How to fix the zero fight country???

[Lusche]

(Such a misconception might also be the cause for the frequent shouts of "15 objects resupplied" or so in multi player town resupp runs, which never made much sense).

I usually do this when several are re-supplying a town. I thought it made sense because those M-3's behind would then know whether their load was going to be needed at town to get it back up or they could divert to the base with their load as the base is often damaged as well in these situations especially radar.

That doesn't really tell them anything. It just tells them that you reduced some downtime on 15 objects, but not if any (and how many) objects are left nor the remaining downtime on them.
The town could now be fully up, just a few minutes from popping or down for another two hours and requiring much more resupply.

[JunkyII]

Just curious to ask everyone.. how would a reduced resupply time on a town effect your gameplay?

Waiting on this answer as well because I can't think of anything...

[JimmyD3]

Waiting on this answer as well because I can't think of anything...

Reduced resupply time would have the same impact, the reduced resupply time had on the Strats in AH2. No one would bother, except a few die hards like me.

You guys are kicking a dead horse, just deal with it.

[Lazerr]

Reduced resupply time would have the same impact, the reduced resupply time had on the Strats in AH2. No one would bother, except a few die hards like me.

You guys are kicking a dead horse, just deal with it.

My horse can kick your horses ass

[Lazerr]

Waiting on this answer as well because I can't think of anything...

Nobody can jabroni... trick question. 

[BuckShot]

Make resonable down times and get rid of object resupply altogther?

Just a suggestion. I only resupply players so I dont really care.

[icepac]

I thought biggamer was too busy watching films and finding enemy GV to be posting in a thread.

[JunkyII]

OP should have gotten to the specific point he is complaining about and titled this post differently at the same time. This is still his wish for Hitech to globally change things to force off peak low numbers to fit his wishes for combat. Peak time the arena has fights and people having fun. The AH2 era terrain designs are not about fast action so much as about slowing down 50-100 aircraft NOE hoards. Even they could use some adjustments for the smaller peak time numbers.

The low numbers the OP contends with would be better served by a three country terrain with up to 5 airfields and 2 GV feilds on each side, on say a 5 square sector terrain. He would still have the same problems getting people to fight him, but he wouldn't have to travel as far to get disappointed. At least two weenies couldn't flip the map in about an hour just to screw with him.

Way back when didn't a function save and close one terrain then brought out another terrain because of low numbers late night? If it is not being used now, chances are it caused cancellation of subscriptions back then. Or was it during the split MA arenas and one would just close for the night when numbers dropped. Low numbers on a giant terrain is guaranteed to generate posts like this.

I wonder if those same low numbers of players would bother to log back into a late night low numbers MA when the warning message popped up to countdown the arena shutdown? A terrain that tiny would have to be really entertaining to overcome not wanting to fight with no real place to hide. That is the real root of this problem.

I'm open to any suggestions to produce more combat which is lacking....I was on Buzzsaw last night for the first time....NOT A FAN...what it turned into was on one front Knights sitting in CV puffy ack while bish came in and the other side rooks sitting in puffy while Knights came in...made me have to fly 5 sectors around to engage the enemy fighters coming from the further back airfields. Your map suggestion doesn't work because HTC would approve it for MA use...changing the times on resupply is an arena flag option which HTC can change without too much trouble.....Title of thread and my OP are more then specific enough for anyone to understand that it's a discussion about getting combat out of the MA which struggles even during primetime....but a lot of the time in off hours.

[The Fugitive]

I spent about 6 hours flying yesterday/last night. My experience was about the same, very few fights. Even when the Rooks started hitting and taking Bish bases across the NE of the map there was very little resistance. Most of which was in wirbles and 88s. Got to play chase the the M3s a bit woo-hoo!

Something has got to be found to cause fighting to be the priority in the game as appose to a last resort. Whats to point of playing an on line game if your going to spend all your time avoiding other players?

[DmonSlyr]

1. Lower mountains. It's a pain in the prettythang$ to have to climb up a mountain with 4 minutes of gas left after a fight on the deck. Makes getting picked very easy.

2. It's all about base distance. Being able to take off from a close back field is very good for defending against the hoard. This may stop or reduce a lot of hoard type game play.

3. Perk the P51, La7, 190D,  and Yak3. These planes really make the game play stale because they are planes that can escape any from of danger too easily. They make the fights boring. A small perk cost would make people consider upping higher eny planes, which would create much more fun and engaging fights. A small perk cost is really no big deal for the people who only fly them.

