Rescue/pick up downed pilots

[SAJ73]

I wish it was possible to land next to a downed wingman who has survived the crash, and pick him up.
Say if he walked to within a few feet of the plane, and a button appeared up in left corner of screen JOIN PLANE. Much like it does when you get LOAD SUPPLIES when you are in a gv. And once onboard the plane he would be attached as joined. Once back at home base such a rescue could be rewarded with a small perk for the rescuer, and a safe return message for the passenger instead of being captured.

Just a little wish to sprite up the realism part. Not that I think it will be used much, but I think it should be possible to do it anyway..

And to take it further, a Jeep, M3 or even a goon could be used to pick up multiple people. As many as they can carry troops.. Say if an entire squad ditched out in enemy territory.. 

I know most people would just end sortie and up a new plane, but if there was some small reward in the rescue.. And there is always those who just want to do it because that's what we would do IRL.. Right? 

I don't know.. Discuss, throw inputs, add ideas.. 

[DaCoon]

not to be the devil's advocate here, but what about the downed pilot's kills?   would he still get credit (name in lights)?

[SAJ73]

not to be the devil's advocate here, but what about the downed pilot's kills?   would he still get credit (name in lights)?

No, I'd say that would be to push it.. I know, it's a difficult wish I come with. But there must surely be a way that would suit all parts?!

[dunnrite]

Where would the downed pilot sit?

[SAJ73]

Where would the downed pilot sit?

Where does people sit when they join your plane? They sit on your lap offcourse..

[SAJ73]

The passengers view would be the same as the pilot's, only the passenger can't steer the plane. He can only be a passenger, and look around himself.

[SAJ73]

One way of giving credit would perhaps be just the name in lights.. "SYSTEM: Rinzler rescued Essay73 in a P38J..." Just as an example..  

[Karnak]

Why?  Why would the downed pilot wait half an hour to get picked up and picked up by something that there is no assurance will actually survive to get him home?  Any talk of score or keeping perks can be dismissed as he lost the airplane already and that isn't coming off his record.  So, what is his motivation to wait instead of just .efing and getting a new plane?

[tmetal]

Why?  Why would the downed pilot wait half an hour to get picked up and picked up by something that there is no assurance will actually survive to get him home?  Any talk of score or keeping perks can be dismissed as he lost the airplane already and that isn't coming off his record.  So, what is his motivation to wait instead of just .efing and getting a new plane?

As much as I would like to see pilot rescue included, this ^^^ is the biggest problem working against it.  Most people (especially in the MAs) come to AH to play a air combat game and have no interest in essentially doing nothing while waiting for possible rescue that may or may not be successfull.  

Karnak, even though you might not support pilot rescue; you should still be able to see the motivation some players would have to sit and wait for a rescue.  I would fly pilot rescue for the challenge and would wait for rescue for the thrill and the step closer to realism it would be.  Personally, other than the time and effort it would divert from work on new planes and vehicles, I see no reason not to include pilot rescue into the game.  The players who don't like it, wont use it and the players who do like it would; just like any/all the other features or play options available to the players of AH.  Throw in a dedicated vox/text channel for pilot rescue (similar to the country, help or room channels) to help keep "please somebody come pick me up" requests from flooding other high use channels or from bugging those players who don't want anything to do with it.  Do I think every plane should be able to pick up a downed pilot? - no.  Would I have a blast trying to rescue downed pilots even if I fail? - Yes.

[guncrasher]

what if the rescuer is dadkev, he flies naked.  would you sit on his lap .




semp

[icepac]

Why?  Why would the downed pilot wait half an hour to get picked up and picked up by something that there is no assurance will actually survive to get him home?  Any talk of score or keeping perks can be dismissed as he lost the airplane already and that isn't coming off his record.  So, what is his motivation to wait instead of just .efing and getting a new plane?

Why would a pilot up a plane when there is no assurance he will actually survive and get home.

[Karnak]

Karnak, even though you might not support pilot rescue; you should still be able to see the motivation some players would have to sit and wait for a rescue.  I would fly pilot rescue for the challenge and would wait for rescue for the thrill and the step closer to realism it would be.  Personally, other than the time and effort it would divert from work on new planes and vehicles, I see no reason not to include pilot rescue into the game.  The players who don't like it, wont use it and the players who do like it would; just like any/all the other features or play options available to the players of AH.  Throw in a dedicated vox/text channel for pilot rescue (similar to the country, help or room channels) to help keep "please somebody come pick me up" requests from flooding other high use channels or from bugging those players who don't want anything to do with it.  Do I think every plane should be able to pick up a downed pilot? - no.  Would I have a blast trying to rescue downed pilots even if I fail? - Yes.

I don't think such a system would be used enough anywhere, MAs or scenarios, to justify the work HiTech would have to do to create it.  I think that most people when posting wishes never think beyond the "Golly gee, this sounds like it would be fun!" to the "What possible effects, positive and negative, would this change have on the game? aspect of game design.  I do understand why they think it would be cool, but I'd be willing to bet a $20 bill that 90%+  of the people who post in support of such a thing would use it less than 5 times after the reality of it failed to live up to its excitement in their imaginations.

Why would a pilot up a plane when there is no assurance he will actually survive and get home.

To have fun and to try to shoot down other aircraft.  Doing so does not involve sitting on a hillside for half an hour waiting for your rescuer to maybe show up.

[icepac]

To have fun and to try to shoot down other aircraft.  Doing so does not involve sitting on a hillside for half an hour waiting for your rescuer to maybe show up.

There's your problem Karnak.

You are trying to get people to conform to your perception of what fun is.

[Karnak]

There's your problem Karnak.

You are trying to get people to conform to your perception of what fun is.

No, I am being realistic.  Very, very few people will find sitting on a hillside waiting for possible rescue in a video game to be fun.  You're looking at it with your rose colored "Golly gee, this sounds like it would be fun!" glasses on and not trying to view it objectively.

My best shot at looking at it objectively can see a good bit of fun to be had in trying to sneak in there with a Jeep or Fi156 to pull a compatriot out.  This is why I didn't ask why the rescuer would be doing this in my first post that started with "Why?".  The rescuee is the person not having any fun in this scenario as all they have to do is get under some cover and then wait and wait and wait.  It is too passive.

[tmetal]

Yeah it would be too passive for most, but not all.  Similar situation is climbing a set of bombers to 30k. That is pretty dull, passive and completely optional; yet players still do that for their own reasons. 

To be clear, I am not arguing the point about if a pilot rescue feature would justify the work it would take to include it; I happen to agree with you on that one, Karnak. I am just trying to point out that the arguments of "its too passive or boring so it shouldn't be included" or the undescriptive "why?" are poor reasons to strike down an idea on a wishlist forum. There are plenty of things to do already in game that are passive or slow or boring up to a certain event happening, just like being a rescuee would be until the event of the plane showing up; and the argument of "why?" can easily be countered with "why not?". 

I do have to disagree with you about the small usage of such a feature in scenarios. I think that pilot rescue would see the most use in scenarios and FSO (especially when compaired to possible MA use), for the simple fact that scenarios and FSO are scored setups designed to push players to "win the battle" with just one life per frame, spread out over a set number of frames. Pilot rescue could easily be used to change that 25 point bonus (random point value) the other team got for shooting down your squad mate to just a 15 point bonus (random point value) because the pilot of the downed plane was able to return to friendly lines.  As close as some of the final scores are (for FSO at least), I could see players putting in the effort to find success as both the rescuer and rescuee far more often than they would in the MAs.