My 2 Cents about the Future of AH

[Eksel]

Well ok, this is PROBABLY a waste of time because it won't change a darn thing and a lot of people are leaving AH anyway.
Ive been playing AH for about 8 months now, in and out, and well ive come to the conclusion that this game has gotten downright OLD. Frankly, its just not fun anymore. To fix this I have a very detailed and LONG plan (man is this a waste of time     ).

Planes
Well first of all, AH could use some more planes. I sat down one day, whooped out a napkin, and started writing them down. This is what I came up with:

Poland
Fighters
PZL P.24  
Bombers
PZL P.37B

Russia
Fighters
Polikarpov I-16/10
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-3
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-5
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-7
Ilyishin IL-10
Bombers
Tupolev TB-3
Tupolev SB-2
Ilyushin Il-4
Tupolev Tu-2
Petlyakov Pe-8

Britain
Fighters
Hurricane MK I
Hurricane MK II C
Bristol Beaufighter Mk IF
Bristol Beaufighter Mk X
de Havilland Mosquito Mk IV
Bombers
Avro Lancaster MK I
Fairey Swordfish Mk1
Italy
Fighters
Caproni-Regiane RE 2001
Caproni-Regiane RE 2005
Bombers
SIAI-Marchetti SM.81
SIAI-Marchetti SM.84
Piaggio P.108B
CANT Z.1018

France
Fighters
Dewoitine D.520
Bombers
Liore ET Olivier 451
Bloch 131

Japan
Fighters
Mitsubishi A6M8
Kawasaki Ki-45 KAIa Toryu
Nakajima Ki-43-IIb Hayabusa
Kawasaki Ki-102a
Mitsubishi Ki-83
Mitsubishi J2M3 Raiden
Bombers
Mitsubishi G4M1
Mitsubishi Ki-67 Hiryu
Nakajima C8N1 Renzan
Nakajima B5N2
USA
Fighters
Bell P-39D Aircobra
Curtis P-40E
Curtis P-40F
CurtisP-40N
Lockheed P-38J
Bombers
North American B-25H (75mm cannons are cool)
North American B-25J
B-17 E or G, whichever isnt in the game  
Douglas A-26B Invader
Consolidated B-24J Liberator
Douglas SBD-3 Dauntless

Germany
Fighters
MesserSchmitt Bf.110C-1
Bombers
Heinkel He. 111H-2
Dornier Do.17Z-2  
Dornier Do.217E-1
Junkers JU.188E-1
Heinkel HE-177A-1
Junkers Ju.87B-1
Junkers Ju.87 D-1

Ok, so probably you're thinking, this is never going to happen, and I know it won't happen over night, but after I WHILE, I hope it will build up to something like this. I also realize that many of these planes aren't balanced like in the game right now, and people wouldn't TOUCH some of them like the PZL P.24, but I think they are essential for historical accuracy. Im kind of tired of PRETENDING some aircraft is another even though it isn't REMOTLY similar to what it's suppose to me replacing. Also, with this large assortment of aircraft a wider variety of scenarios can be played out.

Bombing
Well ok, I did add a lot of bombers, but not without reason. I don't think there are enough things to BOMB in AH, seriously. There should be several smaller AA outposts, supply bases etc, that if destroyed, would somehow mathematically influence the team who owned it. Supply bases provide a certain amount of planes per minute. When destroyed, they decrease that number etc, etc. I also think cities would be interesting. Placing them in the center in between enemy bases. They would have some certain mathematical influence on the team of course, or else noone would bomb it.But either way, this game needs to get more GROUND-INVOLVED. It was the bombing runs that in the end destroyed the german factories and lost them the war.

Navy
Some suggestions made about submarines, I think are absurd. This game is  a FLIGHT sim, and well carriers have planes, and destroyers defend the carrier. Submarines would just be WAY off.
Carrier groups I think, should be rebuilt, I think after they are destroyed. Lets say that a port of some sort would have a dry dock, and every oh hour or so a part of a ship would show up, and a carrier would be built, then ships, etc. All the ships would be stationary until the entire fleet is complete. Of course people can come in and bomb the ships in production, yadayadayada.

Ground
Like I mentioned before, It would be good to see more action on the ground. It also might be a good idea to make ROADS. I know this might lag it up a little, but it would be good. I mean most convoys and ground cards traveled by ROAD after all. This might add speed to the ground vehicles, but not much. More ground vehicles might be a plus, but Im not an expert on them so I can't say which ones. It might be cool to catch a few ground battles, in which planes support.

How 'bout them goons
Goons are cool. but they should have I think more than one function in my opinion. They could for example be responsible for repairing blown up hangars. Send in the goons, land them, and they run to the nearest blown up structure, and repair it. After its done, they would dissapear. Or you could land them at a base, and they would spread out, being 7.62 gun turrets to "defend" against incomming airplanes. They would dissapear after a while. This is a whacky idea but I think it would work.

Price
Well, this is the only thing I can complain about at this point. The game is GREAT, but not worth 30 bucks a month. I know for a fact that there are tons of people eager to play this game, but just cant afford the 30 bucks. You could take a poll and figure it out, but I think if you lowered the price to 10 bucks a month, HTC would more than triple its customer base. Just look at wwii online.

