Perking aircraft!!
hmm huge difference of opinion on this one, some want all or most of the planes perked, others don't want perking at all.
Personaly, i think that perking is NOT a bad thing, if it is done correctly and a good balance is achieved. The perking of the tempest and other new aircraft seems to work well, these super planes are now handled more carefully and are fairly sparse enough to stop the whole arena becoming full of temps, etc., and this in turn adds a little diversity to the whole game.
However, if half of the available aircraft were to be perked it could have the following effect
Firstly, AH having the huge learning curve it has to newbies, would have one more reason for new bloody and revenue to turn away and give up if, as well as having to put some serious effort into actually getting good enough to urn perk points, half the planes was unavailable to fly.
Money IS EVERYTHING to this flight sim, without it updates and services would suffer and as a result, allot of existing members may well take there 30 bucks else where.
Had AH made half the aircraft's perked whilst i was trying to give this sim some serious effort, i wouldn't have even bothered, this is not a threat, i don't make threats but the likes of the LANC and the TIFFY is what made me try and try. I don't want to spend 30 bucks a month and not to be able to have as much accessibility as some ACE who has 1000 perk points sitting in his account.
Remember that not everyone can assign a lot of time online but there 30 bucks is as good as anyone's else's.
The much anticipated W.W.II online is nearly here and although AH and WWIIonline are NOT the SAME type of game, if AH closes its accessibility to new pilots and the money they bring, it could well be cutting its own throat to appease the ELITE who wish to have that little EDGE over there counterparts.
AH is a purely DOGFIGHTING sim, WWIIonline is a WWII sim, therefore if a newbie in WWIIonline has trouble with staying alive in the air, he can still get allot out of the game by becoming a troop or a supply truck driver or a ship/sub navigator and these areas will be huge part of the game and whilst he is using these vehicles he can still brush up on his flying skills. In AH you can't justifi just using the tanks for your 30 bucks because the game is not geared up to land vehicles and therefore the quality and depth you get from using these solely in AH is limited (although fun for a bit)
Sometimes you just cant help but have a bad day, getting shot up 80% of the time, we have all at some time had days like this but it doesn't matter, just hope in and try again.
If your aircraft is perked you could quite easily loose 100 perk points in one sitting and now you cant fly half the aircraft you want to.
Field defending would suffer because if there is just 2 or 3 cons circling a field who is going to try and risk loosing perk points taking off and maybe getting vulched? no one, everyone will be using adjacent fields and thus leaving the one under attack unguarded. You wont even have to worrie about knocking out FH anymore because not many people will be taking off from there.
Sometimes the arena is quiet and you have to look for some action, this will be even worse if most of the fighters online are at 25k and only want to play 'SWOOP DOWN FIRE AND RUN' because of the risk to their points.
Furballing and large mass dogfighting will be a less common scene and gone will be a large part of the Enjoyment that is AH.
Question, how many tempest or other perked aircraft do you see online? not many at all, this is a reflection of what perking dose, great for the odd few real super planes to add a little variaty now and again but not for mass perking
As time goes by and more online sims come out offering more and more depth of gameplay AH need to hold is head up with the rest if it wants to continue and that means accessibility and tempting newcomers.
I think AH is a great example of an online fighter sim and have no intention of moving on. I would hate to see it loose its appeal or ability to draw in newcomers just to please the good pilots who wish to have a more testing environment.
As for fairness, i am a newbie fo only a couple of months and i know that the La7 and others are fast and have tight turning circles and may seem to be super planes, but i still have managed to out turn them and knock all of them out of the sky in my heavey cumbersome tiffy or even a TBM!!!
Its all down to who is the better pilot, who has the alt and speed advantage, the abilities of the plane and a little luck.
You can out gun ANYTHING with ANYTHING and to go perk crazy just because you have just been killed 10 times consecutively by a la7 or tiffy is kinda crazy.
let the pilots skill and luck be the decider of victory, not who has the biggest perk account.
AH for the masses, AH for EVERYONE and lets keep our skies FILLED with OLDIES and NEWBIES alike
Peace all
[This message has been edited by Obear (edited 05-02-2001).]
