The Virtual Flight Arena - A Godzilla Production

[PJ_Godzilla]

I had my Sister's family in for the weekend. Between my Brother-in-law, me, and my niece and nephew, we logged several hours doing what I call "random practice" in my new VFA (Virtual Flight Arena) which is simply a nice TLA for a couple of flight stations and two broadband connections I've set up in my man-loft, aka: The Crow's Nest. It's still a work in progress. Mostly, it's done, but I'm hanging some kewl art up there to set it off, for example, a nice pic, blown up and retouched to remove the subtitle, of the Old Avalon Hill cover art for the game "Luftwaffe" (love that image) and an RAF recruitment poster. I'm probably going to try to get some aircraft recognition prints, too.

In any case, I think my nephew, who's about 16, is pretty hot on the idea of joining AH. He's gone back home today with his family, eager to go get set up on his home computer. There's another guy - a google fast tracker who's in his twenties - who is learning but enjoys coming over for what I call "Random Practice". We go to adjacent opposing bases in the Death Canyon and up whatevah, to meet in the middle for mano-a-mano action. Occasionally, others show up in the arena and all have respected the 1:1 wishes.

The point is: grass roots promotion tends to get people hot on this game and I would encourage all and sundry of the old salts around here to set up similar. Perhaps one thing that CAN save this game is the "thousand points of light" strategy (as opposed to pissing and moaning about the decline). And most of you old guys (whom I've learned to respect as by-and-large a pretty good cohort of people) are skilled and well-heeled enough to afford a lousy second set of hardware, especially given that many are going to be upgrading to something slightly hotter than what they've got now in order to take advantage of the beta graphics. 

Besides all that, it's really fun. Be an active promoter today... introduce people to the light joy of hot, blood-squirting nonstop high velocity AH action today. All you can lose is your self-respect as a cartoon pilot.

[Brooke]

<S> to that approach.

If I talk to someone, and he professes interest in airplanes or military history or computer gaming -- I give an AH pitch.

[SFRT - Frenchy]

I'm an horrible sales man I guess.

I had only two types answers so far. At work with other fellow pilots "Meh, that's not realistic enough, too arcady" ... with fellow non pilots "That's it? That's how the graphics look like ... or I suck at this?".

I could not in the last 10 years find someone willing to give it the time/hardware to discover the hidden goodness of AH. I think maybe AH is missing that instant WOW THAT'S COOL effect that grabs you and forces you to play more. 

[Brooke]

At work with other fellow pilots "Meh, that's not realistic enough, too arcady"

I would say:  "Actually, the flight performance of all the planes is based on flight-test data, and it turns out that guys who are good at ACM in Aces High would probably beat you in a real dogfight at Air Combat USA.  That's because the air-combat maneuvers that work in Aces High work in real life and because the modelling is realistic enough to translate."  (This I can say through 1st-hand knowledge of having flown at Air Combat USA with AH-type pilots with almost zero time in real planes and multi-thousand-hour commercial pilots with zero time in Aces High.)

... with fellow non pilots "That's it? That's how the graphics look like ?".

I would say:  "Yep, it's definitely not an arcade game.  There are current and former fighter pilots who play and current and former professional pilots who play.  They are more interested in dogfights with realistic performance modelling than looking at scenery."

 

[wil3ur]

I tried my lagroll manuver in the fun little sims they have at the Air and Space museums in DC, had a buddy with me.  MiG got on my 6, pulled him in a corskrew forcing the overshoot and came in hard on his 6.  These things actually flip upside down and articulate though so went from a nice easy turn to a snaproll over the top that had my buddy, and the guy operating the sim both going WTF?!

Woke up in the morning at my hotel and for the life of me couldn't figure out what the bruises on my shoulders were from, then remembered the flip.   

[SFRT - Frenchy]

I would say:  "Actually, the flight performance of all the planes is based on flight-test data, and it turns out that guys who are good at ACM in Aces High would probably beat you in a real dogfight at Air Combat USA.  That's because the air-combat maneuvers that work in Aces High work in real life and because the modelling is realistic enough to translate."  (This I can say through 1st-hand knowledge of having flown at Air Combat USA with AH-type pilots with almost zero time in real planes and multi-thousand-hour commercial pilots with zero time in Aces High.)

