This week in the AvA - Leaning Into France

[Shifty]

Either design the AvA with chronological progression week to week (as WWIIol does)   or  allow base captures to occur within each map which also give the bombers something to do as well.

Or better yet you could just sit out the occasional week.  

[gldnbb]

I never saw 30 in the WWII arena even on a good night...must have been something that just started since you ferrets started advertising some activities or before I started WBs.

Ever since Tmetcalf left Warbirds, old style play and rolling plane sets are starting to return back.  I clearly recall being impressed a number of squad nights where numbers are up in the 40s and 50s.     More frequently seeing some 30s.

[gldnbb]

Or better yet you could just sit out the occasional week.   Thumbs UP!

That shouldn't have to be the solution,  but if you previously posted this current setup is rarely here,  then that is good news.

[USRanger]

The AvA is going through a major makeover.  Just wait & see.

[gyrene81]

Ever since Tmetcalf left Warbirds, old style play and rolling plane sets are starting to return back.  I clearly recall being impressed a number of squad nights where numbers are up in the 40s and 50s.     More frequently seeing some 30s.

Metcalf was out of his league trying to take over the programming...I've seen the discussion on the boards about rolling plane sets in the WWII arena...after a couple of years of people poopooing the idea. Gonna find the same poopooing here until people realize it's a good way to do things if they want to see some varied action outside of furballs...

There have been nights here when there were 30+ in the AvA just recently...depends on the setup. There are big differences in the way territorial battles occur here vs WBs...as you noted the strat system is one aspect...but all that does is change how fast resupply occurs on its own...people can speed up the resupply of a base with field supplies from one base to another...strats aren't generally used in the AvA but there has been some discussion about incorporating them into the setups...

The maps here a much bigger than they were in WBs too...some of the special events maps are massive...there is a partial list that shows strat maps for the terrains currently available for use here:
http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/wiki/index.php/Terrains_for_Special_Events

This one takes a while to travel across...
http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/wiki/images/4/42/Northsea_Strat.jpg

Like I tried to point out to you before...it's not just the setups or the maps...it's the general mentality that is different here. There aren't many who even want to try the no enemy icons unlike WBs S3 events and the WWII arena...even fewer who enjoy the historical matchups that get put on the AvA server especially if they don't include the late war Allied planes...and none of the special events are run like the S3s. You and your squad know better than anyone what it's like to sit on an empty server waiting for someone to jump in...no one here wants to do it.

Tuesday nights with SWOOPS b24 raids over enemy cities in the main arena are awesome fun for bomber and fighters.  Why? because it has an eventual outcome that can aid in future base captures for others.

Swoops Titanic Tuesday bomb runs on strats very rarely have any effect on base captures...he advertises them in the forums so that the few people who like to do something besides furball on Tuesdays have something to look forward to. There is more furballing going on in the main arenas than anything else...it's just the mindset of the masses.

As Ranger eluded...there are some changes being planned that should pick up the action a bit. I believe your suggestions have been noted...particularly concerning territorial battles and possibly automated arena resets if HTC will allow it.

[Chilli]

Outside of base capturing, what else besides a good battle could one ask for? 

Someone put it very eloquently here that the fight in AH is centered over the field to be captured.  Some tools that HTC has allowed us are strats to target.  The problem is the way we currently use them in MA style of play. 

GoldenBB, I suggest that you take a look at these strats and come up with placement in a way that would qualify as an enticing target.  Give the development team something to work with.  This is an arena that is still evolving.  It would be awesome, if your ideas could be implemented and given a chance to draw more players and enhance the immersion.

Simply allowing base capture unchecked 24/7 right now would be a BIG mistake in my opinion.

[Shifty]

That shouldn't have to be the solution,  but if you previously posted this current setup is rarely here,  then that is good news.

Everybody bending over backwards to please one guy who likes to take bases in an empty arena isn't a solution either. The situation been explained to you over and over in this thread, People have offered ideas offered to ensure your base capture option is on and at all times even suggested to you that you design setups you'd like to see. Yet you're still standing on your soap box making demands.

Either design the AvA with chronological progression week to week (as WWIIol does)   or  allow base captures to occur within each map which also give the bombers something to do as well.

