Rescue/pick up downed pilots

[Karnak]

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. 

At least in bombers the player has a goal and is working towards something.  There would be no goal for sitting on a hillside other than the very minor switch of a capture to a bailed out.  It is also probably not in the game's best interest to add an incentive to make players sit on a hillside rather than reup and join the fight again.

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?". 

Arguing the merits of a wish is what the forum is for. "Why not" was answered in that it would take HiTech effort to create a system that wouldn't be used, effort that could better be put to other improvements.  In addition, should somebody suggest it, modifications to the game to encourage people to use the rescue feature would, from most people's perspective, be bad for the game as it would take players out of the game for extended periods of time, players who would otherwise be involved in the fight.

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.

I disagree.  I don't think that scenarios would add a "Everybody who didn't get shot down sit in the tower and wait while those that did get rescued" stage.  I could be wrong, but I just don't see it happening.

[guncrasher]

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.

i agree with karnak for a change.  they only time it will be used is if you auger almost on top of the field.  flying an airplane for 1 or 2 sectors and back to rescue some pilot so he can save his two perks will will be stupid.

hell if it gives perk points I would have my shade shemp auger next to the field, i would just get a jeep and collect beaucoup perks as he augers for the 1000 time.  on second thought i would just switch to the bishops and  and scoop up the vtards up as they auger almost on top of the field because their goons got shot down that would be like 100s of perkies right there.


semp

[Karnak]

i agree with karnak for a change.  they only time it will be used is if you auger almost on top of the field.  flying an airplane for 1 or 2 sectors and back to rescue some pilot so he can save his two perks will will be stupid.

hell if it gives perk points I would have my shade shemp auger next to the field, i would just get a jeep and collect beaucoup perks as he augers for the 1000 time.  on second thought i would just switch to the bishops and  and scoop up the vtards up as they auger almost on top of the field because their goons got shot down that would be like 100s of perkies right there.


semp

It wouldn't even save any perks.  The pilot still lost his airplane and will not get the 25% "you landed successfully" bonus.  All other situations, killed, captured and bailed, result in the guy getting 100% of the perks earned.  It would not save the perks lost when their Me262 or B-29 was shot down as, once again, they lost the airplane.  All it would do, realistically, is change a "captured" into a "bailed".

[guncrasher]

It wouldn't even save any perks.  The pilot still lost his airplane and will not get the 25% "you landed successfully" bonus.  All other situations, killed, captured and bailed, result in the guy getting 100% of the perks earned.  It would not save the perks lost when their Me262 or B-29 was shot down as, once again, they lost the airplane.  All it would do, realistically, is change a "captured" into a "bailed".

but for score purposes it is the same thing.

semp

[jimson]

I don't know about the MA but this would be a cool thing for events. Especially one that had a character role playing aspect, where if your character survives he keeps his rank, if not, you have to start over as a replacement pilot.

If the system tracked kills of and deaths in chutes more than it does now, you could have a designated rescue plane that had forward firing guns. One not elsewhere used in the event. Then you could "rescue" a downed pilot by shooting him.

That would prove that the rescuer found the pilot.

Then the logs would show so and so was killed in a chute by a B25C, and you would consider that pilot rescued.

Let's say your RPG event was single life. If you died, you could have a second life as a rescuer. Monitor a designated emergency channel and try to rescue downed pilots for some sort of points or award.

[tmetal]

At least in bombers the player has a goal and is working towards something.  There would be no goal for sitting on a hillside other than the very minor switch of a capture to a bailed out.  It is also probably not in the game's best interest to add an incentive to make players sit on a hillside rather than reup and join the fight again.

For some people that minor switch would be enough of a goal and a great opportunity to use the bathroom and grab another beer.
(this is for the abova and below quote) As far as the games best interst goes you are probably right on that one when considering the main arenas and the fact that most of HTC subscriptions come from players who spend most of their time in the MAs

Arguing the merits of a wish is what the forum is for. "Why not" was answered in that it would take HiTech effort to create a system that wouldn't be used, effort that could better be put to other improvements.  In addition, should somebody suggest it, modifications to the game to encourage people to use the rescue feature would, from most people's perspective, be bad for the game as it would take players out of the game for extended periods of time, players who would otherwise be involved in the fight.

I agree that that arguing the merits of a wish is part of what this forum is for, I was just pointing out that your original post on the first page was little more than a "why would someone want this?" used in such a way as to try to discredit the OPs idea quickly.  I wouldn't have made this point if the original argument against this thread was more of a "this is a bad idea and here are several reasons I think so"  I have no problem with argument or debate.

