Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Aces High General Discussion => Topic started by: Bullgrit on October 27, 2000, 09:07:00 AM
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I played online last night for the first time, and because folks on the radio were nice and helpful, I'd like to respond to the helpfulness by offering my take on the gameplay. But, because I didn't like it (didn't hate it, just didn't *like* it enough to pay), I don't want to post something that would piss everyone off and get me flamed.
If anyone here (players or designers) are interested, I'll give my "reveiw" of it. If it's unwanted or useless info, just say so and I'll go about my way without comment.
Just thought feedback might be helpful.
Bullgrit
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Sorry, you can't judge this sim on one night's experience. Give it awhile. It grows on you. Good bunch of people too.
Eagler
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Anybody's review is always welcome by me. If someone flames you, so what?
One thing about AH you may not know yet: you feedback may actually shape the game. HTC has a good record in listening to players input and acting on it.
miko
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Bullgrit,...there is always room for comments and questions. Most people that are new to the sim have a difficult time,...it is pretty much expected.
I know I spent 2 weeks in the training arean with trainers learing only 2 of the aircraft. I was still pretty bad at it, but now I am having a blast.
You will find the community most helpful when you ask questions. Sometimes, the main arena is not a good place to start, as they players are usually very busy defending or attacking, but I have seen many,...including myself, stop and help new people out.
Looking forward to hearing any questions and remarks you have.
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Roy "Skuzzy" Neese
President, AppLink Corp.
http://www.applink.net
skuzzy@applink.net
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Go for it Bullgrit.
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Give your gut reaction today, then in a week or two, come back and read what you wrote. Make sure to note if what you have to say now has changed at that time.
Don't worry about flames, you might be surprised at the number of people who may have the same feelings you do.
Fury
[This message has been edited by Fury (edited 10-27-2000).]
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I'm sure HTC would like to hear your review. Also, you might get suggestions for aspects of the game the you would enjoy, but might not be aware of.
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I remember that my first day or two was really frustrating too. Until I got used to using the keyboard rudder, I crashed 9 times out of 10 on takeoff. This was before they implimented auto takeoff. If there wasn't someone on channel 1 to help me for 2 minutes I probably would have given up.
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Yes, please give us feedback. The game would not be as successful as it is without customer feedback. Constructive criticism is always welcome.
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John "SUPERFLY" Guytan - Art Director
HiTech Creations
"Touch my tooter, smoocher!" - Ween
-=HELLFIRE=- SQUAD
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John "SUPERFLY" Guytan - Art Director
HiTech Creations
"Touch my tooter, smoocher!" - Ween
-=HELLFIRE=- SQUAD
"Touch my tooter, smoocher?" What the hell is that? (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/Smileys/default/smile.gif)
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Bullgrit, before U even reply, consider that the most common reason why people do not enjoy flying HT is not the flight model (FM) or non-trivial rules or gangs of people shooting you down all the time. No, instead of all that, the real reason is that you may very likely fly for the WRONG country. The only correct country to fly for is KNITS and if you change to knits (and stick there), pretty soon (about 2 weeks of sleep & food deprivation [except maybe beeer], plus draining your bank account for a faster machine, better card and kick-ass HOTAS and maybe a marital crisis) a wide smile will show up your face, your nerves will relax and you'll catch yourself at 4AM after having shot off the rudder of a dweebie rook or bish saying "Oh yes, that's WHAT it's supposed to feel like. KNITS rule"
fly for knits ;-)
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Lets hear it bullgrit... please... it can only help. As I newbie myself, I almost didn't make it past the first few days. It was hard to figure out what was going on... people were constantly gripping about someone stealing a kill or vulching or breaking some unwritten rule... but somehow I stuck it out and now absolutely *love* Aces High. Words can begin to describe how happy I am to pluck down my $30 bucks for such fine entertainment. Granted... some days don't go so well and I get frustrated... but others I am awestruck at how much fun it can be.
I believe that after the first day or so... I came on here and posted a message after being frustrated with some things. (Search for "Unwritten rules for a newbie wanting to fit in" in Help and Training)
But now... it is a different world. All I can say is... use your two free weeks, and if you don't decide to stay you can always still play H2H online.
I can't help but say I find it a bit odd you post a message about offering advice from someone who tried AH but won't pay for it, without posting the reasons... right after HTC sent out special offers to people who tried and then didn't subscribe if they fill out a survey... you aren't trolling for one of those offers are you? (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/Smileys/default/wink.gif) Just kidding...
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OK. Again, let me say, the people and help I got in the MA were great. That is the main reason I even came here to post my thoughts -- because everyone was so helpful to me, I felt to return the favor by offering a POV from someone new who was/is/might be turned off of the game.
I am not new to flight sims. I have played a 3 or 4 over the past few years. I have researched information on the real planes, and I always read the web sites and manuals (if any) before playing seriously (like going online). I know how to fly these virtual planes, I know ACM and such. I like realism to a point, but I play these games for fun and relaxation -- not to recreate the life of a WWII pilot.
I flew 3 or 4 hours offline before venturing online. I actually was just looking to play H2H, but there were only 2 or 3 servers up when I checked, and no open spaces. So, I just went in the areans.
My comp is Cel400, 128RAM, TNT1, with a MS Sidewinder joystick. I didn't change any keyboard mapping, and I left the joystick settings as they were -- I like the low to high sensitivity curve instead of the straight line anyway.
To start with, the program often locked up my computer. One time while just starting the game, and three times while trying to get online, it crashed and forced me to reboot. That is annoying and not setting a good feeling for a beginning player.
Once in the arena, here are the things that bugged me.