I would say:  "Yep, it's definitely not an arcade game.  There are current and former fighter pilots who play and current and former professional pilots who play.  They are more interested in dogfights with realistic performance modelling than looking at scenery."

 

Yep .. said that too .. as every other pretend sim out there claims. As you know, if you have gazillions of switches to hit before you start the engine, the flight model has to be so much more accurate right?  Aces High does not provide that initial WOW factor to keep the guys interested long enough to realize "Dam that's good!".

[captain1ma]

when I first tested the game in 2006, I loaded it up, spawn in a hanger, hit the "E" key, and said "WOW!!!"  im in love with this game!!! its just like being in the real thing!

after all these years, I still promote the game, and try to get everyone and anyone to play. I've been here 10 years give or take, I still love the game and I help with the AVA.

the fun thing about the AVA is that with enemy icons off, the skins actually matter. so you need to match up camo with the terrain. which game does that much for you? 

everyone has a right to their opinion..... then again some opinions are better then others!!

[Zacherof]

I tried my lagroll manuver in the fun little sims they have at the Air and Space museums in DC, had a buddy with me.  MiG got on my 6, pulled him in a corskrew forcing the overshoot and came in hard on his 6.  These things actually flip upside down and articulate though so went from a nice easy turn to a snaproll over the top that had my buddy, and the guy operating the sim both going WTF?!

Woke up in the morning at my hotel and for the life of me couldn't figure out what the bruises on my shoulders were from, then remembered the flip.   

My wife told me they have one of these in Pensacola.
I told next time we go your in for a surprise
Snap roll, might be to insane along with a tail slide.


That reminds me, do they only have jets on these or multiple rigs
( I know each one might be different from those across the country)

[wil3ur]

The one I did was F4 vs Mig21, didn't get to chose anything else

[SFRT - Frenchy]

when I first tested the game in 2006, I loaded it up, spawn in a hanger, hit the "E" key, and said "WOW!!!"  im in love with this game!!! its just like being in the real thing!

after all these years, I still promote the game, and try to get everyone and anyone to play. I've been here 10 years give or take, I still love the game and I help with the AVA.

the fun thing about the AVA is that with enemy icons off, the skins actually matter. so you need to match up camo with the terrain. which game does that much for you? 

everyone has a right to their opinion..... then again some opinions are better then others!!

Yep definitaly agree on the no icon. My best online experience was IL2 online wars with no icon and no gps. No icon changes everything, I play DCS too, you trully learn how to make an effort on your ID skills on P51s vs 109s in a furball... these slight airframe subtilities before you can confirm with the paint job.

[hgtonyvi]

I try to promote also. If I bump into someone who likes planes and stuff I always mention aces high to them. Maybe it's because aces high requires a subscription that's why we don't get new players? Most gamers looks for free downloads or buy a PC game. Folks who play this game knows the feeling. Again this game is less than 50 cents a day which I think is very affordable. I guess for players to actually get into it might take more than 2 weeks.

I remember my first time when I downloaded the game and heard players on VOX, I thought that was really kool. I didn't know what to do at all because there was no manual. So I went back to the website and read a bit and found that hammer net aces link lol and saw how to set up my mouse( didn't had a joystick that time or rudder pedals). I upped and kept getting shot down but it was fun trying to learn because I always liked old school warbirds. Eventually my 2 weeks went out and I couldn't continue unless I subscribed. Then I started playing H2H arena and met a couple cool players. We made our own terrains and had our own world from the MA guys. I flew with a mouse and keyboard for quit a while. Again if it wasn't for an option like H2H to keep me continuing playing I probably wouldn't be in the MA right now. H2H arena got me to like this game and the fact that I love world war 2 warbirds. After the closure of H2H I subscribed the very next day to the MA because I couldn't stop playing. This game Rocks once you get use to it. I have to say it takes years and years to master it but once you pass a few learning curves it gets to be very fun and enjoyable. In my 10 years of playing I still have yet to learn and to become a master at this game.