Author Topic: High Noon 24hrs a Day?  (Read 2124 times)

Offline RotBaron

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Re: High Noon 24hrs a Day?
« Reply #15 on: June 16, 2024, 02:46:05 PM »
Bottom line kids....folks have been pleading with Dale to end the daylight-twilight cycles for years and years. Don't see it happening...the man is RETIRED for the most part.

A little would go a long way IMO.
As much as I don’t like to hear it the leaving is a slow trickle and real. There’s a half dozen+ (there every night) types that are gone, they were really good sticks so it’s quite noticeable. There’s no GV war in off hours and no map that those guys get excited about like the AH2 Crater MA.
 :(
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Offline Max

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Re: High Noon 24hrs a Day?
« Reply #16 on: June 16, 2024, 04:03:31 PM »
The last real development was AH3, released in 2016 +/-, save for a failed attempt at a Pacific based air-ground sim...Pacific Online, was it? Dale had some very lucrative years and probably has investments & cash to keep him happy.

The good news is, we can prolly chug along with the numbers we have, albeit a perceptible attrition rate, for a while longer. Kenai & Oboe have some maps waiting to be green flagged...so hopefully that might spark some interest.  I suppose getting new skins into play could also spark a few folks to stay on.

It's been a good run and Mr. Addink has written some mind-blowingly awesome code in his day. I believe he's earned the right to jump into the back seat and let the train roll on to where ever it's destination lies. It's been a freakin' wild & fun ride
<S>

Offline yipi

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Re: High Noon 24hrs a Day?
« Reply #17 on: June 16, 2024, 04:30:18 PM »
I'm using VR also. Mostly just have to wait for it to end

Offline RichardDarkwood

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Re: High Noon 24hrs a Day?
« Reply #18 on: June 16, 2024, 04:53:13 PM »
your Crys have been noted
A yappy back seater like Jester wasn’t popular or fun to fly with, more of an unnecessary distraction than anything else---Puma44

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Offline Dadtallica

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Re: High Noon 24hrs a Day?
« Reply #19 on: June 16, 2024, 06:25:20 PM »
The last real development was AH3, released in 2016 +/-, save for a failed attempt at a Pacific based air-ground sim...Pacific Online, was it? Dale had some very lucrative years and probably has investments & cash to keep him happy.

The good news is, we can prolly chug along with the numbers we have, albeit a perceptible attrition rate, for a while longer. Kenai & Oboe have some maps waiting to be green flagged...so hopefully that might spark some interest.  I suppose getting new skins into play could also spark a few folks to stay on.

It's been a good run and Mr. Addink has written some mind-blowingly awesome code in his day. I believe he's earned the right to jump into the back seat and let the train roll on to where ever it's destination lies. It's been a freakin' wild & fun ride
<S>

Excited to see the new North America map under MA action.
Back in 2022 after a loooooong break from 2010. Old name Ratpack, same for the BBS.

Squad I did the most tours with were the Excaliburs then The 172nd Rabid Dogs. Still trying to talk Illigaf, Coola, Oldman22, and Joecrow into coming back instead of being boring old farts!

Offline Lazerr

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Re: High Noon 24hrs a Day?
« Reply #20 on: June 16, 2024, 08:01:42 PM »

Offline RotBaron

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Re: High Noon 24hrs a Day?
« Reply #21 on: June 16, 2024, 09:15:01 PM »
The last real development was AH3, released in 2016 +/-, save for a failed attempt at a Pacific based air-ground sim...Pacific Online, was it? Dale had some very lucrative years and probably has investments & cash to keep him happy.

The good news is, we can prolly chug along with the numbers we have, albeit a perceptible attrition rate, for a while longer. Kenai & Oboe have some maps waiting to be green flagged...so hopefully that might spark some interest.  I suppose getting new skins into play could also spark a few folks to stay on.

It's been a good run and Mr. Addink has written some mind-blowingly awesome code in his day. I believe he's earned the right to jump into the back seat and let the train roll on to where ever it's destination lies. It's been a freakin' wild & fun ride
<S>

My point was only that this community, based much more from MA conversations (in all their forms) than bbs posts is extremely thirsty for something new. Everyone has a wish and preference for a new plane, ignorant (cost/effort) as I may be, I see it as the biggest bang for expended effort. How many planes are partially completed (maybe those are part of HT.com’s assets/intellectual property in the event of sale, idk).