My throttle was either full power or idle. Voices in the radio told me to calibrate my js. I did and it worked. But it "uncalibrated" again later for some reason. Recalibrating fixed it again.
My views kept screwing up. When trying to position my head, my view would slide all the way to the side and back, in every viewing direction. Then sometimes I'd get locked in only forward view. Banging *all* my view keys at once sometimes "snapped" things back to right, and sometimes I had to go into calibration again. I didn't actually have to *do* anything in setup, just go to that window and then click out.
The above was the only software/hardware problems I had. The rest, below was gameplay issues.
The radio is too difficult to use. Hit ESC to bring up clipboard. Click Radio. Click on channel button. Then type in message and ENTER.
Messages would scroll off the buffer before I could see them. Someone told me to hit TAB to expand the buffer box, but TAB did nothing for me.
And why no radio access while in the tower? I had to jump in my plane to be able to talk. Does this count as a sortie, or do you have to roll or takeoff to count a sortie?
And speaking of rolling: when rolling from the hanger, I didn't know where to go to get to a runway. I thought the taxiway was a runway until I got airborn and could see the whole field. I tried looking at the overhead map, but couldn't zoom in close enough to see the field.
I don't mind taxiing, but I'd like some directions for where to go. I got kind of fed up and just starting taking off across the field without worrying about the runway. I feel that's cheesy, but I was lost on the field.
Once in the air, the lack of icons annoyed me. I saw all these dots everywhere, but are they friendlies or enemies? Don't get me wrong here, I fully appreciate the ability to sneak that the lack of icons gives you, but at least let me see friendlies so I don't spend time going over to that group of dots to see there's no action there.
I noticed the inflight map showed appropriatly colored dots, and that helped me. But interestingly, not all planes show up on the map view. half a dozen dots out my right view would look like only 2 dots on my map radar. I'd fly over a field that the map showed with a big red bar (representing a large enemy presence?), but couldn't find anyone.
And how can you tell what ack field (cities/industrial parks/whatever) are friendly? At one point, I had 4 bandits on my butt (2 in immediate firing range) and I tried to drag them through an ack field. The vehicle spawn and the airfield on either side of this ack was friendly, but the ack shot me down. A friendly pilot commented on my not-to-bright tactic, and it was only then I realized the ack had in fact been shooting at *me* and not the bandits on my immediate six o'clock. That was frustrating (and embarrassing :-).
Reading cockpit instruments was difficult. Maybe it's my aging eyes, but it wasn't easy to quickly glance down and note things. I couldn't find the fuel gauge in the 190 till someone explained the panning down trick.
And wow, but these planes burn fuel fast. I didn't fuel up for my first sortie (just took whatever was the default), and ran out after like 5 minutes on the 25% fuel.
I would have thought that engagements would have been at higher altitudes. Every fight I found was below 5k. I climbed to 10-15k each sortie, but had to spiral down to fight.
The tracers look more like rockets -- slow with long smoke trails.
And yes, the head shake thing was annoying. I understand that most get over it after a little time, but I'm wondering this: If everyone gets used to it and then doesn't notice it, why have it. It annoys newbies, and vets don't notice it, so what purpose?
Why can't we check our score while in the arena? I wanted to know how many sorties I had flown, and how many enemies I had shot down, but you have to leave the arena to go find this. BTW: 12 sorties (does entering and leaving a plane without taking off count as a sortie? Did this twice.), 8 kills, 5 deaths, 1 bail (I don't remember ever bailing), 2 ditches (both ditches had nothing to do with combat -- one from out of fuel on first sortie, the other from pranging a wondering taxi).
And after reading about the clouds, I didn't see any clouds at all until my final sortie. Then I found some in a small spot. I was kind of disappointed.
Note I have no complaints about things like being chased by 4 enemies, or being strafed after ditching once, etc. Such is war.
Anyway, these were my "gripes". I don't hate the game, but it was just a little too frustrating and a bit annoying here and there. The problems were not really with the flight sim aspects (flight model, gunnery, and such), but rather the computer game aspects of it -- it *is* a computer game after all.
I just wasn't "turned on" by it. Too many of the little annoyances held back the full fun. You milage may very of course. I may go online again this weekend just because I'll have some time and it is still free for me.
All in all, eh, <hand waffle>.
No offense or flame intended to anyone. The players that helped me last night (even though I don't remember the names) were first rate fine fellows.
Bullgri
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Hi Bullgrit,
I cant answer all your points so I'lljust concentrate on those I think I can help with.
Originally posted by Bullgrit:
My views kept screwing up. When trying to position my head, my view would slide all the way to the side and back, in every viewing direction. Then sometimes I'd get locked in only forward view. Banging *all* my view keys at once sometimes "snapped" things back to right, and sometimes I had to go into calibration again. I didn't actually have to *do* anything in setup, just go to that window and then click out.
Were you using the keypad to set your views or the POV hat on your stick? I have had problems when using the POV hat to set views. Using the keypad seems to solve this. (Not ideal I know but it's a fix)
The radio is too difficult to use. Hit ESC to bring up clipboard. Click Radio. Click on channel button. Then type in message and ENTER.
Radio keys are...
"/" for channel in 1st box
"Shift /" for 2nd box
"Ctrl /" for 3rd box
"Alt /" for 4th box
The 5th box is for Voice comms and works with RW (Although can be used for word communication as well.
i.e. put 1 in the 1st box, 2 in 2nd box 3 in 3rd box & 4 in 4th box. "/" is channel 1 (Open channel), "Shift /" is channel 2 (Country channel) 3 is room channel, 4 is squad channel (If you are in a squad) the messages are colour coded. (Not a definitive list but you get the drift.
Messages would scroll off the buffer before I could see them. Someone told me to hit TAB to expand the buffer box, but TAB did nothing for me.
