New Terrain in the AVA--guadalcanal

[CAP1]

I enjoy the ava. My eyes are not what they used to be either.

not what they used to be? what did they used to be? you'd look pretty silly if they used to be ears or something........

[Krusty]

as for positively id'ing an aircraft over 2 miles away? i don't think so. as for seeing colors on a person that far away? if you can, i think the us govt. may want to be having a talk with you.

You would be horribly wrong, and proven so hundreds of times here by actual real world combat pilots, airline pilots, REAL PEOPLE looking at REAL THINGS and telling you flat out "Yes, I can easily ID that Cessna on approach off my left wing 2 miles out"


Sorry, you're wrong, and have been proven so a million times on the forum from all the past discussions on the matter to date. You can spot individual tail codes on planes flying quite a ways off in real life. In this game? Hell you'd have a hard time reading them less than 50 yards away. There is no comparison at all.

I have a cousin who's legally blind... I recall once watching TV with him. He had to sit 2 feet away from a 24" screen (about as close as comfortably possible) just to make things out.

That's like what AH is, comapared to a real person sitting 10 feet back on a couch and still being able to read subtitles.

[USRanger]

Well now, this thread's gone just a tad off course.

[Vinkman]

Well now, this thread's gone just a tad off course.

Ranger haven't seen the new terrain yet, but will check it tonight.  . Thanks in advance for all the hard work you put into it.  .  change and variety are what keeps many of us coming back for more.

[gyrene81]

You would be horribly wrong, and proven so hundreds of times here by actual real world combat pilots, airline pilots, REAL PEOPLE looking at REAL THINGS and telling you flat out "Yes, I can easily ID that Cessna on approach off my left wing 2 miles out"

identifying a cessna a mile away from the cockpit of a 747 is one thing, positive identification of a spit or a 109 or p-40 at the same distance in war time is another...that is also well documented

if distant objects in ah were rendered differently...we could better identify aircraft at long range...as it is, you could put a sherman a mile out and it would present the same pixel pattern as a p-47


nobody is telling you or anyone else with the same arguments that you have to like it...it's a personal preference that a growing number of people are finding enjoyable

[CAP1]

identifying a cessna a mile away from the cockpit of a 747 is one thing, positive identification of a spit or a 109 or p-40 at the same distance in war time is another...that is also well documented

if distant objects in ah were rendered differently...we could better identify aircraft at long range...as it is, you could put a sherman a mile out and it would present the same pixel pattern as a p-47

 one of the books i read(combat crew by john comer) detailed how the gunners used to mistake p-47's for focke wulfs.....due to the radial engine.

[Vinkman]

You would be horribly wrong, and proven so hundreds of times here by actual real world combat pilots, airline pilots, REAL PEOPLE looking at REAL THINGS and telling you flat out "Yes, I can easily ID that Cessna on approach off my left wing 2 miles out"


Sorry, you're wrong, and have been proven so a million times on the forum from all the past discussions on the matter to date. You can spot individual tail codes on planes flying quite a ways off in real life. In this game? Hell you'd have a hard time reading them less than 50 yards away. There is no comparison at all.

I have a cousin who's legally blind... I recall once watching TV with him. He had to sit 2 feet away from a 24" screen (about as close as comfortably possible) just to make things out.

That's like what AH is, comapared to a real person sitting 10 feet back on a couch and still being able to read subtitles.

Krusty this is over analysis. Being able to see the serial number on a plane at two miles is fine. AH will never represent that. But I don't need to read the serial number on a tail to know it's an enemy. I don't even need to know the plane type. I just need to be able to see a plane or not see a plane. For most of what you need to assertain in AH, It's a binary system. Either I see a plane or don't see a plane. At the point where I see a dot, just like MA, I'm reacting to it.  Saying Icons are required to make up for all this pixel/screen resolution/human eye fidelity stuff is just over kill.

All of what you say about human eyesight vs AH is true. But you still don't need icons.  They don't just compensate for the loss of visual fidelity, they completely change the human visual dynamic.

[captain1ma]

great Terrain USRanger! we had a blast in there last night. some people like it, some dont. thats life! by the way, the complaint about the slightly purplely sky. dont touch it, i love the affect it has. keep up the good work!

[CAP1]

great Terrain USRanger! we had a blast in there last night. some people like it, some dont. thats life! by the way, the complaint about the slightly purplely sky. dont touch it, i love the affect it has. keep up the good work!

it is one of the best terrains i've seen. 

