I know people like to talk about low numbers but...

[DmonSlyr]

There definitely can be some good fights with low #s. It all just depends on the map, how far the bases are, and how much time you have to spend flying back to a base. Those key factors are what makes the fight.

For any fighter, tank, bomb mode. What really makes it hard for players is when they spend 5-10 minutes flying to a base, only to die in 3 seconds from a manned act or something on the first dive. Or when you roll all the way to a town and get wacked by one ping in a tank or from AAA. Then it's like you have to do that all over again and the time it takes to get back is what irritates most players.

To me that is a huge issue, I am not going to fly back to a base if I am the only one attacking it if I have to fly a sector + to get back to the enemy base, only to dive once or twice and die quickly.

The smaller the #s, the more condensed the action needs to be, or it will be boring for 75% of players who want to play.

[mERv]

There definitely can be some good fights with low #s. It all just depends on the map, how far the bases are, and how much time you have to spend flying back to a base. Those key factors are what makes the fight.

For any fighter, tank, bomb mode. What really makes it hard for players is when they spend 5-10 minutes flying to a base, only to die in 3 seconds from a manned act or something on the first dive. Or when you roll all the way to a town and get wacked by one ping in a tank or from AAA. Then it's like you have to do that all over again and the time it takes to get back is what irritates most players.

To me that is a huge issue, I am not going to fly back to a base if I am the only one attacking it if I have to fly a sector + to get back to the enemy base, only to dive once or twice and die quickly.

The smaller the #s, the more condensed the action needs to be, or it will be boring for 75% of players who want to play.

+1

Dell cancelled my order on my stick so no flying fighters tonight

[guncrasher]

There definitely can be some good fights with low #s. It all just depends on the map, how far the bases are, and how much time you have to spend flying back to a base. Those key factors are what makes the fight.

For any fighter, tank, bomb mode. What really makes it hard for players is when they spend 5-10 minutes flying to a base, only to die in 3 seconds from a manned act or something on the first dive. Or when you roll all the way to a town and get wacked by one ping in a tank or from AAA. Then it's like you have to do that all over again and the time it takes to get back is what irritates most players.

To me that is a huge issue, I am not going to fly back to a base if I am the only one attacking it if I have to fly a sector + to get back to the enemy base, only to dive once or twice and die quickly.

The smaller the #s, the more condensed the action needs to be, or it will be boring for 75% of players who want to play.

violator, I normally spend 15 to 20 minutes to get to a base and kill ords and dar. I hardly ever get killed in 3 seconds.  then again I seldom fly in the middle of a base with ack fully up.

you bring exaggeration to a new level.

semp

[mechanic]

I remember almost every time I logged in being able to fly into a furball with 100 people in a single sector. This was a permanent state through out the night until someone bombed the fighter hangars out of some impulse no one else could understand. Then the fight emerged somewhere else within 15 mins. If you were never in that insanity it would be impossible to understand how exhilarating it was. To fly back out of that mess with a bag of kills was quite an achievement and those who could navigate the furball gained reputation and gold and women.

I'm so happy the game still survives. All game play styles add to the sub count. Always happy to see threads of people having a good time in the arena. But wow, those days were something special.

[The Fugitive]

I remember almost every time I logged in being able to fly into a furball with 100 people in a single sector. This was a permanent state through out the night until someone bombed the fighter hangars out of some impulse no one else could understand. Then the fight emerged somewhere else within 15 mins. If you were never in that insanity it would be impossible to understand how exhilarating it was. To fly back out of that mess with a bag of kills was quite an achievement and those who could navigate the furball gained reputation and gold and women.

I'm so happy the game still survives. All game play styles add to the sub count. Always happy to see threads of people having a good time in the arena. But wow, those days were something special.

Yup, miss those days even tho I sucked in a furball.

