But here's the problem. If you over emphasize 'living' then you might as well take out 99 percent of the plane set. Why would anyone take a P39D up against La7s, or a Spit I up against D9s if 'dying' is penalized. The only 'risk' we take is getting into the fight, and the fight is all that matters to many of us, because in the end, one base on the map looks like another base and winning a do-over seems silly. In my wildest imagination as a little kid, I never thought I could go into a dogfight against another person in a WW2 fighter. Lo and behold I got older and got the chance, even if it's just a cartoon plane and my imagination at work. Why would I not want to live out that childhood dream?
We're not emulating combat conditions. This isn't combat it's a game where we pretend. People do things in here they wouldn't ever have done in combat because death isn't real here. You'd have to be a fool to HO like some folks do in here, more often then not followed by colliding with the guy they are trying to HO. What's the penalty if you get shot down, bail out and get 'captured". Do you include potential mechanical failures? How about oxygen use? Cold? Icing? Gun stoppages?
Do we spread the fields so far apart that an aircraft's range matters? All of a sudden only the USAAF birds with long range DTs can reach the fight? How do you decide where the front starts? Do we divide it by Axis in one Country, Allied in another and Soviet in the third with two of the three always pounding on one? Kinda tough on the Axis since the only heavy bombers are Allied.
How do we decide what people fly? If this is WW2, what year is it? Do the LW pilots have more experience to start and the newbs all start Allied and it's 1939 with Hurri Is, Spit Is, P40Bs etc while the LW has 109Es and 110s, Zekes etc? Or is ot 1945 and the Allies have overwhelming numbers and experience vs the Axis which can't keep enough pilots trained? Is it 1944 and the Axis have just a couple carriers and very few carrier planes while the Allies have all kinds of them?
How do we limit the amounts of time people can fly? if my life allows me 3 hours a week, how do we determine how much flying I have to do to get to a fight, vs a guy who plays 20 hours a week?
Do we designate who flies bombers, who flies attack, who flies defense, who flies on the the offensive? Do we designate escort pilots vs fighter sweeps? Do we determine that some guys have to fly CAP for the carriers while others hit the islands?
It seems to me that what you want is Combat Tour where flying the 'mission' will matter and there will be a reward or penalty for your death and not completing the 'mission'. But that's also going to expect you to follow the mission parameters too I'd think and you might get bored at times, and have to commit time that others might not have.
Bottom line is this isn't real war, it's a air combat simulation 'game' where folks have all kinds of options in how they play. There is no way to create the 'fear' of death until you make it one life and you never play again.
I kinda doubt HTC is going to implement that kind of system however. It doesn't pay
Understand something about furballers too. Many of us have also flown scenarios, FSO's Snapshots or whatever. I was privilaged to CO the 38 Group in the DGS scenario. If you look at the list of guys who flew with me in the 474th in that scenario, you'd find nothing but furballers. Everyone of us who flew that scenario had a blast 'completing the mission" we were given and 3 of 4 frames it was bomber escort. I had 1 kill in 4 frames and died 1 time on a second sortie. I had probably 11-12 hours of time 'in the cockpit' for that 1 kill, but there was a purpose to what the scenario was about and living mattered as did sheperding the bombers. Don't think that 'furballers' don't get that. I think you'd find many of us well versed in the history of WW2 aviation and hardly 'air quake' types.
But we understand the difference between the MA and a Scenario and play the game to fit the time or the event.
