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[Urchin]

The gameplay has gone past critical mass.

The days of Aces High as an "air combat" sim are over, and have been for several years.

HT could make it more interesting by fleshing out the ground side of the game and changing the game mechanics so that air power is in more of a supporting role to the ground game, but I doubt that'll happen. 

I think this will be the last game of its genre, sadly. 

 

[The Fugitive]

I have to agree with Snap, its the large squads promoting the horde mentality that lead the rest of the game in that direction.  It forces "most" of the other players to join a horde, or be rolled by one, neither of which is all that much fun.

Want to prove which squad is the better squad? Roll your mission with NEVER more than 10 guys to a target. Split your squad into wings and attack one base, while the rest of your squad de-acks and and kills the VH at the next target. Bring back the fights, and dissolve the horde ! Give the other guys a chance to fight against you instead of getting steam rolled by 3 to 1 odds all night.

The large squads can dictate what happens in the arenas, for good or for bad. These days most lean toward the bad. Poor game play, taking the path of lease resistance and so on. Some of you defend this as "this is war! we will use every advantage!" Sorry , but its a game, meant to be fun and enjoyable for everyone who wants to play. If the big squads continue the way they are going soon there will be no one left that will try to defend. It will be a race to see which countries hordes can capture bases the fastest to win the war..... Won't that be fun !

Its up to each player to make a difference. I do my part by avoiding HO's, asking if a teammate needs help before I jump in a fight. I'll jump in a goon or an M3 to run troops or supplies if someone yells out, I'll help flatten a town with buff instead of hitting a factory if called. I try to keep my temper on 200... this one is the toughest one at times  Basically I don't crap in my sand box, I just try to have fun. If everyone else would stop crapping in the sand box it might not stink so bad. 

[Animl]

I have to agree with Snap, its the large squads promoting the horde mentality that lead the rest of the game in that direction.  It forces "most" of the other players to join a horde, or be rolled by one, neither of which is all that much fun.

Want to prove which squad is the better squad? Roll your mission with NEVER more than 10 guys to a target. Split your squad into wings and attack one base, while the rest of your squad de-acks and and kills the VH at the next target. Bring back the fights, and dissolve the horde ! Give the other guys a chance to fight against you instead of getting steam rolled by 3 to 1 odds all night.

The large squads can dictate what happens in the arenas, for good or for bad. These days most lean toward the bad. Poor game play, taking the path of lease resistance and so on. Some of you defend this as "this is war! we will use every advantage!" Sorry , but its a game, meant to be fun and enjoyable for everyone who wants to play. If the big squads continue the way they are going soon there will be no one left that will try to defend. It will be a race to see which countries hordes can capture bases the fastest to win the war..... Won't that be fun !

Its up to each player to make a difference. I do my part by avoiding HO's, asking if a teammate needs help before I jump in a fight. I'll jump in a goon or an M3 to run troops or supplies if someone yells out, I'll help flatten a town with buff instead of hitting a factory if called. I try to keep my temper on 200... this one is the toughest one at times  Basically I don't crap in my sand box, I just try to have fun. If everyone else would stop crapping in the sand box it might not stink so bad. 

IMO, you are at the very least partially correct in the nature of the beast. These people who like hordes are missing all the fun,...>IMO< they should consider to move that mentality out of the MA and into scenarios where there are massive runs, with plans to follow and specific jobs and targets to hit that need to happen like clock work, cause it is

If they accept the concept that arenas are just for practice, it might move them into a new level or POV of the game\sim. If you want to max out on the illusion of war, mass raids and huge formations,.. then >I< suggest the next step to master would be events. By doing this in the MA only,... you actually limit yourself in immersion, and actually skill.  The fights can be much more intense when you only have one life,.... they will fight for it.

Mastering just the MA is like mastering how to turn a car on, but never actually drive it anywhere.
Consider graduating to the next level?

MAs = Learn & Practice
Events = Apply

OTOH, they could also be viewed as practicing for the next event. <g> Dern loopholes.

