Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Aces High General Discussion => Topic started by: MOSQ on September 16, 2004, 02:54:34 PM
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The changes to AH in the past year have been dramatic. We have gone form AH I to AH II. The gunnery model has changed, some folks say the new gunnery model makes it harder to get kills. Other say it's not really different. The flight models have changed. The 2 x fuel multiplier. And finally, the ENY limiter.
Curious as to what these changes have made to the stats, I took a look at the July 2003 stats vs July 2004; and the Aug 2003 vs. the August 2004. They are quite dramatic. I have my own opinions as to why, but first the stats so you can judge yourself:
I was curious about a few planes, specifically the Niki, the P-51, and the two Spits; and to how all the above changes had affected their use in the MA. So I pulled their stats:
Niki:
July 2003 Kills: 35,722; deaths: 28,395 + combined: 64,117
July 2004 Kills: 27,770; deaths: 23,589 = combined: 51,389
Aug 2003 Kills: 32,628; deaths: 25,583 = combined 58,211
Aug 2004 Kills: 17,787; deaths: 15,285 = combined 33,072
Pretty dramatic changes year to year for the Niki
P-51D:
July 2003 Kills: 38,047; deaths: 41,508 = combined 79,555
July 2004 Kills: 27,770; deaths: 23,589 = combined 51,359
Aug 2003 Kills: 37,132; deaths 40,576 = combined 77,708
Aug 2004 Kills: 19,173; deaths 20,737 = combined 39,910
Another dramatic change year to year.
Spit 9:
July 2003 Kills: 49,048; deaths 42,434 = combined 91,482
July 2004 Kills: 22,828; deaths 22,356 = combined 45,184
Aug 2003 Kills: 44,980; deaths 39,082 = combined 84,062
Aug 2004 Kills: 17,700; deaths 17,071 = combined 34,771
The Spit 9 has seen a huge change in usage.
Spit V:
July 2003 Kills: 18,217; deaths 20,104 = combined 38,321
July 2004 Kills: 20,388; deaths 20,845 = combined 41,233
Aug 2003 Kills: 16,061; deaths 18,282 = combined 34,343
Aug 2004 Kills: 19,569; deaths 19,520 = combined 39,089
Apparently some Spit 9 folks have migrated to the 5, but not as many who quit flying the 9 by any means.
Here's the stats on the D-9:
July 2003: Kills: 16,771, Deaths: 9109
July 2004: Kills: 16,842, Deaths: 9918
Aug 2003: Kills: 14,510, Deaths: 8970
Aug 2004: Kills: 14,912, Deaths: 9107
Basiscally the D-9 is getting the same numbers in 2004 as in 2003.
Curious as to how many of these changes could be due to the ENY limiter, and how many may be because of fewer players or the more difficult gunnery model, I added up the total deaths to ALL models for these years. (Just Deaths, not Kills + Deaths)
Total Deaths:
July 2003: 619,677
July 2004: 492,754 a 20% reduction in deaths year to year.
Aug 2003: 642,609
Aug 2004: 471,781 a 27% reduction in deaths year to year.
As I started compiling the stats I was alarmed at the 50% reductions in the Niki and P-51D. I was glad to see that the total reduction in deaths is around 27%, but it increased from July to August by 7%.
I think the tougher gunnery model is making kills more difficult, hence this explains part of the reduction in kills and deaths. However the changes in deaths from July 2004 to August 2004 implies to me the ENY limiter is doing more than just causing folks to switch plane and sides, they are switching out of the game.
I love this game and want HTC to prosper. My conclusion from the above stats is the player base is declining, and declining at an increasing rate. I hope I'm wrong, that the changes in kills + deaths is not due to fewer players but to the other reasons. Only I COAD knows for sure.
Why and what can we do to reverse the situation?
1) There was bound to be a loss of players with the change in system requirements from AH I to AH II. It simply requires a more powerful system. Short of bringing back AH I, not much can be done here.
2) Should the Gunnery model, ENY limiter, and fuel Multiplier go back to AH I modeling? My vote is YES.
3) Do you have other ideas of what could - should be done ?
I stuck with Air Warrior to the bitter end. I even flew the night they turned the lights out in the full realism arena. I never want to see that happen here. Let's help make AH II a fun sim/game for the players and highly profitable for I COAD !
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Right now, I'd say that for MA play, the AH2 Spit V is the better plane. It works better down low and it doesn't have the nastier departure characteristics of the IX.
If it was a boosted LFIX it would switch back but since it's essentially become an LFVc vs a FIX, the V is the better bird.
Dan/Slack
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2) Should the Gunnery model, ENY limiter, and fuel Multiplier go back to AH I modeling?
Who even notices these things, let alone quits over them?
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Press on I say.
Keep an eye on the ENY thing. Keep adding planes. Keep making every one more detailed then the last.
The gunnery and flight models are fine. even improved.
and say it three times..
sorti rates, sorti rates, sorti rates.
If anything should be rolled back its the bomb sight and bomber defensive gun effectiveness. Make the laser sight available from single bombers.
IMHO of course.
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This has been hard on you hardcore "better dead than bish/knit" rooks. From your perspective things might look darker, whereas the other two sides can look at the very same stuff and see great improvement. It's all depends on your point of view.
Your data is interesting, but is only a snapshot. For meaningful numbers you need more data than HTC makes available, i.e. percentage of all sorties flown and player base numbers. Good luck on getting THAT info :)
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Thanks for the stats.
It is as much expected and anticipated. Since the compilation of my NPA idea I've been trying to keep a keen eye on how plane choices and usage levels differ upon gameply conditions.
One interesting aspect of the changes in stats, is that using kills earned as a measure of usage rate seems to be getting increasingly difficult since AH2.
Many people may see different things, but in my own empirical opinion, the frequency of meeting a P-51D has not decreased at all. Contrary to that, the frequency of meeting a Spit9 or the N1K2 has been greatly reduced.
If the MA of AH1 was constituted of four main types - La-7, P-51D, Spit9, N1K2 - the MA of AH2 seems to have shifted to the dominance of P-51D, La-7 and the Fw190D-9. Almost every engagement I see all of the three mentioned planes(plus, occasionally a Bf109G-10).
However, if we look at the stats alone, the kills achieved have dropped to 50% levels for the Spit9, N1K2, and the P-51D. As much, the death rates have also fallen near 40~50%.
Clearly, the reason behind the drop of Kill & Death numbers for the Spit9/N1K2 and the P-51D are not the same.
I think it is more or less safe to assume that the 50% drop in K-D numbers for the Spit9 and the N1K2 is due to the drop in usage rates itself, while the same rate of decline in K-D numbers for the P-51D, is due to the changes in the game itself, and not necessarily a drop in usage rates.
In other words, the P-51D is still a very popular plane, but it kills less, and gets killed less.
Is there any way to directly check the sortie numbers for each planes? As it is, that seems to be the only reliable source in determining usage rates now.
