Game Play question.

[guncrasher]

Easy, everyone that has been logged in for the country 1/2 hour prior to a 1/2 hour after that country loses a base loses 50 perks each.

Everyone in the same sector as the captured base "either country" receives 50 perks the moment the base is won/lost.

Everyone within the dar ring of the captured base "either country" receives 100 perks the moment the base is won/lost.



Think of the whiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine s and dare I say,  INVOLVMENT 



JUGgler

why not just make it anybody that has been in that country for any length of time loses 50 perks.  think of the whining from those who switch all the time.


semp

[The Fugitive]

AI isn't the answer. I think we would lose more people to that than we do to Hordes. If people are content to play with AI they buy a boxed game and call it a day. They are not going to pay a monthly subscription to do it.

[caldera]

why not just make it anybody that has been in that country for any length of time loses 50 perks.  think of the whining from those who switch all the time

Just who are these people that can switch all the time?  The whines of the people who never switch caused the end of that. 

[The Jekyll]

Not many enjoy the challenge of upping against overwhelming odds. But there are those of us who do; to a point. I will always look first for an area with an overwhelming red dar-bar. If I can up from the field then that is exactly where I want to be. But that point comes when upping is absolutely pointless in that death is certain without a possibility of a fight, even against numbers. At that point there is no reason to up unless one simply wants to pad someone's landing numbers.
  But for those of us who enjoy the challenge, we will always look for that fight and enjoy it while it lasts. I think it has to be in the nature of the person to be honest. It takes all kinds to play this game, and the diversity quite frankly is a tenant of the fun in this game. In the end, if someone does kill me and take the base; I simply move on or log and go find something else fun to do like ride the hog! 

[BaldEagl]

Has there ever been a test of the gameplay dynamic?:
In which the town is disconnected from the base capture.. Such as giving the town its own single VH, representing the Garrison Motorpool or whatever.. And give the base its own Map bunker, naturally next to the tower, so the brass hats can hide in it..

In that way, taking the town would give the opponent a VH close to the base.. Battle would move, from Spawn vs Town, to Town vs Base..
I mean really, would a military facility, like we have in game, fold up shop because the local townies were overrun??? HELL NO!
MAKE EM COME ON THE BASE TO TAKE IT!

Not exactly but the maproom used to be on the field.

This post gave me an idea though; it would be cool to have light armored available in the towns.  Say the Jeep, M3, M8, M16, SkD and maybe something else I might be forgetting.  Esentially make the town a "GV base light".  It wouldn't stop the horde and might actually make it bigger but it could be fun for defenders who generally take too long to get to the town from the field.  It might be just enough to give others a chance to arrive.

[Chilli]

AI isn't the answer. I think we would lose more people to that than we do to Hordes. If people are content to play with AI they buy a boxed game and call it a day. They are not going to pay a monthly subscription to do it.

That's your opinion.  I can recall early one Saturday morning while Combat Tour was still in the works.  A rumor was going around that HiTech was testing the AI planes and folks were flocking to the area to see how they actually performed.   Besides, you make it sound like only AI would be flying.  Read again and you will see that I only called for 3 in a mission.  That is only 1 more than we already have in bomber formations (and those actually give you extra lives).

There are a number of things the HTC COULD do, it is more likely that they have enough proof by the diversity of complaints that completely contradict each other daily, that it is simply the safe move to do nothing different. 

If the subscriptions are falling off, it is most likely just another sign of the times.  But if the majority of the folks are finding the game to be more of a drag than fun, then that is another thing (better go to the drawing board). 

AH has filled a niche with "simulated" flight modeling based on historical data and that is what holds most folks interest.  So, hordes or no hordes they will have a core group of players content with that along with special arenas.
 

[guncrasher]

Just who are these people that can switch all the time?  The whines of the people who never switch caused the end of that. 

the poster.


semp

[The Fugitive]

The problem with AI is they become predictable after awhile. Also, if you add them will they be counted as kills when you shoot them down? If not, why both to chase them, they just become moving obstacles that you can predict where they will go becoming unimportant and so will be basically ignored in a fight. If they are counted, that means they will be able to shoot you down. Imagine the cries! "Dweeb couldn't fight me, had to send his drones after me!".

No I don't think AI is an answer. There has to be a reason to defend, or people won't defend. There is no reasonable way to stop a horde. Sure you and 19 of your buddies can cap a base at 15-20k waiting for an attack they may not come. Maybe 20 guys can get together in winged pairs and do 3-4 sector sweeps looking for an attack and another 20 guys can just wait in a tower shooting the s**t waiting to get a report for when to roll where.

No, until there is a way to entice people to defend, the horde will rule the game.

[BaldEagl]

Here's an idea.  In addition to the country perk multiplyer have a sector multiplyer or maybe just get rid of the country multiplyer altogether.  At the moment of a kill the friendlies vs enemies in the sector are counted and the ratio applies an additional perk multiplyer for that specific kill.  That way the horde's get few perks and the few defenders get many.  Likewise a lone attacker against a heavily defended field would also benefit.