Now when we have over 100 players its draped across a whole map. Guesstamating here but of those 100+ players 10% in the tower, 30-40% actively working together fighting for bases, 20-30% in vehicles, some fighting, some camping and then there is this one guy  , 10-15% flying high cover and doing nothing but picking and running, and the last 10-15% fighting in fighters. And 10 of those guys might be fighting on a single front leaving a team with 5 guys looking for a fight.

The maps are too big for the numbers we have now. The old small maps seem to have the best action, but they dont last long. Some guys with 3 accounts run the maps late at night so they reset fast 

I miss the old days when there was fighting every where you looked , not just furballs but fights for bases where each team fought to capture it or save it, not NOE an undefended base, or run resupply runs to resup it instead of defend it. Ahhhhh the good old days.

Today VR is what keeps me around and the guys in the squad Im with.... ya few of those these days too, squads that is.

[Lusche]

Guesstamating here but of those 100+ players 10% in the tower

During prime time, it's usually about 1/3rd in tower at any given time, though of course there's quite some variance. Many of them are just preparing for the next sortie
At off hours, it can be easily 60-90% in tower, with quite a number being "extended AFK" for whatever reason.


Unfortunately, if I want to see numbers anywhere near 100 even, I have to stay up until 4 AM. Euro prime time numbers are in the 30s these days.

[DmonSlyr]

violator, I normally spend 15 to 20 minutes to get to a base and kill ords and dar. I hardly ever get killed in 3 seconds.  then again I seldom fly in the middle of a base with ack fully up.

you bring exaggeration to a new level.

semp

Well you've been playing for how long now?

Spending 15 minutes to get a base is definitely outside the standard. Then doing it more than once is very outside the standard.

I'm not saying you shouldn't do that. Just that most people don't have have much time/patience to fly without engagement.

Remember that taking out dar is pretty much flying In the middle of the base, and those guns shoot way further than the middle. Heck you take out those guns but only very experienced jaboers can accomplish that in one run. All it takes is about 2 or 3 of those pings to put out of commission.

My point is that it takes too much time for engagement for most people. A base that is 12-15 miles away makes it seem not so much of a burden to fly back and it refreshes the action faster. That's where I am getting at.

I love the strategy aspect to the game and all of the different modes and models. That's why I still play. I just want to see more people battling and fighting in the game. That's what brings the players.

[guncrasher]

Well you've been playing for how long now?

Spending 15 minutes to get a base is definitely outside the standard. Then doing it more than once is very outside the standard.

I'm not saying you shouldn't do that. Just that most people don't have have much time/patience to fly without engagement.

Remember that taking out dar is pretty much flying In the middle of the base, and those guns shoot way further than the middle. Heck you take out those guns but only very experienced jaboers can accomplish that in one run. All it takes is about 2 or 3 of those pings to put out of commission.

My point is that it takes too much time for engagement for most people. A base that is 12-15 miles away makes it seem not so much of a burden to fly back and it refreshes the action faster. That's where I am getting at.

I love the strategy aspect to the game and all of the different modes and models. That's why I still play. I just want to see more people battling and fighting in the game. That's what brings the players.

au contraire, mon ami, i enjoy the strategy part of the game.  3 days ago we had a big donut battle over a base, bombers, gvs, fighters.  I mean there must have been at least 40 bishops and knights fighting over this base, I took out the ords and dar on the closest bishop base.  was about a 20 minute flight. to get up to 20k, well because the bishops were at that altitude.  they were stacked from 2k to 20k. now the ords are not in the middle of the base, they are on the edges, so is the dar. i dove thru at least 3 fighters that followed me from 15k.  ever tried to dive on a base from 20k?  you cant, well unless you want to dive into the ground.  I got both ords, but not the dar, fighters got me. some guys had hit the strats, just like the bishops had hit ours. so I upped, climb to 20k again and went for the other close base, got both ords and just like before, fighters were there. lucky for me I also got the dar, was trying to limp home but I had pilot wound, fuel hits so that was it.

