Great Graphics,older computers..tough balance

[Motherland]

My PC is 2-3 years old with a GPU that I'm pretty sure you can now get for around $50, and I run the new beta OK w/ self shadowing on (I could turn it off but it's too awesome )
Great work HTC!

[rvflyer]

It's not a "truth," it's a state of mind, and a bad one. It's exactly what got us into this s*** we're in today, people piling up mountains of debt and pawning our future to the Chinese and Saudis in order to buy the newestlatestfastest consumer goods they don't need and can't afford. It's idiotic, is what it is.

That doesn't mean AH should never be upgraded. It DOES mean there are valid reasons for not wanting to see it turn into an electronic arms race.

Oh geez, give me a break!!!!!!

[pipz]

I have used the same PC for the past 6 years or so.I gave it a few small up-grades here and there.It was still playing AH just fine with an AGP video card and AMD Athalon processeor that was equal to a P2 I believe.I tore it down for parts last month.I dont think I needed a new system but figured it was time.

I just built the new system using the old case,hard drive,CDR drive,and sound card.Firedragon sent me a video card.I bought a new mother board with a 3.1 Ghz Athalon XP duo core,550 power source,4 gigs of Ram for maybe 330 bucks US.I probably wont have to up-grade again for some time.
If i average it out I have spent roughly 130 dollars a year for equipment to play AH and some of the stuff I bought I cant say I realy "needed".

Just for conversation sake I am a working class hero who doesnt have a whole lot of money.I also dont think buying that stuff is going to kill the US economy or would be considered overly self indulgant.


Pipz

[RTSigma]

If you can afford to put away a hundred dollars a month at this rate and save up, you can have a top-of-the-line computer that'll last years. I just got a new PC last year with quad core, 4 gig of RAM, 512 8800GT and 500gig HD for one thousand dollars; it also included a new keyboard, monitor as well. Aside from probably getting another video card for SLI, or adding a stick of RAM here or there, it'll last me for years. My last PC from 2002 ran AH2 wonderfully up to when I got my new PC. In fact its still around but I upgraded to play some newer games like Armed Assault 2 and the next IL-2.

Listen, it'd be nice if we could all still use our old PCs from years ago to play the newer games but times change. Like going from drum brakes to discs, or mail-order bride to Megan Fox.

[BnZs]

and yea you spent $600 for a computer... but you use it for much more than AH... 

Uhmmm...actually I don't  I might not OWN a computer if it were not for flight sims like AH.

[Sunka]

And if we cant...HTC dose not get my 15$ anymore.A lot cant.I get fine F.R. if i turn all the GFX down and it looks even more like a cartoon.

If you can afford to put away a hundred dollars a month at this rate and save up, you can have a top-of-the-line computer that'll last years. I just got a new PC last year with quad core, 4 gig of RAM, 512 8800GT and 500gig HD for one thousand dollars; it also included a new keyboard, monitor as well. Aside from probably getting another video card for SLI, or adding a stick of RAM here or there, it'll last me for years. My last PC from 2002 ran AH2 wonderfully up to when I got my new PC. In fact its still around but I upgraded to play some newer games like Armed Assault 2 and the next IL-2.

Listen, it'd be nice if we could all still use our old PCs from years ago to play the newer games but times change. Like going from drum brakes to discs, or mail-order bride to Megan Fox.

[Hajo]

I'm sure HTC will do all it can so that most of AHs' players will be able to continue.  You will have to dial down....but you will be able to play.

You won't see what we see...but if you feel you don't need to that is fine.  But no matter what, at some point, you will have to upgrade

to do anything on your present PC.  Albeit maybe web searching and EMail.  Game playing no matter what will as now and in the future, require

newer and faster hardware.  That is a fact of life about anything that is bought and sold today.

[PFactorDave]

Try building and flying real airplanes :-)

(Image removed from quote.)

RV6flyer

I think you had the plans upside down when you built that one...   

[Crash Orange]

Oh geez, give me a break!!!!!!

No problem, whaddya want broken?

It's artificially created demand, and you're a sucker to fall for it.