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simply proves that people are avoiding fights more, is all...not much hitech can do about it, its a community mindset problem that has to be fixed by the community...as in going from "if i engage this enemy chances are ill die and have to spend another x minutes getting back up, which is boring" to "if i engage this enemy and i die, ill know what to do next time he tries that, besides air combat is FUN"
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Kweassa,
I agree with your main three planes in the MA. I see the P-51D, La-7, and FW 190 D9 more than anything else.
Here's the stats on the D-9:
July 2003: Kills: 16,771, Deaths: 9109
July 2004: Kills: 16,842, Deaths: 9918
Aug 2003: Kills: 14,510, Deaths: 8970
Aug 2004: Kills: 14,912, Deaths: 9107
Basiscally the D-9 is getting the same numbers in 2004 as in 2003.
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One reason possible for the diminished numbers during the
summer may be the season..folks tend to spend more time
outside.
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Originally posted by MOSQ
2) Should the Gunnery model, ENY limiter, and fuel Multiplier go back to AH I modeling? My vote is YES.
I've always been all about gunnery. I focus on gunnery skills more than anything else. I now achieve a similiar hit % in fighter in AH2 as I did in AH1 and I probably take alot more low-percentage high deflection shots now than I ever did in AH1. The reason I shoot more high deflection shots is the same reason more people find the gunnery harder, long shots just aren't lucrative in AH2. In AH1 long-range shots approaching and sometimes exceeding 1k were not especially difficult. In AH2 they are quite a bit more difficult to impossible. Therefore the majority of your shots are going to be alot closer and of the high deflection or snap-shot variety.
I had the advantage of playing alot in beta, but I know from others that did not play beta they just carried over the same convergences and shooting methodology from AH1 to AH2. They are the ones most frustrated. Not everyone is the same but I consider myself a very good shot, I will not even attempt any shot over icon range 400 unless it's a bomber or a straight and level runner I'm trying to spook into manuevering so I can get closure. (I use a 275 convergence in all guns in AH2 as opposed to 400 in AH1)
So, I don't think the gunnery is necessarily more difficult per se. I just think the 'scaling' of the gunnery has changed but people have not changed their methods accordingly. In reality a 600 range shot in AH2 is roughly equivalent in difficulty to what a 1k+ shot was in AH1. But, once you close to 400 or less the gunnery is no harder than it was in AH2. I think people just need to learn to be patient and get in closer.
Zazen
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Originally posted by Rino
One reason possible for the diminished numbers during the
summer may be the season..folks tend to spend more time
outside.
this time last year i remember the arena being full to the 750 player limit
ive yet to see a night over 500 players since AHII came out........
dont get me wrong... i like AHII, but i DONT like unlimited planes, i dont like the fact that when you kill someone (or when he suicides) that he can be back in the air within 10seconds. I dont like the fact everyone seems to fly la7s. I dont like suicide NOE bombers, but then i can see why people do that, since bombers guns are useless now. I dont like the fact that anti night people dont even want 30minutes of night a day...i mean big DEAL, 24hours in a day and you cant put up with 30minutes? :rolleyes: fact is, this game seems to be turning into a fighter jabo suicide game, very little else happens.
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Rino,
That's why I compared July 03 to July 04 and Aug 03 to Aug 04.
I agree with you that comparing November 03 to July 04 would be meaningless.
Vorticon,
I don't think folks are avoiding fights at a 50% greater rate. Subjectivey I don't see that big a change in the MA.
Zanth,
Either the number of players is decreasing, or the new gunnery model is a hell of a lot harder to get kills!
Pongo,
I agree that the laser bomber sight would bring back High Altitude buffs. Our squadron came to AH as a buff squad, but after the bombsight change we pretty much abandoned buffing for jabos, they were simply much more efficient.
I may have to start flying the Niki, there's no one calling you a Niki uberdweeb anymore ! :)
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Originally posted by MOSQ
Zanth,
Either the number of players is decreasing, or the new gunnery model is a hell of a lot harder to get kills!
I think it's just less people. MA numbers are obviously down from a year ago. I know just my squadron alone lost maybe a dozen people to the transition from AH1 to AH2 and several more to the ENY thingy. Alot that are still technically 'active' fly a fraction as much as they used to. I think this is pretty representative of the MA population as a whole from my observations.
Zazen
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Another possible cause for the decrease in kill numbers is the change to the ditch model. It used to be a ditch = kill, now a ditch in friendly territory does not equal a kill.
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Originally posted by vorticon
simply proves that people are avoiding fights more, is all...not much hitech can do about it, its a community mindset problem that has to be fixed by the community...as in going from "if i engage this enemy chances are ill die and have to spend another x minutes getting back up, which is boring" to "if i engage this enemy and i die, ill know what to do next time he tries that, besides air combat is FUN"
I "proves" nothing of the sort.
It can also mean that the players claims that the gunnery is harder for them (Cant get that bandit dead) are lagitimate.
I am a firm believer that the gunnery/ hit sprites/ fm and so forth is the cause of the stats displayed by Mosq.
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Here's the stats on the D-9:
July 2003: Kills: 16,771, Deaths: 9109
July 2004: Kills: 16,842, Deaths: 9918
Aug 2003: Kills: 14,510, Deaths: 8970
Aug 2004: Kills: 14,912, Deaths: 9107
Basiscally the D-9 is getting the same numbers in 2004 as in 2003.
I thought about all those 190's I see in AH2 and thought how could this be right??!!
Infact, MORE people are flying the 190! If the same amount of people were still flying it after all those people left, then there would be a decline. But there isn't. Which leads me to believe that there are either more people flying it since last year, or that the same amount of people who left were replaced by new guys.
This could be why some of the other planes arent being flown as much as they used to. People might just be flying new planes...
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Why are we posting stats on particular planes?
Here is a quick look at All Kills
Tour…….Total Kills
50-692642
51-713708
52-597521
53-486581 AH2 released Mid Tour on 6/16/04
54-492754
55-471781
56-188420
This is day 16 of tour 56 and we are on a pace of less than 435000 total kills for the Tour.
I used Tour 50 through 56 with 53 being the MID point (AH2 was released 6/16/04)
So I included tour 53 in both the Pre and Post AH2 release averages. I also used the projection for Tour 56 (As it isnt complete yet.
Pre AH2 release Kills = 622613
Post Ah2 release kills = 471529
Someone commented that MA numbers are down from last year. I dont know where to find this info to get the evidence to such a claim. But i tend to disagree based on my own observation.
One fact remains undisputed. The Kills scored are down quite a bit.
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Yeah ... you kind of need the total sortie numbers to understand what the k/d is saying. If there are fewer total sorties, then perhaps not much has really changed.
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Originally posted by Mugzeee
Why are we posting stats on particular planes?
Because that's why I started looking at the scores. To see what impact the new AHII had on the different planes. It was only after I saw a 50% decline in the most popular planes of AH I that I became interested in the total kills.
