Author Topic: Confessions of an FA Junkie (Read 303 times)

Elite_Duck · « **on:** January 29, 2002, 07:43:31 PM »

I flew in Fighter Ace since 2.0 was released. Since May of last year I have been a part of the 3.0 beta group. In December I quit for good and have flown in the beta exclusively. The recent posts in the FA beta newsgroup, as well as the AH forum motivated me to try out Aces High. I've only flown a few missions, been shot down a few times, crashed alot and I think I killed one fighter. I'm still learning the ropes but I thought I'd share a few initial impressions.

The good stuff about Aces High...Well I love the large maps and the combined arms aspects to the conflict adds a lot of interest. The terrain graphics are very good and I enjoy the flight physics. It runs very smoothly on my computer, in fact I have not noticed the slightest bit of lag or freeze frame (I'm on cable).

The bad stuff about Aces High. (assuming I'm doing it right). Communications are a squeak. It's a pain to have to bring up the notebook and hit radio...impossible in a dogfight. I don't see any message log so it's easy to miss a message from someone else. I also dislike the map feature. In FA, I program the map on my stick and can reference it and get back to action in a second. I also find having to use keys to look around from the cockpit very clumsy and slow to react. In FA 3.0 you use the mouse to look around and you can do it in an instant, which I think more closely resembles reality. I'm not sure if I will keep flying AH, but I'm going to give it some more time to see if it catches on with me. I do notice some old friends here. However for the sheer enjoyment of flying and aerial combat, as well as the feel of the community I'll stick with FA3. For the curious, a long time FA'er has put some movies together depicting recent combat scenes in 3.0.

[http://alliedaviators.com/bobmovie/htm[/URL]

Elite_Duck · « **Reply #1 on:** January 29, 2002, 07:50:51 PM »

hmm, the url doesn't work here. Okay, go to http://www.alliedaviators.com, then click on the links tab at the upper left, the movies are there.

XNachoX · « **Reply #2 on:** January 29, 2002, 08:14:09 PM »

You said you were having a problem with the chat box. Try using /, Shift /, ctrl /, alt /.
These bring up the different channels that you have those associated to...like if i have radio 1 set to 2, which is my team channel when I press / it will automatically bring up team chat. Another example. If you wanted to set radio 2 to 1, which is the channel where you can talk to everyone in the arena you would press shift + / to bring it up.

Radio Channels are: 1-All, 2-Team, 3-Sector, 4-Squad and you can set your radio to key up any of these.

Edit: Stick with this game for the 2 weeks, and if you feel compelled spend the measly 15 dollars for 1 month and try it out even further....the deeper you go the farther you get sucked in.

XNachoX
Proud member of the 56th FG

-------------------------

Dogbert. Kind director of Human Resources.

Staga · « **Reply #3 on:** January 29, 2002, 08:15:00 PM »

There's short-keys for radio channels /, alt+/, ctrl+/ , shift+/ or something like that.
Tuning to diferent ch goes with dot-command like .radio 1 2 which tunes first radio-box (slash key) to ch2, ie green ch.
I believe these and lots of more dot-commands are in manual too

mrsid2 · « **Reply #4 on:** January 29, 2002, 08:21:27 PM »

Yeah and you don't need the keyboard to look around. We have the views mapped to the 8-way hat switch on the stick. It's way more convenient to use than any mouse ever because you don't have to remove your hands from the stick.

Take a look in the setup section and map the view functions to your joystick hat (I assume you have one)

Dinger · « **Reply #5 on:** January 29, 2002, 10:28:31 PM »

IIRC, AH supports the minimouse for views on some HOTAS setups, so it may be possible to bring up the mouselook. I must say, with practice an 8-way hat and a look up key work pretty well (I tried to downgrade to a 4-way job. never could get the hang of it).
Of course, we're talking about a certain amount of hardware here ($30 for a SW PP or similar twisty stick). The only guys I've known without JS hat or rudder control were *damn* good (like "highest kill streak ever" good)

Clipboard Map is ESC.
Radio keys have already been discussed.
Try the TAB key to open the buffer.
And I don't like the AH map either -- GPS and data interlink are a little too much. In combat, you should be first paying attention to the cons around you. If you've got enough time to worry about a map, you can bring it up; you can also look at your compass.
Transferring from another sim is always rough. You might like it; you might not. While we will insist this is more realistic and better for your soul, you have to pick what you enjoy. If you do decide to give it a chance, you've got to dedicate a block of time exclusively to playing AH.

Zippatuh · « **Reply #6 on:** January 29, 2002, 11:58:58 PM »

Most of the bad arguments are configurable and can all be programmed to the stick as far as views, flaps, etc. The radio has already been explained.

The map, the refresh rate for dot location isn’t as quick as FA so mapping for that quick second isn’t going to help anymore than just bringing it up with the esc key. Where the insta-location leaves off your SA will make up for.

Squelching the system channel 6 will help with messages that scroll. Squelching channel 1 will reduce it further. I use radio 3 (purple) as much as possible so that those around me can see it better than the green behind. Using the squad channel 4 is very easy to catch being in red. I did like the scroll back for text in FA but not having it isn’t really a loss.

Hope you do decide to stick around for a bit. I helped someone the other day in the TA who had told me how frustrating AH was. Turned out his stick setup was way out of whack. Once the frustrations of getting things mapped and configured are completed it becomes more enjoyable. Hit the help files and look at your key and stick mapping. It’s not bad, just something different than you’re used to.

Good luck, if I’m online and you need some help don’t hesitate to ask.

Zippatuh

Kratzer · « **Reply #7 on:** January 30, 2002, 01:05:29 AM »

I have the 'map' key mapped to the pinkie switch on my stick. You can zoom the map in and out using insert and delete, so you can quickly check, then minimize the map.

You can check the chat log by hitting the ~ key, this will expand it, so you won't miss those important messages. You can squelch chatty cathys by typing .squelch pilotname

i.e.

.squelch swat222

That'll slow down the chat buffer a lot.

-lynx- · « **Reply #8 on:** January 30, 2002, 04:12:44 AM »

...and the final not: thank you for not making it "I tried AH and it's crap" thing:). This is the best way - you like things, you dislike things but you remain civil at all times -

As for the mouse view... Hmmmm... My left hand is on a throttle, right hand - stick... I can't use my feet to move the mouse either as they sit firmly on rudder pedals. And yeah - chin is out as well as I've started playing with MS voicecommander thing. I guess I've downloaded 201MB of FA3 for nothing - bummer!