Dear HTC
In the interest of greater playability and cooperation within countries, I would like to formally request some changes and modifications be made to the mission editor in Aces High.
Although the current system allows a person to create a mission and save it, the ever-changing arena situation makes it very difficult to use one of these missions without making on-the-fly changes. To compensate for this, I have created several "Canned" mission profiles that I can load, modify and post as the tactical situation allows. In doing this, I have found several drawbacks in the current system.
1. Cannot select more than one group at a time…
It would be nice to be able to select two or three flight groups at once and assign them all the same start fields and waypoints. This would decrease the mission setup time dramatically.
2. Cannot assign numbers or descriptions to individual waypoints…
Running a mission is a very stressful event for the planner. In most cases, mission participants are walk-ons that are not already "in tune" with the planner's intentions. It takes a lot of typing (It seems most do not have RW or don't tune to the assigned channels) to get things coordinated. Making the mission a success relies on everyone doing their assigned job, but making them understand that assignment is very taxing.
3. Cannot move waypoints once they are placed…
This problem also contributes to long mission setup times. Without being able to group flights to the same waypoint data, you are forced to assign waypoints to every mission on an individual basis. Again, because of arena situations, it is near impossible to have waypoints preplanned into saved missions (because of rotating countries and moving fleets) It would be nice to be able to drag waypoints to where they are needed.
4. The angled view of the map makes it difficult to place waypoints…
Because of the angled map view, it is had to place waypoints exactly where you want them. It is also difficult to see the numbers on some fields due to the chess pieces in the way. The top of the map is the worst. It would be nice to use a simple "top down" view.
5. The mission and flight description fields are too small…
Combining with above number 2, the lack of enough space to describe mission parameters makes the pre-mission briefing very difficult. Again, the quickly changing arena situation requires that mission setup, recruiting and launch takes place within about a 30 minute window. Any longer and the parameters can be way off. It would be nice if the recruited pilots could read the mission parameters for their group while waiting for mission start.
6. Deleted flight groups cannot be removed…
A few of my saved mission profiles show reference to deleted flights that I cannot permanently remove. Perhaps deleted groups could be removed from viewing on the roster.
7. There is no "Tangible right now" incentives for joining a mission…
I have made a previous post with some suggestions as to how perk points could be earned for mission participation.
See…
http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/Smileys/default/Forum1/HTML/007707.html It seems that part of the problem is pilots don't want to wait for the mission start time because they want to fly "right now" or try to join the mission at the last second. Without some of the above mentioned briefing and waypoint items, the whole briefing needs to be redone for the new guys.
HTC, I know there are a lot of things you are working on to keep this game moving and exciting. I for one think this is the best game I have ever played, and would love to see these or similar additions made to help with the teamwork situation in the MA.
Sincerely
Midnight
13th TAS
[This message has been edited by Midnight (edited 01-31-2001).]