I think it's very interesting how the Spit V has gone up, D-9 stayed the same, and P-51/Spit 9/Niki down 50%.
And Mugzee the only valid comparison is the same month year to year. Otherwise seasonal factors play a big part. So to really see the difference we have to compare Aug 02 to Aug 03 to Aug 04 ect. Not April 04 to August 04.
June 02: 420,800
June 03: 544,366
June 04: 486,581
July 02: 529,241
July 03: 619,677
July 04: 492,754
Aug 02: 412,917
Aug 03: 642,645
Aug 04: 471,781
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Originally posted by MOSQ
Because that's why I started looking at the scores. To see what impact the new AHII had on the different planes. It was only after I saw a 50% decline in the most popular planes of AH I that I became interested in the total kills.
I think it's very interesting how the Spit V has gone up, D-9 stayed the same, and P-51/Spit 9/Niki down 50%.
And Mugzee the only valid comparison is the same month year to year. Otherwise seasonal factors play a big part. So to really see the difference we have to compare Aug 02 to Aug 03 to Aug 04 ect. Not April 04 to August 04.
June 02: 420,800
June 03: 544,366
June 04: 486,581
July 02: 529,241
July 03: 619,677
July 04: 492,754
Aug 02: 412,917
Aug 03: 642,645
Aug 04: 471,781
Can you do the same numbers for the La7 please? I am just curious.
Zazen
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The biggest factor to total number of kills and deaths over a time period is the number of players who play.
If you dont have a stat that proves the numbers beeing equal at 2003 and 2004 then your stats unfortunatly wount say anything.
If you are comparing stats where you have 1 unknown factor and X number of changed factors then the total numbers in the stats are worthless.
The only thing you can compare with these stats is kill to death ratios and what that will give you is just trends.
Tex
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La7
July 2003 36918 kills to 31894 deaths
July 2004 35685 kills to 27965 deaths
Aug 2003 34662 kills to 27965 deaths
Aug 2004 22737 kills to 17285 deaths
1st observation is that July to Aug 2004 saw a massive down turn in use of this plane.
2nd observation is that year on year down turn seen on other top rides did not occur on the La7 until August 2004.
I think the Typhoon also bears looking at. It (and the 109G10)consistantly out kills the La7 every tour (plane v plane) and its numbers are not insignificant. Infact i think its more significant than the FW190D.
Typhoon
July 2003 22023 kills to 15863 deaths
July 2004 16797 kills to 10812 deaths
Aug 2003 22073 kills to 15619 deaths
Aug 2004 14359 kills to 9782 deaths (edit for oops)
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Originally posted by Zanth
This has been hard on you hardcore "better dead than bish/knit" rooks. From your perspective things might look darker, whereas the other two sides can look at the very same stuff and see great improvement.
Not so in every case. I`m Bish and given the opportunity I would choose AH1 over AHII in a heart beat. I guess it was like the old comfortable chair that you get used to.
On the other hand, I will dance with the one who brung me. :D Only game in town worth considering at this point.
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"1) There was bound to be a loss of players with the change in system requirements from AH I to AH II. It simply requires a more powerful system. Short of bringing back AH I, not much can be done here. "
Certinly wasn't the reason why I stopped playing or anyone else I know of except for maybe one. Given the price of components these day's I dont think AH2 requires that much to break the bank.
...-Gixer
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One time I shot at a spitV and he turned real hared and it was like he had a tail gun bc i was dead really really fast. And then Another time I was in a fight with an A6m, i was in a B26. He completely made quick work on me B26. I was shoting from my guns all over and still kouldnt get a ping on him. :mad:
So I think there is something going on. Yeah.
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Originally posted by MOSQ
And Mugzee the only valid comparison is the same month year to year. Otherwise seasonal factors play a big part. So to really see the difference we have to compare Aug 02 to Aug 03 to Aug 04 ect. Not April 04 to August 04.
I fully understand this reasoning and of course i agree.
And im still taking bets as to how it all shakes in the end.
The Kills and occurance of them will remain down from any direct comparison in the future. It is simply harder to get kills in the MA.
Many BBS players claim that it is just as easy to Get a kill or (Hit) the nme.
But the numbers dont lie. The overall averags tell the story as to how the "New" AH is effecting us as a whole.
The changes in the flight model Smaller hit sprites and other little tweaks are effecting our ability to kill.
And we might be seing the ENY sanction system effecting our desire to even bother.
However, HT has made some changes to the ENY settings and we may see some changes as a result. I am of the opinion that the the ENY sanction system has an inherent flaw in that effectively and practicaly fine tuning it is going to be impossible.
It will either be active or not. Therefore it will sometimes be ignored (Not active per settings) or it will be dispized (Too active to please the players who want to fly certian AC).
So basically its a lot of work for nothing.
The system by nature takes a tangible tool from the effected players hands. This is what makes the system generally disliked.
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Tilt,
Thanks for posting the LA-7. I would have guessed before you posted them that the LA-7 would be down in August because the ENY system was limiting it's use.
I would not have guessed the same decline in the Typhoon though. With the P-51D unavailable because of ENY, I would have guessed the Typhoon would have been higher as an attack replacement for the 51.
BTW, you need to edit the Typhoon listing, it has Aug 2003 twice. But we know what you meant.
And here's an even more interesting trend:
Panzer:
July 2003: Kills: 54,748; Deaths: 54,389 Combined: 109,137
July 2004: Kills: 48,353; Deaths: 45,108 Combined: 93,461
Aug 2003: Kills: 58,400; Deaths: 57,312 Combined: 115,712
Aug 2004: Kills: 79,428; Deaths: 75,914 Combined: 155,342
Do the August Panzer stats indicate a switch to GV's due to the Eny limiter and more difficult gunnery in planes, or is this just a blip because August had particularly good maps for the GV folks?
They are totally counter to the overall August trends. If this keeps up it will be Mud Aces soon.
The final September numbers should be very interesting.
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The reason for the decline of my kills per tour is straight boredom. I think the vets have reached a point where they are tired of trying to find fights with other skilled pilots. 9 out of 10 sorties I get ganged, even after dragging the guy half a sector away,...or i kick the living crap out of some guy i actually managed to catch alone. Sorry if that sounds cocky but Im sure most of the skilled vets would agree. So im left to find "interesting" things to do. Yesterday i spent an hour and a half tryin to get the convoy at tank town to flip me on top of the tree canopy (worked by the way, i got 3 kills but was first camper killed ironicaly). Now the biggest challenge for me is to bust up vulchfests with an osti. (yawn) Gameplay is ridiculously lame.
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Originally posted by Mugzeee
I fully understand this reasoning and of course i agree.
And im still taking bets as to how it all shakes in the end.
The Kills and occurance of them will remain down from any direct comparison in the future. It is simply harder to get kills in the MA.
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I dunno ... the kill ratio for the P51 went up from .92 to 1.06 for those two months. Indicating it got easier to get kills in the P-51, not harder.