Successfully defending in lower ENY planes would be HUGE perk gainers and even the horde's might try higher ENY planes to offset the loss of perks from the horde itself.  You might even be able to do a little perk farming flying late war monsters in defense.  All the guys who dive into the swarm anywhere on the map would be beneficiaries.  Maybe more would be willing to try it knowing there's something to gain and not just everything to lose.   If the incentive were great enough maybe it would spread the fights out over more the map as people would seek more red and less green.

This is actually a variation of the old zone ENY idea.  It seems like a relatively easy implementation since AH tracks all the planes and puts up dar bars in each sector already.  The data needed is already there.

[PFactorDave]

Here's an idea.  In addition to the country perk multiplyer have a sector multiplyer or maybe just get rid of the country multiplyer altogether.  At the moment of a kill the friendlies vs enemies in the sector are counted and the ratio applies an additional perk multiplyer for that specific kill.  That way the horde's get few perks and the few defenders get many.  Likewise a lone attacker against a heavily defended field would also benefit.

Successfully defending in lower ENY planes would be HUGE perk gainers and even the horde's might try higher ENY planes to offset the loss of perks from the horde itself.  You might even be able to do a little perk farming flying late war monsters in defense.  All the guys who dive into the swarm anywhere on the map would be beneficiaries.  Maybe more would be willing to try it knowing there's something to gain and not just everything to lose.   If the incentive were great enough maybe it would spread the fights out over more the map as people would seek more red and less green.

This is actually a variation of the old zone ENY idea.  It seems like a relatively easy implementation since AH tracks all the planes and puts up dar bars in each sector already.  The data needed is already there.

Probably wouldn't help much.  The horde dwellers are looking for the map change and the 25perk per category prize.  Reducing what few perks they earn by actually scoring victories makes fighting even less attractive to the horde.  They'll just want to win the war that much faster.

[Bear76]

the poster.


semp

Once a day maximum, ya that's horrible 

[BaldEagl]

Probably wouldn't help much.  The horde dwellers are looking for the map change and the 25perk per category prize.  Reducing what few perks they earn by actually scoring victories makes fighting even less attractive to the horde.  They'll just want to win the war that much faster.

That might be true but the question is what would it take to get more to defend.  Right now there's no incentive to do it whereas there is an incentive to roll the map.

[The Fugitive]

Probably wouldn't help much.  The horde dwellers are looking for the map change and the 25perk per category prize.  Reducing what few perks they earn by actually scoring victories makes fighting even less attractive to the horde.  They'll just want to win the war that much faster.

That might be true but the question is what would it take to get more to defend.  Right now there's no incentive to do it whereas there is an incentive to roll the map.

Correct, the idea is to get more people to defend.

At this point whats important to players? Points, perks, "name in lights" All of these thing are easier gotten through the offensive side of the game and having 13 wingman doesn't hurt.

At this point the defender is more often than not a lone guy or maybe a few, and the only recognition they get is on the horders kill board, dieing many deaths with little points or perks added on. No points, no glory, why bother.

[PFactorDave]

The problem is that it is virtually impossible to actually defend against the horde.  The entire capture mechanic needs to be slowed down.  Not necessarily made harder, but made longer.  

How about this...

When the 10th troop goes into the maproom, instead of the base being captured and ready for immediate use, have the base go nuetral and start a timer.  The base cannot be used by either side for 15 minutes (or whatever time is deemed proper).  After that timer elapses, if the original owners have not retaken control, then the base changes hands and can be used.   If the original owners can get 10 troops into the map room, then the capture timer restarts but now if it elapses the original owners retake control of the base and can begin using it again.

This would actually make the base capture system more of an attack/counter attack situation instead of Attack/Defend.  It would slow the whole process allowing aircraft from other fields to get into the fight.  But it would also not give the defenders too much of an advantage since once the base goes nuetral neither side can launch from it.

Did that make sense?  I can picture the system in my mind, but I'm not certain I've described it well enough.

[CAV]

Change Airfields so that there are limits to the number of aircraft that can be launched.  There were few airfields in WWII that supported both bombers and fighters.    There was a limit on number and type of fighters that were based at an airfield,   
Any aircraft could refuel but only a limited number were actually based their.  Perhaps if the rearm pad would allow a more flexible choice in rearm.  You could chose a new load out both fuel and ord.  If you had to fly from a base in the rear . You could go with no ord and re-arm at a forward base with ords. 

This is one the things I have been hoping for many years. I have never like the fact that your side can drop 100's of tons of bombs on a base.... but if the base has one fighter hanger up, it has "unlimited" numbers of planes?????

Or... "Joe furballer" and his friends, up Spitfires and flies off to a furball and dies over and over for hours....... but the base never runs off of Spitfires????? Hello? why is that?

The GameMechanics over in WWIIOL works better, Your base has XX number of planes/tanks...... you take off in a plane and get shot down...... that base has one less plane till the factories replace it and that takes time! If you have a good mission and RTB your piece of equipment will immediatly goes back into the supply of equipment for that base. Now if you like bombing...  you can go bomb Production.... the resupply of the bases can be slowed down dramatically by bombing enemy factories. Something useful for buff drivers to do!

This is how I would fix game play in AH.

CAVALRY












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