ANimL

[SD67]

they should consider to move that mentality out of the MA and into scenarios where there are massive runs, with plans to follow and specific jobs and targets to hit that need to happen like clock work, cause it is

If they accept the concept that arenas are just for practice, it might move them into a new level or POV of the game\sim. If you want to max out on the illusion of war, mass raids and huge formations,.. then >I< suggest the next step to master would be events. By doing this in the MA only,... you actually limit yourself in immersion, and actually skill.  The fights can be much more intense when you only have one life,.... they will fight for it.

QFT
This is what I fly for.
I die so much in the MA it's really tragic, but I crave the goal oriented discipline of the SEA where it does not matter so much how many you kill but if you survive and if your mission objectives are achieved.

[Wizer]

I have but one sentance for all the negative posters:

Quit complaining or one day they will give you something to complain about, IE: no game.

abeit Air Warriors.  The complaining experts started the demise of that game.

[The Fugitive]

.....

abeit Air Warriors.  The complaining experts started the demise of that game.

AW died due to money, NOT complaints.

AW didn't have the money to upgrade and push the game to the next level, and EA wanted the code to use the on-line programming for all of their other games to make MORE money. They made a deal to get AW and then just took it off line because they got what they wanted.... the code.

[Dadsguns]

Dadsguns,

1st I got in trouble for calling out ROX on the BBS, this is not by any means a "bishop" problem....its a game wide problem. I do not blame "your squad", I do however blame any/all large "digital dirt" style squads that promote and contribute to the hoard mentality. More and more the only choice seems to be to fly with the hoard or stand alone (or in small #'s) against it. It is increasingly hard to find a balanced fight.

As for "players like me", its pretty obvious from your comments that you don't know me very well. I could care less about score, rarely fly with the numbers and have no interest in "the war" so I'm not involved in any of the stuff you are ranting about.

What I'm really curious about is if you believe any of the drivel you posted. Just over the weekend I watched the bishops roll the northern portion of the map almost unopposed with 20/1 odds all morning...just you guys, the jokers and others vs a few guys. Now to be fair both the rooks and knights were doing the same thing elsewhere.

My post here is an attempt to "do something about it", but the reality is that everyone of the squads involved hide behind the same attitude you display. It's simply game play at an ever lowering standard.

You carry a lot of hate, and you hide behind your own persona.  I have nothing to hide, as to why I tried to explain to your one track mind of why you are getting what you get from my perspective.
Drivel? you use that term loosely.  You might want to reflect upon yourself. 

Till then, good luck.

Hordes can be determined and defined by many factors, I have seen each of you in one form of a horde or another.  I find it ironic that you and others would complain about hording when in fact you do it yourselves....   

[humble]

I'm curious, how is commenting on the evolution of game play "hate"? Further your comments to me talked about scoring, hiding CV's and other stuff that is not Germain to my original post. I also find your justification and defense (that your always outnumbered) both factually incorrect and immaterial to the discussion.

For discussions sake how do I "hide" behind a persona? Overall I'd say my actions are pretty straight forward and consistent, both in game ans on the BBS. As for the "each of you" comment there is only one of me and I do not constitute a "hoard". While we all fly with and against the numbers at times I'm pretty consistent in avoiding the obvious milk running scenarios....simply because I dont find them much fun. In the end I'd rather be 1 on 3 in my SBD then the 3rd guy "in" on a bogey in a F4U.

[Dadsguns]

I'm curious, how is commenting on the evolution of game play "hate"? Further your comments to me talked about scoring, hiding CV's and other stuff that is not Germain to my original post. I also find your justification and defense (that your always outnumbered) both factually incorrect and immaterial to the discussion.

For discussions sake how do I "hide" behind a persona? Overall I'd say my actions are pretty straight forward and consistent, both in game ans on the BBS. As for the "each of you" comment there is only one of me and I do not constitute a "hoard". While we all fly with and against the numbers at times I'm pretty consistent in avoiding the obvious milk running scenarios....simply because I dont find them much fun. In the end I'd rather be 1 on 3 in my SBD then the 3rd guy "in" on a bogey in a F4U.

I dont have the time nor willingness to spend my day picking this apart.  It is what it is.  Good luck.

[dentin]

The gameplay has gone past critical mass.

The days of Aces High as an "air combat" sim are over, and have been for several years.

HT could make it more interesting by fleshing out the ground side of the game and changing the game mechanics so that air power is in more of a supporting role to the ground game, but I doubt that'll happen. 

