the side balancing sucks

[DmonSlyr]

Oh that was mostly tongue in cheek.  Of course it would never work.

Friendly groups would form though.  Pig Empire vs JG11 And Friends vs The North Island Irregulars etc etc.  People helping each other and backstabbing would be rampant.

What I truly think would make most players happy would be 2 teams.  The Winners (populated by the majority of players) and The Losers (populated by AI and people who like to defend).  The Losers would have a constant stream of AI low ENY aircraft that launch whenever a field is getting attacked so the Winners would have something to shoot at/vulch in addition to the buildings.  The players on the Losers side would have a world of enemies attacking their bases to shoot at, and the Winners would get to roll bases and get vulch kills until their hearts were content.  Everybody would win.

Wiley.

I hate the idea of AI though. It just doesn't feel right. Plus if you wanted to sneak a base, you'd have to deal with AI, and setting a level of difficulty would be challenging.

Like I said, I think the maps have a lot to do with it when the #s get low. If there is no fight on side of the map, it's going to be boring for the fighters on that side. If I play the game for air combat and there is no fight on my side, what am I suppose to do? I could fly 15 minutes to a random base and try to get a upper to roll. What if no one rolls? Then I've wasted 20 minutes playing flight simulator. Maps that force people into action are the best maps. The (heart) map that was on yesterday primetime, the whole southeast part of the map is almost unplayable. You have a huge split between the sides, and therefore it takes too long get to an enemy base. Personally I  think Montis is the best new map. I think the 190D is a nuisance plane that should be perked. It's the type of E plane that people can't stand to fight agaisnt. When everyone only flies that plane, it kills the spirit of the fights.

What I'm saying that simple game play fixes and map restructuring will naturally solve the #s issue and side balance issue.

[Lusche]

Friendly groups would form though.  Pig Empire vs JG11 And Friends vs The North Island Irregulars etc etc.  People helping each other and backstabbing would be rampant.

EVE online with ww2 planes 

[Wiley]

I hate the idea of AI though. It just doesn't feel right. Plus if you wanted to sneak a base, you'd have to deal with AI, and setting a level of difficulty would be challenging.

They just need minimal AI.  They could just spawn, take off, and circle the base in the ack until someone comes by close enough for them to come out of the ack so they could be shot down.  It's what more or less happens on base takes as is, may as well get rid of the humans having to lose in that scenario.

EVE online with ww2 planes 

Exactly.  Add factories tied to fields too, so only owners of those factories have access to the bombs, planes, and vehicles they produce.

Wiley.

[Vraciu]

Absolutely. Replace Bishops, Knights, Rooks with Red, Blue, Green and people will be loyal to Red, Blue, Green. Replace them by 1,2,3 and the same will happen.

The imbalance would be incredible. Off hours, 20 to 40 players online. One squad manages to have 6 players up, but all the rest are technically single pilots.
And what about those people not in any squad? In this case, you probly would have to make the game round based and put the players into random but evenly distributed squads.

Change the colors with each map. 

In five years over in Warbirds I never cared what color country I was on.   

[Zoney]

Change the colors with each map. 

In five years over in Warbirds I never cared what color country I was on.

The majority of others did.  Just like here they had friends and would stick with a color/country to fly with them.

AirWarrior had A's Bz's and Cz's.  Different names, same result.

[Biggamer]

if i cant fly with my squad i wont be on. i have flown with this group for seven years and many of them was flying before i came along and you want to just say nope not anymore only once a week ....... so many better ideas have been mentioned.           

right now all sides have an ENY issue depending on the time of day   Bish 6AM-3PM knights from around 3PM to 10PM and then Rook from around 10 PM to 6 AM.  yes it changes somtimes but from what i can tell thats about the way it works

Take ENY away yes  one side may have numbers now but in 3 hours its the other team all it does is frustrate people to the point they log off and then the ENY goes to the other team til they get tired of it and log and on and on and on just take ENY out all together one team gets their rear end handed to them so be it take with a grain of salt and return the favor later works both ways. one thing no one likes is not being able to fly their plane.   

say bish have 50 knights have 35 and rook have 30  the bish have a 29 eny the other teams have non and both are ganging bish 65v50 and the team with 50 is pinned with ENY is it really doing it job there no i think not and i have seen this more often then not latly.   Take away ENY and see how it plays out if it dont work then try 2 countries again. something better out there to do then split squads thats flown together for many years
 

[caldera]

The majority of others did.  Just like here they had friends and would stick with a color/country to fly with them.