The Spit V's K/D also went up from .89 to .99.
The D-9's K/D went down from 1.73 to 1.67 overall; but the volume of K/D stayed about the same while everyone else dropped a lot.
I also suspect a lot of the death numbers for the P-51 and D-9 are bloated due to lots of Jabo usage. Whereas Spits and N1K's tend not to get too close to AAA range until some of the heavy iron has cleared it.
The volume of kills and deaths isn't meaningful unless we know the total sortie rates for those planes in those months. Given what folks are saying about how full the MA is, it sounds like the kill and death totals are in keeping with the overall player volume.
-DoK
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Originally posted by DoKGonZo
II also suspect a lot of the death numbers for the P-51 and D-9 are bloated due to lots of Jabo usage. Whereas Spits and N1K's tend not to get too close to AAA range until some of the heavy iron has cleared it.
Actually SpitIX or niki are far better jabos than D9.
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Originally posted by GODO
Actually SpitIX or niki are far better jabos than D9.
LOLOLOL In what respect? All three can haul at least 1,000 lbs of bombs (1,000 lbs, 500 kilos and 500 kilos respectively).
All have at least two 20mm cannon as well. Frankly, the Dora is the better Jabo due to its superior speed. This allows to get in and out with reduced risk of interception.
My regards,
Widewing
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Originally posted by Widewing
LOLOLOL In what respect?
LOLOLOL :rolleyes: in every one related to cause damage to vehicles or structures.
Spit also loads 1000lb or 500 + 2 rockets, but has hispanos instead of Mg151/20s.
Niki loads 500Lb but has four guns, also far more potent than Mg151/20.
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Originally posted by GODO
LOLOLOL :rolleyes: in every one related to cause damage to vehicles or structures.
Spit also loads 1000lb or 500 + 2 rockets, but has hispanos instead of Mg151/20s.
Niki loads 500Lb but has four guns, also far more potent than Mg151/20.
You said, "Actually SpitIX or niki are far better jabos than D9."
Neither is "far better" than the Dora, and you know it.
Strafing vehicles, unless they're M-3s is probably a wasted effort. Besides, the Spitfire has about 1/2 the cannon ammo of the Dora, and the hizookas aren't twice as powerful.... The Niki, with about 800 rounds, is a better for strafing, but it trades guns for survivability. As you well know, few aircraft are better at getting back alive than the Dora.
Of course, if I was flying a pure Jabo sortie, I wouldn't want to take any of the above. Give me a P-38L or a P-47D-40. These are "far better jabos" than the Dora.
My regards,
Widewing
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Originally posted by GODO
Actually SpitIX or niki are far better jabos than D9.
FAR Better J-A-B-O-S. And they are FAR better JABOS. And being able to survive does not mean being able to cause damage.
Go and try to kill a Panzr with 151/20, even hitting with all the 500 rounds in a D9.
A lucky spitIX can kill FOUR panzers in a sortie: 2 250lb bombs, 2 rockets and the guns.
A lucky D9 can kill ONE: 1 bomb.
In fact, 190A8 is also FAR better JABO than 190D9.
In the very best case, D9 is a mediocre jabo.
Of course P38L or P47 are far better jabos than SpitIX or niki, as 110G is better jabo than P38 or P47.
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Originally posted by GODO
FAR Better J-A-B-O-S. And they are FAR better JABOS. And being able to survive does not mean being able to cause damage.
Go and try to kill a Panzr with 151/20, even hitting with all the 500 rounds in a D9.
A lucky spitIX can kill FOUR panzers in a sortie: 2 250lb bombs, 2 rockets and the guns.
A lucky D9 can kill ONE: 1 bomb.
In fact, 190A8 is also FAR better JABO than 190D9.
In the very best case, D9 is a mediocre jabo.
Of course P38L or P47 are far better jabos than SpitIX or niki, as 110G is better jabo than P38 or P47.
Again, you keep using the term "far better". They are not far better than the Dora. And yes, I have landed multiple GV kills flying the 190A-5, and I take only 2 cannon.
If we look for the most effect jabo against GVs, the A-20G is the best of the lot. Easily land 8 to 10 kills in it if you are accurate with your bombs and strafe weaker types like the M-3 and LVT.
My regards,
Widewing
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Originally posted by Widewing
And yes, I have landed multiple GV kills flying the 190A-5, and I take only 2 cannon.
You know pretty well you havent killed a single panzer with A5 (A8, D9 or F8 BTW) guns alone, on the other hand you can be awarded with the kills for putting lots of rounds on the GVs, while not killing them.
A20 is a different story, it is really able to kill several panzers alone.
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MANDOBLE,
Hispanos are not the GV killers they once were. The recent patch that reduced the effectiveness of 20mm and lower sized guns had that effect. The MG151/20 is, far all intents and purposes, just as good against Panzer IV Hs as the Hispano.
I don't know where you got the idea that the Type 99 Model IIs on thr N1K2-J were ever much better than the MG151/20s.
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Karnak, I've killed and finished fresh panzers with hispanos alone in AH2. I've never been able to do this with 151/20, not even with 151/20 + Mk108 flying 110G. On the other hand I've landed sorties with 8 pz kills in 190A8 with guns only, but all of them were finished by bombs, other panzers or rockets.
In one ocasion we had an enemy panzer stopped near our field, I took off with 190A8 FIVE TIMES (rearming) with 4x20mm guns only. I didnt cause any kind of visible damage after emptying my guns on it over and over. Later I got the kill when a friendly panzer destroyed it.
Niki guns rounds are noticeably more powerfull than 151/20, in AH2 and in AH1 (and historically, with the exception of 151/20 mines). I would say it is and was equivalent to hispano in punch power, 1 flash = damage. With 151/20 several pings does not guarantee any kind of damage. Surprisingly I found 190A5 Mg17 far more efficient than the four guns combined (MGFF and MG151/20). It seems that several 151/20 hits in the same area are needed to cause any damage, low ROF and current dispersion makes it very difficult (you hit, hit and hit but no damage is done). With Mg17 you can concentrate lots of hits in the same area very fast. The other day in a 190A8 4x20mm I needed four sets of four impacts per salvo on a Yak9U to break it. That is, every salvo of 4 rounds reached the target with every round, but the hits were too dispersed along the Yak body. This is also one of the reasons behind N1K2, F4U1C, Typh and Tempest killing effectiveness. Each pair of guns are very close, it is very easy to score 2 hits in the same area or even in very same point at the same time, causing inmediate critical damage.
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The Sept stats. There is no doubt the new gunnery model has affected the number of kills. We are still higher than 02, but not as high as 03. The panzer has siginificantly changed in usage. Since the gunnery model didn't change for GVs, it appears some folks have become more GV oriented. To the tune of 50% more Panzer kills/deaths in Sept 2004 than in Sept 2003.
