So heres whats wrong with the WWI...

[BnZs]

Okay, those who believe that the WWI combat is just inherently unpopular are dead wrong IMO.

Thought up a way to explain whats wrong here...

Imagine a WWII arena with exactly 4 planes. These planes will be the 109 F4, the 190 A-5, the P-40B, and the B-26. Think this arena would hold people's attention very long or be very fun? Yet this imagined limited WWII plane set and relative stack up of strengths almost exactly mirrors what the WWI arena is right now.

[BrownBaron]

WWII arena would still have a bomber and destructable object, making it more popular, still...

[vNUCKS]

WWI has no depth to the arena.  Every sortie reminds me of "time to make the donuts".  Its the same old same old every time...

[MrRiplEy[H]]

When I think of a WWI flight 'sim' I think of 'wings' on Amiga. I loved that game, especially the background story which gave a deeper context on the battle that was going to be. Each battle was started with a 1 page story about the progress of the imaginary war, funny mentions about the squad pet dog etc.

I think HT was thinking something of similar fashion with the Combat Tour.

[NatCigg]

how about ww1 tanks and gun positions that could advance a front.  give the fighters some bombs to drop on them. sounds like a start to me.

Also, rivers or gullies that need a destructable bridge to cross.   :cheers:

[LLogann]

QFT    With any luck, perhaps one day soon we'll embrace the flavor of four new birds for back then...  And we will again see an increase in participation with a slow drop off again.  But one thing we'll certainly see, is a subtle increase in the regulars.   

Okay, those who believe that the WWI combat is just inherently unpopular are dead wrong IMO.

Thought up a way to explain whats wrong here...

Imagine a WWII arena with exactly 4 planes. These planes will be the 109 F4, the 190 A-5, the P-40B, and the B-26. Think this arena would hold people's attention very long or be very fun? Yet this imagined limited WWII plane set and relative stack up of strengths almost exactly mirrors what the WWI arena is right now.

[Melvin]

Here's what's wrong.

You like kites and turtles....

[Debrody]

People play where they can find more action. More people in the LW arenas, they will log into them. Its that simple.
Also there are other factors (limited planeset, no destructable objetcs), but the most important factor is the numbers.

[Citabria]

novelty and replayability are also factors though I agree numbers helps because people are lemmings.

ww1 is an awsome addition but its novelty wears out quickly with such a small 4 plane set that is dominated by one plane so the other 3 are rare or not seen often.

it is hands down the best place to find a pure dogfight and the planes are hard to master which is a plus.

I'm looking forward to whatever HTC has planned to expand the ww1 arena. I think it is worth developing in the long run even if the variety in planes and gameplay is limited at the moment.

nerfing the dr1 to lowest horsepower in the manner the origional spit5 was nerfed to an early model couldnt hurt either.

[BnZs]

nerfing the dr1 to lowest horsepower in the manner the origional spit5 was nerfed to an early model couldnt hurt either.

Assuming the Dr1 is *not* currently modeled with 110hp Fester, making it so wouldn't be "nerfing", that would be following the standard for virtually all Dr1s that fought.

[mechanic]

[snip]

Imagine a WWII arena with exactly 4 planes. These planes will be the 109 F4, the 190 A-5, the P-40B, and the B-26. Think this arena would hold people's attention very long or be very fun? Yet this imagined limited WWII plane set and relative stack up of strengths almost exactly mirrors what the WWI arena is right now.

Utterly false!

it would be 109f4, 190 A-5, Spitfire and Hurricane.

get a grip man! 

[BnZs]

Utterly false!

it would be 109f4, 190 A-5, Spitfire and Hurricane.

get a grip man!  

Camel is nowhere near equal to what a Spit or a Hurri is to a 109.

Camel probably *ought* to be like a 109 F-4 to the Dr1's SpitV but alas, such is pretty far from the case.

[Citabria]

warning repost from wishlist...

http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,310230.0.html

my idea gadget in my brain is on fire.

