Solution for the low numbers???

[MWL]

It is only dying if no one comes back.  Sigh.

[Shuffler]

Some of the things I miss about the game were when our squad would roll together and just start capping bases on a front, and if no squaddies were on there were guys like ghi organising things on a country level...

I've not played in years now, and I won't come back to play unless somehow there are more people to play against. I have had some great times in this game with hours of fun, but as the population is dying the game is dying. Inactivity is a killer.

Fortunately peoe are flying and having fun. A very small percentage actually come to the BBS.

We will keep supporting an enjoyable game with good folks

[TDeacon]

Remembering how it was when I was new, I think initial help and training is probably the main thing needed to get people to stay.  I doubt very much if "not finding a fight" is a major concern to those who can barely take off and who have no SA. 

In connection with training, the default game settings should allow communication with a new guy.  I recall trying to talk to several players (whose strange behavior suggested "newness"), and receiving no reply.  My assumption is that they weren't monitoring the text buffer, or didn't have VOX set up properly.  Perhaps what is needed is a function similar to "check 6", but which indicates someone is trying to talk to them, and automatically gives them a way to respond.  This would have to be designed to avoid people using it to grief, of course.  Perhaps an equivalent "can't talk now" quick response, which if ignored, could be filmed yielding a ban on the griefer. 

MH

[toddbobe]

I have been making an effort to engage the new people that I see, trying to make them feel welcome.
Todd

[TDeacon]

I have been making an effort to engage the new people that I see, trying to make them feel welcome.
Todd

Yes, but that only works if they have figured out the comms.  MH

[Kodiak]

it can get damn frustrating for a noob to get hammered down by a 'vet' constantly. 

^ This.

After coming back to the low numbers and checking who is killing me 100 times over and over again, the theme is the same...

Last Killed by: Fighter Rank 22, 61, 2, 47, 13, 28, 296, 68, 198, 6, 11, etc.

...many of them multiple times each gaming session.  One of them owns me...lol  My Last Killed by actually looks like: 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2 or at least it seems like it 

And the list goes on.  Most fights are now against the remaining experts in the game, with no chance for improvement.  And as they usually hunt in packs, not only are you trying to trade chops with an expert, but usually against 2 to 1 odds or worse.

I'm a pilot, just single engine land, but I can toss a Great Lakes Sport Trainer around well enough in real life to make most folks puke, if I were to try...lol  I can do anything aerobatically the little Great Lakes can do.  But that has nothing to do with developing your "twitch" for a game.

And against 2 or 3 of these guys, there is no development at all.  It's no fun losing all the time.  That's the bottom line.  Nobody learns to play tennis against a Roger Federer serve, and that is the crux of the problem with Aces High.  And I have no idea on how to fix it, as I guess that is how it was in real life...a small percentage of the pilots got most of the kills in WWII, also.

Thanks for all the salutes and in game pm's (I guess I was a good enough target to amuse these guys), but goodbye.


I know...

"WHAAAAAA!  Don't let the door hit you in the backside on the way out!"

There, I saved you the trouble 

[Oldman731]

It's no fun losing all the time.  That's the bottom line. 

This is true.  Hey, no one knows better than I do!  There are multiple solutions, ranging from just logging off for the night to asking if someone would like to meet you in the training arena, or the AvA, or some place where the war madness isn't in frenzied progress and you can work on your skills.  Which option you pick depends on your attitude at the moment, and there's no wrong choice.

- oldman

[The Fugitive]

^ This.

After coming back to the low numbers and checking who is killing me 100 times over and over again, the theme is the same...

Last Killed by: Fighter Rank 22, 61, 2, 47, 13, 28, 296, 68, 198, 6, 11, etc.

...many of them multiple times each gaming session.  One of them owns me...lol  My Last Killed by actually looks like: 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2 or at least it seems like it 

And the list goes on.  Most fights are now against the remaining experts in the game, with no chance for improvement.  And as they usually hunt in packs, not only are you trying to trade chops with an expert, but usually against 2 to 1 odds or worse.