June 02: 420,800
June 03: 544,366
June 04: 486,581
July 02: 529,241
July 03: 619,677
July 04: 492,754
Aug 02: 412,917
Aug 03: 642,645
Aug 04: 471,781
Sept 02: 426471
Sept 03: 540939
Sept 04: 452728
The Panzer continues on a "roll".
Panzer:
July 2003: Kills: 54,748; Deaths: 54,389 Combined: 109,137
July 2004: Kills: 48,353; Deaths: 45,108 Combined: 93,461
Aug 2003: Kills: 58,400; Deaths: 57,312 Combined: 115,712
Aug 2004: Kills: 79,428; Deaths: 75,914 Combined: 155,342
Sept 2003: Kills: 52,974; Deaths: 53,531 Combined: 106,505
Sept 2004: Kills: 79,640; Deaths: 77,309 Combined: 156,949
With the soon to be intro of the T-34, the GV #s will probably rock as folks try it out.
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I've been chalking the increased use in GV's up to the fact that it is a little tougher to get kills in planes now, so people being people, can't be bothered to learn how.
I actually foresee the day when the "ship gun" (manned ack/ 5 inch) leads the kill lists, probably after the GVs get worked over some more.
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Hidden Variable mes ami's...
There have been a great deal of people who have left the game when Ah2 came out. Don't forget that.
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To actually compare then and now you need to list the kills and deaths as a percentage of the total. Just the number doesn't tell us much as player numbers change over time.
As to the higher use of tanks I'd posit another theory as well, the AH2 terrain engine makes GV fights much more fun than AH1 GV fights.
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Urchin:
I actually foresee the day when the "ship gun" (manned ack/ 5 inch) leads the kill lists, probably after the GVs get worked over some more.
Ship Gunner Stats:
26,504 in Sept 03
25,613 in Sept 04
I would say that the Ship Gunner stats are stable.
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Originally posted by Karnak
As to the higher use of tanks I'd posit another theory as well, the AH2 terrain engine makes GV fights much more fun than AH1 GV fights.
Agreed, the new terrain makes them much more fun, and survivable from air attacks if you use the tree cover properly.
Guess we better get that Ju-87G warmed up !
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That better not be sarcastic... :cool:
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Overall I'd say the total player base has declined a bit over the last year. The overall "playability" of the game has declined dramatically. Obviously thats why the ENY was implemented, as an attempt (at least partially successful IMO) to "stop the bleeding".
Personally I feel that indivdually each aspect (FM,damage model,gunnery model etc) of the game is better but somewhow the "total package" is much worse. The game simply isnt as much fun anymore. Some of this is probably actually hardware driven since "seeing" a GV is much tougher and hitting a plane is a bit tougher...so your video card or joystick effect your "playability" more now than in AH.
Obviously the powers that be are focused on this since we now have new commercials and a refocus on new planes and vehicles vs development of TOD.
I think the ENY has helped more than it hurt but it hasnt addressed the "core issue"...simply put for many the "fun factor" has diminished over time.
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maybe what humble said in the last post, about customer base decline, I see it as
1st- you are talking bout Summer time June, July, August hence Summer Vacation, people out doing things etc.....
economy is better from this time last year so people have possibly had a chance to do more outdoor activitys.......
2nd- wait and compare stats in Oct, Nov, dec when people are back indoors and flying more
3rd- a year later some people have gained in their flying skills a little more and are flying better..........
anyhow.I did not read all the other post except the first 1 and the one before mine.........
but either you are having fun, and continue to fly or you are starting to not have fun and should take a break....
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Well, I have been out of AH for awhile but got bit by the bug again a week or so ago. I thought about it and decided my schedule would allow me a few hours or so a week to play a game again SO! I go DLed AHII and discover, to my chagrin that I need a new vid card......hmmmm....I'm a divorced dad paying child support and excess cash is very thin BUT I bite the bullet and go get a new vid card....ouch. Plug the sucker in and FINALLY get AHII to run. I piddle around offline, checking things out and once I feel that I'm somewhat comfortable with the game again I log back in, create a new account and go to MA. First thing that happens, I cant fly the plane I select. Already not liking what I'm seeing but I find another base and can get the plane I want and fly 3 sorties. I can tell some differences but still am not sure what has changed so I come here to see if I can discover what is new.
What I see so far does not make me happy. After reading over all these post the thing that comes through most evidently when reading between the lines is that the game isnt as fun. This is NOT, repeat NOT a good thing. Listen, I'm a huge history buff. I've loved history since I was a little kid, always have. I've read books on Air Combat but I play AH for FUN! Pure and simple, FUN! I have a life, I work, I have friends, I go to the gym, I love to ride Mtn Bikes, I have a pseudo girl-friend (dont ask :-) I have two kids who I dont see near enough, I go to church, I have a house to take care of, a yard to keep up and cat who depends on me to feed him :) so my only reason for playing (read playing, not living) AH is FUN!! FUN! FUN! FUN! When I played before I would come in, check the arena, find the biggest fights I could find, up in either a Typhoon (if I felt like cherry picking the fur-ball) or a niki if I felt like lowering my head and charging into the middle of a big nasty furball and blazing away. I did what was FUN to me. I didnt care who flew what, who had more numbers, who porked what base or suicided here or there or anything else. I just did whatever I felt was going to bring me the most "ENTERTAINMENT"! Sometimes that might be suiciding in a low lever bomber, or jumping up in an Ostie, or manning the guns on a BB or finding a good GV battle and grabbing a tank. I just wanted to have some fun for 1 or 2 hours (which was about all the time I could spare to PLAY a game).
I wasnt looking for "true" realism of what it was like being a WWII fighter jock. If I want that I'll go play a scenario, thats about the only place you can even get CLOSE to what real WWII aerial combat was like. Mass formations of planes, flying with a wingman with a specific mission that you'd spent either days or maybe just a few hours planning and preparing for. Waiting in the ready room with your buddies waiting for the word to "man your plane!" Flying scenarios to me DID feel like what I had always read about in books about WWII aerial combat. Formations of the same planes either jumping or getting jumped by another formation of the same planes. A few minutes of wild melee followed by the errie feeling of suddenly being alone when only moments ago the sky was flilled with flying, burning, turning, falling planes and bullets flying everywhere. Now you're alone, low and low on ammo and the only thing you care about is finding a friend and getting home alive. THAT was fun! But is it something you can even come CLOSE to replicating in the MA?? NO WAY! Impossible!
Now it seems as if things are being done to "manage" the MA. Why? The objective of the MA is fun, at least it is in my book and I have a feeling that it is for most other people as well. I now read that HTC is planning TV ads and more print ads to increase membership. Who do you think most of these people are going to be? Die-hard grognards who know every detail of every plane that ever flew in WWII? No, they're going to be your average joe off the street who thinks that playing a WWII fighter game looks FUN. Pure and simple. Most will come check out AHII to see if its FUN!