AirWarrior had A's Bz's and Cz's.  Different names, same result.

This will fix the Country Loyalty lunacy.  Or maybe it won't.

[Vraciu]

if i cant fly with my squad i wont be on. i have flown with this group for seven years and many of them was flying before i came along and you want to just say nope not anymore only once a week ....... so many better ideas have been mentioned.           

right now all sides have an ENY issue depending on the time of day   Bish 6AM-3PM knights from around 3PM to 10PM and then Rook from around 10 PM to 6 AM.  yes it changes somtimes but from what i can tell thats about the way it works

Take ENY away yes  one side may have numbers now but in 3 hours its the other team all it does is frustrate people to the point they log off and then the ENY goes to the other team til they get tired of it and log and on and on and on just take ENY out all together one team gets their rear end handed to them so be it take with a grain of salt and return the favor later works both ways. one thing no one likes is not being able to fly their plane.   

say bish have 50 knights have 35 and rook have 30  the bish have a 29 eny the other teams have non and both are ganging bish 65v50 and the team with 50 is pinned with ENY is it really doing it job there no i think not and i have seen this more often then not latly.   Take away ENY and see how it plays out if it dont work then try 2 countries again. something better out there to do then split squads thats flown together for many years

Yep.  In WBs we had see saw two sided battles.   The fronts ebbed and flowed.  If numbers got too out of whack ppl switched temporarily to balance.  It was fun. 

I just don't see ENY right now having water worth the well...

[The Fugitive]

This thread....

OK...what we have here is a core base of players that made the transition from 2 to 3...you have a vocal minority that are making something out if nothing...I don't have numbers but all I've seen is the rooks losing numbers since 3 came out...the nits have gained around 25 or so "new" players to boost their numbers and we wish have gained back less than 15 returning players...I don't know what else to say...the game is basically the same but to me a lot cooler than 2...I like 3 better...my dogfights look better...the gving in 3 is way better

I don't have any answers...I'll play this game till I can't anymore... But I will be totally pissed if I get placed on another country with or without my squad...

If you have 20% of your players  (those being ganged/out numbered) NOT having fun why continue to pay? It doesn't matter which team is getting hammered when, all it does is frustrate players and once that frustration level gets high enough they are gone.

Maybe with the numbers being so low, this might be a bit more critical that "back in the old days" and IS something that should be looked at.

Change the colors with each map. 

In five years over in Warbirds I never cared what color country I was on.   

Again, how YOU play/played the game is not that relevant. It must be how the majority play the game. Switching the names from chess pieces, to colors, or even fruit isn't going to stop "team" loyalty. The MAJORITY of players are loyal to their teams, and squads. The majority of players dont like to furball. They like to hit strats, grab bases and hide.

Your ideas seem to mostly benefit YOUR play, not the majority.


ENY is a must, heck I think it should hit harder and quicker, but I can see when the numbers are low it is a mess. If ENY was determined on location as well as numbers it would work more along the lines of what was intended. It would also solve the issue of the populated team getting hit by ENY as well as having to fight on two fronts being ganged by the other teams. What kind of coding nightmare it would be do do this I havent a clue, but I think it would work better than what we have now.

If ENY work localized (say a 9 grid area, 75 miles 75 miles) side switch time wouldn't come into play as often. Sure you would still have your horde here and there, but they would be hit hard by ENY. Mean while farther down the front, or on the other front you could have some players who dont want to fly "crap" planes and so have smaller groups hitting other bases. More battles makes more fights and if there are more fight why change sides?

But if you need the switch sides thing, I would think switching to the lower numbered side unlimited would be ok to do with the the low numbers of players who would really do it. I can think of only a few reasons to switch....

