Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Aces High General Discussion => Topic started by: Sunchaser on February 15, 2001, 09:59:00 PM
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PERK POINTS
1.Hate em
2.Love em
3.No opinion till they are implemented.
The unfortunate part of it all is that the discussions, and there are many here, are not all pleasant and becoming less so..
They are having an impact on this forum and this game.
Flight Simmers who I never would expect to worry about such trivia are actually squeaking about the low POINT value of this and that item.
Those for PERK POINTS and those who profess to have no opinion seem to be quick to jump on those critical of the system.
I do not like the idea and have stated same several times and had decided to just let it go but it seems that the entire focus of Aces High is now the PERK POINT and PERK PLANES.
I watch the map a lot, bomber players have lots of down time climbing, and since the POINT system was let loose the areas of the map containing cities, factories and HQs have got a lot more red dots near.
Guys who never even knew there were strat targets on the map are now seeking them out in search of the new Aces High Holy Grail....the PERKPOINT.
Guys have discovered that if you fly a JU88 instead of a B17 you get way more points for bombing the same target so they fly JU88s.
Guys are crying about the low point value of bombing acks, hell I never bomb acks at a strat tgt unless there is a chance some of my side will come strafe it.
Why? Because, unless it is on a structure it has no effect on the damage percentage of the complex.
This group is not all that big, has anyone noticed that the 200s nightly after the release of 1.5 have shrunk back to their pre 1.5 levels?
The new stuff is not so new anymore, those not so water fighting inclined have set AH aside for awhile, serious simmers are sitting it out till and if the scenarios arrive and anyone a bit critical of HTCs possible direction are labelled whiners and malcontents.
There may be options soon but there also may not be options and at the moment AH seems to be the best option for those of us here, else why are we?
Aces High seems to me to be at a crossroads, one side WWII flightsim the other Airplane game with WWII planes and some "what if" planes tossed into the mix.
I believe, as much as I do not want to, that AH will be a great airplane game and with the exception of a few scenarios, never a WWII flightsim.
Until there is an option that fits my hobby requirements better I will hang around but I am not real happy with the trend around here.
Whatever happened to.... "Whew, I was the luckiest bastard in the arena to land this one!"
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When did they put this thing in here and WTF is it for?
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Whatever happened to.... "Whew, I was the luckiest bastard in the arena to land this one!"
I say that everytime I land! Perk points? Don't think about them too much. I fly what I want to fly. If They make a perk plane that I really want to fly, well then I will have something to fly every now and then besides the standards. As long as we can fly perk planes offline and in H2H at anytime for training, it really isn't an issue for me.
I am looking forward to just flying the Ar-234 NOE though. The view has to be awesome (i.e.-we get the view and can fly at the same time, unlike current bombers where you get the view or you get to fly but not both (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/Smileys/default/wink.gif) ).
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Sundog
VMF-111 Devildogs (http://www.devildogs.com)
'Criticism is always easier then craftmanship.'
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Ok - I'm not gonna throw my lot in one way or another on this... I just wanted to point out something.
If ya look at yer post again, it's striking how much you actually describe the perk system as having the effect of almost creating the type of sim it seems your looking for.
Uhm..k... done... Outta here.
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4) Totally indifferent.
Perk rides'll be easy to fly in H2H or offline. If folks want to get worked up about the whole issue one way or another, more power to 'em. Personally, I'd rather not waste a lot of time thinking about it.
-- Todd/DMF
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2 Months ago; one guy could de-ack a field; come back, capture it, move on.. at peak time. Always.
No more. Now if yah want terrain at peak hours; yah better bring a well organised team, running a clockwork attack cycle with precise timing, or it degenerates into a 30 plane furball inside 20 minutes at ANY location.
Nowdays in the MA individuals have a significantly lower impact on strat in the sim.. Individuals not inclined towards 'team' play now tend to attack undefended factories and facilities while the team players work on the fields and produce a determined line of advance; with both groups communicating and cooperating. This is now the 'normal MA' situation.