This must be a key mapping issue (I know you did not change anything but trust me on this (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/Smileys/default/smile.gif)
And why no radio access while in the tower? I had to jump in my plane to be able to talk. Does this count as a sortie, or do you have to roll or takeoff to count a sortie?
Don't understand this one at all (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/Smileys/default/confused.gif)
And speaking of rolling: when rolling from the hanger, I didn't know where to go to get to a runway. I thought the taxiway was a runway until I got airborn and could see the whole field. I tried looking at the overhead map, but couldn't zoom in close enough to see the field.
I don't mind taxiing, but I'd like some directions for where to go. I got kind of fed up and just starting taking off across the field without worrying about the runway. I feel that's cheesy, but I was lost on the field.
Instead of clicking on the H to fly click on one of the points around it. These are the ends of the runways. (Apart from vehicles I don't use the hanger start point at all)
Once in the air, the lack of icons annoyed me. I saw all these dots everywhere, but are they friendlies or enemies? Don't get me wrong here, I fully appreciate the ability to sneak that the lack of icons gives you, but at least let me see friendlies so I don't spend time going over to that group of dots to see there's no action there.
Icons are displayed upto a range of about 6K I think (Apart from ground vehicles which is No Icons until 1.5K and no icons at all for enemy from other ground vehicles). Perhaps you had then turned off - "Alt i" to cycle through modes I think - current selection shows in radio buffer in orange)
I noticed the inflight map showed appropriatly colored dots, and that helped me. But interestingly, not all planes show up on the map view. half a dozen dots out my right view would look like only 2 dots on my map radar. I'd fly over a field that the map showed with a big red bar (representing a large enemy presence?), but couldn't find anyone.
Enemy only show on radar when above 500ft alt. State of Radar at the local field or HQ also affects the amount of data displayed (Bomb damage etc)
And how can you tell what ack field (cities/industrial parks/whatever) are friendly? At one point, I had 4 bandits on my butt (2 in immediate firing range) and I tried to drag them through an ack field. The vehicle spawn and the airfield on either side of this ack was friendly, but the ack shot me down. A friendly pilot commented on my not-to-bright tactic, and it was only then I realized the ack had in fact been shooting at *me* and not the bandits on my immediate six o'clock. That was frustrating (and embarrassing :-).
Hmmmm. (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/Smileys/default/smile.gif) The map should tell you if the field is friendly. The cities etc can be confusing if the fields have moved to such an extent that it is difficult to determine which side of the map your side started in.
Reading cockpit instruments was difficult. Maybe it's my aging eyes, but it wasn't easy to quickly glance down and note things. I couldn't find the fuel gauge in the 190 till someone explained the panning down trick.
Download the hires art pack (Others have complained about the clarity of the gauges. On the subject of cockpit layout. They are not historical (If they were it would be even harder, But I take your point) Also be aware all guages are imperial (Even 109's etc)
I'll leave the rest to people far better qualified than me. Sorry you didn't enjoy it and I hope you will check back frequently. (Keep downloading the new releases and play offline or just go H2H for a while, The fun is only just beginning, we get the navy soon) (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/Smileys/default/wink.gif)
TTFN
snafu
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snafus Homepage (http://www.snafu.theantcolony.com)
(http://www.snafu.theantcolony.com/Images/goondrops.gif)
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so you see, there is a very LARGE learning curve. Many will tell you, "give it time." Many things that you described as annoyances or dislikes are becuase you have yet learned how to use them. One night will never do it! Spend your two weeks to get to know the sim, how it works, how to use all of the controls. Once you do, you will further appreciate it. I've never flown another sim before, AH being my first. I LOVE IT.
I would just ask you to give it another chance...i know that there is a lot to learn, and "that" may make it hard for newbies to AH, but its the reward in the end, and those that are dedicated that appreciate this sim that will make it worth it.
see you up.
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In regards to your lockup and joystick problems... Make sure you have DirectX 7.0a installed. It makes a difference.
Also.. with your system, I'd make sure there were ZERO apps running in the background.
My views kept screwing up. When trying to position my head, my view would slide all the way to the side and back, in every viewing direction. Then sometimes I'd get locked in only forward view. Banging *all* my view keys at once sometimes "snapped" things back to right, and sometimes I had to go into calibration again. I didn't actually have to *do* anything in setup, just go to that window and then click out.
I'm willing to bet there was more to it. Spend some time in the training arena with a trainer. He can explain the view system very thuroughly. One important key is the X key. Its the zoom key. If your view is stuck forward.. this key was most likely pressed.
The radio is too difficult to use. Hit ESC to bring up clipboard. Click Radio. Click on channel button. Then type in message and ENTER.
Its only 1 keystroke: hit the / key. Once again, its a VERY good idea to get together with a trainer in the training arena and go over this. That's why they are there.
And speaking of rolling: when rolling from the hanger, I didn't know where to go to get to a runway. I thought the taxiway was a runway until I got airborn and could see the whole field. I tried looking at the overhead map, but couldn't zoom in close enough to see the field.
You can chose to start from the hangar (middle button), or the runway (any other button). Pressing the lower left button launches you facing sw... pressing the upper right launches you facing ne.. and so on. Once again.. a trainer would be more than willing to help you out with it.
Once in the air, the lack of icons annoyed me. I saw all these dots everywhere, but are they friendlies or enemies? Don't get me wrong here, I fully appreciate the ability to sneak that the lack of icons gives you, but at least let me see friendlies so I don't spend time going over to that group of dots to see there's no action there.
