Mars01,
All the material being debated here is highly subjective. For example:
Well that fact that you don't think there is more to it than moving chess pieces around and that you can't find any purpose in it, tells me that you are missing something designed to or not.
I accept that furballing interests you. And it's OK in (very) limited doses. But like I said, it did not hold
my interest. I personally enjoy some sort of WW2 re-enactment. The RPS in WB was a good thing for me because it gave me the chance to fly a wider range of planes in a fair contest, instead of always having to deal with the same 3 planes the whole time. You tell me that I'm missing something, but in my view the furballers are missing about 70% of the whole game. In AH I flew fighters, bombers, jabo, PT boats, PNZR, FLAK, M8, delivered troops or supplies in both M3 and Goon, manned the FGs, SBs, drove the CV - all that stuff was
put there by HTC. They intended for it to be
used!. It was sad to see so many guys focus only on the air to air combat, and to turn their backs on the other 70% of the game. But, moving along...
So honing your fighter skills is not a purpose that holds your interests? Trying to perfect and learn better wingman tactics against unsurmountable odds is not interesting? Honing your SA so you can combat unsurmountable odds is not interesting?
Did all that in WB, Mars. In 1999/2000, I had the enthusiasm that you have right now. I remember the time I found a plane I really liked - and got good in it - the F6F. I even whacked the #1 guy in it one time, even though he started in my 6 with an alt advantage. Another time, I had a P51 and Spit in my 6 at the same time, and managed to kill both! Yep, the enthusiasm was strong back then...
Furballing has alot to it and is by no means easy to get good at. There are alot of things you have to do well before you can even survive in a real furball. Unlike dropping bombs or base capture, which you only have to get good at a small set of things.
Well, you have said how little I know about furballing; this quote tells me how little you know about base capture planning. I should qualify that by saying that the whole base capture strategem is porked in AH because there are so many warning signs that give the game away if attempting a surreptitious attack on a base. There's the siren, the flashing map, "base under attack" etc... so the enemy knows you're coming, and the capture (especially on the small maps where conveyor belting is viable) comes down to a numbers contest. To aim a bomb in AH using the P38, I liked to start at about 4K AGL. Not much chance of succeeding if, by the time you get there, the LA7s are waiting - at 10K.
But I think you're starting to sound like Lazs & Toad in taking the black or white view that one is either a toolshed killer or an air to air fite guy, because there are shades of grey in between. I was in a succession of jabo squads in WB, and I was good at it. Did this mean that I sucked at air to air combat? I don't think so. At the end of one tour about 5 years ago, I finished in 8th place in the fighter rankings - even though my squad was a dedicated jabo squad - we never bothered with furballing. The biggest hazards in jabo were being acked, cherrypicked, or being blown up by your own bomb - lol.
As for wingman tactics, I learned a lot from my moonlight squad, the Scanian Griffins. They had an excellent CO (-rudu-) and his wingman (-sach- - a guy from Susanville,CA) was the best wingman in the game. Yep, those were good times. We used to fly 190s.
Anyway, WB went off the boil for reasons that have already been discussed, so I came here. I do believe that AH is a more furballcentric sim than WB was, although WB did have some - ask Lazs. BTW I used to hook up with Lazs and a bunch of others - all the way back in 1998!
Now I know that you enjoy your small maps and your furballs. And I'm not trying to change your point of view. But for me, I just need something more out of a game besides chasing down Spits and LA7s every day. And I'm not interested in becoming a SpitV wonderpilot - not saying there's anything wrong with that, but it's just not for me.
Unfortunately, although AH2 has delivered better FMs, gunnery, and a few more planes, the game
play remains lamentable. And I can't see that changing until we get TOD, so...
Toodle-Pip