I'm a pilot, just single engine land, but I can toss a Great Lakes Sport Trainer around well enough in real life to make most folks puke, if I were to try...lol  I can do anything aerobatically the little Great Lakes can do.  But that has nothing to do with developing your "twitch" for a game.

And against 2 or 3 of these guys, there is no development at all.  It's no fun losing all the time.  That's the bottom line.  Nobody learns to play tennis against a Roger Federer serve, and that is the crux of the problem with Aces High.  And I have no idea on how to fix it, as I guess that is how it was in real life...a small percentage of the pilots got most of the kills in WWII, also.

Thanks for all the salutes and in game pm's (I guess I was a good enough target to amuse these guys), but goodbye.


I know...

"WHAAAAAA!  Don't let the door hit you in the backside on the way out!"

There, I saved you the trouble 

You can quit if you want, but you certainly won't get any better that way. Did you ask anyone for help? you could be doing something to get yourself killed over and over again like upping from a capped base. The #2 guy may only be there because he games the game and really has no clue how to fight. You just may be feeding this game free kills.

I'm no pro, but I can usually see why people are losing.

[Wiley]

^ This.

After coming back to the low numbers and checking who is killing me 100 times over and over again, the theme is the same...

Last Killed by: Fighter Rank 22, 61, 2, 47, 13, 28, 296, 68, 198, 6, 11, etc.

...many of them multiple times each gaming session.  One of them owns me...lol  My Last Killed by actually looks like: 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2 or at least it seems like it 

And the list goes on.  Most fights are now against the remaining experts in the game, with no chance for improvement.  And as they usually hunt in packs, not only are you trying to trade chops with an expert, but usually against 2 to 1 odds or worse.

I'm a pilot, just single engine land, but I can toss a Great Lakes Sport Trainer around well enough in real life to make most folks puke, if I were to try...lol  I can do anything aerobatically the little Great Lakes can do.  But that has nothing to do with developing your "twitch" for a game.

And against 2 or 3 of these guys, there is no development at all.  It's no fun losing all the time.  That's the bottom line.  Nobody learns to play tennis against a Roger Federer serve, and that is the crux of the problem with Aces High.  And I have no idea on how to fix it, as I guess that is how it was in real life...a small percentage of the pilots got most of the kills in WWII, also.

Thanks for all the salutes and in game pm's (I guess I was a good enough target to amuse these guys), but goodbye.


I know...

"WHAAAAAA!  Don't let the door hit you in the backside on the way out!"

There, I saved you the trouble 

Not sure what you tried, but the first thing I'd do is don't up into the red crowd, up from the next field over and climb.  Alt and speed can give you a lot more time to think when there's a red crowd there.  Work the edges and from the top down, don't get into the middle of the red crowd.

When it's an open melee like this it's easy to get your situational awareness overwhelmed.  Working the edge from above is a good place to start to get an idea how it flows.  Just my opinion, YMMV.

Wiley.

[bustr]

Wonder how many new guys would read a placard in the tower that had the rules of how to survive a furball capped field.

How to survive a furball over your field.
1. - Don't up in a red crowd.
2. - Up from the next field over and climb.
3. - Work the edges and from top down.
4. - DONT GET IN THE MIDDLE OF THE RED CROWD.

I've watched furballs for the last week with the radar test. Once a bish field is capped, they up from another field and come in over top of the attackers. The attackers usually don't have the interest in coming back against a now high cap hoard of fighters. The usual pattern is to swamp a field with numbers to take control of the airspace. Seems like Kodiak may not have been seeing this clearly and paying the price.

Our combat is not rocket science. Swamp a location with numbers is the foundation of it. From there, used to be people stayed around long enough to join a squad and be told how to deal with it. Or they liked the action enough to figure it out. Once you did, it is not very complicated becasue this game is not really very complicated. It just requires developing skill at playing the game, which for some is time consuming.