As you get closer to the dots.. they have icons. The icons apear as the plane gets within 5000 yards. It will then display yards in units of 1000 (i.e. 5.0). Once the aircraft is below 1000 yards, it will display actual yardage. A word of advice.. if you don't see actuall yardage.. don't shoot. The best shooting range is between 100 and 500 yards.
Once again... a trainer could help you out with this.
And how can you tell what ack field (cities/industrial parks/whatever) are friendly? At one point, I had 4 bandits on my butt (2 in immediate firing range) and I tried to drag them through an ack field. The vehicle spawn and the airfield on either side of this ack was friendly, but the ack shot me down. A friendly pilot commented on my not-to-bright tactic, and it was only then I realized the ack had in fact been shooting at *me* and not the bandits on my immediate six o'clock. That was frustrating (and embarrassing :-).
The map (esc key) tell you where friendly (green bases) and enemy bases (red ones) are. It also tells you where you are (airplane icon) and what direction you are pointed in.
And wow, but these planes burn fuel fast. I didn't fuel up for my first sortie (just took whatever was the default), and ran out after like 5 minutes on the 25% fuel.
Its because there is a multiplyier. The bases are much closer together than they were during war-time. The multiplier makes it so you have to launch with more fuel. A plane with less fuel has a big advantage over one that is full of fuel... its good not to make that such an easy thing to manipulate.
I'd recomend taking off with full fuel all the time.. 3/4 at the minimum. Either that or take off with 1/2 fuel and a drop tank. You can then release the drop tank when you see an enemy plane.
A trainer can explain this to you in great detail.
AH is a game that falls into the RTFM category (read the fricking manual). Even after that... its good to get together with a trainer and proceed with the barrage of questions that most total newbies have.
AKDejaVu
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The radio is too difficult to use. Hit ESC to bring up clipboard. Click Radio. Click on channel button. Then type in message and ENTER.
You can use the "/" key to get direct access to the radio.
Messages would scroll off the buffer before I could see them. Someone told me to hit TAB to expand the buffer box, but TAB did nothing for me.
Odd,....the TAB key expands the radio text area to about 3/4 the size of the display area, unless the ke has been remapped.
Everything in AH is mappable to the keys/buttons/stick as you like.
And why no radio access while in the tower? I had to jump in my plane to be able to talk. Does this count as a sortie, or do you have to roll or takeoff to count a sortie?
Something is amiss here. The radio works fine, no matter where you are in the game, but you do need to use the "/" key <default key> to bring up the radio, in areas where the "Radio" button is not available.
And speaking of rolling: when rolling from the hanger, I didn't know where to go to get to a runway. I thought the taxiway was a runway until I got airborn and could see the whole field. I tried looking at the overhead map, but couldn't zoom in close enough to see the field.
Instead of rolling from the hangar, use the small buttons located in the lower left corner of the clipboard. The buttons around the central "H" are the directions you will be facing on the runway. NOTE: Not all of the buttons are available at all fields. The buttons not marked N, S, E, W, and the NE, NW, SE, and SW runways.[/B][/QUOTE]
Once in the air, the lack of icons annoyed me. I saw all these dots everywhere, but are they friendlies or enemies? Don't get me wrong here, I fully appreciate the ability to sneak that the lack of icons gives you, but at least let me see friendlies so I don't spend time going over to that group of dots to see there's no action there.
I noticed the inflight map showed appropriatly colored dots, and that helped me. But interestingly, not all planes show up on the map view. half a dozen dots out my right view would look like only 2 dots on my map radar. I'd fly over a field that the map showed with a big red bar (representing a large enemy presence?), but couldn't find anyone.
Planes below radar contact (<500ft?) do not show up on the clipboard map.
And how can you tell what ack field (cities/industrial parks/whatever) are friendly? At one point, I had 4 bandits on my butt (2 in immediate firing range) and I tried to drag them through an ack field. The vehicle spawn and the airfield on either side of this ack was friendly, but the ack shot me down. A friendly pilot commented on my not-to-bright tactic, and it was only then I realized the ack had in fact been shooting at *me* and not the bandits on my immediate six o'clock. That was frustrating (and embarrassing :-).
I may be misunderstanding what you are talking about here, but the fields on the clipboard map, which are marked green, are your friendly fields. All other fields and everything around them are the bad guys.
Reading cockpit instruments was difficult. Maybe it's my aging eyes, but it wasn't easy to quickly glance down and note things. I couldn't find the fuel gauge in the 190 till someone explained the panning down trick.
What video resolution were you using? The best resolution to run at is 1024x768 or higher. The gauges get easier to read with higher resolutions.
And wow, but these planes burn fuel fast. I didn't fuel up for my first sortie (just took whatever was the default), and ran out after like 5 minutes on the 25% fuel.
I remember you now. Depending on the plane, you could easily run out of fuel at 25%, especially at full throttle.
I would have thought that engagements would have been at higher altitudes. Every fight I found was below 5k. I climbed to 10-15k each sortie, but had to spiral down to fight.
I have seen fights as high as 25K and as low as 3K. Depends on what is happening at the particular field. Incoming bombers will garantee higher altitude fighting. But is a field is getting pummelled, then most of the action will be lower.
The tracers look more like rockets -- slow with long smoke trails.
You can turn those off in your preferences.
And yes, the head shake thing was annoying. I understand that most get over it after a little time, but I'm wondering this: If everyone gets used to it and then doesn't notice it, why have it. It annoys newbies, and vets don't notice it, so what purpose?
The head shake is to add a more immersive quality to the sim. Without most of the tactile things real pilots had, the developers of these sims find other ways to recreate the immersion.
