Arena Plane Avalabilty

[Money]

I have been looking around for a post or explanation for why planes of certain values are unavailable during specific times in the game.  I find it annoying with my limited flight time to be subject to flying planes I hate flying.  I'm sure it is to force balance in some strange way, but I would like to know exactly how it works if possible.

[Lusche]

I have been looking around for a post or explanation for why planes of certain values are unavailable during specific times in the game. 

It's a penalty that kicks in when one side has a clear numerical superiority to the side with the lowest player numbers. It's based on relative strengths, that is your sides % of  players in arnena players compared to lowest country %.
It's not meant to completely balance gameplay, but of course it's an incentive to switch sides and even out numbers a bit.

If you don't want to switch countries for what ever reason, you should display some flexibitly in plane choice. Many ENY 15-25 planes are almost as good as lower ENY ones. Many of the favourite low ENY planes do even have a high ENY variant Spit 16 -> Spit 9, La7 -> La5, P15D -> P-51B


A few popular complaints:

Eny sucks, it doesn't succeed to even the numbers !
- It's not meant to do that. It's just a penalty

Eny sucks. This is war, and war isn't fair!
- It's not a war. It's a game.

Eny sucks. It's always against us, when the others have that more players, they don't get ENY.
- That's what every country claims. It's not true, ENY limiter is the same for every country. But you usually do not notice your enemy's ENY limit, or you don't get the difference between absolute and relative numbers

[Money]

As you stated, the variants are so close, why impose a penalty?  A favorite plane is just that, a favorite.  I argue that changing planes does not need to be forced any more. 

[Lusche]

As you stated, the variants are so close, why impose a penalty?  A favorite plane is just that, a favorite.  I argue that changing planes does not need to be forced any more. 

They are close.. not the same.

ENY is there for a reason... it came out of the experience from a time where there was none. It's still necessary because players are still the same, trying get every possible advantage, that is both superior numbers AND superior planes at the same time.

[Money]

and then the arena resets and all is even again...  again... and again...  It will take care of itself if left alone.

The use of ENY was valuable when the plane sets were so limited.  They aren't now and imposing that penalty does much less good today.

BTW, thank you  much for the other links and feedback!

[SlapShot]

Bottom line ... it's not going away ... so one has learn to live with.

[Kev367th]

Still say the problem isn't ENY per se, but rather planes ENY values.

They are all over the place.

Would suggest they all need re-doing from scratch.

[Adonai]

Time to start flying a new plane if your so worried about ENY - fact is its not going away, and if your going to cry everytime you cant fly your dweeb16 then its either time to find a new game or fly the spit 8 in its place untill eny settlers - or simply switch arenas where you don't have a horde.

I have always flown a 109 and never had to worry about ENY just because I like fact my bird is higher eny and never have to worry about switching.

[John Curnutte]

 ENY is part of the whole reason I got to enjoying the P-40E so much , or the F4U1 , or others . Its IMO a good thing to play in different rides and so many have different models to choose from . ENY is there period so we live with it . For example  gas at $4.67 a gallon here in California I hate it but live with it . I don't like how it was imposed on us but there is not allot I can do about it .
                                                                                          Nutte

[Xasthur]

Nothing is stopping you from switching sides. ENY won't let you fly your favourite plane? It will if you switch countries.

[stephen waldron]

 I agree MoneyMan.  It's time to retire ENY penalties.  Yes AH is a game.  But it is supposed to reflect WAR, not some perpetual "even handed" contest.  In fact, If you want to compare AH to other games and sports, I can't think of a single one where a referee penalizes the winning side for winning, or to make the game last longer.  Can you ?  This is an idea pretty unique to AH in the game universe.

[stephen waldron]

  Don't worry though MoneyMan.  I don't think you're going to see this ENY penalty feature carried over into Combat Tour.  It would make even less sense there.

[Rolex]

I don't think you thought very deeply about your analogy. It's about equipment, not just referees or umpires. Are some teams allowed more players than the other teams? Are some players allowed more advanced equipment than other players?

Added: there are well-thought out reasons for the way the game is. It is not arbitrary. Someone with your limited experience here might be better reading more and advising less, waldron.

[BigR]

I agree MoneyMan.  It's time to retire ENY penalties.  Yes AH is a game.  But it is supposed to reflect WAR, not some perpetual "even handed" contest.  In fact, If you want to compare AH to other games and sports, I can't think of a single one where a referee penalizes the winning side for winning, or to make the game last longer.  Can you ?  This is an idea pretty unique to AH in the game universe.

This shows a complete lack of understanding of the game. Thats right, it is a game, and games are meant to be fair for all teams involved. In those sports you mentioned, one team doesn't have more players than the other ...right ?? The eny limits are in place to level the playing ground just a bit so the game can be fun for everyone. If you don't like it, switch countries, or arenas. The eny limits are not going anywhere.

[Trukk]

I agree MoneyMan.  It's time to retire ENY penalties.  Yes AH is a game.  But it is supposed to reflect WAR, not some perpetual "even handed" contest.  In fact, If you want to compare AH to other games and sports, I can't think of a single one where a referee penalizes the winning side for winning, or to make the game last longer.  Can you ?  This is an idea pretty unique to AH in the game universe.

But what sport allows you to field more players than the other team?