Aces High III

[tedrbr]

Will the online gaming community ever see it?

Aces High was released in May of 2000.
Aces High II was released in 2004.
Aces High Combat Tour is in development.
Now 2007.

New graphics cards coming out.  The introduction of MS Vista (I hate it, but it will be the keystone for future computer games unless and until game developers buck status quo and embrace Open Source).  More powerful computers, more memory, larger hard drives.

And above all, the gaming community appetite for more, bigger, and better with which to spend their money and recreation time.
Only HTC knows if the numbers and interest would make a AHIII economically viable to pursue.

What would you expect in an AHIII?

For me:
Throughput  
More and more online games are broadband only.  Dial-up connections just don't have the capacity for all the information to be transfered for very involved games.  MiMAX use is growing for rural internet users who do not have access to cable or DSL.  AHIII should, IMO, be broadband based.  

Eye Candy for more immersion (all scalable for client side abilities).
Graphics.  Even higher limits on graphic detail, polygon counts, and so forth.  Actual 'curves' on plane models.  More details.  Scalable to meet the abilities of the player's client side computers.  Lense flares.  Shadows.  More smoke and flame.  Great columns of smoke over heavily destroyed strat factories and heavily damaged ships.  

Graphics effects to last longer, ie the plane you shot down or tank you've blown up, seen as smoking wreckage on the ground for a while longer. Buildings and structures that are destroyed burn or scatter a bit more during transition from 'up' to 'down'.  

Maps More and different, with varied environments.
The War Arena Maps are pretty plain as compared to those used in SEA.  The quality of some of the SEA maps, with the new terrain tiles coming, and additional eye candy would be popular.  Large cities to fight over.  River systems.
Also, more desert, tropical, western European, Scandinavian, and eastern Europe and Russian steppes themed maps.  

Weather effects
Not rain or participation --- too much draw on resources--- , but ground snow, low fog or cloud cover, overcast days,  fall foliage and leafless trees, thick clouds that obscure planes and icons.

Additional planes and Vehicles
More planes to German, Japanese, Italian, and Russian plane sets.
Higgins Boats added with longer running "Marines" as opposed to just LVT's for capture of sea-side cities.  
Artillery - Flak36 with manned puffy ack ability.
Big gun Stuka.

more destructible terrain targets
More trains and railways.  Destroyable bridges.  Convoys and roadways.  Marshalling Yards.  Communications centers.  Shipping (freighters and convoys) --- all tied into the game resource economy.  Give attack pilots more to go after.

Front Lines/Battles.  Could also be considered eye candy.  Moving front lines between major countries.  Soldiers in platoon elements (think Total War), vehicles, mortar/artillery barrages.  Possibly Armies controlled like TG now, or maybe just completely AI directed based on mid point between two country's bases.  Mostly just more eye candy.  Would not need to be continuous lines between countries.... just hot spots to provide additional targets and some effect on relative resource economy --- provide a place for combat in the skies between two bases.  GV spawn points could be at the periphery of such 'battle sites' to give GV'rs more 'atmosphere'.  GV's might be able to spawn in such a battle, if operated like a TG?

AI Support
Some limited use of AI?  Primarily in the form of a CAP over a CV, to help beef up their survivability against easy kills.  Might have some use in the Land Battle above as well.  Possibly an Army that gets pushed back by another army, eventually brings a nearby base under artillery fire?

Serious look at CV's
Should they spawn LVT's further out and not be allowed close to land?  Do they need longer ranged radar?  AI CAP overhead (that does not appear on DAR)?  Picket destroyers?  An Escort Carrier (CVE or JEEP) added to group?  Damage control parties?  If two CV's, should the damaged deck be able to be placed out of commission for a time, pending repairs?

Realistic Capture Progression
HTC tried a few means at this in AHII.  Running the blue rat maze line was one effort.  Essentially, countries should be able to capture territory adjacent to what they currently have.  Deep strikes in the rear may be fun, and some argument can be made for island hopping in some cases, but for the most part, taking territory far in the rear is too far from reality.  Possibly the maps can be designed to include territorial limits.... to capture the base in a territory requires at least one border of that territory be shared with the attacker.  Of course, territories could become isolated (Bastone) from most of a country's territories.

Well, those are my thoughts as to the future.

[tedrbr]

One I forgot.  
The possibility of allowing buff drivers to purchase with their buff perk points up to an additional 3 drones... up to 6 planes altogether... (3 across, 2 deep, slight offset with rear group) with level bombers to make taking on strat targets ---- factories and such --- more worth while in the strategic aspect of the game.