I’ve been looking up usage of the J2M and its variants in all the other sims to see if its absence in AH3 is as a profound as it feels to me. Still looking… Hunting US bombers in US fighters feels wrong on so many levels. We have a significant MA bomber population that fly at 20k and climb when they see German ftrs…

I’d love to see more German variants but what we have covers the bases; in the Pacific theatre scenarios or FSO how do run a setup vs B-29s? Ki-84s? J2M with at least 3 variants covers early, mid and completes the late war picture.

 :salute
 :airplane:
« Last Edit: June 16, 2024, 09:18:24 PM by RotBaron »
They're casting their bait over there, see?

Offline TryHard

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Re: High Noon 24hrs a Day?
« Reply #22 on: June 16, 2024, 10:28:33 PM »
My point was only that this community, based much more from MA conversations (in all their forms) than bbs posts is extremely thirsty for something new. Everyone has a wish and preference for a new plane, ignorant (cost/effort) as I may be, I see it as the biggest bang for expended effort. How many planes are partially completed (maybe those are part of HT.com’s assets/intellectual property in the event of sale, idk).

I’ve been looking up usage of the J2M and its variants in all the other sims to see if its absence in AH3 is as a profound as it feels to me. Still looking… Hunting US bombers in US fighters feels wrong on so many levels. We have a significant MA bomber population that fly at 20k and climb when they see German ftrs…

I’d love to see more German variants but what we have covers the bases; in the Pacific theatre scenarios or FSO how do run a setup vs B-29s? Ki-84s? J2M with at least 3 variants covers early, mid and completes the late war picture.

 :salute
 :airplane:

I would be happy if the tempest could just be updated to ACES HIGH 2 standards.....

Offline Oldman731

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Re: High Noon 24hrs a Day?
« Reply #23 on: June 17, 2024, 12:23:45 AM »
Don't think I have ever heard anything positive about night in the MA


This.  Which is a shame, in a way.  HTC went to great lengths to make the night sky accurate.  Constellations and stars are all accurately depicted at the proper time of day, so I understand.

Nevertheless, the circumstances which would have made this useful (use your imagination) never happened.  My impression is that night can be shortened, but not eliminated.  So:  HTC, please reduce it to "0"?

- oldman

Offline The Fugitive

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Re: High Noon 24hrs a Day?
« Reply #24 on: June 17, 2024, 09:58:09 AM »

This.  Which is a shame, in a way.  HTC went to great lengths to make the night sky accurate.  Constellations and stars are all accurately depicted at the proper time of day, so I understand.

Nevertheless, the circumstances which would have made this useful (use your imagination) never happened.  My impression is that night can be shortened, but not eliminated.  So:  HTC, please reduce it to "0"?

- oldman

I think this is a bit of evidence as to how AH went down hill. I understand why all that time and work was invested in to the night sky, "Combat Tour" or what ever they were going to call the "roll playing version of the game", COULD have used the navigation abilities of the stars and such, but how many players would really have bothered? All that time and work wasted.

There were a bunch of decisions that HTC made that seemed really out in left field. Some of them I think they made because they thought it would be fun to build it, what ever it was in stead of looking at was it going to be fun in the game and help the game move along. During the "hey-day" they should have been looking at what works in the game and what didnt. They always wanted the game to be fun and playable and not add a bunch of switches that dont add/do anything of purpose, yet they spent all this time to add stars and constellations that are just that.

GVs, back then we had a number of maps players look forward to that had great GV battles. Instead of creating more maps with those types of areas they removed the maps, or rebuilt (crater) the maps doing away with them. Then they added GV dar and took away more fights.

Planes, if they would have kept adding planes to the tune of 3-4 a year how much excitement do you think that would have generated? Even if the plane or variant became a hanger queen it would have added that excitement for a month or so until the rumors of the "next" plane or vehicle to be released came along.

Maps, a couple of options here. If they didnt spend a year or two building the perfect night sky how many maps could they have added? A second option, once a map is compiled you cant change it but what if they compiled the same map 2-3 times and for each one they could rotate 30% of the fields. No more knowing which way the fields are pointing until you get some recon and they spread the word. Next map is "Baltic", add a randomizer so it picks balticA, baltic,B, or balticC. All baltic maps look identical, but the fields are in different orientations. An extra twist that doesnt cost much.