(if you want to dedicate new coad. a moving front line that changes position based on destroyed trenches that also moves the gv/trench base spawn points then you might see my line of thought. but existing coad can work for this too.) just a line drawn on the map. Color coded for each country. new trenches can spawn along the line for each side. distance between each sides trench is constant. when it moves it rebuilds itself in the new position or it can just very very slowly actually move like a cv group.

think of the gv/trech bases as just floating spawn points. when their guns and observation balloon are destroyed they retreat back and respawn just a little bit behind their origional position. perhaps as small as 50 yards further back. give the player a carrot. a small one that influences the front. conversly if the opposing sides trench and balloon are also destroyed the front stalemates and does not retreat on either side.

see where im going with this?

the distance between opposing sides should remain constant. a trench theoretically could be pushed anywhere in the current no mans land graphic like a cv group on the open sea. but its movement is based on damage.

Brilliant!

as simple as possible I want a fluid front with 3-4 spawn points per side. floating gv/trench bases. each with 1 observation balloon, 1 player controlled flak gun, and 1 or 2 player controlled artillery pieces.


I want to see the front. the ghastly stalemate of it. it can be done with current in game gadgets. Funnel the Aircraft to the front. closest point of action. kill weather baloons etc. if arena population is empty till someone joins the fight. think tetris. somthing to do to keep you entertained while the arena population builds. a mini game within the game.

Imagine a ww1 tank town similar to the center isle of ozkansas but laid out line abreast in trench form with 3 sides converging and no depth to the bases.

minimal AI except ambiance ground fire between trenches till they are destroyed.
Infantry positions generalized as destroyable trenches tied to each GV/trench base. possibly trenches with an inhabbited look that fires very small calibre sporadic ground/air pot shots until destroyed that gives a cratered burned out pulverized graphic. trenches laid out in conventional wwI style with no mans land in between.

3-4 gv/trench bases per side with only manned guns and maybe some very small caliber ai rifle calibre ground fire.

gv/trech bases each have an observation baloon with only player controlled small calibre guns.

gv/trench bases have 1-2 player controlled artillery that can fire on enemy trenches/tanks like our current 17lbr manned AT guns. and also 1  player manned flak gun per base.


a ww1 tank would be good but not immediately needed.

and after all that add in a big fat zeppelin also based on the cv mechanic but controlled by rank like the main arena carrier groups. 1 per side.

it should be at the actual height the zeppelins flew at... 7-10k?

player manned guns of course and the ability to drop bomblets on the front for fun.

[Urchin]

Okay, those who believe that the WWI combat is just inherently unpopular are dead wrong IMO.

Thought up a way to explain whats wrong here...

Imagine a WWII arena with exactly 4 planes. These planes will be the 109 F4, the 190 A-5, the P-40B, and the B-26. Think this arena would hold people's attention very long or be very fun? Yet this imagined limited WWII plane set and relative stack up of strengths almost exactly mirrors what the WWI arena is right now.

Part of that is true, as it is the arena is pretty much an axis only arena - well, a Dr I arena since the D7 is pretty much in the same boat as the Camel when it comes to not being anywhere near as good as the Dr I.  I could see it being fun even at that if it wasn't for the absolutely lame bellybutton people who play the game though... I just got finished trying the WW1 arena for the first time since I came back.

 Initially there were 4 people in the arena, with 3 flying. I unfortunately ended up on the 'wrong' country so I couldn't tell who was outnumbered 2 to 1, and I ended up switching to the wrong country and having to wait 4 minutes. By the time I could switch, the 1 guy had logged. So I move over and take off in a Camel (mistake number 1). Two cons, one real high and one roughly co alt. Get into a short fight (maybe 3 turns) with the co-alt con before he did something to actually just stop in midair... I ended up ramming him. I'm thinking that guy wasn't very good, because the next 'fight' consisted of me re-upping, the high con dropping onto my tail and basically parking there, and me dying after a few missed shots. By the way, the Camel is absolutely helpless against the Dr I, in my opinion (and everyone else too, apparently). The next fight was the same as the first fight, except they were both high and the 'good' pilot (I think anyway, although with the plane match-up it is hard to tell) camped out on my tail while the other one made relatively ineffective passes.

 After that I just said upliftit and left... No reason at all to play as far as I am concerned. Even the Dr I (well, with me at the helm anyway) isn't good enough to take on two other TIE fi... erm, Dr I's at the same time. I guess I could switch to their country and we could all practice formation flying or something, but I just went over to the LW arena instead.

[mechanic]

Camel is nowhere near equal to what a Spit or a Hurri is to a 109.

Camel probably *ought* to be like a 109 F-4 to the Dr1's SpitV but alas, such is pretty far from the case.

That is besides the point. The point is it would be outrageous to make a 4-plane WWII air combat game with American planes in.