As has been explained to you over and over in this thread this is one of the rare setups where there is no base capture. So where are all the people when base capture is turned on?? You find the same people flying week end and week out. Base capture doesn't magically bring numbers into the area. Other than you and that other guy that likes to take bases and pork dar when the arena is empty. Funny I never see you trying it when the arena is active during the evening. People are doing their best to improve the arena. Everybody's ideas get tried. Maybe you'd like to pitch in and help or is just sitting back and complaining your thing?

[captain1ma]

Gldnbb, this weeks setup is not designed, nor made to be conducive to base capture. while i agree with you about not being able to take bases, that's just the way the setup is. best thing to do is find an alternative for the week and hope that next week is different. the few people that are in there, are usually pretty good about dogfighting between the 2 closest bases. you can always up a set of Ju88's or Bostons and beat the snot out of one of the airbases for fun.

give it a little time. it won't always be the setup that's in there now. in the meantime have some fun with some of the other aspects of the game in there.

[Dawger]

Things must have changed mightily in Warbirds if the S3 is no enemy icon and the WWII arena is no enemy icon. There was violent opposition to no icon anything, especially in S3. It is too much of a points game for those idiots to allow no icons, ever. Someone would have to show me some stout proof before I believe that stuff.

I hate base capture play style and not because I am against bombers and attack aircraft. It is not the way the war was fought and is boring as hell after 12 years. But terrains are designed for capture the air base. You really can't develop a different style of game play until you build terrains that get away from the airfield centered war.

The terrains in the AvA are too large for the population. The setups need to reflect the reality of the AvA population and drastically reduce the number of available airfields in order to focus the fight.

[jimson]

The terrains in the AvA are too large for the population. The setups need to reflect the reality of the AvA population and drastically reduce the number of available airfields in order to focus the fight.

This part is going to be addressed in a big time way.

[Dawger]

Lots of cryptic remarks popping up in this thread but I've learned over a decade in MMOG that when the insiders are cryptic the outsiders usually don't like the end result.

[jimson]

Dawger, the AvA staff is looking to get new smaller terrains made. Not trying to be cryptic, just trying to hold off on saying anything definitive until some are finished and approved.

New maps can be made, but what can be done with the current game engine for tactical and strategic objective play outside of base capture?

[Dawger]

Dawger, the AvA staff is looking to get new smaller terrains made. Not trying to be cryptic, just trying to hold off on saying anything definitive until some are finished and approved.

New maps can be made, but what can be done with the current game engine for tactical and strategic objective play outside of base capture?

Depends on what you define as base capture? In the real world the fight was centered on the communication system (Communication in a military sense...the ability to control a physical line of communication or contact). It can be thought of as supply lines. In this context the fight was over crossroads, bridges, ports, mountain passes and the like. Airfields were situated away from the forward edge of battle. Airfields that were too close were abandoned to the advancing enemy, not fought over.  A terrain that was designed for the "front" to be advanced by capturing parts of the communication system as I describe would be the place to start. Once the terrain existed then the strategy layer has to be built on top of it to make it work.  Airfields in this type terrain need only be runways with a spawn point since they would not be targets for capture.

As an example, in such a terrain the players should only be able to capture and hold strategically valuable points that are near or on the front. No jumping to the rear. I believe AH has the beginnings of this sort of strategic system but without a terrain built specifically for something like this no progress can be made.

Anyway, I believe such a terrain and strategy system would give players a reason to drive tanks, fly attack aircraft and bombers and fighter jocks would want to be where the fight was. A well designed terrain for historical 2 sided war is pretty easy to design so that the fight can only be in a few locations, thereby concentrating the fight.

DISCLAIMER: The above is only in reference to a limited historically minded arena, not for general population game play designed to attract large crowds. It is aimed at the limited audience of those interested in teamwork based game play with settings that attempt to reproduce the real world conditions that make flying a non-fighter non-suicidal (no icons is an example of such a setting)

[captain1ma]

based on whats available right now, all we have to capture is bases and ports. while we are working on things to make it better, this is all we have to play with. i guess we'll just have to use our imaginations until something better comes out or is created for us to play with.

[Dawger]

Is there anything that says the capturable base has to have a runway?

Is there anything that says you can't have a runway and spawn points that can't be captured?

These are honest questions because I don't know.