I hadnt expected many things to have changed in my time away from AH but I certainly hadnt expected HTC to begin gerrymandering the arena to achieve......what? balance? Playability? In who's opinion? AHI was fine as it was before, not perfect but it was fun and thats what playing a game is suppose to be all about. The gunnery was fine, the hit sprites were fine, the plane usage was fine, it all added up to something that was fun. Keep trying to make it more "realistic" by making it more difficult to get hits, more difficult to see the hits, more difficult to fly the plane people want fly, eliminate furballs, stop porking, force the MA to ALWAYS have even numbers, stop land grabbing or whatever else some few who will write to HTC or complain on a message board dont like and before long you WILL see the lights go out once again on a good, fun WWII flight sim GAME.
I started playing AW because it looked FUN! It was fun! TONS of fun! I wanted to get better so I bought some books on ACM, I read, I talked to people, I learned and I got better. I dont consider myself any kind of ACM guru but I know I dot better and I learned. KEEP the game fun and more people will come to play and more importantly want to keep playing. If they keep having fun and keep wanting to play then MAYBE they'll want to learn ACM and do what all the rest of us did, learn ACM. If they dont want to learn ACM but still have fun playing and keep coming back then who am I or anyone else for that matter to tell them that they should learn to fly other planes and learn ACM and learn how to "play" the game the way someone else has arbitrarily decided the game should be played?
I'll play my free two weeks and hope that what I'm reading here isnt true. I HOPE I have fun.
Ok, Rant over
And as always these comments are of course....IMHO:D
TMASTodon
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I'll play my free two weeks and hope that what I'm reading here isnt true. I HOPE I have fun....
Gee can I have your video card:D :D :D ...
Actually welcome back and I hope you do have fun. To some degree the ENY and slightly lower numbers have evened out some of the gangbanging. I did finally join a squad (AK's) and not only did I add the benifit of not being a "lone wolf" but they are a great bunch of guys to boot. I'd suggest looking around for a squad you can "wing" with while you get your feet wet again...
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AH2 is not fun for me. It's boring. specifically what is boring is the herd mentality of fighting. The gangbanging is boring. I don't do it anymore. OK a little.
AH2 is frustrating for me. Specifically what is frustrating is the flights of Lancs and B17s at 500 feet. They can't be ignored, so you just dive in and kill a few and die yourself. I might as well play quake. It's dumb.
The HTC staff must be Democrats. Only a Democrat could come up with ENY. ENY makes a 3rd world out of the most successful. It takes from the rich but gives nothing to the poor. It promises a better future and ignores the root problems. Maybe HTC is trying to lure more Democrats into the game? Who want's Al Sharpten for a squad leader. Oh crap I'm getting off topic.
AH2 ground game is fun. It's fun because its often man to man fighting. There is team work, you can resupply your friends and the gunnery takes skill. I enjoy the teamwork it takes to capture a base. A lot of others do too.
AH2 now caters to quake personalities and I personally think it's on-the-way-out. I've been playing since WB's .95 or so and I've been through all the stages of getting bored etc. This is different.
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TMASTodon,
Very well said. It is a game to have fun. For me the begining of the "less fun" was the changeover in the bomber sight model back in AHI. That's when my squad switched from 90% buffs/10% fighters to 90% Jabos/ 5% fighters/5% buffs.
To go with the sight change HTC added buff formations. Ok, the tradeoff worked for some dedicated buffers.
Next the furballers whined that it was too easy to grab bases, so HTC made the AHII towns much larger. Now it's almost impossible to grab a base with just 3-4 players using jabos. It takes a concerted effort of quite a few.
The unitended consequence of these two actions is now we have formations of dive bombing Lancasters. Take a couple of low level formations of Lancs and you can take out an entire base's FHs and VH, and any GVs unlucky enough to be on the base. It's the most efficient means to destroy a base.
All the other tweaks like the gunnery model and ENY limiter have been hard on Vets who liked things fine the old way.
However change is a part of any game. I've come to appreciate the gunnery model. I like it better now than the old easy kill gunnery.
The jury is still out for me on the ENY limiter. I think ultimately it will do more harm than good. I'm willing to give it some more time. I'm sure there will be unintended consequences of it, just like there has been for the bomber site/formation/town/base changes.
All in All I still love playing this game. Welcome back, and if you're in Rookland look me up, I'll be glad to help you make the time warp adjustment.
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MOSQ,
I consider the AH2 hit detection a fix. If the AH1 hit detection hadn't been designed to be lower resolution than the 3D models I would go so far as to consider it a major bug fix. As it is I just consider it a major improvement. I don't want to get credit for hitting something that I didn't actually hit and AH1 gave such credit.
EDIT: I was responding to your comments in the opening post.
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biggest overall change ive seen is that, for whatever reason, 80-90% of nmy seems to fly in a large Borg cube==mebbe because it takes that many guys to get stuff done...or they terrified of running into an uneven fight and getting kilt...there might be 250 bases in play...only 4-5 have all 3 countries concentrated around em....most unfun...no fights..cant even pick around the edge without getting chased off by 5 spits...yawn
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>>Who even notices these things, let alone quits over them?<<
I see the same thing here as in other online games. Changes made to satisfy the 100+ hours people, just make a worse experience for those who play maybe 20 hours a month.
Balance aint that important unless you're living in AH, and if you're not, the changes (like the eny value) made to promote balance are just a turn off.
But thats my problem. I just find AH isn't spit friendly, and I don't enjoy it (or play) as much. Call me a spit a dweeb, but thats what I subcribed for. Its changed and I don't hardly play anymore. I keep my account for the bbs :)
Edit: A fighter town with not all the balancing acts would satisfy my need to kill and be killed. Getting 10 sorties in an hour is more important to me than balance - and it isnt ADD, its just not a lot of uninterupted time.
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TweetyBird,
It isn't that AH2 isn't Spit friendly, it's that we don't have any appropriate Spitfires in AH.
You're using a summer, 1942 Spitfire Mk V or a summer, 1942 Spitfire Mk IX in a fall, 1944/winter, 1945 arena.
What we need is a Merlin 66 powered Spitfire Mk VIII or LF.Mk IX. There needs to be a Spitfire that is fast enough to be competitive in the AH2 arena.
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Spit 14 fits the bill as far as I'm concerned, I still haven't figured out why it is perked.
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Originally posted by Urchin
Spit 14 fits the bill as far as I'm concerned, I still haven't figured out why it is perked.
I think because it's the fastest accelerating plane in the game from 150 to 250, and at 150 to 300 only the Tempest is faster. It's only at 300+ plus that the LA-7, 109G-10, and D-9 are faster.
And that's only on the deck. At altitude in may be much faster accelerating than that, in comparison to the other planes.
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I missed something while I was waiting to buy my new compy...
What's the ENY limiter??????????????
Completely confused,
righty
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Hey Squadie,
It will be nice to have you back.
