Lazs, you and I have had some great fights together, especially back in the days when Ndisles was new and the main island was Furball Central, so I think you know that I'm not anti-furball... far from it.
As far as strat goes, these days I'm never online long enough to really get into the big strat picture... as long as there are some fields to up from, I'll be happy for my daily (sometimes weekly) hour of play. But I really am glad the strat element is there. So are many, many others.
Aces High is a game that covers many, many elements of WW2. It was designed that way. The game as it exists now is exactly what HTC wants it to be at this time.
What concerns me is that what should be constructive criticism about other facets of the game has turned into insults about the other types of players... bitter strat weenies, sky accountants, toolsheds, missuns, etc, etc, etc... so much, in fact, that any good ideas that are buried between the insults are lost in the midst. I think it gets to the point where people see someone's name in a thread, and they immediately go into defensive mode. All sides are guilty of this. We can stab and get stabbed back on and on and on, and at the end of the day, we get nowhere, and the game is still only ever going to be what HTC wants it to be. HTC wants their game to be strat-oriented. That's not to say that any ideas brought up in the forums are not good ideas... but HTC still has a very clear vision of what they want their game to be.
Incidentally, the volunteer mapmakers are all working under HTC's final approval, so try to give them a little credit, instead of insulting them and hinting at conspiracies. I've worked with them, and trust me, they are trying awfully hard to please everybody... a somewhat thankless task.
Believe me, the game could be a whooooole lot more strat-oriented than it is now. How would you like virtually sitting in a virtual ready-room, waiting for virtual orders to come in? They've built tons of choices into this game; you literally can do whatever you want at any time. Plus, there are hundreds of strat-oriented things to do.
The people who are playing the game in all of its different facets are not defective, and neither are you. We're all doing what we like, and it's really too bad that there's only one thing that you like doing in the game. Personally, I see lots of long-running fights that I would call furballs, so I cannot really relate to your dilemma. I guess your criteria is just different... and that's okay.
Can we all try to cut out the personality attacks for a while? Strat people are here for a very good reason; this game is tailored for them. Furball people are also here for a reason; this game has some of the best fliers in the online community, and there is almost always a good fight to be found.
I always try to help out when I can, so let me offer these two things for you (and this goes out to any furballers, not just Lazs) ...
1. I'm interested in working on a terrain that could be just what you're looking for, but I can't guarantee that it gets accepted or used. Maybe it could be used in the DA... who knows until we try. Would you consider proactively working on it with me?
2. Strat really can be fun... you have an open invitation to fly any friday with my squad in SquadOps. Maybe you've tried it before, maybe not, but it might open a new world for you.
Anyway, that's how I see things.