Why can't we check our score while in the arena? I wanted to know how many sorties I had flown, and how many enemies I had shot down, but you have to leave the arena to go find this. BTW: 12 sorties (does entering and leaving a plane without taking off count as a sortie? Did this twice.), 8 kills, 5 deaths, 1 bail (I don't remember ever bailing), 2 ditches (both ditches had nothing to do with combat -- one from out of fuel on first sortie, the other from pranging a wondering taxi)
Not big on scores myself, so this is one I will defer to someone else.
And after reading about the clouds, I didn't see any clouds at all until my final sortie. Then I found some in a small spot. I was kind of disappointed.
The clouds are there, but sometimes sparse. I understand more clouds are being added for the next release/patch. The concern about adding more and more graphics is not to get the game past the point of not being playable on slower systems, with slower lower resolution graphics cards. It is a tradeoff.
Now, as far as your hardware problems go. If you could provide a list of your systems specifications, we could help there.
CPU, Speed, memory, video card, sound card,....
Most lockups occur from hardware sharing interrupts, which for most windows programs and some of the other games is ok. But AH pushes the hardware and the hardware utilization to its maximum.
Then again, it may not be a fit for you at all. Everyone has different tastes. Not everyone is going to like AH. It is not even reasonable to expect everyone to like it.
I find your questions and comments to be very well put. I hope I helped in addressing the ones that I could.
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Roy "Skuzzy" Neese
President, AppLink Corp.
http://www.applink.net
skuzzy@applink.net
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LOL! 3 of us all posting at once. Ya gotta love this community!
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Roy "Skuzzy" Neese
President, AppLink Corp.
http://www.applink.net
skuzzy@applink.net
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Hi Bullgrit... Just a few comments...
You can use radio while in the tower.. just hit the / key or a combo of shift ctrl or alt / depending on what channel you want to talk on.
I think you can check score too with the .score dot command.
Give AH another try this weekend... buddy up with a few people, don't let anyone get to you and have some fun. Any members of 332 Flying Mongrels will be glad to help you if you fly Knight. I say this only because I really think I felt very near to how you do right now when I first started... and now I really like AH. Perhaps it isn't for you... but you have two weeks. Trust me... it gets better. Took me the full two weeks to start to get comfortable.
Take care and hope to see you online. <S>
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"The radio is too difficult to use."
The radio can also be operated with keystrokes. Press "/", type, return.
"Messages would scroll off the buffer before I could see them. Someone told me to hit TAB to expand the buffer box, but TAB did nothing for me."
Check your keyboard mapping. ESC/Setup/Keymap
"And why no radio access while in the tower?"
Use the keyboard (see above).
"And speaking of rolling: when rolling from the hanger, I didn't know where to go to get to a runway. I thought the taxiway was a runway until I got airborn and could see the whole field. I tried looking at the overhead map, but couldn't zoom in close enough to see the field."
Did you right-click the "+" on the map?
Also, you don't need to taxi from a hangar. The "compass" buttons in the "fly" box will start you on the runway heading in the direction you choose.
"Once in the air, the lack of icons annoyed me."
There are four icon modes: no icons, friendly id, friendly plane type, and friendly id plus enemy plane type. You may have inadvertantly turned icons off. Also, icons appear at D60 (6000 yards), you can see distant dots before the icons appear.
"I noticed the inflight map showed appropriatly colored dots, and that helped me. But interestingly, not all planes show up on the map view."
Friendly radar dots appear everywhere. Enemy dots appear only within 12.5 miles of a WORKING friendly radar tower. (Radar can be killed.) No radar dots are displayed for any plane under 500 feet AGL.
The red/green "sector bars" show enemy/friendly strength in the sector -- INCLUDING ground vehicles.
A large enemy strength, but no radar dots, could indicate: no working radar nearby, enemy planes more distant than 12.5 miles from radar tower, enemy planes under 500 ft, or a bunch of enemy ground vehicles.
"And how can you tell what ack field (cities/industrial parks/whatever) are friendly?"
Good question. (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/Smileys/default/smile.gif) I've had "friendly" acks shoot me too.
"Reading cockpit instruments was difficult."
Did you download the optional Hi Res artwork?
"And wow, but these planes burn fuel fast."
Yep. Take 75% for most planes/sorties, 100% for some, and carry drop tanks for some. One compromise is to take 50% and a drop tank, and jettison the tank when you get in enemy territory.
"I would have thought that engagements would have been at higher altitudes."
Always better to have too much altitude, than not enough. If you want a higher altitude fight, hunt between fields away from the furballs.
"The tracers look more like rockets -- slow with long smoke trails."
I think they're cool. (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/Smileys/default/smile.gif)
"And yes, the head shake thing was annoying. I understand that most get over it after a little time, but I'm wondering this: If everyone gets used to it and then doesn't notice it, why have it. It annoys newbies, and vets don't notice it, so what purpose?"
Probably could get rid of it, but I guess it adds a bit of realism after it ceases to be just annoying. (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/Smileys/default/smile.gif)
"BTW: 12 sorties (does entering and leaving a plane without taking off count as a sortie? Did this twice.), 8 kills, 5 deaths, 1 bail"
Darn respectable first night!
"And after reading about the clouds, I didn't see any clouds at all until my final sortie."
There aren't many clouds because they turned out to be a CPU hog. But, when you do find a "cloud fight" it is one of the most immersive flightsim experiences going.
"The problems were not really with the flight sim aspects (flight model, gunnery, and such), but rather the computer game aspects of it -- it *is* a computer game after all."
I think some of your complaints can be easily answered by spending a little time setting up your keyboard mapping, and getting some information from an experienced player or trainer. A post in the Training forum will put you in touch with the trainers who will set up a convenient time to meet you online.
A post in the hardware/software forum will find people who might be able to help with the hardware bugs.
