OK. Thanks for your input.
This idea may not be going anywhere, but does it hurt to discuss it? Who knows, after enough discussion, we may come up with something that works better than the current ENY system. If not, then a bunch of ideas and viewpoints have been exchanged at the cost of nothing.
If for some reason this discussion just rubs you the wrong way, I encourage you to no longer follow it.
It's not that it rubs me the wrong way, it's just that this notion has already been brought to the table multiple times and each time the author doesn't really present a well thought-out proposal.
If local ENY is to be implemented, it cannot take place while someone is en route ... it has to have it's effect from your take off point.
Currently ...
The server only needs to monitor, in real time, the total population of each country ... run those numbers thru an algorithm ... determine if ENY needs to be turned on, what country or countries needs to be penalized, and what is the ENY threshold for the whole country.
Local ENY ...
The server would need to monitor, in real time, the different countries in-action population density on a sector basis across the whole map.
It would then have to establish the virtual "fronts", across the whole map, which will be fluid. Each field, across the virtual front, would have to be monitored and handled on an individual basis.
So for each base across "the front", it would constantly have to monitor all planes in flight and all GVs on the ground, for each country on the front, and establish the ENY for each of the fields across the front, for all three countries.
To make it more fair, the ENY established for a base on the front would then have to extend outwards for maybe a two or three sector diameter to all fields, for that country, that fall within that diameter.
With that ...
A mission of 30 guys takes off with late war monsters, or maybe your squad leaves with 10 guys or more with late war monsters, and your late to the party. Well because they are in the air and en-route, towards a field that has 0 airplanes in the air and 0 GVs on the ground, the server determines that the ENY is 20 for the field that they left from. You are now forced to fly something higher than 20 ENY ... there goes your late war monster that you desperately needed to fly.
Take the same scenario above, but replace the planes with GVs (a group of people have decided to bum-rush the base). They call for air support, but the ENY is 20 ... OH NOES !!! ... what do you bring to the party for air support ... the late war monsters are not available.
I can understand where your coming from on this idea. It would work, in part, if your attacking a base away from where the real hording is taking place and it's 15 v 15.
But what if ...
Your 15 P-51s v their 15 P-51s results in your guys taking out 14 of the enemy and the one remaining guy shoots you down just before your wingman takes him out. You are now in the tower and because you have 15 guys in the air and they have none, the ENY at your base is now 10 ... there goes your late war monsters, and your now forced to choose something else beside your beloved P-51. So while you are in the tower steaming that you can't take the ride that you want, 5 of your guys spawn GVs to rush the town ... OH NOES !!! ... the ENY has just jumped to 20 ... what now ?
Because the granularity of ENY is now at this level, the fluidity for ENY would be constantly fluctuating on a field by field basis and would most likely cause more angst than the current solution generates. Most importantly, I would bet that 90% or better, of the population, would not understand this concept and the logic for establishing a "local" ENY and it would piss off more people than it does now.
Can you imagine the amount of processing that would be required to monitor, on a real time basis, the in-action population across a map ... along with all the other real time data that the server needs to monitor and send out to each individual ? ... just to appease a very small group of people who cannot deal with the current ENY logic.
I have been programming since 1978. I have met and talked with Dale at three conferences and believe you me, there isn't anything that man could not coad and implement.
You have to look at the ROI ...
What would be Dale's effort in implementing this complex solution versus him spending his time on things that are really more important ?
Would there be a significant impact on the server coad to keep track of all this information ?
Does it really solve the problem or does it exacerbate it ? Personally I think it would exacerbate the problem.
How many more people would this ENY notion piss off than what the current ENY notion already pisses off ? Pissed off people means calls to HTC which means more time on the phone for Skuzzy when he can be doing more important and fruitful things.
Kudos to you for bringing this solution, which we have seen in many incantations, again, but seeing that it has been broached before and Dale hasn't really jumped on it ... I think that he and his crew have asked the ROI questions and most likely have not gone forward with it because the ROI is just not worth it.