Author Topic: Pretty neat Idea for Mission Arena (Read 171 times)

Nefarious · « **on:** August 15, 2002, 11:23:51 PM »

AI controlled Bomber formations...

Dont laugh yet..

18 or 24 B17's or B24's

take off for Wilhelmshaven or Bremen or (enter target here). Instead of having 6 or 8 bomber pilots and gunners fly for an ungodly amount of time have heavy Bomber formations taking off say oh, every 3 or 4 hours. Pilots and Gunners could monitor the formations as they approach target or enemy coast and when they do Pilots and gunners could join.

If no one joins the formation, then say bye bye to them, especially under fighter attack.

Just an idea for Mission Arena...Can you tell I am impatient for it?

ramzey · « **Reply #1 on:** August 16, 2002, 12:25:52 AM »

walking your way:)

V1, launched to allies possitions.

Duedel · « **Reply #2 on:** August 16, 2002, 01:09:50 AM »

HEY man not for Bremen!!! It's my home town!

Shiva · « **Reply #3 on:** August 16, 2002, 09:16:47 AM »

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HEY man not for Bremen!!! It's my home town!

Reminds me of the punchline of the joke about the airline pilot who lands at a German airport and stops to make sure that he's getting on the right taxiway:

Tower: United 357 Heavy, Haff you nefer been to Wilhelmshaven before?

Pilot: Yes, I have, several times in 1944, but I didn't stop.

gofaster · « **Reply #4 on:** August 16, 2002, 09:27:12 AM »

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Originally posted by Shiva

Reminds me of the punchline of the joke about the airline pilot who lands at a German airport and stops to make sure that he's getting on the right taxiway:

Tower: United 357 Heavy, Haff you nefer been to Wilhelmshaven before?

Pilot: Yes, I have, several times in 1944, but I didn't stop.

That actually happened back in the late-50's/early-60's. German controllers were known for being short and impatient with foreign inbound commercial flights that dallied about too long. I can't remember if it was Wilhelmshaven exactly, but the exchange was prompted when the pilot asked for directions from the ground traffic controller on how to get to a certain gate to disembark passengers. When the German controller asked him if he had never been to Wilhelmshaven (or whatever) before, the pilot gave a completely appropriate response.

Revvin · « **Reply #5 on:** August 16, 2002, 10:20:03 AM »

This would be a big turn off for me, I don't want to be replaced by AI would you be happy if the arena was filled up with AI fighters?

Wlfgng · « **Reply #6 on:** August 16, 2002, 10:35:48 AM »

just say NO to AI controlled flights.

AI is only ok if a RL pilot is at the 'helm'. IMHO

Masherbrum · « **Reply #7 on:** August 16, 2002, 10:59:34 AM »

What about having the whole arena chase Fester?

Karaya2

Nefarious · « **Reply #8 on:** August 16, 2002, 11:51:10 AM »

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Originally posted by Revvin
This would be a big turn off for me, I don't want to be replaced by AI would you be happy if the arena was filled up with AI fighters?

No revvin, I dont want to see AI fighters just lets explore the possibility of AI bombers. All they would do is fly a certain set of waypoints to the target. Nothing else, not even gun.

They would be "commanded" sort of like we control Task Forces in the Main Arena.

Players could join any time they want.

They could act as Gunner (for each bomber) and pilot (lead bomber only) only after they reached a certain rank (We will have ranks I assume). The whole (all 18 or 24) formation.

Remember this is just a suggestion of the possibilities using a tried system (Task Force Control) already in the game.

HFMudd · « **Reply #9 on:** August 16, 2002, 12:01:38 PM »

What if we abstracted the AI bombers even one step farther in the mission arena? They would airstart 20K or so at the friendly map edge and fly straight across to the enemy edge at 75% throttle. No player would be able to man either the bombsight or pilot positions and the bombers themselves would never actualy drop bombs. Instead, each surviving bomber that reached the enemy edge would either generate points for the friendly side or reduce some strategic asset for the enemy globaly.

When an enemy closed within 5k of the bomber formation it could blink or some such and the gun posistions in it could be manned just as field guns are manned.

I *think* this would be much easier for HTC to implement as the bombers wouldn't need to have an actual AI. They would just be target drones with manable positions.

Nefarious · « **Reply #10 on:** August 16, 2002, 12:40:34 PM »

The airstart Idea is cool.

The pilot of the whole formation would not use joystick to control formation he would simply adjust speed, altitude and direction in the same box as the Task Force Control Box.

If one bomber can hold 1 gunner, then 24 gunners excluding pilot could take to the air In a battle against the Luftwaffe.

The pilot would be the bombadier.

HFMudd · « **Reply #11 on:** August 16, 2002, 12:56:13 PM »

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The pilot would be the bombadier

So how do you envision the final approach?

Would the bombadier be able to control the path of the bomber via the bombsight or would he only be able to control the actual release point?

Would each plane in the large formation be able to have a separate bombadier or would they all drop as one?

How long before the drop time would the plane be controllable from the bomb sight view? I wouldn't think you would want that for long to avoid griefers simply manning one plane after the other and scattering the formation.

HFMudd · « **Reply #12 on:** August 16, 2002, 01:15:54 PM »

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This would be a big turn off for me, I don't want to be replaced by AI would you be happy if the arena was filled up with AI fighters?

I don't think either Nefarious or I envision replacing the individual pilots with AI.

In my "Drone Bomber" proposal, where larger formations of bomber simply cross the map without dropping bombs, there is still a requirement for the individual to up 1 to 3 bombers and against a target. The drone bombers are simply a method of producing large formations to fight against and gun for. The smaller localized strategic or tactical bombings would still be done by the player base just as it is now.

Nefarious' proposal is to only abstract to the piloting of large formations. I.e. to create airborne fleets. He retains the bombing of a particular target(s) to produce localized strategic or tactical impact in order to give the player base a more active role while still allowing for automated mechanism for large, high altitude formations. Again, this does not prevent a player from upping a smaller formation to acheive a particular goal.

In either case, I think airstarts would be a must.

It also occurs to me that if opposing formations fly at the same altitude then some "interesting" encounters might happen if their paths are allowed to cross.

weaselsan · « **Reply #13 on:** August 16, 2002, 05:03:12 PM »

All good ideas..and got me thinking. How about perked V1 buzz bombs. Not very costly, say 5 perks or so. Player could launch them from any friendly base and set a single waypoint to the target. The V1 would cut out and fall at random over the target area, hits would be by chance just as they were in WWII. A shoot down would be treated as a single kill in what ever weapon killed it. It would also add to strat targets, you would want to destroy the launching ramps.

Nefarious · « **Reply #14 on:** August 18, 2002, 01:47:43 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by HFMudd

So how do you envision the final approach?

Would the bombadier be able to control the path of the bomber via the bombsight or would he only be able to control the actual release point?

Would each plane in the large formation be able to have a separate bombadier or would they all drop as one?

How long before the drop time would the plane be controllable from the bomb sight view? I wouldn't think you would want that for long to avoid griefers simply manning one plane after the other and scattering the formation.

The Squadron Commander would set way points in the Map that would cross over the target. He would then enter bombsight view and manually drop bombs.

Thier would be no auto-drops. Somebody would have to drop.

The squadron would not seperate from the lead ship. They might drift but not any further than they do now. They would re-gain thier posistion.