Why?.. Perk points. It seems the MA is shifting it's group mind towards a larger better organized style of gameplay.. After being un-organized and gangbanged for so long by seemingly organized national adversarys scooping up perkies and tons of vulch kills the troops are naturally waking up to the reality that unless they organize themselves they'll be vulched silly and be blind all evening.. we've all decieded that's no fun at all.
Another good thing is that Perk points awarded for a reset definitly did change the 'lets get 'em to two fields and just vulch the bastids all night' stuff.. now the teams DO have a goal beyond the mindless vulch... and with strat targets such great point getters, why furball?
The transition from constant central mindless furball to team play with strat goals is in retrospect obvious.. first, you couldn't survive long without a wingie, soon enuff you always flew with yer squad, then it became difficult to obtain or effect the gangbang with just your squad... and now we organize entire nations toward objectives routinely... to win.
Did perk points do all that? I don't think so.. we were headed that way before perk points and we have yet to see a perk plane. Did it speed it up? yah.. and so did fleets, so did this terrain, so did the larger numbers in the MA during peak hours.. all of it has had an effect.
The new arena reality is entirely explainable.. wingman are necessary to survive and get perk points, squads are necessary to get terrain and dominate strat targets and get more perk points, national organization is necessary to obtain a reset and get even more perk points... having accomplised the first of these tasks leads one to achieve the next.. and so on.
Darwin at work in the MA. Yah gotta love it. (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/Smileys/default/smile.gif)
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Hang
1st/AG "Bishlanders" << Recruiting!!
"Turn to kill, not to engage."
Commander 'Willie' Driscoll, USNR
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Exactly, Dead Man...
There is no point in arguing about it now. If there ARE problems with the perk system, they'll change it AFTER they've already tested it! Just hold on and see how it works when they finally implement it. A waste of energy typing about it.. and now i'm tired cause I had to type this last post.. DAMN THE PERK SYSTEM! It got me tired!! LoL, you can see the hypocrisy all over the BBS just like that! (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/Smileys/default/biggrin.gif)
SHEESH
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-=///Octavius\\\=-
VMF-323 "Death Rattlers"
MAG-33
Maz203@aol.com
(http://www.devildogs.com/vmf111/mag-33-hdr2.gif)
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All the anti-perk point people should read Hangtime's post a few times. Might learn something.
Well said, Hangtime! (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/Smileys/default/smile.gif)
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Rape, pillage, then burn...
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Yup, Hang is right... The MA is so much different now. Whatever the reason, it has certainly changed in there.
It's been..... great.
Yet, the Lazs's of AH can STILL find an easy fur... despite... well, despite the absolute panic about this whole thing...
Lazs - the second that you can't up and make yer way to an easy low level fisticuffs is the second I'll start taking yer posts seriously. Because... you'd be right. You *oughta* be able to find that. We're talking about the MA, after all.
But, that just aint the case, is it?
The people that have been wanting for some kind of 'bigger picture' are now getting it, yet magically the furballers are still able to furball. The two schools seem to be co-existing fine from my pov.
So it seems to be working out ok... unless yer some kind of a so called 'Amish' person... who, as I understand the definition, just wants things exactly his own way.
So Lasz, I reckon it's time for you to get off the fence. Are you in support of everything going your own way? Or are against something going someone else's way? Which is it?
( <cough> nevermind the fact that your arena philosophy is so extreme as to be shared by maybe 2% of the population, yet we gotta hear on a daily basis how yer ideas would be best suited for us all)
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It would be great to have perk for capture...
If jabo doing their duty and next a CAP + some bomber + a goon they all worked for the capture and should have some pp no ?
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<4. Totally indifferent>
Perk planes will come, people will fly them, and the little guy flying a C.202 will always shoot them down. I don't care about perk points, Lazs' arguments (philisophical belching) or the screamers. When they show up I'll fly them offline to get the hang of them, then I'll run right out and get some replacement sounds for each one. Once that's done, I'm gonna take an Ar.234 on an NOE flight and run over some trees.
If people want to go round-n-round over perk points/planes let 'em. As a not-so well known guy once said...