for the next hour, fighters and gv's kept coming,  was an awesome furball, but bombers had to come from 3 sectors away.  the whole fight, lasted at least 3 hours over 1 base.

now talking about a flight of 15 minutes being outside the standard, well they vulched us, when they ran out of ammo or fuel, we got altitude and we fought them well. they never took the base. all I did was slow down the bombers, at one time I had 3 pages of nothing but kill/be killed with nobody posting.  guess it was a good fight.

so sorry, but you dont speak for 75% of the players, unless you would like to post their names.


semp

[Eagler]

A good thing AH has going for it is even with these low numbers there is still 10x the activity in AH than any IL2 or DCS multi player server on most days

And with no icons or maps I would think a newbie there would find it much more frustrating to pick up and enjoy than AH...not to mention the invisible plane damage list and ever present engine management requirements

Eagler

[Nefarious]

A good thing AH has going for it is even with these low numbers there is still 10x the activity in AH than any IL2 or DCS multi player server on most days

And with no icons or maps I would think a newbie there would find it much more frustrating to pick up and enjoy than AH...not to mention the invisible plane damage list and ever present engine management requirements

Eagler

I mentioned this in an IL2 Facebook group and the comments are amazing.

Aces High has the best combat experience in all of these games. I like IL2, but for pure enjoyment, Aces High has the best all around features to make air combat entertaining.

[DmonSlyr]

au contraire, mon ami, i enjoy the strategy part of the game.  3 days ago we had a big donut battle over a base, bombers, gvs, fighters.  I mean there must have been at least 40 bishops and knights fighting over this base, I took out the ords and dar on the closest bishop base.  was about a 20 minute flight. to get up to 20k, well because the bishops were at that altitude.  they were stacked from 2k to 20k. now the ords are not in the middle of the base, they are on the edges, so is the dar. i dove thru at least 3 fighters that followed me from 15k.  ever tried to dive on a base from 20k?  you cant, well unless you want to dive into the ground.  I got both ords, but not the dar, fighters got me. some guys had hit the strats, just like the bishops had hit ours. so I upped, climb to 20k again and went for the other close base, got both ords and just like before, fighters were there. lucky for me I also got the dar, was trying to limp home but I had pilot wound, fuel hits so that was it.

for the next hour, fighters and gv's kept coming,  was an awesome furball, but bombers had to come from 3 sectors away.  the whole fight, lasted at least 3 hours over 1 base.

now talking about a flight of 15 minutes being outside the standard, well they vulched us, when they ran out of ammo or fuel, we got altitude and we fought them well. they never took the base. all I did was slow down the bombers, at one time I had 3 pages of nothing but kill/be killed with nobody posting.  guess it was a good fight.

so sorry, but you dont speak for 75% of the players, unless you would like to post their names.


semp

Most people don't have 3-4 hours in one sitting to play the game. For me, I'm lucky to have an hour, but mostly 30 -45 minutes. And most people don't want to climb 20k only to die diving on a base twice. You are the exception. You know how to kill ord and dar quickly. Most players don't. Further more, I am mostly referring to off hours gameplay not big battles.

[Eagler]

Air starts on maps would speed things up 

strategically placed - might be one of the easiest and fastest things to try

Eagler

[guncrasher]

Most people don't have 3-4 hours in one sitting to play the game. For me, I'm lucky to have an hour, but mostly 30 -45 minutes. And most people don't want to climb 20k only to die diving on a base twice. You are the exception. You know how to kill ord and dar quickly. Most players don't. Further more, I am mostly referring to off hours gameplay not big battles.

I think you missed the part about lots of players fighting over 1 base for maybe 4 hours. if you had had 1 hour, you would have loved that.  or the one last night at another single base, furballs at any altitude.


semp

[SPKmes]

fly a slow lame looking plane and they come to you 

[mERv]

fly a slow lame looking plane and they come to you 

  it's tru

Until I nose down and bank left/right accelerating to over 340mph  

Gets em every time