Before-Strategy, Tactics, Stealth, and Planning Now-The Horde

[sky25]

Aces High recently changed the NOE and Radar settings. The reason behind these changes are unknown to me.. Many have speculated that this was due to certain squads doing NOE base takes with little or no opposition. Some said that they couldn't find a good fight because of those tactics.. Again, I do not work for HTC, so I cannot answer why they do anything that they do...

After the NOE and Radar changes, HTC released the new version 2.2. The towns are bigger and more spread out.. All bases are much more difficult to take.. I personally like the new base changes. And I know my squad has adapted and have been taking bases on a regular bases.

From my perspective only. (And I am speaking for myself only). I think all of the recent other changes have taken some of the fun out of the game.. All that I see now are mindless fur balls. There is no stealth anymore. You cannot take bombers to the strats and play cat and mouse with the fighter who ups to find you.

You cant sneak an NOE raid deep into enemy territory without being seen by over lapping radar rings.. Before part of the fun in the game was guessing what they other guys were doing and where they might be going. It is not very hard to figure out the enemies intentions when you can see the red dots 5 sectors away.

GV battles have gone down because alot of GV guys do not want to fight in the new town. It is easier just to drop eggs..Now to me the game is simple. Take off, join the furball, get shot down, and do it all over again..

It used to be fun flying a plane in between the radar rings deep into enemy country to surprise them with a base attack... It has now become more like an arcade game than one of stealth, surprise, strategy, and subversion.. I almost took a v-Base by myself the other night. Nobody came to defend it. So being able to take undefended bases is still a possibility.  There were three giant horde furballs going on at the time..I used to enjoy upping at bases and stopping NOE raids. Or guessing where they will go next.. If stealth, strategy, surprise, and subversion is no longer an element in the game. Have the MA's simply become another DA?

I am just curious if any other players feel the way that I do. Is Aces High about tactics and taking territory anymore?.. Before you start flaming, I am a customer and I know that HTC staff read these boards. As a customer, I want them to know what this customer thinks about the recent game changes. I know that I enjoyed the game more three months ago than I do today..

New town and base layout +1
Radar and NOE -1

[Bruv119]

I don't mind the radar changes that much but what IS annoying is the fact it seems to take much longer now to update the dar bar compared to before.

Having cons above you in the next grid and it showing no dar bar, it is akin to flying in a scenario sometimes with the late warning 

If HTC was aiming for more surprise and the ability to sneak up on un wary map readers then it is working.

[gyrene81]

No offense but, what tactics and strategy? Since the first time I dropped by these forums in 2004, it's always been "all about the fight". Seems to me the reason you find so many mindless furballs is because that's what a large number of people enjoy, and one horde is inevitably going to be answered by an opposing horde until one side gets tired of it and moves somewhere else.

[Lusche]

From my perspective only. (And I am speaking for myself only). I think all of the recent other changes have taken some of the fun out of the game.. All that I see now are mindless fur balls. There is no stealth anymore.

While I agree with many of your points, this is not entirely true. Stealth still works for mass NOE raids, thanks to unmodified base warning range and darbar altitude limits. You just have to kill one or two base dars 20 minutes before the NOE. Easy to do for a horde.


But but on the other hand, that reinforces only my point: The dar changes haven't actually hurt the base-grabbin horde (noe or not), but the single players.

[jamdive]

My objection to this dar thing is they see you taking off from your field. Unless its knocked out, they can track you over your own territory as you are gaining alt.

How bout giving us chaff and radar jammers...lol  

[StokesAk]

IMO, It really hasn't taken NOE's out of them game but gave even more of a reason for them.

Not many people make missions to take a base that involve actual skill, by this I mean most missions are NOE raids with the same old planes, or a horde of people upping with jabos to flatten a base completely.  

With the new radar settings people are unable to make missions that could be fun, like Ju87's or massive bomber missions because they will be spotted once they launch and then be horded by tons and tons of enemy planes. The new strat system does not add to this, I used to enjoy flying 500+ miles to kills a strat zone with a few friends, but with the inability to sneak as mentioned in the OP it is hard not to get shot down while going to your target.

