What would get AH growing again

[Yarbles]

Thanks Shane:

I notice all the other growing games are A V A and without Icons but with some Radar but not as effective as AH radar. Obviously even on an historical map 1 player is no fun but with 10 players with scores and dot radar can seem very busy.

Maybe start with B of B then, Barbarossa,  Midway, Torch, Normandy, Arden es and back to the start over say one week or month.   

[Shane]

Thanks Shane:

I notice all the other growing games are A V A and without Icons but with some Radar but not as effective as AH radar. Obviously even on an historical map 1 player is no fun but with scores and dot radar can seem very busy.

Part of the fun (to me anyway) appeal of how AH AvA was managed was having some variable dar and icon settings... we've done full, limited icon range, limited icon range to enemy (current MNM) , and have even occasionally went no icon. 

There are several dar settings that can be tweaked... dot update settings (ma is 5 secs), reduced dar ranges for both bases and inflight, and altitude parameters.

[Yarbles]

Might not be a panacea but an A V A rolling arena could use all the plane and vehicle set and get the history buffs involved who don't want to fight a spitfire in a spitfire.

Another strength of AH is it doesn't require a huge amount of memory or a very high end PC to run. I am sure allot of people cannot afford a $2000 PC to run say DCS.

The demographic is getting older but that may be a good thing. Many of us are retired now or semi retired with time to have fun and money to spend on it. This is a value for money option.  Yes it requires time and patience which is what we have. If it reflects actual history that brings it in line with study (which I think most of us do to some extent) and realism in the model set, even better.

Having a rolling A V A based on very popular scenario and it will be like 2 games for the price of 1.

[The Fugitive]

Well there is FSO 3 fridays a month, and "Monday Night Madness" every Monday night which often runs a AvsA type setup. Trying to run one a full day let alone a week I just dont think you will have enough players to make it interesting. I've been here for over 20 years and even in its heyday the AvA arena was never all that populated. You had the 6-10 regulars and then the occasional pop ins but pulling 40+ players full time I just dont see it, not enough intrest in the history to promote it.

FSO use to be split with guys who only did FSO and those that did both FSO and the MA. Last week they had 75 players a most were players that are in the MA often too, but it is still a far cry from the 450+ Spikes mentioned. Im sure the CMs could setup an arena with one of the small maps they use for FSO to recreate battles, but unless you have someone in there "guiding/policing" the arena its going to turn into a lopside land grab more often than not.

[fd ski]

i agree with notion that graphics update is a start to any increase.
Game looks dated, as much as i love it, it does.

HiTech was always very careful to make sure it runs smoothly on most machines. That's the tradeoff.
Given how much hustle it is to get DCS to run, i think choice was right. But still, visuals need to upgrade somewhat...

How, is whole another matter.

[HL117]

More people !

[DmonSlyr]

You look at Saturday night. We had a larger # of players play well into 12am due to having battles on both sides of the map. This map was Crags, and is a great map to build action. We had nice dars.

You look at BowlMA at 12am on Sunday most people have left as they either have to fly accross a channel or don't know where the fight is and the dars are smaller so the action is less.

I've been playing this game for a very long time. I can see clear changes in the #s when there is a map that provides good action.

Maps are 100% what  keeps players logged in longer to build up the fights. If you have a map too big during off hours, it doesn't keep people logged in, that's a fact.

[Yarbles]

but unless you have someone in there "guiding/policing" the arena its going to turn into a lopside land grab more often than not.

Thanks for your comments its obvious you know what you are talking about. Just focusing on the above: War is often a lopsided land grab.  Even being on the defensive can be fun     

I don't think AH will ever compete with the market on graphics but it could perhaps play to its strength which is a huge range of planes and vehicles and so the opportunity to re enact.

BTW I would like to see the basic M4 have some effectiveness against German armor side on or at ultra short range. Other than that most things seem very accurate. In early war allot of allied equipment was sub standard later on the pendulum swung the other way. People had to work around that in both cases which I also find fascinating.

I think AH has a great combination of features not found elsewhere that appeals to a certain generation brought up with films of the 60's and 70's but still today. If Hollywood still think this history is interesting and makes money why not AH.  Just relatively recently "Masters of the Air".   I think the "Star Wars" types are still around to as Star Wars was basically WW2 style action but they have possibly other outlets where graphics and wizz bang is all. Again not AH. AH is about making the most of what we already have in my opinion without development but with alternative sceanrios so no develpment costs.

[Dadtallica]

I disagree

Edit: as soon as you hire a dev they want labor cost x3 to turn profit for work.
We have a few very capable ppl who would contribute.depends on the laws if you must pay for work profited on. We ran into this issue when AW moved to EA.com for techs. We decided to provide the services for free as volunteer work.

The game is too far behind to live in sweat equity. If AH were to come back and be a viable player in the market it would take lots of money and lots of people willing to take less of it.

[nopoop]

AvA has always failed in the MA envirement.
SMALL MAPS
Get rid of all seeing dar back to dar bar only
Hit sprites and explosions would be GREAT

[JimmyD3]

You look at Saturday night. We had a larger # of players play well into 12am due to having battles on both sides of the map. This map was Crags, and is a great map to build action. We had nice dars.

You look at BowlMA at 12am on Sunday most people have left as they either have to fly accross a channel or don't know where the fight is and the dars are smaller so the action is less.

I've been playing this game for a very long time. I can see clear changes in the #s when there is a map that provides good action.

Maps are 100% what  keeps players logged in longer to build up the fights. If you have a map too big during off hours, it doesn't keep people logged in, that's a fact.

There are only 2 Large maps (512X512) in rotation, BowlMA and Buzzsaw. The remainder are medium maps (256X256), even etoma is a medium map.

[LilMak]

Free highly limited Plane/GV set. Get them addicted and maybe they’ll subscribe. Two weeks has never been close to long enough to overcome the learning curve.

[waystin2]

Graphics improvement, new planes and vehicles, regular updates to game engine.

[Dadtallica]

There are only 2 Large maps (512X512) in rotation, BowlMA and Buzzsaw. The remainder are medium maps (256X256), even etoma is a medium map.

Hey the big maps suck crowd and I have something we can agree on! Buzzsaw has got to go.

[DmonSlyr]

There are only 2 Large maps (512X512) in rotation, BowlMA and Buzzsaw. The remainder are medium maps (256X256), even etoma is a medium map.

Oceana and CraterMA. not sure if 512 but it seems like it. Some of the smaller maps don't bring great #s either, but atleast the fights are more condensed..

That being said, the 2v1 gang on one team or the other is also making battles stale. Cannot expect a team with 30 players to defend against both sides using their entire airforce to attack. Who wants to roll and defend? No one, so it's like 2 massive dars against 1 side with those players bascially as sitting ducks.