To offset some of the more outlandish maneuvers done by dive bombing buffs, get rid of the catch up speed of the drones.  If a lead pilot maneuvers too severely, he will lose his drones.

[Larry]

HTC hasent even finnished AHII. Mabey In five or so years they will upgrade everything if they like but I see no AHIII anytime soon.


Throughput
More and more online games are broadband only. Dial-up connections just don't have the capacity for all the information to be transfered for very involved games. MiMAX use is growing for rural internet users who do not have access to cable or DSL. AHIII should, IMO, be broadband based. [/i]


I live where you can only get dial-up or satellite. Why should I be punished
for where I live. I only get 200 ping and hardly ger warps upless I loose UDP.


Weather effects
Not rain or participation --- too much draw on resources--- , but ground snow, low fog or cloud cover, overcast days, fall foliage and leafless trees, thick clouds that obscure planes and icons.[/i]


We have low fog and clouds in the AvA snow could be made in the terrain editer. different trees can already be made. over all MA will never have "weather". MA will have to stay the way it is because to many people will whine.

[republic]

Originally posted by tedrbr

Throughput  
More and more online games are broadband only.  Dial-up connections just don't have the capacity for all the information to be transfered for very involved games.  MiMAX use is growing for rural internet users who do not have access to cable or DSL.  AHIII should, IMO, be broadband based.

Those blessed with broadband seem to quickly forget that there are millions of us who can't get broadband of any sort...other than satellite.  Not because we are too 'cheap', not because we live in some secluded cabin in the woods holed up for the end of times....but because the megacorps such as AT&T find that we provide too slow of a return on their investment.

Sure...they'll make money...but not enough...and not fast enough.

I'd happily pay 100 per month for a low latency 384k down connection...but I can't get it.  A 128k ISDN is 250+ per month because of the telecom's free reign in my state.

Please HTC...don't forget us modem dwellers...if we could have broadband..we would...

[tedrbr]

Simple fact, Larry and republic, the "last mile" problem for internet connections are slowly being addressed with WiMAX (Line-Out-Sight or LOS wireless is another term I've seen used)  installations across the country.  U.S. Federal Government is even providing money for it, especially across the mid-western states.

Something like AHIII isn't going to happen anytime soon, if at all.  But by the time it does, WiMAX should be an available alternative to most stuck with dial-up now.  And those that still can not get WiMAX by then will be left behind when it comes to online gaming.  You may consider it "punishment", but the truth is, many new online games need the throughput found in "broadband" internet.  That is the way the industry is moving.

Check around to see how many online games NOW require broadband to use.  That DON'T support dial-up speeds.   Think of where that will be in 5 years.  

And, have either of you looked to see if WiMAX internet is available to you now where you are at? Or if there are any planes to introduce it in your area in the future?

HTC will continue to support dial-up with AHII I have no doubt.  If/when we ever see an AHIII, who knows which way they will go?  But dial-up speeds are a severe limitation on what you can ultimately provide in an online game.

[zorstorer]

Ted about the "broadband" issue, go back and read through some posts from skuzzy or ht on the issue.  There is really no need to pump loads of data to or from the server.  As long as you have a STABLE connection with a acceptable ping (around 200ms) you will play just like someone with a 15Mbps connection and a stable ping.

[republic]

Wimax is a bit overzealous in their propaganda.  The higher frequencies have difficulty penetrating foleage, which is a huge problem for "last mile" customers.  The only hope for rural areas is the cellular companies...as sad as it is to say that.  We currently have wireless access at 128k but with very high latency via Cingular/Sprint/etc.  Maybe one day they'll roll out nationwide wireless broadband...at least along the major highways.

I am hardly the definition of last mile, I live in a community of about 150 or so.  We have our own fire department, community buildings, etc.  Telecoms use the word "last mile" to mean anything that doesn't offer an immediate return on investment.

I indeed to hope for broadband, and a game shouldn't be limited in order to support dialup.  But AHII has proven that dial-up compatibility does not mean you must suffer in features.  Often broadband requirements are simply masks to cover up poor coding.

I can't think of how AH could be improved by upping the bandwidth requirement...  What more information needs to be transmitted or received?  maybe make the voice comms better but...the scratchy voices themselves add another level of historical realism.  But...if voice comm alone is the need for higher bandwidth, let those bandwidth blessed use teamspeak or ventrillo.

[Tilt]

Future developments will still be Front End orientated.

Basically making the game more imersive by developing the player > front end interface whilst keeping the packet load as low as possible.

HTC will still want to keep its entry level PC spec quite low (comparatively speaking) so development must allow for this.