These instances do not only have to do with the radar settings but with the players lack of caring about their strats and/or bases. I have been on several missions that involve high altitude bombers, and they either are killed by a massive horde of planes or no one retaliates therefore not really making missions that much fun anymore.

I think we need to add incentive to be in a mission now that they are harder to operate.  

[sky25]

No offense but, what tactics and strategy? Since the first time I dropped by these forums in 2004, it's always been "all about the fight". Seems to me the reason you find so many mindless furballs is because that's what a large number of people enjoy, and one horde is inevitably going to be answered by an opposing horde until one side gets tired of it and moves somewhere else.

Thats fine Gyrene. If you enjoy the furball great.. I see the game as a map with only one goal. Taking the other guys real estate.. Taking bases the dirtiest, sneakiest ways possible. And staying alive while taking said bases. If the ultimate goal is not taking real estate, then why did HTC build the game that way?

[Lusche]

Thats fine Gyrene. If you enjoy the furball great.. I see the game as a map with only one goal. Taking the other guys real estate..

Real estate is still taken. We have even seen the large map in LWO(pink) being won.

[Yeager]

sky25.  use your imagination.  Too many people seem to be following trends or complaining about them.  Go ahead and create a trend.  Go ahead, use your imagination.

[Nemisis]

Try GV'ing. Theres still a lot of tactics being used, and there aren't enough dedicated GV'ers for a hoard really. Strategy and stealth don't come into play as much, since there is less room for discresion as far as approach route.

[gyrene81]

Thats fine Gyrene. If you enjoy the furball great.. I see the game as a map with only one goal. Taking the other guys real estate.. Taking bases the dirtiest, sneakiest ways possible. And staying alive while taking said bases. If the ultimate goal is not taking real estate, then why did HTC build the game that way?

You got me wrong bud. I do not actually enjoy mindless furballs, but I don't shy away from them either (furball=target rich environment). I tend to find a good variety of activity to participate in, whether it be base taking, porking a field, my own personal bombing mishun, or a small dogfight with some squad members against whoever ups from a field. The only thing I do not enjoy is a mass of Spixteen dweebs.

[uptown]

I'm cool with mindless furballs for the time being. That's pretty much why I subscribe to the game. Taking bases is as pointless as anything else. I mean really. You spend 6/8 hours rolling bases just to have folks come in in the middle of the night to take them back again..... If my squaddies want to get together a take a field or 2, that's fine but my main goal is killing the red guy, not a hanger or sheep shack.

[falcon23]

If anything needs to be changed from current..I think radar circles need to go back to original size..leave the dots at 65 for noe..not a big deal..KNOWING where someone is at ALL TIMES within a certain area is BORING!!!..Ok so the guys who like to fight can go find bombers,but thtre needs to be some amount of suprise in order to keep interest..Unless some people like boring and always KNOWING whats coming next..Lusche has brought this up quite a few times,and I am in agreement.

 And please FIX the DAR BARS,something is amiss.

[RufusLeaking]

Seems to me the reason you find so many mindless furballs is because that's what a large number of people enjoy, and one horde is inevitably going to be answered by an opposing horde until one side gets tired of it and moves somewhere else.

It is more of a mindless horde than a mindless furball.  “One side” doesn’t get tired.  Individuals get killed, or rtb, and the furball dissipates.  Hordes are mobs.

One of the rare gems in this game is a good, persistent furball.

Not many people make missions to take a base that involve actual skill … 

Outside of a squadron, how can a mission planner know the skill level of those that select themselves to join a mission?    The player population will not support large complex missions. 

And please FIX the DAR BARS,something is amiss.

What do you mean?  A few times since the radar change, I thought I saw dar bars missing, but I wrote it off to hops and barley or tired eyes.
I have no evidence to post in Bug Reports.

[sky25]

You got me wrong bud. I do not actually enjoy mindless furballs, but I don't shy away from them either (furball=target rich environment). I tend to find a good variety of activity to participate in, whether it be base taking, porking a field, my own personal bombing mishun, or a small dogfight with some squad members against whoever ups from a field. The only thing I do not enjoy is a mass of Spixteen dweebs.

Sorry Gyrene81, I may have taken your comment out of context. I do enjoy getting into the furball at times because as a bad fighter pilot it is one of the few times that I can land kills in a fighter..