The Difference Between Then and Now

[BaldEagl]

I think I've come across at least part of the reason for the difference between the old days of Air Warrior (AWI) and today.

Of course, most of you have heard the old timers from AW recount the days of chivalry, letting wounded opponents go, everybody <S>ing and talking about it being "all about the fight".  A lot of that is true but of course, some is just nostalgic selective memory.  People tend to forget the bad stuff.

There was however, a fundamental difference between then and now.  In AWI you couldn't capture bases.  No one ever won the war.  You could shut a base down for 20-30 minutes but not capture it.  This meant the there was no "win the war" mentality.  Sure, there were bombers and toolshedders but in the end it really was all about the fight because that's all there was.

The scoring system was also rudimentary.  It ranked you by points earned so those who could play the most and were at least somewhat effective were usually on the top 200 list.  If you didn't have a lot of time to play then you didn't care about the scores/ranks.  In fact, because of that, I used to break down K/D, K/S, etc. for each of my 60 squad mates each month and e-mail it to all of them.  I'd use that info to honor our best sticks by posting their kill rates on our web-site, even if they were'nt in the Top 200.  I like to somehow think HT ripped that scoring thing off from me.

I'm not advocating going back to AWI.  I think the base capture/war winning/advanced scoring offers a lot to a lot more people but it has fundamentally changed the game that so many of us payed before AH.

[dtango]

Look where AW is at now.  That's all you need to know.

BTW I flew AW when it was on Genie (cpid 758).

Tango, XO
412th FS Braunco Mustangs

[Anaxogoras]

Look where AW is at now.  That's all you need to know.

BTW I flew AW when it was on Genie (cpid 758).

Tango, XO
412th FS Braunco Mustangs

The base capture thing was in HT/Pyro's Warbirds too, but back then you just had to land your plane on the runway (once all the hangers were down) to capture it.  When did that start, 16 years ago?  You'd hope that after so many years something better would have been thought up.

Ahhh the good old days.  Clearly flight sims were more fun when they looked like this:

[dtango]

Ahhh the good old days.  Clearly flight sims were more fun when they looked like this:
(Image removed from quote.)

Try an even lower polygon count and no texture on the aircraft.  You could make out generally the shape of the aircraft, and they were all tan .

Tango, XO
412th FS Braunco Mustangs

[Anaxogoras]

Yeah, that's a warbirds 2 pic.  I don't think I have any pics that survive from 1.x.

[JunkyII]

The base capture thing was in HT/Pyro's Warbirds too, but back then you just had to land your plane on the runway (once all the hangers were down) to capture it.  When did that start, 16 years ago?  You'd hope that after so many years something better would have been thought up.

Ahhh the good old days.  Clearly flight sims were more fun when they looked like this:
(Image removed from quote.)

what are the little lines in the air?

[BaldEagl]

Ahhh the good old days.  Clearly flight sims were more fun when they looked like this:[/img]

Grahics are not the point of this post.  Gameplay is.

[scot12b]

Grahics are not the point of this post.  Gameplay is.

I could not agree more

[Murdr]

For years only the 3 N(eutral) bases were capturable, but AW3 did expand it to where all fields could be captured.  There was no war winning though since, you couldn't capture a countries last field.

Look where AW is at now.  That's all you need to know.

I don't think that's a valid point at all.  In 2001 with WB and AH out there it still carried around 700 people during primetime.  It's downfall was being snapped up by a corporation that has a notorious history of aquiring and dissolving smaller studios.

[Anaxogoras]

Grahics are not the point of this post.  Gameplay is.

My bad you just got me feeling nostalgic.

[Anaxogoras]

For years only the 3 N(eutral) bases were capturable, but AW3 did expand it to where all fields could be captured.  There was no war winning though since, you couldn't capture a countries last field.

I don't think that's a valid point at all.  In 2001 with WB and AH out there it still carried around 700 people during primetime.  It's downfall was being snapped up by a corporation that has a notorious history of aquiring and dissolving smaller studios.

Agree.  WB survived for a long time with a RPS, too!

[A8TOOL]

[USRanger]

Well, at least the water looks nicer.

[2BAD]

I can remember defending bases with a bomber because u could have all guns manned on it.
Was pretty cool having an internal vox for pilot and gunners and all still able to talk on
country channel.

Was just as fun when dropping a bomb on a bomber on the runway and getting 7 kills.
(1 pilot + 6 gunners)

Being able to fire while on runway or having all guns manned was a fun way to break up a horde
in a bomber.


Almost forgot
Seems somebody always snuck some sheep aboard  baabaa

[hlbly]

I think the biggest difference is that AW crowd was composed of aviation enthusiast's . They are here as well but there is a large component of gamers as well .