Sabre,
I usually think your ideas are great. This, however, I think is a bad one.
The goal, to make other players fly more realistically, as if their lives depended on it.
The consequences;
Experienced players are more likely to not be affected by the implementation of limited lives. Many experienced players would be able fly as they normally do and not be affected by death limiter. Newbies on the other hand, will be out of luck. Their only chance to make it through an hour with out hitting the death limit will be to play it VERY safe, choose a fast plane, get high, and run from all. Most newbies will hit the limit soon, leave the arena, and not come back.
So a few newbies leave, numbers in the CT go down, and even fewer players log in because they see small numbers. Hard to get the old snowball rolling if you essentially kick players out. I think the CT numbers would be very low for this one.
Then there’s lopsided country numbers. 90% of the time (or more) I fly for the country with the lesser numbers. I do this to even things out, and also because I know I will have to spend less time looking for someone to fight. While I certainly can find more action per hour fighting for the underdog, I am more often at a disadvantage because the enemy has greater numbers. With a death limit, I would expect even more players less willing to fight for the underdogs. Balance will be an issue.
The underdog side often has the slower planes. Couple this with lesser numbers, AND a death penalty that will have a greater impact on the underdogs (because most will be flying more timidly… for the uberdogs) and you may see a very uneven side balance. With it being so hard to find a fight, players will likely log off.
Base defense. Why do it with a death limit? At times, I love doing base defense. It can be, however, the most dangerous duty around. There are a lot of CT players that are very good at holding a base against any odds or situation. This would put those players out of action and perhaps make base capture much like delivering the daily milk…
Personally, I die in the CT anywhere from less that once an hour to more than 10 times an hour. Sometimes I play to live, sometimes I play to kill. One thing is for sure, I still having a lot of fun when I die 10+ times an hour. Sometimes that’s the most fun that the CT has to offer {Like when one of the airbases gets captured on Malta Island, 4 miles from the other bases. Everyone’s getting 20+ kills AND deaths per hour.}. If I use up my, say 6 lives in 20 minutes, what am I to do? Well, what I typically do when the CT is “down” is go to the MA (yet to go there this month). Once I’m in the MA, if I latch on to something fun, say a good furball, vulch, or tank fight, I’ll likely stay.
Want to make players fly more realistically? Please think of another way. But don’t kill the CT in the process, even a week.
eskimo