Ships, the addition of the big battle ships was great, but werent their Japanese, German, and British ships? I know adding more and more fleets to a map is a big data draw, but what if some of the US ships were just reskinned in the colors of other nations? The German PT boat looked pretty cool. I think a lot of time could have been spent on the puffy guns on the ships. For what ever reason you can fly a set of buffs through their puffy a number of times and take a few hits, but heaven forbid you even brush the edge of that umbrella in a 262! Its the tower with the first shot!

Then just some in game tweaks. The icon vis range GVs vs planes. I think they should have spent some more time on this. If a vehicle is on the more 1 to 1planes see the same icon ranges as GVs. I the GV is stopped under some trees, same setup we have now were the plane is handycapped, but once the GV fires it goes back to 1 to 1 again for 15-20 seconds.

The wind should have been adjusted and maybe have the alts the wind is at change with the randomizer of maps. Bomber dropping at 10k should have a great hit percentage, but as their alt goes up the hit percentage should go down and the wind could help with that, just add a randomizer to that as well. 30K buffs shouldnt hit as well as a 10k set. This would bring some of those buffs down to a fight more often.

I think had they spent more time "in game" and working on just that they wouldnt have lost so many players so fast. If you already have the best, most in-depth WWII game around there isnt any need to make vast changes. Just tweak and adjust to meet the needs of the game as it moves through time.

Offline DmonSlyr

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Re: High Noon 24hrs a Day?
« Reply #25 on: June 17, 2024, 10:39:16 AM »
I think this is a bit of evidence as to how AH went down hill. I understand why all that time and work was invested in to the night sky, "Combat Tour" or what ever they were going to call the "roll playing version of the game", COULD have used the navigation abilities of the stars and such, but how many players would really have bothered? All that time and work wasted.

There were a bunch of decisions that HTC made that seemed really out in left field. Some of them I think they made because they thought it would be fun to build it, what ever it was in stead of looking at was it going to be fun in the game and help the game move along. During the "hey-day" they should have been looking at what works in the game and what didnt. They always wanted the game to be fun and playable and not add a bunch of switches that dont add/do anything of purpose, yet they spent all this time to add stars and constellations that are just that.

GVs, back then we had a number of maps players look forward to that had great GV battles. Instead of creating more maps with those types of areas they removed the maps, or rebuilt (crater) the maps doing away with them. Then they added GV dar and took away more fights.

Planes, if they would have kept adding planes to the tune of 3-4 a year how much excitement do you think that would have generated? Even if the plane or variant became a hanger queen it would have added that excitement for a month or so until the rumors of the "next" plane or vehicle to be released came along.

Maps, a couple of options here. If they didnt spend a year or two building the perfect night sky how many maps could they have added? A second option, once a map is compiled you cant change it but what if they compiled the same map 2-3 times and for each one they could rotate 30% of the fields. No more knowing which way the fields are pointing until you get some recon and they spread the word. Next map is "Baltic", add a randomizer so it picks balticA, baltic,B, or balticC. All baltic maps look identical, but the fields are in different orientations. An extra twist that doesnt cost much.

Ships, the addition of the big battle ships was great, but werent their Japanese, German, and British ships? I know adding more and more fleets to a map is a big data draw, but what if some of the US ships were just reskinned in the colors of other nations? The German PT boat looked pretty cool. I think a lot of time could have been spent on the puffy guns on the ships. For what ever reason you can fly a set of buffs through their puffy a number of times and take a few hits, but heaven forbid you even brush the edge of that umbrella in a 262! Its the tower with the first shot!

Then just some in game tweaks. The icon vis range GVs vs planes. I think they should have spent some more time on this. If a vehicle is on the more 1 to 1planes see the same icon ranges as GVs. I the GV is stopped under some trees, same setup we have now were the plane is handycapped, but once the GV fires it goes back to 1 to 1 again for 15-20 seconds.

The wind should have been adjusted and maybe have the alts the wind is at change with the randomizer of maps. Bomber dropping at 10k should have a great hit percentage, but as their alt goes up the hit percentage should go down and the wind could help with that, just add a randomizer to that as well. 30K buffs shouldnt hit as well as a 10k set. This would bring some of those buffs down to a fight more often.