The ENY limiter is an attempt to bring balance to the numbers of players on each side by limiting the planes you can fly based on their ENY value. The more players any one country has more than the others, the more that county's planeset is limited. The first planes to become unavailable are the perk rides because their ENY values are so low. Then the LA-7.....ect. Lately the Nits have had so many players online they were limited to 40+ENY rides. That means no FW-190s of any kind, no Niki, no P-38, no P-51D, ect.
It was the Nits complaining about Rook hordes being unfair that caused this. Now they are reaping the rewards of their own complaints.
On the downside some players have left AHII for other games because they are dedicated P-51D flyers and it is one of the first planes to be restricted. I think, but am not sure, that whole P-51 squads have left AHII.
See you soon in the skies Righty.
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Originally posted by Urchin
Spit 14 fits the bill as far as I'm concerned, I still haven't figured out why it is perked.
But it is perked, so it doesn't fit the bill.
XrightyX,
The ENY limiter is a control mechanism added by HiTech that progressively disables a side's access to low ENY aircraft like the La-7 (ENY 5), P-51D (ENY 6), N1K2-J (ENY 7), ect, ect if the player numbers get too imbalanced. For it to start there must be at least 200 players in the MA and one side must have, IIRC, 135% of the player numbers of the lowest side. The greater the percentage, the higher the ENY of the disabled aircraft up to ENY 40 at 210%, IIRC.
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Originally posted by Killjoy2
AH2 is not fun for me. It's boring. specifically what is boring is the herd mentality of fighting. The gangbanging is boring. I don't do it anymore. OK a little.
AH2 is frustrating for me. Specifically what is frustrating is the flights of Lancs and B17s at 500 feet. They can't be ignored, so you just dive in and kill a few and die yourself. I might as well play quake. It's dumb.
The HTC staff must be Democrats. Only a Democrat could come up with ENY. ENY makes a 3rd world out of the most successful. It takes from the rich but gives nothing to the poor. It promises a better future and ignores the root problems. Maybe HTC is trying to lure more Democrats into the game? Who want's Al Sharpten for a squad leader. Oh crap I'm getting off topic.
AH2 ground game is fun. It's fun because its often man to man fighting. There is team work, you can resupply your friends and the gunnery takes skill. I enjoy the teamwork it takes to capture a base. A lot of others do too.
AH2 now caters to quake personalities and I personally think it's on-the-way-out. I've been playing since WB's .95 or so and I've been through all the stages of getting bored etc. This is different.
What a load of crap...
I like low buffs because they are easier to catch and kill than 35K buffs. If you dont like them, keep killing them and they'll stop coming!
ENY rarely goes into effect now, and when it does, JUST FLY ANOTHER PLANE! I am so tired of the "i can't fly my batfishoflug right this damn minute so I am going to go pout in the corner like a 2 year old" -- unless of course you are 2 years old. There are many different planes you can fly, and maybe, who knows (I am going out on a limb here) YOU MAY ACTUALLY LIKE SOME OF THEM! Get out of your freaking little shell comfort zone and try something different for once. Who knows, it might even improve your skills at the same time...
Bazi
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Of course you like them. They are easy kills and you dont fly bombers at all.
Your like living testimony to the failure of the formation-calibration bomber change.
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Now, granted, I've come over from games (counter-strike, q3 team arena) where it is common to switch sides to even the numbers & skill sets, and even have software enforced auto-balance measures to keep numbers even...
but if you're upset that you're limited in your plane selection, and really want to fly a specific low ENY plane, uh... change sides until the numbers balance out and the ENY restriction goes away? I understand why people don't want to change sides (I wouldn't change from Rooks just to fly an LA-7), but the option is there. Especially if you don't play frequently and logon to fly a certain fighter. You'll get to fly your high-performance fighter in very target-rich environments.
IMHO, ENY is a good thing. It keeps the MA honest. It can even be said it draws its theory from RL armed forces. The US Army doesn't need 1 million troops because of the technological dominance. The NK army needs 1 million lemmings because it is using dated, inferior equipment.
Indy007
ShiznotZ!
sidenote: I've been shifting away from the pony & dora over to 109s. higher ENY, more perks, just as fun. oh, and low level/divebombing lancs need to be kicked in the nuts. The lowest drop I've done all month has been 7k, and I mostly drop from 15k. Wouldn't hurt my feelings if there was a bomb release lockout against high angles & low altitude, unless clear of enemy ground targets so you could dump & run if you had to.
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Wurger/Bazi, whatever...
Where in Atlanta do you live? I'm about to graduate from Ga Tech!
But, to your comment (and now that I understand the ENY limiter) I have to say I have mixed feelings...
I think it's great for getting people into other airplanes. That has always been my biggest complaint--95% uber planes running around the MA, but...
If people are leaving the game b/c of it, then that sux. I don't really know if that can be true, though, seems to me if they are so unattached to the game/squad/country loyalty stuff, then they could just switch to the weakest country and fly whatever they wanted.
righty
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Righty,
The switching sides may not be a big deal for individual lone wolves. But for Squads it is. Can you imagine the inter-squad squabbling we would have if the NightHawks was a dedicated P-51D squad and we had to switch from Rooks to Bish to fly our plane? A lot of folks would not want to make the country switch because we have developed friendships and camaraderie among our fellow Rooks.
That's why some squads have bailed for other games.
There are other solutions to the problem. Multiple long threads were written by other players on what those solutions could be. Do a BBS search and you can spend days reading through all of them.
And congratulations on your upcoming graduation. My Dad graduated from GT in June, 1941, ROTC. Was assigned to the AAF, Panama Canal for the expected war with Japan. Everyone expected the Japanese to attack the canal as it would have greatly affected our abitiy to wage war in the pacific. He was there on 12-7-41.
Anyway, he's a huge GT alumni booster still. I grew up going to every game at Grant Field, and even went to GT for two years myself before transferring to FSU.
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Whew! After reading these 2 pages of posts I'm exusted.
A little history. I started Air Combat sims last year is CFS2 which I liked but hated all the cheating online with all the moded planes. I got a copy of CFS3 (from a friend with every intention of paying for it) and absolutly HATED it.
So I said, let me try AH. I dl's AH in May and started practicing. Wasn't paying attention so when I thought I was ready to go online I see that I need AHII to play online.
Installed AHII, had to update my video driver. Now works fine.
I'm in my 2 weeks and have played in the MA for the last 4 days. Here are my observations. (remember my AH was all offline practice)
1. I really like the new flight models. I thought the rudder in AH was weak. I almost never had to use the rudder unless I wanted to swing my nose side to side. The new model is more close to my CFS2 experience. I realise I have pedals and some may not. I still need to tweek my stick some more. Trimming is still a skill I need work on. I tried combat trim but it seems to get in the way more than help. It is helpfull for a quick trim-up but on full time just tend to irratate me more than anything.
2. Gunnery seems fine to me. It seemed to me that the guns in AH were a bit to strong, especially the 50cals. Again, not much experience to go by.