I disagree.  I don't think that scenarios would add a "Everybody who didn't get shot down sit in the tower and wait while those that did get rescued" stage.  I could be wrong, but I just don't see it happening.

I wasn't clear enough. I wasn't suggesting that people who land safely would have to wait around while the others tried to rescue or be rescued. The way I see it working is like this: Squad alpha has 5 people flying in FSO tonight,  during alphas mission 3 of their pilots are gunned down.  One of these downed pilots in alpha squad or one of the pilots who safely rtb in alpha squade can reup in a storch or a c47 or a jeep (if close enough to a GV spawn point) and perform rescue duties. If the rescue pilot is shot down or killed then thats it for squad alpha, no more reups.  Now the downed pilots of squad alpha can log off and take the capture or they can put out a call to another squad who still has a rescue bird/gv up.  Any other pilots who land safely (friendly or enemy) are free to log off at anytime just like they can now. pilots also have the option of protecting the score they earned for their side by hunting the rescue birds down, and conversly the other side can rearm planes that safely rtb and try to protect the rescue ops.  As far as run time goes I wouldn't change the run time for any of the FSOs or scenarios (at least in the begining) unless it became obviouse that more time was needed for some reason. Log books on the event would still close at whatever time listed by the event CMs and any planes still in the air at that time would be treated just like they are now (even rescue birds) when the log books are closed.  In short, if you did rtb safely and have no desire to, or are not able to assist with rescue ops feel free to log off if you are done playing; just like it is now. Rescue ops would be optional and wouldn't have an effect on those players who don't want to participate in them, beyond maybe altering their earned score if a pilot they shot down is successfully rescued.

As far as MA use for pilot rescue goes. too much would have to be changed to make it a usable feature; including core game rules (scoring/perks); and these I think are the real reasons pilot rescue wont be included in the game.

[Karnak]

Limiting the discussion to the MA, how would it be good for the game to reward somebody for not participating in the game and instead sitting on a hill waiting for a taxi?  The more people in the air or in vehicles on the ground the more stuff there is going on for other players to interact with.  It strikes me that anything that was enough of a bonus to get people to sit and wait to be rescued would be bad for the game.

[TheRhino]

This idea would be good for saving perk pionts also. +1

[4Prop]

or how about a C47 or troop transport. and i wish you could land your plane when outta gas and have a goon fly you some go-go juice

[Karnak]

This idea would be good for saving perk pionts also. +1

How would it save perk points?  You lost the plane, you wouldn't get the perks back.

[icepac]

Adding new playable features is counter to the wants of people who have self-limited themselves and thier gaming experience.

[tmetal]

Limiting the discussion to the MA, how would it be good for the game to reward somebody for not participating in the game and instead sitting on a hill waiting for a taxi?  The more people in the air or in vehicles on the ground the more stuff there is going on for other players to interact with.  It strikes me that anything that was enough of a bonus to get people to sit and wait to be rescued would be bad for the game.

nah, I can't really justify pilot rescue in the MA; but I have said that before.  I do think the negative effect of players doing nothing while waiting for possible rescue would be small at best, simply because so few players would choose to wait for rescue over using end flight and reuping; but those few players who do wait will always be seen as a detriment to game play by those who measure their "fun factor" by the number of kills they get or the size of the furballs they can find.

[FLS]

Players can only join you from the tower. To change that would likely require a major rewrite of the game, Hitech will correct me if I'm wrong, for a very minor benefit.

If you truly want to rescue a pilot just for the fun of it all you have to do is land next to them, wait for them to exit to the tower and join you, then fly them home.

If you want to improve your score there are other ways to do that which don't require rewriting the game code.

[Karnak]

nah, I can't really justify pilot rescue in the MA; but I have said that before.  I do think the negative effect of players doing nothing while waiting for possible rescue would be small at best, simply because so few players would choose to wait for rescue over using end flight and reuping; but those few players who do wait will always be seen as a detriment to game play by those who measure their "fun factor" by the number of kills they get or the size of the furballs they can find.

I agree that it would be a small and negligible number unless, as some have advocated, significant rewards were added.  My position is that without those rewards to make people use the system the system would be a waste of programming time and with those rewards the system would be bad for the game.  If only a few people were using it then it wouldn't matter, just be a waste of effort by HTC.

[tmetal]

I agree that it would be a small and negligible number unless, as some have advocated, significant rewards were added.  My position is that without those rewards to make people use the system the system would be a waste of programming time and with those rewards the system would be bad for the game.  If only a few people were using it then it wouldn't matter, just be a waste of effort by HTC.

If we are still just talking about the MAs, then agreed on all points.