I think had they spent more time "in game" and working on just that they wouldnt have lost so many players so fast. If you already have the best, most in-depth WWII game around there isnt any need to make vast changes. Just tweak and adjust to meet the needs of the game as it moves through time.

I'm in agreement with a lot of this. You could add on Match Play too. A lot of work goes into that that we really didn't need. Like score and all that, and now a lot of it is broke, no one uses scoring, can't free fight vs others, or even choose who you want to 1v1 now. Like all the complicated stuff and coding didn't need to happen. The greatest things from there was the air spawns and AI fights, but why can't we have a spot over on the side to free fight in the canyons or something with airspawns? I just didn't get it.


I didn't think the pacific game was necessary either. Should have just kept time and attention to fixing AH.

I don't like dawn and dusk either. I turn gamma way up. The night is cool for a short time, but dawn and dusk it's so hard to hit planes. Like a Yak3 is already a PITA to shoot down, add not being able to see it in the terrain and it just makes it too tough for most people, especially when your average age is over 50 and no one can see anymore.

They re-did the P38 cockpits again, but not the Tempest? The P38j got sorta wacked which didn't need it, and that stupid mirror in the way that doesn't do anything also was unfortunate. I feel like the cockpits are cool, but did these changes actually reduce usage?

I'm glad new maps are being build but that rotation where it goes through all the older large maps just is horrible. I think goes from like BowlMA to Buzzsaw to CraterMA to Oceania. Just kills the #s. Getting rid of those 4 maps alone would go a long way. Just horrible at building #s in the off hours, which translates to lower #s prime time.

I know HTC likes to think outside the box, but some things they've made way more complicated than should have been and much time and code was spent on things we didn't need. Like score in Match Play and a whole new game that no one in AH would really want to play and or would take #s from AH leaving less players in the MA. I just didn't understand it TBH. IMO, we've scared away all of the good fighters because of big maps and time to action for the most part but also getting anyone to buy a subscription these days with everything else being subscription in the TV market just makes it very hard to compete and have high #s all the time in the arena.
« Last Edit: June 17, 2024, 10:41:00 AM by DmonSlyr »
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Offline Animl-AW

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Re: High Noon 24hrs a Day?
« Reply #26 on: June 17, 2024, 12:21:10 PM »

This.  Which is a shame, in a way.  HTC went to great lengths to make the night sky accurate.  Constellations and stars are all accurately depicted at the proper time of day, so I understand.

Nevertheless, the circumstances which would have made this useful (use your imagination) never happened.  My impression is that night can be shortened, but not eliminated.  So:  HTC, please reduce it to "0"?

- oldman

what he said. ....wait, what?

Has anyone considered night vision?

Offline yipi

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Re: High Noon 24hrs a Day?
« Reply #27 on: June 17, 2024, 01:25:38 PM »
I never knew the stars and all were accurate. That's neat and I will have to check that out. Gamma fir a monitor is night vision but VR doest have that.

Offline Animl-AW

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Re: High Noon 24hrs a Day?
« Reply #28 on: June 17, 2024, 03:35:56 PM »
I never knew the stars and all were accurate. That's neat and I will have to check that out. Gamma fir a monitor is night vision but VR doest have that.

Yep, it's actually pretty cool once you notice.

Offline Dadtallica

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Re: High Noon 24hrs a Day?
« Reply #29 on: June 17, 2024, 03:44:15 PM »
I like the night, enjoy the nuance, a fan of the stars. (I own telescopes)

I’m sorry a VR headset isn’t compatible with a changing sky. Thats kinda funny to me. Is the immersion so ridiculously fantastic that you want to strip away whatever it takes to keep it. I play on a 55” tv and I feel pretty immersed. Heading out over the water into a sunrise or sunset is pretty darn cool.

These are pics from my phone of my tv… it looks much crisper with actual eyeballs.





Some of you want this to be a boring and solitary air to air combat game. One that apparently takes place only in the day time. Don’t even think about rendering any clouds.

Lame.
« Last Edit: June 17, 2024, 03:53:14 PM by Dadtallica »
Back in 2022 after a loooooong break from 2010. Old name Ratpack, same for the BBS.

Squad I did the most tours with were the Excaliburs then The 172nd Rabid Dogs. Still trying to talk Illigaf, Coola, Oldman22, and Joecrow into coming back instead of being boring old farts!