Blast from the past - Wild Bill going to spin off Warbirds from totalsims?

[Stalwart]

If any flight sim comes along that's similar to AH and has an RPS, I will open an account there and close this one.  It's the only thing that can keep my interest in "arenas."

I myself wouldn't go so far, but I really did like the RPS feature.

[dhyran]

RPS will kill any and all WWII flight games.  Just look at the whine on the bbs about eny. There isn't enough cheese to go with the whine a rps would produce.

well,

sure it is harder for the newbees, because they have to learn new aircrafts each 3-4 days. but its great fun once youre able to fly different planes. and so true, LA7 drivers will die a lot in an RPS based arena BUT vets are pleased with it over all the years.

[Anaxogoras]

From what I can remember, the people who didn't like the RPS were the "I'm an [insert plane here] pilot, and I don't like to fly anything else," types.

[TracerX]

You know what drove me crazy in WB?  The freaking inertia of the roll rate.  None of the aircraft respond correctly in the roll axis.  Bank the plane 20 degrees, and the plane will continue to roll past 20 degrees even with opposite aeleron input.  It takes a while for the roll inputs to accelerate and decelerate.  It is nothing like a real airplane, especially a fighter.  I could not get used to it, and it drove me nuts. 

[eagl]

You know what drove me crazy in WB?  The freaking inertia of the roll rate.  None of the aircraft respond correctly in the roll axis.  Bank the plane 20 degrees, and the plane will continue to roll past 20 degrees even with opposite aeleron input.  It takes a while for the roll inputs to accelerate and decelerate.  It is nothing like a real airplane, especially a fighter.  I could not get used to it, and it drove me nuts. 

That "feature" was put in place to foil the "stick stirrers" who would, through very rapid roll reversals, take advantage of the network smoothing code to warp around.  Rapidly rolling left then right, repeatedly, only about 30-45 deg bank necessary, would result in terrible warps due to predictive smoothing.  The "solution" (remember this was back in the days of the 14.4 modem) was to put what felt like loose rubber bands into the flight controls.  Even planes with reputations for crisp roll response became more sluggish in roll than a C-5.

There are conspiracy theories around that say the flight controls got even more jacked up in the last release before the original company employees jumped ship.  I figure they left right in the middle of a patch cycle and it wasn't intentional, but the last WB release before the employee diaspora was the worst version ever released.  It was so jacked up I sort of quit playing even before the employees quit and formed their new companies, and of course AH was far better than the last WB release at the time.

Nothing can ever be proven and HTC can't/won't talk about it because of legal ramifications, but man did that last release suck.  And the sloppy roll response of the WB planes is just a holdover from the anti-warp adjustments taken to combat stick stirrers.

[Stalwart]

From what I can remember, the people who didn't like the RPS were the "I'm an [insert plane here] pilot, and I don't like to fly anything else," types.

That's how it was.

[Pyro]

Nothing can ever be proven and HTC can't/won't talk about it because of legal ramifications, but man did that last release suck.  And the sloppy roll response of the WB planes is just a holdover from the anti-warp adjustments taken to combat stick stirrers.

HT and I left the company 6 months before the Grapevine office closed and shortly after we released 2.5.  We had nothing to do with the next version that came out.

[Yeager]

word Up!   

[Shuffler]

Just so it is clear... I had nothing to do with the next release either.

[Bronk]

If any flight sim comes along that's similar to AH and has an RPS, I will open an account there and close this one.  It's the only thing that can keep my interest in "arenas."

And it wont be alive long. What do you think most people will pick.
Fly any AC I want any time I want.
Fly limited selection that changes every 2-4 days hmmmm.

RPS is as craptastic for a MMOG flight game as the wishes for night in an MMOG flight game.

HT knows people log off or quit altogether. What would you do if your dinner depended on it?

[Stalwart]

Perhaps a new thread is warranted to discuss RPS as a game feature.

As long as there are multiple arenas in AH, I for one would like to see it as an option.

As a matter of fact, I'd like to see the whole ENY settings, plane set mix, RPS, etc. etc.  shake up every TOD so it's not the same game every TOD.  Variety is the spice of life.  Why change just the map?

For example, say one TOD is axis vs allied, with/without an RPS, and the next TOD is all planes set with ENY settings on.

[moot]

TBH I think RPS would have as much (or maybe a bit more) chance of working as the AvA.  And the AvA is worthwile enough that we have it.
So...

[Anaxogoras]

And it wont be alive long. What do you think most people will pick.
Fly any AC I want any time I want.
Fly limited selection that changes every 2-4 days hmmmm.

RPS is as craptastic for a MMOG flight game as the wishes for night in an MMOG flight game.

HT knows people log off or quit altogether. What would you do if your dinner depended on it?

You are quite wrong bronk.  One of the most popular servers on Hyperlobby for Il-2 features rotating, historical matchups (but it's not always chronological).  Most of the planesets are quite limited compared to AH, but if you don't like it, it changes after an hour or two.

Why am I here instead of there?  Well, for the obvious reason that AH has in-game voice, and far more players on one server: hence, FSO.

Regardless, there is a healthy market for those who prefer a more historically limited form of online air-combat.  All we're waiting for is for someone to tap it.

TBH I think RPS would have as much (or maybe a bit more) chance of working as the AvA.  And the AvA is worthwile enough that we have it.
So...

The AvA is sick for other reasons.  My own opinion is 1) lack of supervision for the blowhards who frequent it and push others away; 2) a much more robust early-mid war planeset.  Unless you want to rehash all of the 1944-45 setups, you tend to be missing important aircraft, and hence the appearance of choice being more limited than it should be.

[Bronk]

Why am I here instead of there?  Well, for the obvious reason that AH has in-game voice, and far more players on one server.

Why are more here instead of there... I mean cmon once you buy the software, IL-2 is free.
Yet more still play AH.
RPS sucks and HTC knows it.

[Anaxogoras]

397 people are playing Il-2 through hyperlobby right now.  That doesn't even account for servers not listed on hyperlobby.

But this isn't about Il-2.  It's about whether there's a market for something like an RPS.  The evidence says there is.

Ultimately, you believe it sucks, and you move to the generalization that it sucks in itself.  FYI, you do not create transcendent values with your opinions.  Some of us like the RPS very much.