Let me know if I can help.
ellinger@umich.edu
popeye
[This message has been edited by popeye (edited 10-27-2000).]
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Pretty good list you got there, Bullgrit. We can answer some of your questions, but in my opinion, you're pointing to many of the classic problems newbies have with the game.l
My comp is Cel400, 128RAM, TNT1, with a MS Sidewinder joystick. I didn't change any keyboard mapping, and I left the joystick settings as they were -- I like the low to high sensitivity curve instead of the straight line anyway.
Sounds fine. Until June, mine was a Cel415 64RAM, TNT2 (Though I had a TNT1 in beta) with a MS SWPP. FR should be low, but acceptable.
To start with, the program often locked up my computer. One time while just starting the game, and
three times while trying to get online, it crashed and forced me to reboot. That is annoying and not
setting a good feeling for a beginning player.
Can't say I can help here or for any of the other bizarre view and k/b issues. You running Windows ME by any chance?
The radio is too difficult to use. Hit ESC to bring up clipboard. Click Radio. Click on channel button.
Then type in message and ENTER.
I wish everyone was forced to sit through a tutorial on radio ops before going online. Here's a hint: to talk on radios 1-4, use keys: /, Shift-/, Ctrl-/ and Alt-/ in that order.
Messages would scroll off the buffer before I could see them. Someone told me to hit TAB to expand
the buffer box, but TAB did nothing for me.
Odd. You can also check and change all key bindings in the setup-keyboard menu.
And why no radio access while in the tower? I had to jump in my plane to be able to talk. Does this
count as a sortie, or do you have to roll or takeoff to count a sortie?
Again, using the keyboard should help here.
And speaking of rolling: when rolling from the hanger, I didn't know where to go to get to a runway. I
thought the taxiway was a runway until I got airborn and could see the whole field. I tried looking at
the overhead map, but couldn't zoom in close enough to see the field.
The field never shows on the overhead map. You can spawn directly on a runway by clicking on one of the direction buttons in the fly grid (the H is for hangar, the others are for T/O directions)
Once in the air, the lack of icons annoyed me. I saw all these dots everywhere, but are they
friendlies or enemies? Don't get me wrong here, I fully appreciate the ability to sneak that the lack of
icons gives you, but at least let me see friendlies so I don't spend time going over to that group of
dots to see there's no action there.
In the MA, Icons should appear at 6000 yards (3000 yards if they're under 500 feet AGL, 1500 if they're vehicles). Dots are visible from roughly twice that distance. If you're not seeing icons, hit Alt-I to cycle through the various settings until you get "Normal Icon Mode".
I noticed the inflight map showed appropriatly colored dots, and that helped me. But interestingly,
not all planes show up on the map view. half a dozen dots out my right view would look like only 2
dots on my map radar. I'd fly over a field that the map showed with a big red bar (representing a
large enemy presence?), but couldn't find anyone.
This should be in the manual too. In the MA, enemy dots appear within 12.5 miles of a base radar (assuming that radar is functional), provided they're over 500 feet. The bars indicate roughly the number of enemies in the sector (the square on the map). A hint is that each square of that bar represents 2 planes.
And how can you tell what ack field (cities/industrial parks/whatever) are friendly? At one point, I
had 4 bandits on my butt (2 in immediate firing range) and I tried to drag them through an ack field.
The vehicle spawn and the airfield on either side of this ack was friendly, but the ack shot me down.
The current map consists of three countries, divided by a range of mountains. Each country has a HQ -- all the factories, cities and the like are the same country as the HQ in the area.
Reading cockpit instruments was difficult. Maybe it's my aging eyes, but it wasn't easy to quickly
glance down and note things. I couldn't find the fuel gauge in the 190 till someone explained the
panning down trick.
Yeah, that can be annoying. One other trick is to map the view forward key (8 on the numpad) to the cockpit guages.
And wow, but these planes burn fuel fast. I didn't fuel up for my first sortie (just took whatever was
the default), and ran out after like 5 minutes on the 25% fuel.
Fuel burn in AH MA is 250% of real life. They want you to play with the drop tanks.
I would have thought that engagements would have been at higher altitudes. Every fight I found was
below 5k. I climbed to 10-15k each sortie, but had to spiral down to fight.
Engagement altitude varies considerably according to what people are doing. If there's a big armored thrust, you'll probly see JABOs low, and anti-jabo furballers. If you stay high, you'll probly find someone to dance with.
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"Messages would scroll off the buffer before I could see them. Someone told me to hit TAB to expand the buffer box, but TAB did nothing for me."
Check your keyboard mapping. ESC/Setup/Keymap
Actually use the ` key to enlarge the radio text buffer. The TAB key was resignated for padlock use
-Westy
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Originally posted by Bullgrit:
Messages would scroll off the buffer before I could see them. Someone told me to hit TAB to expand the buffer box, but TAB did nothing for me.
The default key mapping for this changed from TAB to '~' (the key above TAB on a US keyboard with the advent of version 1.04
As Aces High preserves your current key settings a lot of people probably don't realise that.
Originally posted by Bullgrit:
And wow, but these planes burn fuel fast. I didn't fuel up for my first sortie (just took whatever was the default), and ran out after like 5 minutes on the 25% fuel.
Because we play on a reduced scale map with airfields close to each other there is a mulitplier on the fuel usage to give some sort of realistic range limitations to some planes. As a result you need to take more fuel than you might otherwise think. This is something that just comes with exerience of how different planes use fuel.
Originally posted by Bullgrit:
I would have thought that engagements would have been at higher altitudes. Every fight I found was below 5k. I climbed to 10-15k each sortie, but had to spiral down to fight.
