To the Designers and CM's of the CT.
While I have been cruising the AH BB for a couple of Months, Reading the set up and description for this particular CT Scenario, " Fire in the Sky", made me take the plunge and sign up for AH. Reading all the threads on the MA, TA, and CT for a while has convinced Me that the CT is where I want to play and enjoy myself, and have some fun.
Personnally, not having any use for the GIANT furballs of the MA, and the Tackiness and Vulgarity that I saw posted concerning the TA, I was not ready to shell out some bucks and pay for some frustration. ( Please understand these are not whine's , and definately NOT personal observations of these Arena's, simply a gut feeling from the many post's that THIS newb had no business in either of em. )
I decided last Sunday , 01-27-02 , that I just had to go ahead and try to fly AH, in the CT, even though I knew I still needed some serious system upgrades, (NOW I know I NEED EM, lol ) Even with a "low end system", I managed to get into the CT, and have some fun.
OK, now to the Meat of the Matter, WHAT attracted ME ??
1. The Historical Aspect of the Arena, Allies vs Axis.
2. The arena settings. (even though I still don't know beans about using different arena settings, I was able to vaguely get a good sense of what to expect when I entered the Arena as to Where to Go, which country to fly for, and How things would be set up.
3. The Planeset seemed to be set up for Equality, as well as Functionallity.
4. The Map for a Pacific Scenario ( Island Hopping ) seemed likely to promote some decent Strategy type Missions, both Offensive as well as Defensive. (I was right on that thought, :-0 )
5. Allmost all of the posts I have read about the CT, seemed to me to be thoughtful ideas as to decent ways to have things set up. Admittedly, a few of the posts seemed like whines to me. I have seen a lot of things posted, requests and such, that I have seen the CT team respond to and if not change, at least explain WHY they decided to go with a certain set up.
Now for a few comments towards a review.
I managed to login a bit easier than I thought I would, (i.e. concerns on getting a decent connection). As soon as I got in, and had a viable connection, the room description popped up, and pretty much told me what base to go to to get the plane I wanted to fly. I sat a bit in the tower, and just watched the text buffer to see if anybody was doing anything I wanted to be a part of. Not having seen anything interesting, I decided to get into a 38 and cruise about a bit, getting a feel for the place. After getting up, and finding that I could at least fly (connection concerns again), I landed and starting using the text buffer to change fields and get closer to the action that was beginning to develope. This next part really impressed me. (Sorry for not clearly remembering the names). an attack on a field was in progress, ( I think it was 34 ), and they had a need for a goonie driver to drop some troops. I responded and told em I was a total newb, but that I could get a goon up, if they would help me out as to the howto's of delivering the troops for them. Low and Behold, no smart bellybutton comments, no sarcasm, just positive replies that they would help me to help them. I got to the field they needed me at, grabbed a goon, loaded the troops, and took off, heading for where they wanted me. I found the base they were after, and did everything I could to get the troops out the door. Dumb me, I did not realise the goon was flown as a bomber, and therefore I had to open the "bomb Bay doors". A Quick question on the text buffer, and I had 4 guys tell me what to do to let the troops jump. While this was going on, my goon attracted a zeke or two, and I was told to exit the area, and orbit to the east, while they took out the enemy fighters. Beautiful. Somebody had a plan, lol. As soon as the IJP was taken out, and it was safe to return, one of the fighters joined on me, told me to follow him, and he would lead me to the drop zone. To make a long story short, I made the drop, ( poorly, troops scattered to hell and gone). Only got one rather excited " jaekart, what the heck are you doin" message, referring to where I dropped My troops. I volunteered to try again, and suprisingly, was told to go ahead. I was expecting some comments to the effect that they didn't need help from a newb that couldn't help. That incident set the tone for the rest of the week. I never saw vulgarity or haughty sarcasm in use, altho there was a lot of ribbin and razzin goin on.
The MOST FRUSTRATIN AND FUN THING I did all week was try to get My F6F back onto the CV I flew it off of. So far this week, I had 2 landings I could "walk away from". I want to thank the "Hellcats" VF-27, for ignoring my "newbiness' and inviting me to Join their Squad. I'm still lost when trying to figure out where that BIG Ship I took off of went, and who replaced it with a Microdot Postage Stamp, LOL, I SALUTE ALL WWII CARRIER PILOTS.
FWIIW, so far as all the complaints and constructive comments concerning the radar go, as a total newb, I was able to figure out that there was somebody there with the indicators on the clipboard map. I for one, certainly don't want a HUD RADAR screen, on a WWII prop plane, that did not have em in the first place.
So far as this NEWB is concerned, the Friendliness, the Respect, and the FUN Gameplay I found in the CT is well worth a Subscription, and I plan on Playin, Flyin and Fightin in the CT for a While.