Originally hollered by Clint Smith:
"No one cares! We aren't gonna kiss your boo-boos, pat you on the head when you complain or comiserate your frustrations!"
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Flakbait [Delta6]
Delta 6's Flight School (http://www.worldaccessnet.com/~delta6)
Put the P-61B in Aces High
"With all due respect Chaplian, I don't think God wants to hear from me right now.
I'm gonna go out there and remove one of His creations from this universe.
And when I get back I'm gonna drink a bottle of Scotch like it was
Chiggy von Richthofen's blood and celebrate his death."
Col. McQueen, Space: Above and Beyond
(http://www.worldaccessnet.com/~delta6/htbin/delta6.jpg)
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"The new stuff is not so new anymore, those not so water fighting inclined have set AH aside for awhile, serious simmers are sitting it out till and if the scenarios "
I know this is true for a large number of AW malcontents.
Any flight sim's MA will be wierdness and wineyness, it's the nature of the beast.
Scenario's are what give aero-quake depth and perspective.
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Not to nitpick, but there ARE times when every forward field has lost their fighter hangars. That is the way the game is played, no complaint here. There is no doubt that the perk points are making people take the time to do things they wouldn't ordinarily do, like strafe resources (Talk about funny- how about deriding players for doing exactly what you begged them to do before perk points!).
I also must say that I haven't found it too awfully difficult to play the way I want to with my limited schedule, but if it ever gets to the point I can't sit down for 40 minutes and find a fight or two, I will no longer sit down for 40 minutes, or at all. This is the point the strat guys miss- there are some people who are willing to pay-to-play, even under tight time restrictions, so long as there is something fun to do in that short time. If the game evolves beyond that point it will drive people like me away. Note it relates to perk points only in that the possibility exists that the system may potentially squeeze out low time commitment pilots. The uber issue has nothing to do with me...
[This message has been edited by Kieren (edited 02-16-2001).]
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I don't think about it much at ll. I'l fly my 47, Yak, 38 to hunt folks, shoot them down and get shot down by them. then every once in while I'll notice I've accumulated enough points to grab a P-47M or TA-152 or Tempest and I'll take one for a spin and see what happens. I'll shoot some down, they shoot me down and I'l jump back into the old trusty. Wash, rinse, repeat....
There are way too many people worrying about this roadkill to the point - not to anyone in particular or in answer to anything in this topic persay but in general - that they are imagining completely hypothetical situations and possibilites. And getting all worked up over it to boot.
-Westy
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sunchaser has summed it up perfectly. The focus has shifted and even nash and hang have noticed it. The difference is... Sun (and I and others) think it is a bad thing and hang and co. think it is a good thing...
Either way, the numbers have slipped. Think about it. If you have to "force" people to behave a certain way (perk) then probably they are enjoying themselves less even if they comply.... Freefor allers in my camp bemoan the fact that strat potatos are making the fights harder to come by.
Now all people want to do is organize to and club down a field... what I see is a blinding flash of action and then....nothing till the next attack on the next field, occupied or not...
"you cannot take off from this field" No matter how you cut it.... seeing that message at every field that is close to the action is gonna piss off people in my camp. They are gonna log MORE OFTEN if they have nothing to do.
so yeah.... so far the idiotic perk point idea has been a disaster for my style. It can only get from a little, to a lot, worse when the actual perk planes are added to the system.. There is no possible way that it can be of any benifit to a lot of players. It will change the focus of the game. For some.... This is a long awaited change for the better... For others it is a big step toward shutting them out.
lazs
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Jesus Christ, Lazs, this isn't nearly as dire or as close to life and death as you appear to believe. Do you go this overboard with real life stuff too?
We'll all play taps for you if you like. Get a grip. Give the perk system a chance. My bet is it won't be nearly as bad as you seem to hope it will be.
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Rape, pillage, then burn...
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so pak.... you have nothing worth adding? I'm shocked. No need to "wait and see" here.
lazs
laz
lax
lasz
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Stasis is poor.. it leads to stagnation and boredom.
