My opinion on your test

[scott66]

I was told the blender still works. That is the most important part... gotta have my frozen margaritas. The engines I will worry about when I get back.

I have a surprise for the 80th.... brand new blenders the SUX 8000s

love margaritas.. Does the 80th have any squad openings?

[Shuffler]

love margaritas.. Does the 80th have any squad openings?

Oh I imagine if I mentioned your name and enough of the squad said bad things about you... it could get you in.

You must fly a 38 some and die alot. Other than that just being lower than a snake's belly in a wagon rut can score you some points.

[scott66]

Oh I imagine if I mentioned your name and enough of the squad said bad things about you... it could get you in.

You must fly a 38 some and die alot. Other than that just being lower than a snake's belly in a wagon rut can score you some points.

I stole AKAKs 38 out of the hanger once ,landed 2 bomber kills and he never even found out until he noticed the seat was adjusted for short fat people... Does that count?

[1stpar3]

Would MIS spelling his Squad Name count?  Sorry Scott, dont even know why I brought it up...DONT LEAVE ME

[scott66]

LMAO been like that for years you Grammer Nazi!! Lol

[Vraciu]

I found with the experimental settings it was far easier to find a fight and conversely far harder to get ganged. Seemed to amplify good flying technique and punish weak 'standard MA' technique, which was refreshing. I had an hour in my evening just as the numbers were increasing and it was great.

Flying today with the old settings I noticed the typical European daytime trouble, the extremes of several 'no joy' sorties in a row, intersperesed with 2-on-1s which quickly turned into 3, 4-on-1s. This latter aspect of the MA I find tiresome as a squadless loner. This increased with the numbers I found today.

I think the experiments balanced the human-to-human-gameplay-evasion-faction quite well. I ignored the GV battles as usual so comments restricted to air-to-air fighting.

A good initiative HTC 

I agree with you.    It was much more fun.

[1stpar3]

LMAO been like that for years you Grammer Nazi!! Lol

WELL THEN...Nazi..really? I still love ya anyway! Look at some of MY posts...think I spelled defense differently like 8 times in one? Too lazy to correct it I know....dont cast stones, if living in a glass house...was just too hard to pass that up 

[1stpar3]

I agree with you.    It was much more fun.

I liked it as well..it does bother me that some didnt  I dont want anyone to be unhappy. Cant be helped..I know. You would think however that those who Gripe about PICKS and GANGS would have embraced the plus side of this experiment? Its CHANGE....SCREW THIS  mentality really irks me  NOTHING REALLY CHANGED Sure you saw GV icons...you still had to put eyes on to be able to kill them---both have guns/bombs-see where everyone is....you could better decide on what parameters you entered the fight with...improved SA...BANE of the New Guys...dont get the complaints

[scott66]

From day one since I've been playing..HT has always had tools and counter tools.. Even when the 49ers used to attack a base or strat without flashing it.. There were ways to tell you were being attacked.. You just had to think outside the box. Sneak counter sneak.. Made me have to think strategy   I really liked that.....

[Lazerr]

I found with the experimental settings it was far easier to find a fight and conversely far harder to get ganged. Seemed to amplify good flying technique and punish weak 'standard MA' technique, which was refreshing. I had an hour in my evening just as the numbers were increasing and it was great.

Flying today with the old settings I noticed the typical European daytime trouble, the extremes of several 'no joy' sorties in a row, intersperesed with 2-on-1s which quickly turned into 3, 4-on-1s. This latter aspect of the MA I find tiresome as a squadless loner. This increased with the numbers I found today.

I think the experiments balanced the human-to-human-gameplay-evasion-faction quite well. I ignored the GV battles as usual so comments restricted to air-to-air fighting.

A good initiative HTC 

Guess a few things could contribute to this.

 which map was currently in the arena, what day of the week was it,   were you on the losing end of the 3 country game?

Was that map too large for the current player base?

Was it a weekend or weekday?  I have better luck on the weekends.

Were you stuck on the third wheel country, while the other two had a great fight going on?

Typically, its a mix of all three mentioned above.

Keep in mind, the dar we had in the good ole days was extremely similar to this, with just some differences in artwork and NOE settings.


You can sit there and try and draw a circle with a big red crayon on your monitor showing where the fights may be, but if the game mechanics are putting water on the fire, it wont matter if you have full, half, or no radar.

[Lazerr]

To kind of solidify my point, ill say this too.

This Monday I had the day off.  Spent a good chunk of time playing in the main.  Later in the evening things got kind of boring on the knight front, so I went to the AVA arena and participated in Monday Night Madness.  15 people in the arena, non stop action.  2 countries, small map.

15 people in arena created more action than one with 75+. I really think an event similar to MNM involving base capture with gvs and such involved would create some intense fighting too, and involve more types of players not interested in air combat only.

Two key things to make that arena a blast this monday were the map size, and concentrating the numbers into two opposing forces.

[nrshida]

Guess a few things could contribute to this.

Those things you listed constantly fluxed anyway in normal rotation enough to get a feel for what normal is over several years. With the radar test it felt like it had altered the aerial fighting from that norm in a way I preferred.

Perhaps I've misinterpreted the OP as an invitation to share subjective experience.

[Lazerr]

Perhaps I've misinterpreted the OP as an invitation to share subjective experience.

This is what a forum is for.. sharing opinions and discussions.  I just thought I would share some variables that play heavily into the ability for me to find fun in the arena on any given day.

[Wiley]

To kind of solidify my point, ill say this too.

This Monday I had the day off.  Spent a good chunk of time playing in the main.  Later in the evening things got kind of boring on the knight front, so I went to the AVA arena and participated in Monday Night Madness.  15 people in the arena, non stop action.  2 countries, small map.

15 people in arena created more action than one with 75+. I really think an event similar to MNM involving base capture with gvs and such involved would create some intense fighting too, and involve more types of players not interested in air combat only.

Two key things to make that arena a blast this monday were the map size, and concentrating the numbers into two opposing forces.

Yeah, but that's a scheduled thing.  Same with FSO.  Bunch of people show up in one place at one time because they know what they want is there.  An open arena doesn't work that way.

Wiley.

[Lazerr]

Yeah, but that's a scheduled thing.  Same with FSO.  Bunch of people show up in one place at one time because they know what they want is there.  An open arena doesn't work that way.

Wiley.

You should be able to log into an arena you pay $14.95 at any point of the day and find the type of action that was there Monday in the AVA.    The game board you play on makes a huge difference on what your gaming experience will be.

Simply put, the 75 players in the MA monday evening were too spread out to promote fun worth getting a new player to bite on 14.95 a month.  Both between the map size, and the three country factor.