Fly with/against friends.
Find fights
Get out of ENY trouble
Get win the war perks
Spy

If you were to switch to the low numbered side you most likely are NOT going to be getting win the war perks, and spying as we all know doesn't happen  The other 3 reasons would be pluses for the game (keeping customers happy). Again I don't think the number of players who would jump teams is all that high, but it is one more "vocal" group quieted.

As for numbers, that will solve more issues, well hide them better as there will be more options. I'd love to see a free to play set be available in the Main arenas. A few fighters, gvs, a bomber and the goon. Enough to get a taste, and be some what helpfull to the "team" so they get to see that aspect. Sure youd have some that would stick to the free set, but I think you'd get more to subscribe, more than what they are getting now any way.

[Vraciu]

^^^^ Wrong again, per par.

People may be loyal to squadrons but I suspect randomizing colors will put a dent in tribalism far deeper than you think.

MY fun matters because I am a customer.   There are dozens like me.   Numbers help everyone except perk farmers.   When I log that's one less bad guy for you to shoot at, and I am not alone. 

Don't look at the bear so he can't eat you.   

[The Fugitive]

^^^^ Wrong again, per par.

People may be loyal to squadrons but I suspect randomizing colors will put a dent in tribalism far deeper than you think.

MY fun matters because I am a customer.   There are dozens like me.   Numbers help everyone except perk farmers.   When I log that's one less bad guy for you to shoot at, and I am not alone. 

Don't look at the bear so he can't eat you.   

LOL!!! When they first added the Early , mid, late war arena setup the first few days were everyone flying P40s in the early war arena because it was the default/top of the list, and that was were everyone was. Herd mentality.

When the split the main arena in to blue and orange a lot of squads picked a "color" arena and tried to call it home. With the way HTC set the population rules (blue had to reach a certain number before it would open more space to allow players into orange and vis versa). Some squad members couldn't get into "their" arena to fly with their squad.

If they were named by colors, or what ever they WILL become loyal to that team.

Yes your fun matters, but so does mine. What is important is what matters to the majority. If a rule change came up and you and a few dozen of your friends quit, mean while 7 or 8 dozen new players joined because of the rule change would YOUR fun matter to the "corporation"? I think not.

[VuduVee]

instead of a forced switch, maybe give people the option of picking which country they want to go to when they log in? keep or change side switch times accordingly. a small example is is the WW1 arena when maps change. everyone seems to drift towards the country that needs to be evened up.  the side switch is 5 minutes, so you can switch if it gets uneven and too few reds. but there was at least one time i remember, where several people seen uneven teams and then all switched at the same time. its a small sample size of 25 or 30 at the most, but it does seem to happen naturally.

[Randy1]

I keep thinking weathering in would be the best answer for side imbalance, low player numbers and even ENY.

As an example, if a large enough imbalance occurs,  weather might limit the bases could could be attacked from the air making the large country have to skip over bases.  Heck-fire, you could even slow down GV's with simulated muddy terrain.

A nightmare to code I would guess.

[save]

We already had the 4 color teams in "another game" made by Hitech and Pyro. Warbirds 1 and 2.

Green -  much like today's Knights
Purp    - more Rook style, only capture when they have numbers, fighter/attack oriented.
Red     - large amount of bomber squads, some talented fighter squads attached - Bish
Gold    - high amount of people from trainer corps, many organized fighter squads - no equivalent today.

And no GV's 

I like Bruv's idea of getting stars instead of perks for winning map, if that help I don't know.

[Ack-Ack]

People may be loyal to squadrons but I suspect randomizing colors will put a dent in tribalism far deeper than you think.

Randomizing the colors for the countries or the main arenas like it used to be (when it was Orange/Blue arenas)?

If it's randomizing the colors for the countries, it's not going to put a "dent in tribalism" one bit.  Countries in AH aren't identified by their colors, so randomizing them will not achieve anything. 

If you mean renaming the arenas like it used to be, well, that was proven by HiTech that "color" had no effect in a player's arena selection, only population.