Pre 2000 PCs? Are you kidding me? Professionals say that every family household should upgrade every 4-5 years. And now, it's becoming even sooner than that. That 4-5 year figure was years ago in the late 90s and early 2000s. I'm surprised people are still operating on 8+ year old machines with today's average file sizes and processor requirements. If they have 15 dollars a month to play an online video game, they should be able to upgrade their PC from 8+ years ago.... I'm not asking for just eye candy, I'm asking for an updated engine that somewhat competes with other games out there. Keeping in mind this is still a massive multiplayer game, it should be feasible. The Aces High community is not what it used to be even 3 years ago. I have seen more and more 2 weekers than ever before. What does this mean? People are using up the trial and abandoning the game. Why? I can't tell ya their specific reasons, but I will tell you that an updated engine would help the situation.
I can't even remember when Hitech Creations first said they were developing this new gametype with mission-based sorties. Was it more than 3 years ago? That's a long time to just be developing a new game type. I'm not saying that the company should have something in the works already, but it would be nice to know what the plans are for the next couple years. If they haven't even hit the planning stages, then it could be another 4-5 years before anything "new" comes out. And I'm not talking about updates.
HMMM.... mortgage this month? Or a new PC to play a flight sim? Lemme check with the missus.....
My year 2000 AMD, which I've tweaked and replaced both cards and memory, gets 40-60 FR consistent, except on really big maps or crowded fights where it stays at 30 or so. 60 FPS is the limit of the human eye. Anything more than 60 FPS, you can't even see. The only way you know you have it is that little number at the top of the screen.
This game appeals to a certain niche of gameplayer. This gameplayer isn't interested in eyecandy. If you have any experience, you'll realize this flight model is better than the others out there. If you want to continually bash at it, you might as well move along.
Any overhaul of the engine will limit the number of "QUALITY" players found on here... Those being the older, over 25 crowd that actually salute a good fight, and check your six. You think the squeaks are bad now......imagine if only top rigs could handle this game. Then, only the "My daddy bought me a computer" crowd would be on. You know...the Half-Life Deathmatch crowd. I loved the actual game Half-Life 2. I logged on one day to the new Team Fortress site.... I came back shaking my head.