Organization
What I have come to see is that the main arena is somewhat chaotic. Everyone taking off in their own direction, with their own set of orders, not listining to anyone. Sounds like Egoes High. More people need to use the missions tab. I mean lets face it, if you've ever taken part in a GIANT JU-88 formation or a Humungous B-26 formation in a scenario its just an unforgetable experience. If you haven't , well its your own fault. WW2 was about people given missions, given planes, and went. Yet I cannot find a way to MAKE people participate in missions without having them COMPLAIN non-stop. Also it might be better to expand the mission menu a little beyond the clipboard, because a lot of the stuff that is crucial to the mission won't fit on there. Its probably natural now that people don't listen, but everyone knows, missions that WORK are fun.

Well, this is by 2 cents, and I hope all you take time to read this, especially HTC. I love to play this game, but the 30 bucks a month are just non-doable for me, at least. But looking at the popularity of the ww2 online 10 bucks a month it seems good. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK HTC! (oh yea, try to change some of this stuff ).

[ 06-24-2001: Message edited by: Eksel ]

[laz]

once again i know not a whole lot about this stuff but...... on the page i downloaded this game off of.... it said it was a regular sim, and adding subs would be like adding tanks onl for the water.thhhennnn there are the japanese planes   they are all to good anyways and i get shot down by them wayyy to much. and thats all i have to say... pobably didn't make much sence did it?lol

[Pongo]

Good post laz
Subs had planes too though so that would meet your criteria but I see what you mean.

[MrRiplEy]

HTC succeeded in their original goal to make the best multiplayer late war flight sim to the market.. They managed to do that with the small resources they have.

After that they managed to add strat and naval aspects to the game.. Nobody really cares they were done arcadish since AH still is a WW2 air combat sim.

Being overwhelmed from the quality of the original product, people now start fantasizing about AH developing into something larger.. To fulfill a dream WW2OL maybe never manages to do.

But.. unless HT hires a double amount of developers, it will be a slow project. Nothing gets done in a day.

If HT only would get aggressive on marketing, maybe this game could grow big enough to buy the resources needed for the additions.

So - the question lies will HT ever take that step? Or will he just stay content with the current setup.

[Betown]

I don't know a whole lot about HTC long term plan. But I do know that even if we don't think they are sometimes, They always listen to what we have to say and make a note of it.

The fact is that HTC probably have all these things planned into a large product plan somewhere and have a plan to implement them some day. You have to remember that in TWO years HTC have acomplished an AMAZINGLY large ammount. You can't argue with that.

Warbirds has been going for going on 5? 6? years? They have only just implimented ground vehicles.

People are harsh towards HTC sometimes and the grass always looks greener on the other side. But from my experience, it's not. We are very lucky with HTC that they are so dedicated to what they are doing.

I personaly see Aces High turning into a nice functioning WW2 sim with more stratigy, to be honest they have to go that way to survive, but things don't happen overnite. They are implementing trains and after that.... Who knows!

<S>

[Betown]

MrRipley, It was always HTC's intention to keep the company small.

[2Late4U]

The best way to add life to AH is to play with a group.  Flying with a squad, or even just a group that you tend to fly with increases the fun factor in an exponential fassion.

I do think we need more planes, but first there needs to be a good incentive to fly the older planes.  Just how many Hawker Huricanes are going to be flown without incentive...not many.  There are MANY planes that I would like to see, but they dont make much sence to add in the current late war environment.

I have faith that HT will continue to add tot he game, and as long as it evolves, it will hold my interest  

[mrfish]

still better than making vrroom vroom noises with my plastic models  

[Baddawg]

Or  going rat a tat tat and exploding a firecracker in your plastic model 109. And then giggling  endlessly as it melts into a pile of goo.
Ummm err <looking around nervously>  you all did that too right? I mean I am not the only one am I?
And even if I was,it does not  mean I have underlying problems  does it? Guys ? Guys?

[Ozark]

LOL...I did that too.  

[Dux]

Man, that's a big napkin.

[Nash]

I used to tape 2" sections of straws to the top of my models. Through those I had a string running from my 2nd floor bedroom down to the yard outside. Afixed 2-3 firecrackers with fuses tied together to one longer fuse. Somewhere between my bedroom window and the ground, 15 feet up in the air....BOOM!

[Westy MOL]

Eksel, if you've been playing H2H for eight months then I might see why you'd be bored with AH. You've never had a score in any since they started camp so I'm curious what handle you may have (or are) used when flying in the pay-to-play arenas.

 Pyro was also interviewed just a couple of months ago by SimHQ. His interview answers alot of your (and others questions) and I recomend it as good reading for those who "wonder" about stuff here.

 As for people leaving AH? Happens in all the online games.  People come and go. It's online life.  But I sure don't see "a lot" of pay-to-play folks leaving.  The MA numbers have taken about a 20% dip due to the summer months and also a lot of folks are trying out the WW2O beta while it's free.

   Westy

[ 06-24-2001: Message edited by: Westy MOL ]

[laz]

okey dokey.. i really do not think that ah is a flight sim anymore is it?? we have tanks so did you squeak about those too??? personally i think an addition of some of the things you talked about and defenately the 20 dollar reduction would probably double ah's sucess .
     

[2Late4U]

Originally posted by laz:
personally i think an addition of some of the things you talked about and defenately the 20 dollar reduction would probably double ah's sucess .
           

AH is not trying to compete with the Everdweeb and Dehackblo ][ crowd, and they aure as heck better not try and be anything like Bug War 2 Online.  This is not a game for everyone, and its not going to have tens of thousands of people playing, so dont expect to have the same price structure.

I for one, don't want to play the McDonalds® of online games.