[Oldman731]

I think no-icon is closer the truth than Icon, for recreating the strategy and tacts employ during the war.

This.  Suddenly real world tactics make sense.

- oldman

[BnZs]

identifying a cessna a mile away from the cockpit of a 747 is one thing, positive identification of a spit or a 109 or p-40 at the same distance in war time is another...that is also well documented

A Cessna 172 and a 109 have almost the exact same length and wingspan. And the 109 is a smallish fighter.

[CAP1]

A Cessna 172 and a 109 have almost the exact same length and wingspan. And the 109 is a smallish fighter.

i think a 172N has a 35 foot wingspan, and is around 35 feet long. and i don't think anyone could really read the tail number at a mile away. i could be wrong though.......

[Chilli]

Some say the arena is an acquired taste.  I say that the Guadalcanal map was done in very GOOD taste. 

Icons aside, the quick action IS what turns out to be the icing on the cake for me.  I log in and hang around taking a look at the scenery and in a manner of minutes an empty arena is buzzing with potential combatants.  Sometimes the intense 1 v 1 or even better furballs, drain me in about 45 fun packed minutes.  I can sit in the MA, just about all day and not come close to the intensity of fight that just occurred in minutes. 

I do love my MA battles, missions and base takes, but when it comes down to enjoying a terrain, noticing something new in almost every turn and trying out tactics, as Oldman said, nothing delivers as much bang in an arena available all day long.

If Special Events arenas went for 24 hrs a day, this is somewhat like I would imagine it to be. 

[captain1ma]

bnz-- the whole icon thing has you all twisted up. if we all had shotguns mounted on our monitors, and it would go off when we got shot down, icons would actually matter. Since that doesn't happen, it boils down to being a game. some like icons, some don't. we respect the fact that you dont like icons because of poor eye sight. im very sorry that eye sight is a contention with you and keeping you out of the AVA. i guess that's our loss. since eye sight is the reason i  feel you should continue to fly in the Main arena's just for ease of finding bad guys.

for those of us who find the no icons more realistic, and can see planes(barely), we don't really deserve a chastising for playing that way. to be honest, i lose planes right in front of me all the time and actually use their shadows to catch them. is it like reality? no! i fly with a friend in a cesna all the time. at 2 miles you can tell if its a high wing or a low wing plane, but not much else. but then again this isn't reality, so who cares! its fun and exciting for us flying without icons, as much as it is fun and exciting for you flying with icons. we all have our preferences. lets agree to disagree about icons and just have fun! have a nice day  

[BnZs]

Uh, no. My eyesight has nothing to do with it. Corrected to 20/20, especially at monitor distance!  BTW, 24'' monitor running the game at 1024x768 with hi-res texture and all the "candy" cranked up...so that piece of equipment is about as good for anyone for seeing.

However, there is some other equipment that could make difference. Having done some experiments with zoom, and mouse view, I can see why by using greater level of zoom than and the ability to pan quickly, TrackIR can make the proposition more practical than for those who have been playing the game forever with a simple hatswitch for view.

For the record, I don't think icons as we know them now are an ideal solution either. I have some ideas about "iconography", but that is for another topic.

On the other hand, things like TrackIR, bigger and better monitors, higher resolutions, TripleHead, etc, could quite possibly render the whole point moot and make icons something we tell our grandkids about...assuming the genre survives. *crosses fingers*

Here the most important point I want to make: I don't think no icons being the standard setting for the AvA *all the time* is a good idea. I'd like to see some compromise here.

bnz-- the whole icon thing has you all twisted up. if we all had shotguns mounted on our monitors, and it would go off when we got shot down, icons would actually matter. Since that doesn't happen, it boils down to being a game. some like icons, some don't. we respect the fact that you dont like icons because of poor eye sight. im very sorry that eye sight is a contention with you and keeping you out of the AVA. i guess that's our loss. since eye sight is the reason i  feel you should continue to fly in the Main arena's just for ease of finding bad guys.

for those of us who find the no icons more realistic, and can see planes(barely), we don't really deserve a chastising for playing that way. to be honest, i lose planes right in front of me all the time and actually use their shadows to catch them. is it like reality? no! i fly with a friend in a cesna all the time. at 2 miles you can tell if its a high wing or a low wing plane, but not much else. but then again this isn't reality, so who cares! its fun and exciting for us flying without icons, as much as it is fun and exciting for you flying with icons. we all have our preferences. lets agree to disagree about icons and just have fun! have a nice day