Drunky, I read
your post about the numbers dropping off, and have some comments about this and other related matters.
Amongst those of us who are veterans of WW2 flight sims, whether that be Aces High, Warbirds or Air Warrior, I don't think there can be many of us who have failed to notice the furballing and overall dweebery in the form of gangbangs, vulching and HO in the Aces High MA. The whole scenario is symptomatic of a large influx of new players who don't seem to care whether they live or die. I am sure that everyone here shares my wish that these folks will soon tire of their activities and quietly retire, so that the rest of us can enjoy AH as it was meant to be.
It has to be said that a significant problem in AH, perhaps even caused by the influx of hundreds of new players, is the lack of a community spirit. I know that it's easy to get pissed off with guys who ask questions like
"How do I bomb?", but responses like "RTFM" or "Try Alt+F4" are not calculated to encourage the new player to take AH seriously. I myself have tried asking questions like
"what targets need to be down at the port for capture?", and just get ignored. The instant reaction is then to just do one's own thing - go looking for something to shoot and to hell with the guys on the mission. If they wont help me, why should I help them? Yes I know there's an excellent manual, but mid sortie in the thick of the action is not always a good time to read it.
I come from Warbirds, which I joined in 1998. As soon as I joined, I had offers of help from all around, whether that be on the AGW board or online in the arenas. My personal mentors were two guys called -save- and --sd--. But in any engagement, if someone flew in such a way that you wanted to salute the guy, you'd get a response, maybe get chatting, and a new friendship would be formed. In a few weeks, I had a list of about ten guys who I knew well and knew the nationality of each, and knew what they were good at. Apart from the 20-odd guys from WB that I have run into here, how many names do you think I have on my equivalent list for AH? None. Zip/Zilch.
I can't help noticing how bad some people are at giving 6-calls. I have been shot down when there were ten friendlies within icon range, but no 6-call did I receive. Why is this? Partly because the 6-call function means that the message often goes to the wrong guy, but largely because so many people don't seem to give a cheese. (Footnote - I have in fact received many 6-calls this past week - thanks) And another thing: I have cleared the arse (6) of about four guys in the past two days, either killing the con or at least disabling it. How many messages of thanks do you think I have received? None. Zip/Zilch. So now when I perform this favour, and fail to elicit a thank you, I say rather facetiously
"Don't mention it". This whole pot pourri of not giving a toss about your fellow Chess piece brethren is, in my view, the cause of a large part of the lackadaisical attitude which can be seen in the arena on a daily basis.
As I was saying recently to my former CO in WB, the gangbangs and HO dweebery prevalent in AH have to be seen to be believed. Just yesterday a few of us Bishops were attacking a field. We had the town flat and were working at some of the airfield targets - ammo bunkers, fuel tanks etc. Did the guys at the target field mount a defence with GVs? They did not (but maybe their VH was down - can't recall). Instead, they sent in the alt-monkey dweebs - a P51, a 190, an LA7 and of course a N1K - the dweebs love that thing. And what happened? Given that they began with an alt advantage, you would have thought they might want to maintain it, but no. They all dived in to the field, turning and burning and taking random pop shots at anything that moved. Within a minute, they had blown their E and were low and slow over the field. In my F4U-1C I bounced the 190 but when he saw me he began jerking his stick around to try to warp his way out of trouble, but I got him eventually. The others died too. Why is it that whenever I see a N1K, I just KNOW that he's going to attempt an HO? They never seem to do anything else. I can put my hand on my heart and say that I've never flown a N1K online.
Until this MA tedium ends, and the dweebery subsides as the AH populace matures, I might try the CT. I have just read
SirLoin's post about the CT, and while it is an interesting concept I have a word of caution about promoting the idea into the Main Arena. In Warbirds they did the same thing, and introduced a WW2 Arena which in effect became the Main Arena because that's where everyone went. Almost everyone loved it at first, but after a few months many hated it, others loathed it and I left Warbirds partly because of it. The problem, in WB, was the RPS (Rolling Plane Set). At the beginning of the war, the Axis would have the upper hand with their Me109E against the Allied offerings of Spitfire 1a and P40B. Because Doofus-Dweebius likes to rack up a lot of points, he would start on the Axis side. Later, the Spitfire V would come out, but also the Me109F. It was still no contest. Flying a Spitfire V, I could get kills but it was tedious work. Then, the Allies would get the P38F but Axis would get the 190A4! The odds were still in favour of the Axis until the Spitfire IX appeared, at which point there would be a couple of days where things were fairly even. But then the American planes would start arriving - F6F, F4U, P51. The balance tipped in favour of the Allied. As the war progressed, the Allies would get heavy bombers in the form of the B24 and B17. They already had the B25. The B17 and B24 could go to 25,000 feet or more and could carry 12x500# bombs. The only German bomber was the Ju88, which had only four large bombs for big targets like hangars, and 10 bomblets for acks. Most importantly, the ju88 was wheezing at 12,000 feet and was an easy target. The only formidable Axis jabo plane was the Me110, but it was a deathtrap as a fighter, and even in the real war had to be escorted. The Allies, on the other hand, had the F4U and F6F which, as well as carrying heavy bombs, could launch from the carriers and having dropped their ord would become formidable fighters. The only plane the Axis could launch from their CV would be the Zeke! The result was that Doofus-Dweebius would switch to Allied to maintain his scoreline. The Axis would get the formidable ki84 but it was too little too late. I once logged off in disgust because not only did the Allies have far superior planes, with four Axis fields closed and vulchers orbiting the remaining Axis fields that were still open, they also had a 2-1 numerical advantage. Apart from the two days beginning with the debut of the Spitfire IX, the WW2 Arena was a whitewash.
DO NOT let that happen to Aces High! The AH planeset is totally different from that of WB, but given the dweebery we have been seeing in the MA, there is no doubt in my mind as to what would happen with mismatched planesets.