4. I don't know enough about strats and reupping since I don't normally have the time for all that. What I can tell you is that I don't think there should be a resupply option. Unless you just took a base and need to fix it. Or resupplying the HQ. Resupply is pretty much pointless and takes away the fight and point of the game.

5. Create a FFA arena on a very small map with a max of 16 players. Air spawns at 3K and have a rule board. This will create a fast action arena for people who don't have a lot of time.

6. Continue to create new maps. See which maps really work the best for the MA. Everyone loves new maps.

7. Try to create zone areas during off hours. It would really concentrate the action. This game is freaking hella fun with low #s if the action has to be concentrated. It would also help new players understand the game and get involved in fights.


These simple adjustments would make the fights more fun. There really needs to be a monitor in the MA to check the tempo of the action in certain time periods.

[Scca]

1. Lower mountains. It's a pain in the prettythang$ to have to climb up a mountain with 4 minutes of gas left after a fight on the deck. Makes getting picked very easy.

2. It's all about base distance. Being able to take off from a close back field is very good for defending against the hoard. This may stop or reduce a lot of hoard type game play.

3. Perk the P51, La7, 190D,  and Yak3. These planes really make the game play stale because they are planes that can escape any from of danger too easily. They make the fights boring. A small perk cost would make people consider upping higher eny planes, which would create much more fun and engaging fights. A small perk cost is really no big deal for the people who only fly them.

4. I don't know enough about strats and reupping since I don't normally have the time for all that. What I can tell you is that I don't think there should be a resupply option. Unless you just took a base and need to fix it. Or resupplying the HQ. Resupply is pretty much pointless and takes away the fight and point of the game.

5. Create a FFA arena on a very small map with a max of 16 players. Air spawns at 3K and have a rule board. This will create a fast action arena for people who don't have a lot of time.

6. Continue to create new maps. See which maps really work the best for the MA. Everyone loves new maps.

7. Try to create zone areas during off hours. It would really concentrate the action. This game is freaking hella fun with low #s if the action has to be concentrated. It would also help new players understand the game and get involved in fights.


These simple adjustments would make the fights more fun. There really needs to be a monitor in the MA to check the tempo of the action in certain time periods.

Is this for real or tongue in cheek?

[bustr]

Getting combat out of the MA which struggles even during primetime....but a lot of the time in off hours.

Now we have a title to work with.

1. - Does anyone want to fight anymore or are our numbers low enough we are seeing the stark reality of life. 20% have things or do things to get things, while 80% watch.
2. - Do our airfield and base locations\setups reflect the play patterns and habits of our lower numbers?
3. - Unless Hitech makes a fundamental change on the back end to the MA that changes the current paradigm play process, how do terrain builders leverage the existing to appeal to the current players?

I gave one possibility for late night low numbers. Reflect the low player numbers and challenges created by the vast size of current arenas. Switch late night to a 5x5 or 6x6 sector arena with three countries and a very small number of airfields and GV bases until numbers pick up again. Just in case this becomes, three guys can flip tiny arenas in say 1-2 hours, start out with three of these terrains in the queue on opening day. It may become a late night arena flipping contest which won't be boring.

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By the way, my new terrain and those grass roads. While testing them I quickly discovered they were visually confusing and useless. I turned them into sand roads which made them very useful and easy to follow. Granted they are about the width of a 4 lane highway, but, they are there to get to the spawn or to the town and airfield quickly instead of wasting the evening lost in the trees. I'm at a point I will put a test spawn into the center of one of those villages to see what happens in terms of getting stuck inside of a building or trees that are part of that village tile. It takes time to create the terrain around the base and town after you lay them down to look somewhat realistic in it's rational. Hmmmm, looks like I should always put an intersection at one corner of the village tile to help players not get lost. When you are in a GV sitting on the sand road next to the village tile, it looks like the rest of the farm land tiles. In testing I would drive right past that 1x1 tile.

I'm finding what looks great and logical in the terrain editor is useless and confusing once you are testing it logged into the terrain. Those spawn in villages are just past 1.7miles from the town because trying to drive from farther out through the trees and farmland takes all night with you getting lost half the time. That puts a crimp on assault momentum and changes the attitude of the attacking GVer from attack to defense while hiding and not moving. And I have not forgotten the air combat players. The center half of the terrain I try to place as many airfields as possible 19 miles apart instead of 25 or a bit longer which will always happen on terrains this size. And inside of that area many of those feilds do not have GV spawns to them to interrupt their furballs. If you want to capture it out from under them, you have to face them with aircraft.   


