Simulated Aerial Combat Roundtable

[edge12674]

MA = 168, All Arenas = 174 at 8:45p CST

Well above critical mass of 100-120, we rollin.

Just saying,....only 32 more players to hit 200. We came up 48 since mid summer.
« Last Edit: Yesterday at 09:06:12 PM by Animl-AW

THIS is how wrong DCS skimmers ARE

We contradict them the more they try.

Truly glad the MA numbers have increased and hope it is not temporary.  Just the other day I steered a few DCS players to AH who lamented about no multi-crewed bombers. 

However, FSO numbers which tends to show the more dedicated players/squads continues to decrease.  Logs for the last three frames shows a steady decline 87, 85, and now 80 players.

Nobody runs away from a fight in DCS. Nobody hides in the ack in DCS. People engage no matter the numbers involved.

In aces high it is the complete opposite. Players running away to numbers, hiding in the ack, NOE missions are the standard now. Boring

THIS combined with the low numbers is why I left AH.

Still, the bulk of Boomers are starting to retiring last year.  It is possible that you could get a flush of returning players as they retire.  It is cheaper than golf.

Then again it might be that retiring takes away the age old excuse "I don't have time to learn a new game".  That was one of the obstacles for me.

[AKIron]

"Boomers" don't know how to use computers. Just ask any millennial.

[CptTrips]

"Boomers" don't know how to use computers. Just ask any millennial.

They do as long as they still have 5.25" floppy drives.

[AKIron]

I had a working commodore 64 and 1541 with a box of 5.25 floppies I gave to my daughter before we moved to Texas last year. Some of those disks were probably 40 years old and still worked.

[edge12674]

I had a working commodore 64 and 1541 with a box of 5.25 floppies I gave to my daughter before we moved to Texas last year. Some of those disks were probably 40 years old and still worked.

First computer Atari 400 with tape drive.

[CptTrips]

I had a working commodore 64 and 1541 with a box of 5.25 floppies I gave to my daughter before we moved to Texas last year. Some of those disks were probably 40 years old and still worked.

It probably has a jammed CD stuck in it.

"Dad, the CD-Rom drive on this thing isn't working right. "

[AKIron]

 

[hazmatt]

In aces high it is the complete opposite. Players running away to numbers, hiding in the ack, NOE missions are the standard now. Boring

The white knuckle fights in AH3 that were common seemed to be few when I left. I compare it to a fight I had in IL2 last night on the server with icons and very small maps and airstarts of a 3 vs 1 fight I had. A Yak1, a La5 and some other plane I don't recall what it was. They all wanted to take my lunch money. I was a 109g on the deck. I manage to shoot one down and get maneuver kills on the other two. Seems the weren't as good at me at working the throttle and split-sing with inches to spare. It was a real white knuckled fight, something I used to experience in AH3 back in the day but seems long gone now and replaced with squads of pickers.

[Lusche]

NOE missions are the standard now. Boring

There are hardly NOE missions compared to the old days, before the radar minimum altitudes were lowered to the values we are having today. Back in the day I spent many hours on Sunday afternoons defending against seemingly endless streams of Nik-110G-Lanc NOEs, which almost instantly stopped after tour 125.

Using the best / most efficient way to ensure the mission's success has been part of AH since the early days.

[hazmatt]

Holy cow. I know that myself and others thought that it was dark in AH3 during the night. I got to experience a night mission in IL2 the other day. It was really dark and it was early morning with the sun just beginning to rise!

 I'm curious about DCS and other sims. How do they model night time. It's interesting to me to experience the day/night, clouds/weather, navigation by landmarks and other things that the pilots of the WWII time frame experienced. I can't imagine dead reckoning over water for hundreds of miles that the Navy/Marine pilots did.

It reminds me of something that old Marine pilot I met in the bar in  San Diego said many years ago when I asked him about navigating over long distances of water. He said that he would fly low enough that he could see the waves and from the waves and his compass heading he would be able to tell the wind direction and speed. I doubt there are many around these days that could still do that.

[edge12674]

The night time in DCS is awesome! It is pitch black (especially with local dimming in the Pimax Crystal) and even a half moon makes a difference.  Luckily DCS gives you a flashlight, detailed cockpit lighting, NVG's (for later aircraft), and aircraft taxi/formation lights.  I also really like the engine exhaust stack fires in IL-2 and DCS.

First time I flew DCS at night it was scary.  Try landing on a carrier at night with no moon!  Really like the deck/runway/taxi lights and PAPI.

In VR when you are done with a night mission and take off the headset be ready for the brightness of the real world.

[AKIron]

sometimes just 2 is enough.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMLpNz77Lys

[xanax]

sometimes just 2 is enough.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMLpNz77Lys

Ha! Especially loved the beginning of that. A couple dudes havin' some fun, that's what it's all about sometimes.

[AKIron]

Dunno who knows and who doesn't but anyone can create a DCS mission and then host it on their PC as a multiplayer server. Naturally you want an Internet connection capable of handling however many players you expect to host. It's a very simple process. Even non Texans can probably do it.

[hazmatt]

Where's the enemy air? I wish all I had to deal with is the flak. I dive in fast as I can go and run away as fast as I can on those runs but there always seems to be some pony that comes out of orbit and ruins my escape. The last time I got lucky and manged to glide back across the enemy line and crash land my burning plane denying the pickin pony a kill.