[Wingnutt]

No problem, whaddya want broken?

It's artificially created demand, and you're a sucker to fall for it.

artificial demand, just like automobiles, houses, and electricity... 

but no your right, anything that requires more than and old Tandy to run, is for suckers 

[DamnedRen]

Thinking out loud...
lots of us older players have been down the "let's upgrade to stay abreast of the latest and greatest in gaming".
After years of playing we've figured out we had to budget for our new upgrade ti the best stuff!!! However, some of us budgeted for 2nd best. Iso of the absolute fastest, bestist we settled for one step below it. The price difference between best and also ran can sometimes be astronomical. Here's how lots of us did it....

I used to golf alot...$28 a round. Iso 4X a month I'd golf 3X a month. The money went into a kitty for upgrades.
Some of our guys smoked a lot. Think about prices nowadays. If you smoke 1 pack a day @ $5 a pack you're paying $150 a month.
If you cut down to 3/4 pack a day every 5th day is a free pack X 4 or $20 into the kitty.

There's a million ways to do it.

We should have a FOR SALE/SWAP/GIVE AWAY Forum on the boards. You upgrade and don't need the old one anymore Sell, Swap or Just give it to someone who needs one, I can't remember how many I've passed on to someone else but it's definately more than a few.

Check for squadies who live out West and can goto Fry's. They usually have Friday sales of MB/Chip combos for $110-120 or so. ALl you need do is buy some ram and a MB. Ram is cheap. Then again if we had a board for swaps/sales/give aways there are probably a lot of players who have old ram (one or two steps below the best) you can get cheaply. And its fairly cheap on line. Same for one step below the best vid card.

Point is $20 a month in a kitty = $240 a year. If you plan on a new computer upgrade every 2-3 years...get my drift?

You pay $15 a month for this game.  .50 a day...You can't buy a cupajava a day for that price....

Are you sure you can't find a way to make it work?

People come and people go. Those that have stayed plan for it and have made lifelong friends. Per the commercial....that's priceless.

You might find another game somewhere but where are you gonna find a Flight Sim, Dogfight, multiplayer game with most folks in the arena who actually respect each other and can have a damned fine time.

Last I looked on Craiglist some dude was selling some sorta mage 80 or sumtin for $475. I think he's looking for someone who voted for Obama. MUAHAHAHAHAHA. 

Ren

A player, just like you....

[BnZs]

It's artificially created demand, and you're a sucker to fall for it.

With console games I'd agree with you. But not with Aces High...not by a longshot. The HTC crew are doing what they have to do to keep their game competitive, so people who DO have computers to run a lot of graphics will get a lot of graphics and not go over to some other game. This is most especially true for NEW players choosing between AHII and the competition.

Full blunt honesty: We all know their main competition is Il2. We all know basically the 1 thing Il2 has over AHII that counts in the mind of your average prospective customer is graphics...graphics that look like a freakin' painting on high enough settings. AHII's big advantage is flight modeling, which is less apparent to noobs even while using up more CPU and making it that much more difficult to put out whizz-bang graphics in a playable package. When HTC finally manages to get terrain/lighting modeling equal or better than Il2, combined with their flight model, and to top it off the new terrain will *still* look good driving a tank around, they will have a great big "So there!" to silence any negative comparisons between AHII and Il2 on a graphical basis.

[RTSigma]

Good point Ren.

Plus with upgrades comes better looks, I mean who knows what future version of AH will bring, possibly something that'll blow IL-2 out of the water, maybe we'll see pilots heads moving about when you look, moving ailerons on other planes, detailed destruction...so on and so on.

Lets keep moving ahead, in baby steps.

[SB]

If you can play AH now, I see no reason you can not play the next version.

As far as any testing I can see you can produce the same frame rates at the same vis ranges as before. The only difference would be the terrain looks not quite as good for the very very low end guys.

HiTech

[hitech]

If you can play AH now, I see no reason you can not play the next version.

As far as any testing I can see you can produce the same frame rates at the same vis ranges as before. The only difference would be the terrain looks not quite as good for the very very low end guys.

HiTech

PS, Was on SB's computer