Change is good.. leads to inovation, excitement and experimentation.
The surge in numbers we saw with 1.05's release was no different than every previous release.. as has been the down turn in numbers about 2-3 weeks later. Yet every cycle garners a larger permananent player base.
I DON'T want Laz or Kieren forced out.. I think what they want is well within the realm of HTC to grant.. without curbing the currnet trends toward team play in the MA.
Furball Island; H2H; TA or SEA.. three of those we have. A new map will give us the 4th I hope.
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Hang
1st/AG "Bishlanders" << Recruiting!!
"Turn to kill, not to engage."
Commander 'Willie' Driscoll, USNR
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I will make it easier than that, Hang. I simply want to be able to find action within, say, 5-10 minutes flying time, from RoG to target. I am more than happy to help in a cause when I can. I don't think the sky is falling- but if we listen to the people who want to perk this stuff, disallow people who want to do that stuff, we soon funnel ourselves into a place where someone gets squeezed out. It might be me, you, or someone else.
Truth is, if the majority of people favor a style of play that goes against what I can do I will simply quietly leave and find new digs, no big deal. No hard feelings at all! Please, don't take what I say as an ultimatum type post, it isn't intended that way. I guess I can see what a few people are concerned about WRT the shift in the type of play in the MA.
There are plenty of people who play the strat game; perk points encourage people to attack strat targets. I do find it hilarious that people from the strat side seem to detest C-Hawgs that acquire easy perk points from strafing defenseless barracks. These are perhaps the best arguments for perk points, as it gets people to voluntarily do what you couldn't beg them to do before. Wanna see more strat? Give a guy 10-20 perk points for taking a goon or M3 to a field and getting a capture. Believe me, you couldn't get any fighter cover to a base with all the people gooning or M3'ing! Still, for this reason I think that perking makes sense. There are plenty of people that live online, let them gain something from the otherwise mundane missions. No problem here.
Let's not forget it is important to be considerate of the other side of the coin- the average guy that can't escape real life's demands. This "real guy" can happily live without an uber ride. This guy is not jealous of those that have the time to spend to acquire them. This guy needs a place where 30-40 minutes might buy him a little stress relief. It isn't asking much to keep that kind of player in our thoughts, and I cringe every time I read someone say "tough".
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Don't care. Still having fun. Find a furball when I want to. Join a mission when I want to. Fly with my squadmates whenever they are up.
Yup still having fun.
You all should be happy we even have Aces High to play, otherwise we'd all be still paying 2$/hr for WB or back on AWIII or FA or where ever "you" came from.
Also, the reason for the numbers to decrease is because for the 2 weeks after 1.05 came out most people either signed up for a freebie account or re-signed up for a freebie account and that's where the influx came from. I still regularly find 150ppl in the MA during peak hours, and that's not bad at all.
-SW
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look... the reason perkies and strat polorize is that I, and maybe kieren and one or two others like to get into a fight. A fun fight with a lot of action and a lot of planes around. These were called "melees" in the war and were quite common. They are the things most people enjoy reading about the most... for us they stretch our SA and acm and give us the rush that waiting in the tower or planning or whatever doesn't
How strat kills this is that it causes resources to die and field to be further apart... My squad likes big melees with a lot of squaddies involved... With the fields spread out and resources ded the flights to a "maybe a fight and maybe not" are long and worse..... Our squad is stretched out over the entire area. If we want to see more than 1 or 2 squaddies, or see em in more than passing... We have to wait in the tower till all are ded or RTB.
With close fields many are up in the air at the same time without "down" time that the guys I know hate.
"Spits on you" "watch the hog!" "drag him left" "in on the 47" "bring em down" "coming back toward you" "shit got my engine" "i'm ded" "out ammo" "get em off me!" "draggin em up".... Rapid fire out of the Roger wilco with planes and tracers everywhere... Eyes burning cause ya forgot to blink for too long....
And you want me to trade that for ... "so how is the family"... while waiting in the tower to club some defensless field into submission? rather log. bet more than a couple who never even read this board agree too.
lazs