What makes the game fun is a combination of action and a reason for its existance.
If fields change hands rapidly and both the attackers and defenders have a blast while it is going on, everybody wins.
This stuff where 15 fighters end up milling around over an enemy airfield with nothing to do doesn't cut it. Clearly if these customers wanted to be in bombers or C-47s they would be doing that and not looking in vain for a fight.
I think a lot more fields (i.e. more targets for the strat guys) which are a lot closer together (so Fighters can make it to the fight quickly without taking off under a vulch umbrella) might be part of the answer. Also it would be great if the fields fell easily and rapidly. Rapid changes of ownership lead to frequent seesaw battles where both sides can attack and defend. Maybe give grunts the ability to kill ack and capture fields all by themselves. Maybe, you should be able to capture a field by totally flattening it and then landing an aircraft. Well thought out multiple field capture methods and fields which fall easier would mean that a bunch of fighters would have something useful to do at an undefended enemy airfield instead of just milling around in boredom and then logging.
Frankly, this thing about starving resources out (fighter sorties, radar, fuel or whatever) is just really bad for play. The game will be a lot more attractive if both the conditions of aggressive successful advance and desperate defense are the most action filled and enjoyable events in the game.
One of the best flight sim events I ever recall was a couple of years ago when the MOL attacked one of our fields in brand X. Our squad detected their attack just in time and rolled to resist them. After a short bitter fight they barely took the field. We immediately counterattacked and after a protracted fight, we took it back. They counterattacked and after another protracted fight, they took it again. The fights were incredible but none of this would have happened in the current version of AH because a couple of bombs on some fighter hangers would have hamstrung one side or the other
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This is an air combat simulation (primarily). Since most of us are in here to simulate fighter combat, it should be damn hard to shut down another countries capacity to fight. The ease with which the fighting ability of a country can be locally destroyed entirely undercuts the entire reason for existence of this game.
Hooligan