 


Because I think tankers need a place to play, the three mini GV bases in this caldera will be un-capturable with a single spawn in from each country. The highest points on the outside caldera ring are 3000ft with the highest on the inside 2000ft. I will place a 3000ft cloud cover over this whole area. Your gonna needs skillz with your bomber or fighter to operate in there while trying to greif the tankers. While the highest point inside of the caldera is 900ft so the wirbels will have fun. Yes and I've been warned just because I've insulted bomber pilots with this cloud layer, blind carpet bombing to grief the tanks. OK, there are three airfields 19 miles away from the center of that caldera at 120 degree rays, and I just decided to make them medium or large while writing this to make it easy for 262. Each of the islands gets it's own CV and port. I'm more worried about 8inch greifing of the tank caldera than bombers. But, then there will be those medium or large bases I just decided to put on the tip of the three largest islands which will spawn bombers, hmmmm.......








You can learn a lot about what players think is a good play time on different terrains by listening to range for 15 years instead of basing your decisions only on the minority who dominate the conversations in these forums.

[DmonSlyr]

Is this for real or tongue in cheek?

Nope, it would work. It would just take a little bit of time tinkering. The Zone mapping would be the hardest part. Maybe wouldn't even need it if the map was designed for fast game play.

The FFA is a side wish, but I really really think it would help new players who are just trying to find quick combat.

Perking these planes 5-10 perks would do no harm. It's just tiring and slow when these are the only planes people fly, so they can easily run away. It adds more of a variety to spend perks on.

 I'm not prone on strats. I'm sure Lazer and Louche have a good idea.

Getting combat out of the MA which struggles even during primetime....but a lot of the time in off hours.

Now we have a title to work with.

1. - Does anyone want to fight anymore or are our numbers low enough we are seeing the stark reality of life. 20% have things or do things to get things, while 80% watch.
2. - Do our airfield and base locations\setups reflect the play patterns and habits of our lower numbers?
3. - Unless Hitech makes a fundamental change on the back end to the MA that changes the current paradigm play process, how do terrain builders leverage the existing to appeal to the current players?

I gave one possibility for late night low numbers. Reflect the low player numbers and challenges created by the vast size of current arenas. Switch late night to a 5x5 or 6x6 sector arena with three countries and a very small number of airfields and GV bases until numbers pick up again. Just in case this becomes, three guys can flip tiny arenas in say 1-2 hours, start out with three of these terrains in the queue on opening day. It may become a late night arena flipping contest which won't be boring.

--------------------------------------------------------

By the way, my new terrain and those grass roads. While testing them I quickly discovered they were visually confusing and useless. I turned them into sand roads which made them very useful and easy to follow. Granted they are about the width of a 4 lane highway, but, they are there to get to the spawn or to the town and airfield quickly instead of wasting the evening lost in the trees. I'm at a point I will put a test spawn into the center of one of those villages to see what happens in terms of getting stuck inside of a building or trees that are part of that village tile. It takes time to create the terrain around the base and town after you lay them down to look somewhat realistic in it's rational. Hmmmm, looks like I should always put an intersection at one corner of the village tile to help players not get lost. When you are in a GV sitting on the sand road next to the village tile, it looks like the rest of the farm land tiles. In testing I would drive right past that 1x1 tile.

I'm finding what looks great and logical in the terrain editor is useless and confusing once you are testing it logged into the terrain. Those spawn in villages are just past 1.7miles from the town because trying to drive from farther out through the trees and farmland takes all night with you getting lost half the time. That puts a crimp on assault momentum and changes the attitude of the attacking GVer from attack to defense while hiding and not moving. And I have not forgotten the air combat players. The center half of the terrain I try to place as many airfields as possible 19 miles apart instead of 25 or a bit longer which will always happen on terrains this size. And inside of that area many of those feilds do not have GV spawns to them to interrupt their furballs. If you want to capture it out from under them, you have to face them with aircraft.   


(Image removed from quote.) 