Again because of the reduced scale there is a different attitude to altitude and fights tend to happen a lot lower than they did in real life. You do find fights at high altitudes, but where there has been combat for a while the fight will have drifted low even if it started high due to the way all planes bleed energy during fights this just sort of happens. New combatants will naturally dive down to join in (usually) so the fight stays low.
Originally posted by Bullgrit:
Why can't we check our score while in the arena? I wanted to know how many sorties I had flown, and how many enemies I had shot down, but you have to leave the arena to go find this.
You should be able to check your score by hitting the score button on the clipboard in the tower. You can also get your score by typung '.score', note the leading '.' in the radio when in the tower.
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Yes, after a few days you will not notice the head bounce is present and will forget it is even there.
What is the point of having it at all? Simple. After you do stop noticing head bounce in AH, go fly WB. You will notice the lack of head bunce right away though it may take you a while to realise what exactly you are missing.
Your head is bouncing when you are walking and you probably do not notice it. Strap a board to your back and immobilise your head for a while. You will notice it right away!
You went to all that trouble of flying for hours and posting a lengthy article but you did not care to read the manual and readme text files? They list all the commands. Or just go to setup and keymaps and see what commands are there and what keys are active.
The crashes/lockup you are experiencing must be due to your system/software. AH is increadibly stable and bug-free right now. Best use win98, DX7a and USB stick - then there will be no calibration issues.
The clouds are there and can be easily increased. That would kill the frame rate on machine such as yours. With time, as the PC get faster, the cloud amount will be increased.
In the next version the cloud quantity will be configurable per arena so those with fast PCs can have H2H with lots of clouds.
miko
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Thanks for the notes everyone.
I read the Help section at www.hitechcreations.com (http://www.hitechcreations.com) before flying, but I guess I missed some things.
For instance, I saw, when in flight, the clipboard has a button labeled "Radio", so that's what I used. This button doesn't show up when in the tower.
Going back now and looking through the Help section again, I see the / key commands for the radio. The list of command keys is rather long.
Maybe I need a printed version of the Help/Manual to have beside me as I'm actually in the game.
The icon situation: I did see icons when within the 5.0k range, but there was always a gaggle of dots outside that range that I had to investigate up close. It almost always turned out to be 5 or 6 friendlies, sometimes with one enemy. Makes for a waste of time and lost altitude.
Again, thanks for all the info. It seems the main cause of my problems is the less than intuitive layout of the controls/keys.
I'll play again sometime this weekend when I have plenty of time to learn.
And BTW, I did go to the Training arena after getting fed up with the Main, but there were no trainers there. It was just a free for all. Next time I'll go to the TA first, but I just wanted to see things this time.
You know how it goes. Just download the new game, want to immediately jump in and see what its like, but find several little annoyances and difficulties that just hinder the fun.
Bullgrit
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Bullgrit, thank you for your feedback, and i know, i am not the best person to answer but i'll try to be the first. A lot of these things are explainable:
1. The radio: can be used anywhere. The default keyboard keys are:
radio 1:"/"
radio 2:"Shift-/"
Radio 3:"ctrl-/"
radio 4:"alt-/"
rdaio 5:no idea, don't think there is a key mapped for it.
rolling: you don't have to takeoff from the hangar, there are "buttons" on the clipboard on most fields for takeoff points. i am guessing you typed in ".fly" (could be wrong but not sure as you don't state), they are on the lower-left corner of the clipboard and are labled as "H" for hangar, "n" for north takeoff point. etc. small fields will only have n, h, and s, while med and larger fields will have points at the 4 corners, and more.
Vehicle fields are another story. when "taking off" or "spawning" in a vehicle, it travels you a certain distance toward the direction of the button. The reason for this is to decreas transit time to target. (would suck really bad to go back to the days of hours to drive between fields)
There are maps available for download that shows the layout of the different AH fields. They are available from the "Downloads" section of the HTC websight.
As far as icons: icon range is set at 6000 yards. you can control whether you see, normal icons, plane type icons, or no icons at all by hitting "ctrl-i"
the colored dots you saw and reson you only saw half as many colored dots as actual dots in flight is the radar of your base will only show enemy(red) dots within 12.5 miles of your base. you will see friendly (green) dots wherever they are regardless of distance from friendly airfields. i think the radar level is 500 feet above sea level. below 500 feet, you are not picked up on radar regardless of enemy/friend. The big red "bar" indicates strength of forces in that 25 mile x25 mile sector. Kind of like a power indicator.
on the clipboard, you will see green icons, and read icons indicating various fields. if it's green, it's one of yours, if it's red, it'll shoot at you.
as far as reading the cockpit instruments, try downloading the "hi-rez" texture pack. it helps a lot from what i hear (i've never seen it without, so i cannot judge the difference).
Fuel burn rate is pretty high, a common tactic to use for some is take a 25-50 percent loadout, and a Drop Tank, then release the drop tank right before entering combat, making your aircraft lighter and more manueverable. (you can select your droptank using the backspace key, it comes up as a "secondary weapon" and can be released using the "B" key.
i respect your opinion on the tracers, myself, i like them a lt (coming from WB and the laser looking tracers as i did)
The "head shake" thing, well, i don't really think people don't "notice" it, i think they become acclimitized to it, and it becomes a subconcious thing. bet if it were to suddenly be taken out, a LT of people would miss it.
Scores from the arena will be implemented in the future, for now they can be checked on the HTC websight (you can alt-tab to check them between flights)
i hope this helps you out, and i do hope you give us a "second chance" as it is, i think 2 weeks is too short a time to get a feel for the game, unless you fly it constantly. i have been flying for a few months now and i still don't quite have a grasp of it. i'm stubborn and refuse to get a trainer and get one on one help tho. i'd rather learn the hard way. that's just me tho. we have an Excellent corp of trainers that are available, all you have to do is ask, or drop them an e-mail. Thier e-mail addy's are on the HTC websight as well i believe.
hope to see you in the air bullgrit, S!
