A friend of mine has played AH almost solidly for about 6 years now. He was talking about the game, and I thought I would check it out again. I have been spending most of my time in World of Warcraft, a very addictive game
I took out a trial account of Aces High and tried to fly with a mouse on Sat night, two crashes on take off later, I knew I would have to find where my wife had hidden my joystick.
So last night I went on-line for the first time in probably a year, year and a half?? It took a while to get my joystick working, and I went into the training arena, but no one there would talk to me. So I went into one of the many new arenas, it used to be training, some combat arena no one went into and the main arena. Now there are several flavors, and I picked a late war one.
What to choose? What to choose??? The 109s seemed pretty strange, and I couldn’t sort out what was what, but the F model didn’t have 30mms, and I could seem to find out which was like the old G6. Lord knows when I was last in the 190s were being porked, so I scratched those off the list until I got better. I ignored my all time favorite the Cannon Hog, that was perked back when AH was new. Spit? Naw, my pride would let me take training wheels so I figured I would just take a La7 until I got things sorted out.
I started to take off, but my hat switch didn’t work. I could only figure out how to talk to someone by calling up the map and select radio, then click on the right channel. I asked how to get on radio without calling up the map, but I was ignored. I then tried to talk using the mike, but no one answered, and no one replied to my requests for help on the green channel. I would have went to a country which had AKs on, but I couldn’t remember how to change countries or see what country they were on.
OK, well, I finally got the joystick to work. So I went to base that was being attacked, drove out a Ostwind. I figured I could get the view keys and the joystick working in a vehicle. But nothing happened, so I went to the setup, and apparently vehicles are different now than aircraft setup. I go the vehicle out of the hangar, but no tracers. I spent some time finding where to turn tracers on. Launched another Ostwind, sat around for a while keeping myself amused trying to figure out how to set up my views. Lots of airplanes no one attacking, pretty boring. Eventually a P38 attacked me dropped a bomb, he missed and I took his wing off when he was somewheres about my 12. A little later some plane came in and took out my Ostwind. Still no mike working, and still no one will give me the time of day on the green channel.
So lets take up my LA7, lots of activity, I though I would get vulched, but somehow I got into the air, and some plane tried to HO me, he went down, I didn’t. The base fell, and being low and slow the inevitable bogies bounced me. Crash, not much different than it used to be I thought. I am not sure if the guy whined about being HO’d on the white text channel, I was too busy trying to sort out my views.
I took off at another base, I talked to one other person on the mike, but then again no one would talk to me. If I remember right there was a key for a squad channel and another for your side channel. Different base, but any help I asked for on the green text was essentially ignored. I headed over to a enemy base, and got some working alt, about 8k. I saw a friendly P38 to my low 8, but he ignored my typing. I tried to tell him I had a bogey P51 at my low 1 o’clock, but no response. The bogey bounced him, but I couldn’t remember how to check 6. So I bounced the Pony, but I had a lot of alt on the pony and I had to keep from compression. I eventually got on the Pony D’s six, I can’t remember if he got the P38 or not, my ability to use views suck, but the pony pulled up, I kept on him, but broke off at the edge of blackout. The pony was trying to make me auger, and I couldn’t keep track of him, so I shot vertical to get some separation, we were right by the their base. Base hugging doesn’t seem to be phase that the arenas have grown out of. Check six, yep, just picked up a Pony B this time, I forced an overshoot, and we ended up in a scramble for energy. The Pony B pilot of course totally outclassed me. I couldn’t keep him in view, he ended up on my six again, so I grabbed for sky, kicked in some flaps, and out climbed him with a vertical spiral (love the power of the La7), staying just out of reach of his guns. I dived on the P51B once I had a slight bit of alt and angles. But as I said, he totally outclassed me as a pilot. We tussled a bit, but it was a fight I was going to lose, and by now a P51D was joining in to help him. So I decided to try to get out of Dodge, I dived faking an attack on the P51B and dived down as far as I dared pulled up, and lo! A bogey is on the runway, so I vulched him and ran like a school girl.
The Pony D and B chased me a bit with some other plane, then only the D remained, right on my tail 2K back. Then he broke off over my base.
I then went back into the fight, eventually a Hog took off my vertical stabilizer in an HO. Sweet shooting on his part. Once I crashed I noticed all the typing on the white channel about my vulching and running, so I answered and we had a typical white channel conversation about my being a dweeb or to that effect, and that I wasn’t a noob, and I was just fishing, and a bunch of other funny stuff.
Funny how people have time to call you names on the white channel, but no one will help you on the green channel.
And just think I have a level 19 Priest I could have probably taken to level 21 in the time I spent tinkering with AH.
If I do come back I better spend a lot of time off-line and maybe ask the AK’s if they will help me in the training arena.
Or I could just spend more time with my Priest and my Paladin.
