MA going down presented the CT with an unexpected treat today, where the numbers were up to almost 150 people in the CT. At last, got to saw a huge swarm of fighters in historic match up. The 'feeling' itself was almost good enough
Also, it gave out some interesting answers to few of the questions brought up before current CT launched with its unique settings.
a) The "Default country" and the "illiterate people"
The existence of a
'Default' country certainly proved that people, unless they have particular preference towards a certain plane set or historical admiration, stick to the country they were first allocated. Though the huge numbers in CT was a blast, the numbers were very unbalanced, at one point where it was almost up to 100 axis pilots vs 50 allied pilots.
Also, the majority proved their "illiteracy" concerning the pop-up notices when entering the CT. As I was in the axis side, the radio buffer for very long time was filled up with annoying "why can't I fly my La-7 here" questions repeatedly, up to the point of intimate frustration.
b) does current radar settings distrupt game play?
In my opinion, not quite. If the numbers are enough, it seems people have no problems finding a fight. True, the battles took place in a very small space, only about 50 mile square radius. But contrary to this fact, the radar settings
in turn prevented the MA style of small area clogged up with zillion planes scratching their bellies on deck. It was more of a small furball spread out through the entire battle area, with 4~5 planes battling in about every 5~10 mile radius.
c) will people communicate?
As radar settings were tuned down, and emphasis on eye-observation grew larger, people did in fact tried to communicate. They had no other choice. Communications updates weren't exactly as much 'informative' as radar operators, but still, people shared information on what kind of fight was going on where - some voluntarily, others when requested.
d) SA: reduced range icons + dar settings
This, in particular, also in my personal opinion, was very satisfactory. Many times one would find a fighter behind him suddenly. Especially with icon range reduced, during a heated battle one would find this happening very often if he was not paying attention to the odds surrounding him. There was no safe zone, no 'AWACS' datalink, so to put it, to let people just gaze on the clipboard and figure out what was where.
e) missions
If organized well enough, a mission would actually have a chance to barge through areas of heavy enemy activity and succeed. The recent mission I participated in, was a well planned one. 4xJu-88s, 4x109G-6s and 4x190A8s, assisted by 4~5 other planes which joined up later on made it through heavy enemy activity. While the fighters who were ahead kept checking on enemy positions and kept a look out, the 4 bombers made it to destination in a formation at 10k alt. This sort of thing is needless to say, close to impossible in the MA(and this mission went on when the numbers imbalance was a bit resolved, about 50 or so Axis and 40 Allied on line. Large scale, well-planned missions have a good possibility in the CT.
f) instant hoardes of Luft "Whiners"
People who joined the default country, Bishops(Axis) began to whine continuously, through out the whole peak of the CT game. This sort of proves not only the well known Luft'Whiners' whine about LW planes
People whom it is obvious that they have never ever even the slightest moment flew in 109s or 190s kept whining about how LW plane set was screwed, how they couldn't do this or that in the 109 or 190... kept whining about how they were a 'not bad' pilot in the La-7.. whined about kept on getting shot down... and concluded that it proved the LW planes are screwed. Began complaining even at 2 to 1 number odds, and didn't stop till the end.
Clearly, they expected to fly in the 109s or 190s like they would fly and fight in the MA, and when it didn't work out, kept complaining about it. IMO it's only natural you aren't gonna get any kills, much less survive 3 minutes if you try to fly a certain plane in a way it wasn't meant to be, in a fight it wasn't meant to fight.
In the end, I got so tired of this endless whinefest, and suggested they go to the Allied side where they can find Spit9s there. Funny thing is, they kept on whining, but never left the Axis side.
Is it be because 1) people like to stick with superior numbers? or 2) they still wanted to try out the LW planes more, even though they kept whining about it? I wonder.
In overall, the unexpected problems with the MA gave a chance for people who weren't interested in CT before to taste what it was like. Some may have liked it, and others seemed to hate it. But in some aspects, CT does prove to be in a league of it's own. It has it's own strengths and weaknesses, and certainly very different style of gameplay from MA.
I hope this sparked up lights of interest in many more players, and expect to see more people in the CT soon.
