I don't know if it matters to others like it does to me,but the fastest way to kill any immersion is to bounce from plane to plane. Part of what separates or used to separate scenarios from everything else was the chance to dive into the history and connect to a historical group.
That part is as much fun as the flying for me
I'm totally with you on that -- I feel the same way. I like to devote myself to a single airplane, practice it in the MA going into the Scenario, get into it, maybe even read a book by a pilot of that aircraft, even if it is an Il-2. For Dnieper, I practiced the Il-2, read a book by an Il-2 pilot, flew Il-2's every frame, and had a blast.
If everyone were like me and you, we would just register for our planes and say in them regardless of what the turnout was like.
The problem is that, if we allow walkons, the walkons will be put in where there is space available, but I have to avoid giving walkons preferences to registered pilots -- or it is a disincentive to register. So, a couple of examples.
In one case, let's say we have only a 109G group and a 190A group. On game day, both groups have some open spots, and walkons are put in there. Folks in the groups don't mind all that much, since 109G's and 190A's are both popular.
In the other case, let's say we have only a 109G group and a C.202 group. On game day, both groups have open spots. But there are guys who registered for C.202's who really wanted 109G's instead. If they have to stay in 202's when walkons who didn't register get a shot at the 109's, we now have a registration disincentive. I have to allow registered pilots to go into those open 109 spots if they want. The best to provide here for registered pilots is that they aren't precluded from moving into a plane slot they prefer (just like a walkon), but their advantage is that, if they like the plane they registered for, they can't be moved out of it unless they are OK with it. So, if some hotshot pilot comes along, they can't be booted out of one of the elite rides for the hotshot if they registered (whereas a walkon can be moved wherever).
That is my conundrum.
I have had some thoughts on different way to do it that doesn't result in a side moving all its pilots around as much, but it is more complicated or might not be popular, and I'm not sure it would work. For example, we could have that each side gets its registered pilots who show up. If there are walkons, they get allocated to whatever side is lowest in numbers. The axis can put walkons into C.202's until it has 50 fighters, into Bf 110's until it has 10 attack planes, and into B-25's until it has 15 bombers; the allies can put walkons into P-40's until it has 50 fighters, into A-20's until it has 10 attack planes, and into Ju 88's until it has 15 bombers. That would keep people in their registered planes, gives no relative advantage to walkons, and balances things. But I'm guessing people wouldn't show up as walkons then. We could try it and see, but I'm nervous about that.
Any thoughts on how to do something like that?