3. Balance? Seems the times I was in the MA there were far more friendlies than nmy. That could be attributed to my not knowing how to find a good fight. One thing I didn't want to do was dive in on a 8 on 3 and look like a kill stealer. When I did get into an engagement I died pretty quickly, which is to be expected being new and all.
4. Fun? Yeah, I had fun. Haven't killed anything yet but my rear end is full of bullet holes. Yeah, I had lots of fun.:rofl
Anyways, this is a bit of a scary thread for a new guy coming into the game. I always seem to come into things when they are in a downward spiral. I hope this isn't the case because I really like this game and so far am happy with AHII. I really tried to do my homework before going online so I wouldn't appear as such a dweeb though I do need more practice in AHII.
So far I'm pretty sure I'm going to stick it out and subscribe. In fact I'm positive I will. :aok So if some folks are leaving because of the changes, I think others like me will come in who don't have the prejudices that flying AH I might have instilled in them.
Now I just need some folks to fly with so I don't feel like such a lone wolf out there.
ClifRa
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I dont know that AH is on a "downward spiral"...it simply has evolved from a "flight sim" to more of a "war sim". For those of us who "grew up" in the knights of the air" phase of the genre this is actually a big step back in many ways...however for many it may be a big leap forward. Real war was probably alot more like the MA now vs the FR (full realism) arena I "grew up" in back in Air Warrior. The average new fighter pilot (german) survived less than 5 missions in 1944. Sounds about right for the MA:)
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Welcome to the game ClifRa! All this teeth gnashing is because we all love the game and want to improve it. Don't let it scare you.
HTC looks at these threads and makes changes to the game. Some work out great, others not so well. That is to be expected.
Downward spiral? Not yet. In the above stats you've exhausted yourself on you'll see the numbers of kills are down in almost every category from 2003. I attribute that to the new more difficult gunnery model. I also think it's a good thing. We lost a few old vets who didn't like it (Steve please come back!), but the new folks don't know the difference. Probably the same will happen over time with the ENY limiter, new folks will just assume that's the way it is.
And the dive bombing Lancasters I'm sure will be addressed. In the old days of AHI we had "car bomber" buffs. If you spawned on the runway in a buff you could drop your bmbs and blow yourself up. Of course you would do that when two enemy planes were right on top of you, so they would die too. A neat way to eliminate vulchers. HTC fixed that insanity, and now I'm sure they'll fix this one too.
So welcome to the MA. Look for me in Rookland, our squad will be glad to help you along.
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Never trust a man named for a pest. J/K
Mosq, can you send me those buff Avatar's again? Somehow I lost them...can't find your email address right now either...
righty
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Originally posted by humble
I dont know that AH is on a "downward spiral"...it simply has evolved from a "flight sim" to more of a "war sim". For those of us who "grew up" in the knights of the air" phase of the genre this is actually a big step back in many ways...however for many it may be a big leap forward. Real war was probably alot more like the MA now vs the FR (full realism) arena I "grew up" in back in Air Warrior. The average new fighter pilot (german) survived less than 5 missions in 1944. Sounds about right for the MA:)
I didn't mean to say it was. I just thought that new guys might get a wrong impression from this thread. I actually thought it was very informative. The downward spiral was actually a comment on my recent history of getting into things.
ClifRa
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Originally posted by MOSQ
Downward spiral? Not yet.
As I said, this was more a comment on my own bad luck/timing in other areas and my hope that AH will continue to go on strong.
The last few days I've been in the MA has been pretty active at least from my inexperienced eye. I actually did find a good fight last night on my last sortie. Unfortunatly I caught a wing in the water trying to escape a bandit in a low turn fight. He had a friendly on his tail and when I tried to set him up I wasn't paying attantion to my alt. Rookie error but I'll learn. (like running out of fuel, did that twice, and forgetting to drop tanks. :mad: )
"Death is such a wonderful teacher"
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Originally posted by Clifra Jones
As I said, this was more a comment on my own bad luck/timing in other areas and my hope that AH will continue to go on strong.
You are just learning :) from time to time after 4 years in AH I've this incredible feeling that I'm again a newbie and I being allways in the bad luck/timing period ...
When I started it was the case for all my sorties now it's perhaps one or two time per month :p
The only difference is that when I was newbie I was clueless about the sequence of event that bring me in deep doodoo now that I'm more experimented I realize I will die sooner but I still die :D
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First let me say "Thank You" to the welcome backs I've recieved. I've always enjoyed the AW/AH Community and am glad to see that courtesy is still a part of it.
:aok
Next, I flew about an hour Tues Night and.....fun was had :cool: Found a couple of furballs, had my niki (yes, nikidweeb and proud of it) got some kills and even land them:D Even had one Hi P38 jump me, turned the tables on him and shot him down, always enjoyable. Then was chased 3/4 of the way back to my base by an LA7, turned on him and killed him too :p So it appears that all is not completely lost in being able to find fun in AHII.
Still a few questions remain:
1)Fuel: Whats the talk I'm hearing about the change in fuel? Have fuel ranges been increased? This could have great bearing on me as my time online is shorter so my flights tend to be short as well. No need to be lugging around anymore fuel than is needed.
2)Flight Model: Whats been changed here? I've only been able to fly 2 nights for an hour each night and so far I'm still trying to get my video/screen res's comfortable for me and still getting my stick and rudders calibrated properly. Some things seem a little different but its impossible to tell how much of it is new modeling and how much of it is just being rusty.
Some things I like so far though:
New damage modeling looks real nice. Oil on windsheild is pretty cool and I think it does add some realism in that "Oil all over my windshield??" Hmmm time to park this puppy." And the bullet hole through my wing Tues night was also pretty cool :aok
One thing I dont like though is that the airfield seems to be constanly redrawing itself. Its a pain on the eyes not to mention quite disconcerting to see ones runway disappear/reappear/disappear and then reappear again as you're trying to line it up for a landing. I've tried fiddling with res/video to try and stop that but so far no luck.
Looking forward to getting some more air time, learning the new lil quirks and rejoining the Unfriendly sky's.
TMASTodon
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Originally posted by TMAST
New damage modeling looks real nice. Oil on windsheild is pretty cool and I think it does add some realism in that "Oil all over my windshield??" Hmmm time to park this puppy." And the bullet hole through my wing Tues night was also pretty cool :aok
TMASTodon
The blood (my own) splattering all over the inside of my canopy last night was pretty cool too.:aok
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Originally posted by TMAST
1)Fuel: Whats the talk I'm hearing about the change in fuel? Have fuel ranges been increased? This could have great bearing on me as my time online is shorter so my flights tend to be short as well. No need to be lugging around anymore fuel than is needed.
the fuel burn multiplier has been turned UP from 1.5 to 2, so you run out of fuel much quicker
a 109 is usless withough a minium of 75% fuel, even then a 5 min flight to fight, 5 min fight, you will have to throttle back and conserve fuel to RTB.
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No welcome back fer Tmast...he kilt me the other night;