I think this will be the last game of its genre, sadly. 

 

Agree...the "light at the end of the tunnel" seems to be dimming.   

[humble]

I dont have the time nor willingness to spend my day picking this apart.  It is what it is.  Good luck.

Actually you have the time, just not the answers.

[The Fugitive]

I dont have the time nor willingness to spend my day picking this apart.  It is what it is.  Good luck.

I don't see what there is to pick apart. He has stated his opinion and you have stated yours. The difference is he seems to be willing to listen and discuss yours where as you are keeping a blind eye to anything he said and take it as a "personnel attack" on you and/or your squad. Short side story....

I was in the 444th Air Mafia in both AW, and here in AH. I was CO the last year in AW, and the first year here. We were always a big squad, and we were pretty potent on squad nights. Our attacks were both the "brute force" type, or the "tactical" types ( I always loved the tactical captures with the multiple wings with all the different launch times and stuff) We had a plan called the "Lightning Strike" 1 goon and the rest hvy P38's. 7 minutes from dar ring to capture 90% of the time.... yes it was NOE. We did it all, one group to capture a base while a second killed ack at another then left it alone to make it look like we didn't want it, then we'd sneak it with a couple of 110s and a goon. The one thing we never did, was run from a fight. We would regroup, build a new plan and attack again. Many a night we would fight some of the other great squads head to head all night for the same 2 or 3 bases. Hours of fun where had by all.

I know all about "big squads", I know all about grabbing bases (best in AW was 13 bases in 3 hours, AH I think was 7 in 3 hours). Not to mention when we teamed up with other squads. Today its a different story. Its NOE or nothing, its always cannon planes, and should a few guys up a defense.... well thats the signal to move on. I'd bet most don't know what the term "conga line" refers too. Its a shame how many times I've upped at a base flown my 20 miles to the biggest dar bar on the map only to find the attack failed and everyone has moved on to some other place on the map.  Today, if I was a squad leader I would again put together big missions, but they would have multiple tasks, different objectives, but mostly they would be designed for fun both for the attacker, as well as any defenders that wished o play, that what a "game" is all about. Do you like playing chess against your 5 year old nephew because you can annihilate him? Or do you play against him to have some fun, by putting your queen in trouble at the first opportunity to see him have the fun a capturing it, and making it a bit more fun for you to work with out it.

Being able to run 10 NOE's and get 8 of them through is great, but the question here is... should you? Avoiding the fights, avoiding thinking up new tactical plans and executing them sounds like fun to you? If so, your missing out on a lot that this game has to offer. The "trait" of taking the easy way is slowly killing this game. Its much harder to show some "honor" and let a 1 vs 1 play out than it is to just dive in and cherry pick the easy kill. Its much harder to use your "group" tactically" than it is to use it as brute force in a horde. It's much harder to show a little class and make things fun for everyone than it is to just run another NOE "for your country".

Well that's what I think about how the honor, and class, or fair game play comes in to this game me. Its sorely missing these days. 

[iTunes]

Gotta say first and foremost that:
A. Not into scores
B. couldn't care less about base captures.
C. I just like to have a fight.
With all that in mind, I thought I'd grab some extra nits last night, find a fight and have some fun- 'Fighter sweep" would be what you could loosely call it, Anyway, stuck it up on the mission thingy to get some bodies and before long, the arm chair Generals were on and they were not happy, "where you going?" "Where's the ord loadout?" etc etc, I tried to expalin that it was basically a few guys launching together, find some cons, mix it up and have some fun, Strange concept for some folks I know, but not all of us like to fly with mass quantities of guys, dive on some con on his own, capture bases, drop hangers, run or extend when in some trouble, swoop down on a guy already engaged, preserve scores/ranks and all these k/d and what ever else gets worshipped at the Temple of Rank.

[Getback]

Gotta say first and foremost that:
A. Not into scores
B. couldn't care less about base captures.
C. I just like to have a fight.
With all that in mind, I thought I'd grab some extra nits last night, find a fight and have some fun- 'Fighter sweep" would be what you could loosely call it, Anyway, stuck it up on the mission thingy to get some bodies and before long, the arm chair Generals were on and they were not happy, "where you going?" "Where's the ord loadout?" etc etc, I tried to expalin that it was basically a few guys launching together, find some cons, mix it up and have some fun, Strange concept for some folks I know, but not all of us like to fly with mass quantities of guys, dive on some con on his own, capture bases, drop hangers, run or extend when in some trouble, swoop down on a guy already engaged, preserve scores/ranks and all these k/d and what ever else gets worshipped at the Temple of Rank.