I don't think it would be gamey or out of character for Hitech to have Waffle hang some placards in the tower with the AH simple air combat commandments of survival for newbies. Like the one I wrote from Wiley becasue that is exactly how you survive a capped airfield in this game. I used to tell POTW not to play with the red lice in the bushes. When they stopped, they started surviving some silly furballs.

[Kodiak]

And not to leave on a sour note, Aces High has the best flight models in flight simming, IMHO!

Every bit as good as FSX/Prepare 3D and X Plane, if not better.  The focus is different in the civilian sims, with more extensive systems modeling, but for the pure feeling of flight, Aces High has nailed it!  I always tell folks you can't beat the consistency and predictability of the rock solid flight models in Aces High.  You can quibble over performance issues, depending on the historic reference you're using, but for the pure feeling of flight in a consistent universe, HiTech Creations has nailed it!

This is real footage of a Great Lakes Sport Trainer.  And look at how familiar the cockpit view feels compared to Aces High...Dale and his team have got it right!

Great Lakes Sport Trainer (not for the faint of heart)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJhoRwWlhiQ

But none of it can get me a kill in Aces High...lol

Thanks guys, you've all been great in the MA!  I don't tune to Ch 200, but the salutes and pm's were appreciated!

Cheers! 

[Shuffler]

You don't lose if you play the game. You only lose if you never try. You never die in the game.

Everyone has the option to get decent in Aces High. It takes time and a bit of patience. You can almost always find good folks here that will help you along to improve.

[nugetx]

Probably unpopular opinion and seeing as this game used 15$ a month model for over 15 years it's not gonna happen.

But if the game went purchase of 1 time fee of 60$ and in-game microtransaction to purchase skins, it would be more popular.

[BuckShot]

Probably unpopular opinion and seeing as this game used 15$ a month model for over 15 years it's not gonna happen.

But if the game went purchase of 1 time fee of 60$ and in-game microtransaction to purchase skins, it would be more popular.

No. I really like the skins folks make, but not enough to pay even one dollar for them. I'm sure many others feel the same.

The game would die faster than it will with this radar experiment excrement.

[caldera]

^ This.

After coming back to the low numbers and checking who is killing me 100 times over and over again, the theme is the same...

Last Killed by: Fighter Rank 22, 61, 2, 47, 13, 28, 296, 68, 198, 6, 11, etc.

...many of them multiple times each gaming session.  One of them owns me...lol  My Last Killed by actually looks like: 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2 or at least it seems like it 

And the list goes on.  Most fights are now against the remaining experts in the game, with no chance for improvement.  And as they usually hunt in packs, not only are you trying to trade chops with an expert, but usually against 2 to 1 odds or worse.

I'm a pilot, just single engine land, but I can toss a Great Lakes Sport Trainer around well enough in real life to make most folks puke, if I were to try...lol  I can do anything aerobatically the little Great Lakes can do.  But that has nothing to do with developing your "twitch" for a game.

And against 2 or 3 of these guys, there is no development at all.  It's no fun losing all the time.  That's the bottom line.  Nobody learns to play tennis against a Roger Federer serve, and that is the crux of the problem with Aces High.  And I have no idea on how to fix it, as I guess that is how it was in real life...a small percentage of the pilots got most of the kills in WWII, also.

Thanks for all the salutes and in game pm's (I guess I was a good enough target to amuse these guys), but goodbye.


I know...

"WHAAAAAA!  Don't let the door hit you in the backside on the way out!"

There, I saved you the trouble 

Having a large proportion of experienced players does make it difficult for new players.  Long ago, there was a good chance that noobs would encounter other noobs and have some initial success.  Now, it's noobs getting bounced by squads of long time players in coordinated divide and conquer attacks.  Flying Spit XVIs and such doesn't help them because the "leet" players are flying them too.
It is harder than ever for a new player to progress, because the level of competition is that much higher.  Not fun to get slaughtered over and over.  Most people won't pay $15/month for that kind of entertainment.