not to mention the friends I've made here. Then the "Your all a bunch of whiners, don't let the door hit ya on the way out, HTC can do no wrong" crowd.
The rest don't post, so we'll never know I guess.

You ever stop and think how many aren't registered on the BBS?  Last year I would tell 9/10 players ranting on channel 1 to register on the BBS and present their case in a more sensible fashion.  Now I'm thinking that was a bad idea.  All I see is yap-yap-yap by a bunch of intardnet noobs, stamping their feet without ANY clue as to the big picture.  The loud, obnoxious ME ME ME crowd showed up and is attempting ot settle in.  Godamnit, that was not, is not, and will not be the Aces High community.  There have been some louder, more obnoxious players to venture through the game over the yeras, but the community was able to control them, or send them packing.  Not likely anymore.  The community is saturated with the little a-holes.  Hell, one player had a rather hot tempered door-slamming good bye thread the other day.  They say the community sucks?  Guess what, they make up the loud minority.  They've stained it.  They suck.

I'm surprised more vets haven't put their foot down.  Their behavior ("they" includes vets) is unacceptable and is not what this community used to be.

There, end rant.  Hey I can do it too!

[Zazen13]

Originally posted by Karnak
Zazen,

I see the argument brought up repeatedly that the two lesser sides gang up on the bigger side but I have never actually seen it happen in the game.  The ganging I have seen, and it usually does not occur, is the two biggest sides ganging up on the smallest side.

Why?

Simple really.  The greater the numbers disparity the easier it is to get kills without dying.  It doesn't matter that they have to compete with two or three other guys for each enemy, it just matters that they can do so in relative safety.


I think that basing the core of your argument on a once in a blue moon event is not setting a very strong foundation.

That's not true. Think of the maps. All the maps have a reset corner. No matter what, the team in that corner is doomed. Eventually they will be reset. This happens whether that team is numerically superior for a protracted period or not, numbers will just forestall the inevitable. If they occupy this part of the map and are also numerically inferior the reset occurs very quickly. For some reason this is almost always the South, South-East, or East side of the maps. Almost without exception the country occupying that portion will face a much larger percentage of both the two other country's forces regardless of relative numbers.

This phenomena proves my point that the individual country numbers can be perfectly equal but the arena can still be completely out of balance if those forces are arrayed disproprtionately. Conversely, the raw country numbers can be quite disparate, but the actual arena balance can be perfect, with the forces arrayed in proportion to those numbers by the three sides. This is often seen when a country with superior numbers occupies the 'reset corner' of a map. While their raw numbers are in fact superior, they are facing a proprtionately larger contingent of enemy than either of the other two countries are individually, in effect keeping it balanced.

These examples are where the ENY system fails completely. It makes no provision for 'reset corners' or how forces are arrayed. By its very simplicty it implies an exactly equal and proportional arraying of force, this is rarely the case. I won't even mention the fact that it assumes all those logged into the game for a particular country are having an impact on gameplay. Often as much as 25% of those logged in for one country or another are on extended AFK, or ghost accounts that are merely logged in for clandestine purposes.

Zazen

[AKcurly]

Originally posted by ghostdancer

Also stop and think for a second. The bishops and knights are able to field 15-170 pilots at times on weeknights. On sunday they don't .. on monday they do. Its a conscious decision to avoid sundays. Programming code will not change this in a major way. You are dealing with human behavior here and can not program people to behave differently.

The total number of participants is relatively constant.  With the new system in place, most nights see the rooks with an advantage of 20 player; on Sundays, their numbers approach the sum of the Knights and Bishops.

Since the total number is relatively constant (more or less), it follows the Sunday night excess comes from one of two sources: 1) Guys who switch sides to participate in the gangbang or 2) a few rooks who can only fly one night per week.

Relatively few people are avoiding Sunday.  However, I do recall (before the eny system) when I would log in disgust.  With the new system in place, the fight becomes much more even in the sense that they can't simply roll over you.

GhostDancer, I am amazed by the extent you and others will go to maintain this edge.  All of you have the sense of fair play found in infants:  I WANT MY BOTTLE NOW!

curly

[SlapShot]

Often as much as 25% of those logged in for one country or another are on extended AFK, or ghost accounts that are there merely logged in for clandestine purposes.

... reach into the black hat and pull out a rabbit.

You are too much. When you make statements such as this, it only leads me to believe that all your well thought out post are typically 25% BS too.

Stop adding "fudge" to your arguments ... it only errodes your credibilty.

[Pongo]

HTC for trying different things.
Its very fun to switch sides because the env elevator has told you to get off on the bottom floor only to have to listen to the country you are helping whine on channel 2 about your real country being cheaters and alt monkeys and liberals and homosexuals and orcs for a few hours while you watch them fly the same way that got them in the bucket in the first place.

Some truths must be stated. This system punishes some players for flying well and rewards others for poor flying.  Many people will never see this as fair or reasonable.

The problem is related to a flaw in the basic premis of the game that has always been present. It only models moral attrition not material attrition. Yet the air war in WW2 was one of material attrition much more then moral attrition.

This enhancement basically comes from the view point that the outnumberd country is likley less competent then the bigger numberd country and needs a tactical advantage in relation to thier strategic dissadvantage to have a fair fight.

It would be better to change the game so that if they are being successfull the side with the fewer players would tend to face a equitable number of enemies at a given time.

I would say that the game should be changed so that the disadvantaged country will know that thier successes will be meaningful and will increase thier countrys chance of success.

That is what bothered me the most about being in the bucket. Usually we were killingfar more then our losses yet it didnt matter. The first wave of suiciders had dragged you down and then reupped and returned by the time you had dealt with the second or third wave of suiciders.

Not a trivial solution to persue. But it really addresses the problem in my mind. Not that one country is less competent then another. But that one country is bigger then another and that automatically gives them more planes in direct realation to thier advantage in players.

If the countrys had constrained sorti rates and that number was increased for the country that is outnumbered or decreased for the country that supperior in numbers then the numbers advantage would tend to be less decisive.

I just dont think that the ENV mechanic really addresses the issue. It hides the issue. Although years ago I thought one likely solution to the numbers issue would be to allow the underdogs to fly the F86 and the Mig15...