Itunes, I believe you. 

[Getback]

I have to agree with Snap, its the large squads promoting the horde mentality that lead the rest of the game in that direction.  It forces "most" of the other players to join a horde, or be rolled by one, neither of which is all that much fun.

Want to prove which squad is the better squad? Roll your mission with NEVER more than 10 guys to a target. Split your squad into wings and attack one base, while the rest of your squad de-acks and and kills the VH at the next target. Bring back the fights, and dissolve the horde ! Give the other guys a chance to fight against you instead of getting steam rolled by 3 to 1 odds all night.

The large squads can dictate what happens in the arenas, for good or for bad. These days most lean toward the bad. Poor game play, taking the path of lease resistance and so on. Some of you defend this as "this is war! we will use every advantage!" Sorry , but its a game, meant to be fun and enjoyable for everyone who wants to play. If the big squads continue the way they are going soon there will be no one left that will try to defend. It will be a race to see which countries hordes can capture bases the fastest to win the war..... Won't that be fun !

Its up to each player to make a difference. I do my part by avoiding HO's, asking if a teammate needs help before I jump in a fight. I'll jump in a goon or an M3 to run troops or supplies if someone yells out, I'll help flatten a town with buff instead of hitting a factory if called. I try to keep my temper on 200... this one is the toughest one at times  Basically I don't crap in my sand box, I just try to have fun. If everyone else would stop crapping in the sand box it might not stink so bad. 

I owned the Air Mafia in those days. (Skyrocks Shade) Only kidding. I think nothing but the best of Rusty007, GS (Gumshoe), Fryman, Panman, and one of the Co's. Can't remember his name but it may have been TA something or another.

They ran NOE's back then and they horded terribly. Remember the Air Pirates. Huge herd. Mostly they used b26s to deack the field in NOE's and then drop troops. Could be done rather fast. In those days I just flew fighter. Almost never flew bombers until my squad started complaining. Rarely if ever captured a field. One of the all time camping tricks was to land a b26 on a cv and shoot the planes upping.

Frankly I enjoy this game immensely. I'm not out to change it or the way people enjoy it. When I want fights I just up a fighter and go look for them. If I want to bomb I bomb, if I want to capture a base I will go to any length to get it done with in the confines of the game. Mostly I enjoy the team aspects of the game, my squaddies, and the strategy involved. If that be NOE's fine, Hording fine, massive bomber mission or fighter mission or what ever the method to take the base. All good by me. They all have weaknesses and that could be the very people in them. NOE's are the weakest of them all but yet effective. If some one spots the mission or if some one pops that is all it takes to fail. Then you're stuck with mostly slow and less maneuverable planes trying to fight spits, la7s and heaven knows what else. Further I have seen so many NOE missions where the goons crash or where some one hits a tree. Maybe even several hit a trees. Bomber missions are fun to defend against. Nothing like big juicy buffs to shoot at. Jabo missions, hehehe, Also effective but gosh most don't plan their escape very well. Fighter missions, well what can one say isn't that what many of the complaints center around. That's instant furball right there. Oh it may start at 20k but I  bet most kills are on the deck. Just to give an example of what can go wrong NOE. I put up an NOE mission to take 95 on the trinity map. Didn't get very many to join but had 1 fighter, me in a N1k1, and about 6 or 7 110s. My orders were to stay on the deck and to plow through the town with out popping on the first pass. Well, they plowed through the town and then plowed through the base ack UH? and everyone died except me who was trying to take the town down with the N1k1. 

The one huge difference between then and now is that back then we complained all the time about warping. You warped, no I didn't. Yes you did, You're just mad because I'm a better fighter than you, and on it went.

Now people chronically complain to either troll or to try to lay some babyish parental guilt trip. May I suggest that if they do have a viable issue that they should put a viable solution in the wish list forum. We've seen many changes to the base capture system over the years.