ok.. i know we can't change current maps but..

[Furious]

Originally posted by popeye
So, why don't people use the DA for a Furball Arena?

Or conversely, you could have a map that was nothing but strat targets every square inch.

Think of the time savings.  One could take off and immediatley suicide into a fuel bunker, over and over and over an.......

[NoBaddy]

Originally posted by Toad
Maybe.

What's the standard for successful "population"?

I'll wager that a "furball" type arena would draw more than the CT does on an average night, if it was setup correctly.

Heck. I'll wager the CT could draw way more than it does if the rulers would just put in normal icons and radar. They have decent maps and matchups in there, just no players. I'd probably play it a lot with "normal" settings.

While the dar isn't a big deal with me at all, I know it is for some.

 

Toad...

I would say that standard would probably be 25 to 30 during peak. That could give you 10+ during off peak. Anything less and folks would stop bothering to check it out due to a lack of opponents. Interestingly enought, I can see potential problems with a FB arena terrain as well. For 25 or 30 people, a 3 field, 4 sector front would probably be fine. Start getting more than that and you end up having to increase the numbers of fields and sectors of front.

Yah, the radar thing in the CT is mainly an annoyance for me. If I'm not sure it's a friendly...I assume it's an enemy. Of course, for an FB arena, you would probably want full radar everywhere..all the time. The objective would be to find a fight. Hell, I generally log off from the MA when the radar gets totaled. I don't mind no dot radar. But, no sector counters just makes the game more work to play.

[NoBaddy]

Originally posted by oboe
Has any mapmaker experimented with varying the density of fields?    That is, it sounds like all the fields on Trinity are approximately equal distance apart.   Might be interesting to have a terrain with "pockets" of closely-spaced fields, and areas of more normally spaced fields.

If you want to 'experiment' with terrain, the people to talk to are the CT crew. I can guarentee that HT is not going to let you 'experiment' with the MA .

Actually, that might not be a bad idea. Get the CT crew to setup a FB arena for a week and see what happens. Hell, they change terrains in there so often....odds are no one would notice .

BTW, the problem with trying to set up the fields so that some planes were only available at the front and others only at the back, is that the average customer is going to be constantly squeaking because what he wants to fly is not available where he wants to fly it. Hell, what I would like to see more than anything is a Euro/Pac rotating plane set. But, that will never happen in the MA .

[Jackal1]

Or maybe............ a map for the bumble bee battlers with only 1 field with side by side runways, 1 friendly, 1 NME. Put a laser line down the middle to mark ack boundaries so the "huggers" wouldn`t over step their boundaries. Maybe use instead of WEP, have a button to go into "frozen syrup" mode. Turn off killshooter for the patiently impaired, then you could vulch each other while rollin down the runway. Throw in a once a week , special event with instant action where when you launch you are flying in a circle 200ft from each other , in butt sniffin mode, and by gawd, you got it!:eek: LMAO

[lazs2]

nobaddy... I would dissagree that having the fields slightly closer together would be a bad thing... if they got rolled over then they would get taken back just as easily... porking fuel to 25% would be no big deal for defense or even attack against fields that are 3/4 of a sector apart.... you could have pockest of close fields scattered in each country... maybe  a fourth of em...  So far... the map isn't moving at all that I can see..   It looks about the same every night that I log on.

Now... if you are saying that HTC mandated field distance then that is a different thing but... Closer Fields, falling a little quicker, would not be a bad thing in this map that moves not at all.

Maybe the real solution is more CV fleets per country that are tougher to kill.

furball is a nebulous term... there are indeed a lot of furballers in the game but.... there are also a hell of a lot of players who wouldn't mind a little more action and.... maybe 90% of the players would like to have the option once in a while.    If there is nothing going on and you are a furballer or just someone who feels like he is in the mood for action.... you log off... The oppossite is not true... a few (relatively) close fields have no effect on the building battlers except....   They can feel "left out" when their attention grabbing antics are not noticed.   They don't leave tho... just make noise.

lazs

[NoBaddy]

Originally posted by lazs2
nobaddy... I would dissagree that having the fields slightly closer together would be a bad thing... ...  So far... the map isn't moving at all that I can see..   It looks about the same every night that I log on.

Now... if you are saying that HTC mandated field distance then that is a different thing but... Closer Fields, falling a little quicker, would not be a bad thing in this map that moves not at all.

Maybe the real solution is more CV fleets per country that are tougher to kill.

furball is a nebulous term... there are indeed a lot of furballers in the game but.... there are also a hell of a lot of players who wouldn't mind a little more action and.... maybe 90% of the players would like to have the option once in a while.    lazs

Lazs...

Take into consideration that HTC has reset the arena 3 times in the last 3 or 4 days (twice in the last 24 hours).

More CV TG's is a distinct possiblity. I have been mulling around a Pacific type terrain for the last month or so. As to CV hardness...you will have to take that up with HT .

90% eh? The 'Silent Majority'?

NB

[lazs2]

Can you add cv's to the current map?   Can you add ports or... say turn a few coastal fields into ports?   Did I understand that right?  

I just feel that the CV's are the best bet for a good "quick fight fix"  if fields can't be made to be slightly closer together.

