A dedicated Bomber Command Arena

[33Vortex]

We could even have circuses and rhubarbs!   

[Guppy35]

Ok so did this discussion die?

Nobody really want a good historical arena, are you happy with the dweebery of the AvA setup? A half-arsed attempt to create something to please all, which is impossible. Being a historically based game, one would think that the recreation of historical battles and conditions would interest the crowd. HTC took a major step off that route just by going the rook/bish/knit way, which is a godawful mess if you ask me.

Come on, give the RAF and USAF a Bomber Command and pit the Jagdwaffe against them... it would be a main arena on a epic scale.

I don't think the issue will be lack of folks who'd fly it.  I think it would be timing, how to make sure the LW guys don't get bored sitting on the ground waiting for the bombers to form up, and making sure the sides are fair enough to make it a good fight.

Again using DGS as an example.  My 38 Group escorted the Buffs 3 of 4 frames and it was pushing three hours with much of it form up and return to base time.  No one minded because we knew the deal and were into it.  Somehow you have to sell that idea to the masses though.

Are you going 1 life as well?  It would be a bit of a pain for an escort guy to do all that forming up, covering buffs and rtb'ing on one flight while he has the same LW guy potentially upping over and over again to get another shot.

[John Curnutte]

 This could be fun , and a welcome change from the main arenas . I would enjoy that , it could lead to better formation flying , bomber boxes , etc.
Goals and planning with clear precise objectives , who wouldn't like it if your into historical stuff . Nice idea .
                        Nutte

[morfiend]

With some clever usage of AI flights incorperated this has some real possibilities!

 If there was a lack of buff fliers,add AI,escorts or LW pilots could be supplimented as well.

 I really like this idea, although I see a few issues would need to be addressed.


   

[FiLtH]

  Corky I was thinking more along the lines where its open all the time. If a couple guys get in there during down times to milk its no biggy. The emphasis is on larger battles which could be planned by players around primetimes, like 9pm et US, and other times for other time zones. People could plan on showing up with their squad or unit to attend the mission for that night.

  Like I said, at first it would probably be slow, but Im sure alot of the AvA guys would want to come. As it became more known time would tell if there were enough of us to make it work.

   I picture some of the guys good with photoshop making newspaper headlines describing battles, of the week etc. Like FSOs squads could award heroes and make it much more immersive.

[BnZs]

Honestly, this isn't a bad idea. ETO is probably the theater of the war popular enough to support an arena dedicated to it.

If they did something like this though, I'd kind of like it to have a rolling plane set, starting with the beginning of the 8th's strategic bombing campaign and ending in 1945.

I'd also say, maybe air starts? I know we want realism, high-altitude is realistic for the ETO, but spending an hour crossing the channel and climbing to 25K might try the patience.

[fudgums]

Id be there

[33Vortex]

I'd also say, maybe air starts? I know we want realism, high-altitude is realistic for the ETO, but spending an hour crossing the channel and climbing to 25K might try the patience.

 

Yeah, maybe the rhinemap will do fine for this. Or alter between BoB map (40-43 timeframe) and the rhinemap (44-45).

[akbmzawy]

Personally I would love to be in the bomber command rolling against larger targets for carpet bombing. There are some of us AKs that would love this also. Tight formations would make a challenge for the Luftwaffe.

[33Vortex]

Tight formations would make a challenge for the Luftwaffe.

 

 

[olskool2]

How hard would it be to generate missions? Give them a set time to begin, find out a good ratio of buffs:escorts:intercepters, and have the computer plan missions around certain airways or bases. It would have to be done in a way that still requires some skill in actually finding the enemy.

Edit: Have the 'frame' set to begin at 7:30 for buffs, 8:00 for everyone else. If you register for the mission at 6:30, you can play in any other arena during the wait time.

[mike254]

I also would go regularly.

[APDrone]

A couple game developments need to be made to make this practical.  Primarily  dealing with field activation, the mission editor, and scheduling.

1. Arena setting only allowing takeoff via an active mission. 
2. Assigned skins for mission flights. ( not really necessary, but would add a bit to the environment )
3. Automated field activation/de-activation with mission roll/cut-off times.
4. In additon to being able to load a single mission, you could load a stack of missions.
5. CMs would be able to load missions for all sides simultaneously. ( probably a pretty hefty programming effort for this one.. but it simplifies the coordination between sides when setting mission launch times and targets. )
6. Waypoint visibility after mission launches.

Details:

1. This would carryover to snapshots also.  No more need to hound people about what to fly or balancing.. just set up the mission and people join.  Those that don't join mission don't fly.

2. self explanatory

3. Fields don't need to be activated by CMs. They can just go off automatically.

4. An evenings worth of missions could be preloaded.. perhaps launching every 15 minutes.  You log in.. find a mission you want and either join then, or come back when the starting time is closer.  Also, a CM could log in, upload a days worth of missions, then leave.  No need to be around to babysit the arena. Also, the CMs could tweak the order and composition of a days missions ahead of time.

5. Just to prevent a snafu where launches get out of whack.  For instance, if a stack of missions for bombers is out of order with the opposing base defense missions. Wrong targets, for instance.  Being able to view all mission stacks at the same time would help keeping them in sync.

6.  Minimize confusion as to which flight is going where, keep the waypoints secret until mission launches.

I think the arena would rock, myself.

  OP 

[33Vortex]

APDrone all good stuff there. 

It would be nice to be able to go into the arena, see which missions are to be launched in the next 24 hrs, or 12 hrs, then reserve a spot for yourself in a mission. This way anyone can log into the arena and see how many people are expected to show up. Perhaps a 24 hr or more delay on country switch would be good to prevent people from spying. Well either that route or just keep it open as people have a tendency to do whatever it takes to spy, 2nd accounts and all that.

Anyway, it would be nice to be able to reserve a spot if you intend to fly a mission. Then you'd be able to see hours in advance how many are expected. Walkons could be accepted if people don't show up.

This would be a kick arse arena. 

[FiLtH]

 Good ideas, but I dont know about reserving a spot. Doing reservations for a major event is one thing, we make time for that. But day to day play in an arena is bound to have people breaking reservations. Maybe instead, the server could see once a mission nears its limit, it adds slots to it, or maybe it just makes each mission have a very high number of slots.

  To keep it simple though, simply having an arena to go to, that has nothing to do with captures,furballs,and gvs, but instead, air combat at high altitudes,with one thing in mind "Stop the bombers", or in the case of the bomber guys,"Flatten the target", and the escort guys "Lets get em there!"