Rider you are correct you did not directly ask to make the game more tedious with the map change, but you directly said it would make the game more tedious and I agree with you. Now consider all the people who play this game, consider a new person who has never been in an arena before trying to find out where to go. They have a difficult time now , with out a basic map of where things are in the game they would be just flying around with no idea where to go. As other people have pointed out, it would not be long before other people would make maps that could be downloaded. So all you have really done is forced people to take an extra step of having to download maps to be able to enjoy the game.
The intent of the idea of hiding bases was to add a new sortie type to the game, recon. Yes, for some, this would just be more tedious. But for others it may be a new element that they might enjoy. My point was that forces did not know where fields were until they were discovered. You are also correct that people would simply download maps and there would really be no secret. That could be fixed by varying the positions of fields, changing the field types and so on. My point was that there are already aspects of the game that some people find tedious but others enjoy. Some people think that long range bombing missions are boring and tedious but others enjoy them.
I don't believe you would have much of a problem with new folks not knowing where to go. Even when the new terrains pop the frontline bases would be reconned pretty much immediately. Or you could make them known to begin with, they are frontline afterall. This might actually add an element to the game that a noob could accomplish fairly easily. I don't believe recon missions would be very complicated missions. As I said in the post, you would fly around, discover a field, take a snapshot, then return to your base with this new information. This would be easier for a noob to accomplish than diving into a furball or attempting bombing runs. It would allow them to legitimately accomplish something while getting used to flying, learning the controls, and the game interface.
You now seem to think that the games goal is to be more realistic. This is not 100% true. It is the games goal to provide entertainment. More realisim can many times provide more fun/entertainment, at other times it can do nothing but provide tedious effort that does not add anything to peoples enjoyment of the game.
I wouldn't play if the game's sole goal was to be realistic. Realism is an important aspect of the game though. You have a tough job trying to balance between realism and entertainment. I don't believe that recon would add so much realism that people would quit. Recon could be done in any number of ways. You could up in a fighter, go look for a fight and at the same time "discover" a field. Now you have a little more incentive to live and land your sortie. Or you could up a full bomber looking for new fields, find one, dump on it and rtb.
The biggest problem I see with my idea is that it might be pretty mute as most if not all the fields would probably be reconned within the first few hours of a terrain being posted. Which is where my idea of being able to build new bases or somehow move or change existing fields comes in. That may not be feasable from a programming point of view given the game's current model.
I understand this idea will not come to be as it doesn't seem to be a popular one. That's ok, as much as I would love it to, the world (or even Aces High) doesn't revolve around me.
The bridge idea seems be be a popular one though, I hope you're taking note.
Lastly, I want to apologize for slamming you in my last post. I'm a smart arnold by nature myself and generally don't get upset by smart arnold comments. I happened to read your comment right after I got off the phone with my medical insurance company so I was already ticked. Normally I recognize comments like yours for what they are and don't take them personally as I'm sure it wasn't intended for me to take personally so I'm sorry for questioning your professionalism. If you want to poke fun at me please do, I will try to recognize it as such in the future and poke back rathter than take it personally.
Thanks for the reply,
Rider