90%... well I think it's safe to say that 90% of the players would like a quick fite fix at least once in a while wouldn't you?    Probly half that or a little less would like a steady diet of it but..   I don't think it would hurt to have sure fire places for that to happen... wouldn't hurt the gameplay of anyone who wasn't interested either.  

I don't know... I just can't escape the fact that far apart fields are bad for early war planes.   If you want to give people a chance to fly em ... ya gotta provide the places on the map.

Like I said tho... for some reason this is the best map I have seen for CV action and CV action is very 'furball friendly".    I don't know if you intended that but it is working out that way.

maybe I don't have a handle on what players want but it sure seems that a lot of players like the massive fights at least part of the time.
lazs

[Toad]

Any chance of something like a 1 month test of a furball arena?

The DA is just a map in an arena, right?

Could we not substitute one of the better furballing CT maps into the DA and configure the radar and icons to match the MA?

Then maybe let Laz tweak the "strat" settings to promote furballs?  

Don't see where it would cost anything and the maps are already done.

Might have to suspend dueling for a month I guess. That could be done H2H since it's usually a 1 v 1 thing, right?

[NoBaddy]

Originally posted by Toad
Any chance of something like a 1 month test of a furball arena?

The DA is just a map in an arena, right?

Could we not substitute one of the better furballing CT maps into the DA and configure the radar and icons to match the MA?

Then maybe let Laz tweak the "strat" settings to promote furballs?  

Don't see where it would cost anything and the maps are already done.

Might have to suspend dueling for a month I guess. That could be done H2H since it's usually a 1 v 1 thing, right?

I doubt HT would change it, at least in part, because HTC would have to do it. However, the CT changes weekly anyway. I think the CT folks are the ones to approach.


Lazs...

I was saying that I was considering doing a Pac type arena and that IT would have lots of CV's.

[Toad]

Nah, that's a totally dead end.

Maybe use the SE arena when there are no SE's on. Sort of a new SE  "Furballing!"

[mjolnir]

From all the suggestions I've seen of the ideal furball map, why not just use the old Wild Wednesday map?  One big 25k mountain-encased circle with 5 or 6 fields around it, all at 10 or 15k, taking off into the center to fight.  Really nasty wind layer above 25k that would rip wings off planes, too.  I'm sure plenty of folks still have that one on their computers and could get it to the CT folks.

What ever happened to WW anyway?  It was a good time.

[lazs2]

I probly wouldn't go to a furball arena much if at all.

Like most furballers I go where the numbers are.   Seperate arenas don't work numbers wise for me.

I don't "support" anything that isn't fun..  I am not big on the martyr thing.

nobad... You are talking about a "pac" map in the normal MA arena tho right?  Not some goofy "axis vs allied" thing?

Soo.... It appears that the original premise of the thread is correct... You don't get changes in an established map so...

In the future can we have the next map have a few pockets of fields that are closer together and maybe more ports and cv groups?   I mean... it's no big sacrafice for the building battlers... there are probly fields on trinity that no one has even taken off from yet.

Oh.. If you split up the population into several arenas then you merely reduce the population density in the main arena making maps like the horrible pizza even more painful.   You create arenas that never have more than 5-10% of the players.
lazs

[NoBaddy]

Originally posted by lazs2
I probly wouldn't go to a furball arena much if at all.

Like most furballers I go where the numbers are.   Seperate arenas don't work numbers wise for me.

I don't "support" anything that isn't fun..  I am not big on the martyr thing.

nobad... You are talking about a "pac" map in the normal MA arena tho right?  Not some goofy "axis vs allied" thing?

Soo.... It appears that the original premise of the thread is correct... You don't get changes in an established map so...

In the future can we have the next map have a few pockets of fields that are closer together and maybe more ports and cv groups?   I mean... it's no big sacrafice for the building battlers... there are probly fields on trinity that no one has even taken off from yet.

Oh.. If you split up the population into several arenas then you merely reduce the population density in the main arena making maps like the horrible pizza even more painful.   You create arenas that never have more than 5-10% of the players.
lazs

Lazs...

The problem with changing existing maps is the time that the HTC staff has to put in. They are going to try to avoid it. The reason is not that they don't want to work, it's that it is time taken away from producing things like new planes and AH2.

The CT Furball arena idea is mainly meant as an experiment to see what kind of impact placing fields closer together would have in the main arena. The idea would be to produce a map for about 30 people and see what happens.

[lazs2]

anything that happens in a seperate arena will have nothing to do with what will happen in the main... they attract different people.   The CT especially... besides simple field placement there are the issues of.... seperate arena... axis vs allied.... icon range... radar range...  any of which will taint the results.
lazs

[NoBaddy]

Originally posted by NoBaddy
Lazs...

The CT Furball arena idea is mainly meant as an experiment to see what kind of impact placing fields closer together would have in the main arena. The idea would be to produce a map for about 30 people and see what happens.

Lazs...

Please note what I said. First, it would be an experiment...not a regular arena. Second, without main arena settings the experiment would be of little value. It would require a normal size CT map with about 10 fields per country (3 countries). It would need as much 'advertizing' as possible (probably word of mouth and via this BBS). Personally, I believe that such an arena would be fine for 30 to 40 people. But, I would be interested to see what would happen if 3 times that number show up. I suspect that I already know .