There’s no need for me to advise you that there have been a great many whines on this board about the current AK-Desert map. Just out of interest, I did a search to locate posts containing the word “pizza”, and got more than 200 hits!
More than a few guys are having problems. They can’t find the fights that they once could, or at least not in the same way. For me, however, the new version of the game, combined with the AK-Desert terrain, has presented new opportunities. I have been fascinated by the capture of those small vehicle fields around the edge of the map, and also some of the ones down in the canyons in the middle of the map. The past 48 hours have been amongst the best, most fun times I’ve had in Aces High since starting last November.
On the face of it, capture of a desert vehicle field looks easy. Just roll an Ostwind to get the acks and (optionally) the hangar if you think a PNZR might pop up, then roll in your M3 with troops. There’s even enough time for the same person to do both! Some guys are better than me and can get the acks with the M3 gun! But what to do if there’s a PNZR hotshot like CODY waiting for you
- or a manned field gun?
What I found yesterday, when working with squaddie
Keez is something I have sought for a long time. I’ve at last discovered a mission that requires planning, co-ordination, co-operation and communication, and of course accurate timing to deploy the necessary forces as they are needed, but without vast numbers of pilots exerting ridiculous numerical supremacy. The scene was this: A vehicle field was being protected by either a field gunner or a PNZR, or maybe both. Those who dared stick their heads over the last sand dune got blown away. So we went about it in a different way. The only way we could see to capture the field was with air support. I called Keez on the squad channel, and he came over in his P47 with bombs and rockets. While he was on his way, I rolled an M3 up as far as the last sand dune. He got the two acks plus the hangar and a pesky PNZR, and I was able to roll in with the M3.
A little later on, I was involved in a further three capture attempts. One of these failed because we underestimated the importance of air cover, and the target was a long way from our nearest airfield. The enemy PNZR was able to spawn nearby using a remote spawn point of a distant field and sat on top of a hill, taking pot shots at my guys. The only way we could have prevented this would have been to bomb that other field – even deeper into enemy territory. But that was a mission that taught me the importance of the timing. Get your goon up early if you want to use one, get ground cover into position, and jabos in the air with plenty of fuel. Of course, a big challenge might be to find guys that can be relied upon to play their part, and names like
akwabbit, ws8s, doyle, animal42, snorkel, gman, and squaddies
keez, revvin, dayo are all names I can trust. The P47D30 really comes into its own on missions such as these. I decided to fly one myself, and used 2x1000 bombs for the vehicle hangar, rockets for the acks, and the last bomb for that pesky PNZR who might be hiding nearby. One time I missed the VH by a few yards, but found I could strafe it down with the P47’s 8x.50cal.
Planning these missions has been such a welcome change from the erstwhile AH formula of upping en masse – you know what I’m talking about! Guys who call for 40 tiffies, B17s, LANCs, maybe a dozen or so goons, P38s etc. - and go mob handed to forcibly smash down and capture a field. That does not interest me in the slightest.
With 1.10, the game has changed. Guys are whining that they cant find fights. They can’t rack up the kills the way they once did. LOL! My [
expletive of choice] heart bleeds for them.
You see, real war wasn’t like that. Real war was about encountering obstacles that had to be overcome. Missions had to be thought out. Planning was paramount. Once the Battle of Britain had been won, did its pilots deployed to hotter climes complain because their aircraft would not have the same climb performance in an atmosphere of reduced density? I don’t think so. They had a job to do, and they did it. Pilots did not rack up kills every day. Gabreski was active in his P47 over Germany and later in an F86 Sabre in Korea, and got about 35 career kills in two wars spanning more than ten years. Some guys in AH are whining if they get less than that in an evening!
In AH, the war has moved into a new phase. Some guys don’t like it because the old familiar fields are no longer there. They used to know which were the high alt fields, and which targets to hit and from where and in which plane. They had learned to “game the game”, but now the game has changed and they’re crying.
They also complain about the distance between fields, but at least that means a planned attack does not get wiped out by dweebs upping LA7s from the nearest base a few miles away and coming in with a huge alt advantage.
If I wanted to, I could still find mindless furballs, kills for their own sake, and organised gangbangs in which I would have the opportunity to boost the one thing that is of utmost importance to some lost souls – kills, stats and scores. But I’ve found something which for me is rather better.
And now,
Tomato is here and it's her birthday. We are going to an Italian restaurant in Henley-onThames. I shall probably order a pizza