Hamish!
EDit: LoL i type tooooo slow (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/Smileys/default/smile.gif)
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Hamish!
(http://heathblair.tripod.com/assassins2.gif)
<===<The ASSASSINS>===> (http://www.cybrtyme.com/personal/hblair/mainpage.htm)
[This message has been edited by Hamish (edited 10-27-2000).]
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Bullgrit if you see my handle (funkedup) on the roster in the main arena just say the word if you need help or want a training session.
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Bullgrit...also, if you head to the training arena and don't find a trainer logged on there, pop in to the main and do a call on the open channel for a trainer...there may be one logged on there that can join you in the TA.
I'm not a trainer...just one of the many flying dweebs, but if you need any help and you see me on, I'd be happy to help ya out.
SOB
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I found that WarBirds had a much higher learning curve than FA ever did -- from flying, to learning the interfaces. AH was easier to learn because of previous WB experience.
As for the range of the icons; what I do is pull the clipbaord up a lot (the map). If I see a bunch of dots in the distance, I can usually tell if they are friendly or enemy by seeing if there are green dots on the map in that approximate area (green dots are friendly planes). At least then, I have a pretty good idea of what they are (what I may not know is how many enemies are mixed in with the friendlies).
ury
[This message has been edited by Fury (edited 10-27-2000).]
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Map the keys to zoom the map , and I don't mean the ones on it all ready . It ain't in the help section last time I looked . It took me about 5 weeks to find out there was that option (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/Smileys/default/frown.gif)
I used teh y and u keys .
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LOL Bullgrit..
Allmost all of your problems are of your own creation.
Yes, you came in AH knowing ACM, but ACM is useless if you dont read the Help file, keyboard commands, stick mapping, keyboard mapping, calibrating.
This is the biggest reason why new players get fed up fast, they cant be bothered reading the help files AH has on there web page.
It may seem nice to jump into it and wana fly right off. But that will just get you dead. Spend 30minutes to read the help files, AH will seem so easy to use then.
Dog out.....
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You can also call friendlies on the radio, and see if any are near the area that you see dots.
If I'm on, add me to the list of people offering to help! (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/Smileys/default/smile.gif)
IC
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Bullgrit: Hang in there...it will get easier.
I do have to say something in Bullgrit's defence.
The Help docs are not that great.
They are more like "Reference Docs" than help docs.
For a former WB player etc. they are fine.
But for true newbies they are not perfect.
(since the last time I looked at them)
Since most newbies wanna "login and fly" a short "Essentials" Doc. would be great.
A simple walk-through with:
- launch AH
- selecting video settings
- Setting up your stick
- go offline
- selecting the AC
- Selecting fuel and drop tanks and loadout
- Go to the runway
- setting your seat position
and how the views work
- setting your radio(s) up
and how they work
- start engine
- drop flaps
- throttle up
then "auto takeoff" helps them out.
(explain that "Auto takeoff" is an option)
- attack a hanger at your home field
(no ack to deal with)
- then shoot at the offline drones
(after dumping drop tanks)
- Throttle down drop flaps and gear and land.
(maybe the bail/open chute somewhere in there)
Having the offline drones flying 4 miles away
from the field and being a mix of enemy and friendly would help learn how the radar "works".
A document that:
-lets them fly almost right away
-steps them though actually doing the basic
"things"
Regards,
Snoopi
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I must say people really try to help you Bullgrit. LOL, I picture 10 people typing like crazy for 30 minutes (90 for Hamish (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/Smileys/default/smile.gif)) answering the questions/remarks only to realize they have typed in vain.
So I'll just comment on your reply:
The icon situation: I did see icons when within the 5.0k range, but there was always a gaggle of dots outside that range that I had to investigate up close. It almost always turned out to be 5 or 6 friendlies, sometimes with one enemy. Makes for a waste of time and lost altitude.
Its true that you have to be within 6K to get icons on, but it is possible to get a good clue about what the cluster of dots ahead consist of before going close. Take a look at the radar. Often you won't be able to see the red dots because you are not close to any of your bases, but you will always see the greens. So if you for instance see 3 dots ahead but radar only shows one green dot, you know that its most likely a friend fighting 2 enemies etc.
These conclusions I make almost without thinking about it anymore.
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OK, trying hard not to flame (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/Smileys/default/smile.gif), but if you'd read the help files/HTC web site help before flying 90% of these problems would have been nonexistent. The remaining 10% could probably be solved by making sure you have the latest version of DirectX and/or joystick drivers.
AH is a game, but it's a fairly complex game. You can't expect to master it instantly without reading up on it a bit...
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Rickenbacker (Ricken)
-ISAF-
the Independent Swedish Air Force
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Originally posted by Rickenbacker:
OK, trying hard not to flame (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/Smileys/default/smile.gif), but if you'd read the help files/HTC web site help before flying 90% of these problems would have been nonexistent. The remaining 10% could probably be solved by making sure you have the latest version of DirectX and/or joystick drivers.
AH is a game, but it's a fairly complex game. You can't expect to master it instantly without reading up on it a bit...
Very true....
But a lot of people just want to fly NOW ..
I still think a quick walk-thru would let those people do it as quickly as possible.
Some users read "reference style" manuals and their eyes roll back. (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/Smileys/default/smile.gif)
Eventually they would read for more detail.
I think the trick is to get the "2 week" trial users up to speed so they can enjoy the game as fast as possible.
Ask anyone in a IT tech support job...
Everyone is different in learning styles and speed.