Because I think tankers need a place to play, the three mini GV bases in this caldera will be un-capturable with a single spawn in from each country. The highest points on the outside caldera ring are 3000ft with the highest on the inside 2000ft. I will place a 3000ft cloud cover over this whole area. Your gonna needs skillz with your bomber or fighter to operate in there while trying to greif the tankers. While the highest point inside of the caldera is 900ft so the wirbels will have fun. Yes and I've been warned just because I've insulted bomber pilots with this cloud layer, blind carpet bombing to grief the tanks. OK, there are three airfields 19 miles away from the center of that caldera at 120 degree rays, and I just decided to make them medium or large while writing this to make it easy for 262. Each of the islands gets it's own CV and port. I'm more worried about 8inch greifing of the tank caldera than bombers. But, then there will be those medium or large bases I just decided to put on the tip of the three largest islands which will spawn bombers, hmmmm.......


(Image removed from quote.)


(Image removed from quote.)


You can learn a lot about what players think is a good play time on different terrains by listening to range for 15 years instead of basing your decisions only on the minority who dominate the conversations in these forums.

I like a lot of your suggestions. Especially with the base distance and spawn distance. Personally, instead of making a TT, put one base in the middle ( the highest point), with surrounding 2 tank bases on each side for all 3 teams. This will create an objective. Put a fighter base behind the tank bases. This will create an arena area. Then when players log on, the grand possibility for the most action would be right there. Then just scale back from there. The overall layout is there. I really think CVs and water pathways are great for action. Keep it up though, it's good that you can build the terrain.


Edit: After looking at your island layout, I think the points should be a tiny bit closer to the center. This would make the fights bigger. Just a suggestion.

[Rich46yo]

Is there a thread for "how to get players to fly in an air combat sim?"....

Because with 150 people on last night it was a dwhirbel fest and GV parking lot in the area I flew for..

Yeah gotta agree. We have this wonderful new air combat sim and more then 1/2 dont fly. I Logged last night and played BF. I have no idea what the answer is cause its a free country and if people want to GV who am I to tell them not to?

[bustr]

Nope, the center crater stays as it is and I may even make the cloud layer 2000ft just because.

You obviously have never built a terrain like 98% of the loudest experts in this forum on how Hitech must change the game to make it a 21st century gaming utopia. The terrain editor is in the Aces High III directory when you install the game and it's a freebee on top of that. I've taken 15 years of listening to players while they play the game into more consideration than the small number of experts in these forums who have never created a terrain. There are a whole lot more of them than the forum experts and they don't come to the forum even to complain or give feed back.

This is exactly like the problem when you are in the editor and make something that looks really neat. Then you log into the arena and it's really a confusing crap looking thing that will drive players out of the arena. It looked real good on paper and failed in real application when it was tested. Yes I have to test all of my ideas and start over with about 20% of them after I log in to test them.

It's amazing some of the insightful random comments all of those skilless deplorable bubbas in the arena make about play ability of each terrain. All while they are suffering it's design mistakes to have a few hours of fun. Still, I suspect many of this audience squelches them for being what they are as S.O.P. from what I've read over the years in these forums.

There is no place to hide on that terrain for very long. No advantage in field alt where most of the fighter action will be. And the bowl design, 23,000ft barrier range, will make finding 99% of them a no brainer. Especially everyone who will try to grief that center island one way or another. I get the cloud layer coverage right, 30k bomber guys will have practiced offline for a long time to hit anything through the clouds. I designed it so the very skilled can thread the needle of those peaks and not decorate either of the two caldera walls. But, while giving everyone with a machine gun that can point up a chance to bag a few planes for their trouble. It will probably become the most blind aimed through clouds bombed spot on the map....and a lone wolf fighter dinner bell to pick easy targets. That's why the tiny GV bases are only un-capturable instead of my original plan to put three AAA bases on the island and six GV bases. And when someone gets a CV into the center, it will be a short period of random pandemonium until it gets sunk. Hiding CVs in your country's back channel ring segment only makes it a long range bomber mission to sink it.

The only thing I cannot do is make people want to up and fight, and I don't think Hitech can do that either, and he's had 20 years to come up with a way. At least during prime time bases are close enough on this terrain that fights will happen organically. And reducing the AAA field coverage for the HQ and city to one base each with the 163 field near by should attract the bomber guys and HQ defender type players. Resupply will be easy, so no Fester map kinds of all night lights out scenario. I think resupply of those two will be by C47 but, I'll put in sand roads for any intrepid M3 who want race that distance. And you can get an M3 up to a good pace on a sand road in this game.