Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Aces High General Discussion => Topic started by: steveb999 on August 19, 2011, 12:09:47 PM
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I primarily GV. Only when for reasons which are beyond my control which force me in to a plane do I fly, and that is really rare. The last week or so I hadn't been having much fun GV'ing. Took WAY too long to find combat and then I seemed to get killed too quickly. I was seriously thinking of moving on to some other game.
Then the map changed to ndisles I believe. This map has a large island in the middle with 3 GV fields and 3 air fields, 2 for each country. Wow. What a difference! It seemed ALL the GV'rs were working that island. No more spending 10-30 minutes looking for a battle that then may only last 10 minutes and then you have to start looking again. No spawn camping to speak of. Just a ton of GV fun! I heard more exclamations of of fun from other players over voice chat during those 2 days the map was active than I have heard the last few weeks combined. I had a blast!
The things that contributed to this were all 3 countries being in the area equidistant from each other which made it difficult to spawn camp. No terrain advantage to any one base. Yes, there was terrain that did give advantages but it was equidistant from 2 bases so as not to be an advantage to one base and not another. A stack of buildings in the center of the bases for those that like city fighting.
So why is it we don't have something similar in EVERY map? Or at least half of the maps? It was disappointing to log in today and see the map had changed. I spent 20 minutes looking for a GV battle then just logged off.
Zed
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I believe the majority of maps in the rotation were designed before the GV element in the game was as large or popular as it is today, and/or they were made by people who focused more on the air war than the ground war.
As arena setup practice, and for something different, I often spawn up a custom arena with the ndisles map. I set the whole center island for GV fights - the airbases only have the C47 enabled, and the WWI planes are enabled at the vbases to act as spotters or just for dogfights over the battle. All the other islands and CV groups are available for island-hopping air fights.
Many of the players who design the maps are most likely taking into consideration what makes for good GV battles...we must wait for them to finish and the maps to be put into the rotation.
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So GV'ing popularity is only a recent phenomena? I have only been playing for a couple of months.
Zed
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GVing is awesome fun, and this map has an awesome TT in the center of that island. The only problems are that 1) there are airfields close by so there will be bomb****s griefing the GVers all the time, and 2) in no short order some "win the war" mouthbreathers will capture all of tank town island and effectively end the fun for everyone else. Once that happens this map is mediocrefor GVing.
But yes, GVing is fun, I just wish I were better at it!
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Hehe... I remember seein you out there yesterday Zed. Were some good fights too. TT can be a lot of fun as long as too many bombers dont show up.
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GV'ing has recently become more diverse. In April of this year, HTC released an update that applied historically accurate tank sights to each respective tank. Previously, each tank had the exact same sight so each has the same ability to reach out to long ranges equally in terms of sighting for tank battles. That certainly was not the case in WWII. The Germans had by far the best optics in the war, everyone else was a distant second.
In think what would make GV'ing more fun is to introduce terrain that has fewer trees, more rolling hills, and some terrain obsticles that can NOT be traversed by tanks (gullys, rivers, etc). Also, have the risk of the infamous "bomb****" be absolute minimum.
It is a lot of fun when the front lines have moved enough that when you up a gv and look around you see no familiar terrain. being able to have legit gv battles on those terrains is a good time. In a number of cases, what I suggested earlier can be had on most maps, but it is 4-5 bases behind the original front.
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GV'ing has recently become more diverse. In April of this year, HTC released an update that applied historically accurate tank sights to each respective tank.
I GV'd occasionally prior to the update, but now I GV a lot more than I used to. IMHO the GV update was one of the best things they've done. I guess I think that way because I wasn't so used to the old way that it "hurt" to change.... but the new system rocks. I particularly like being at a bit of a disadvantage in the T34 or a LOT of a disadvantage in an M3 with the 75mm...... killing 7 or 8 enemy tanks with an M3 while scooting around at high speed and hiding from tanks is a HOOT, and a lot more fun than having super zoom fights and getting 1-shot killed from 3K+ away like happened so often with the old tank sights....
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What's the map with the big Tank Town on it?
Now THAT'S some GV fun right there.
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What's the map with the big Tank Town on it?
Now THAT'S some GV fun right there.
Ndisles. but there are a few others with Tank centers that are unexploited and amazing also. you get on trinity with 30-50 GVs in the center and you'll fall in love. sadly nobody uses it anymore
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Hehe... I remember seein you out there yesterday Zed. Were some good fights too. TT can be a lot of fun as long as too many bombers dont show up.
There were some great fights! The great thing about that setup is it was constantly changing. One group would hold an area for a bit then get pushed out and the enemy would hold it for a while. Then we would push back in a re-take. It was back and forth all the time which is MUCH more fun than the usual battles I find on the other maps.
The GV bombing can be a pain and in some cases just sucks the fun right out of the battle. A good compromise would be to eliminate enemy icons for GV's altogether. That at least gives you a chance to hide. Once an enemy GV'r spots you they can call in a bomber if they feel the need. But even then you can move and at least have a chance to re-hide for a while longer.
I don't think I would care very much for a completely open map with no trees or bushes. I like to sneak around and find good places to snipe from. I do think you should be able to shoot through hedges and bushes though.
Zed
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So GV'ing popularity is only a recent phenomena? I have only been playing for a couple of months.
No, it is not. While some aspects of the ground game have changed over the last few years (most notably the decline of the Tank Town concept), players do basically spend the same amount of time in GVs as they did in the past 6-7 years.
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No, it is not. While some aspects of the ground game have changed over the last few years (most notably the decline of the Tank Town concept), players do basically spend the same amount of time in GVs as they did in the past 6-7 years.
Is it possible to make a bar chart that shows the number of players GVing opposed to the players flying? I don't mean against each other, just the activity level. In other words something like on a given day 25% GVing opposed to 75% flying.
Thanks
Fred
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Is it possible to make a bar chart that shows the number of players GVing opposed to the players flying? I don't mean against each other, just the activity level. In other words something like on a given day 25% GVing opposed to 75% flying.
Thanks
Fred
Not possible for single days, but...
(http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/4378/clipboard01ey.jpg)
Tour 20 is a randomly selected AH1 tour, it was a much different game back then not just because of the players but also because of different (and often less) gameplay options.
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If you had to choose either a life as a bird, or a life as a frog, what would it be?
I'm going to choose the bird. I might on occasion fly over the frog and wonder what it is like to be him but I don't want to be him.
I have no interaction with frogs when I'm flying around untill one of their bird friends flys over him hoping for him to catch me with his sticky tongue because he's losing a fight.
I just don't understand why you would come into the best place in the world for birds to fly and choose not to.
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The ground game is the 2nd highest on the chart and would be alot higher I believe if we made a few changes.
Make Ndisles 3 center gv bases uncapturable
Same thing with Ozkansas but make the 3 outer air bases uncapturable as well.
This would be a good change for the short term until more tank oriented maps come along, as ozkansas comes up alot and takes a long time to win.
And see if theres any way any new maps could be created with destructable trees
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I just don't understand why you would come into the best place in the world for birds to fly and choose not to.
Because variety is the spice of life.
Get down and get dirty.
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Because variety is the spice of life.
Get down and get dirty.
Hehe. Good answer sir !
And you didn't cast any aspersions on my moral terpitude, bring doubt upon my genetic makeup, or call me names.
I really posted for an answer too, not just to call you guys frogs :O Play on GV'ers :rock glad you are all here! :cheers:
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And you didn't cast any aspersions on my moral terpitude, bring doubt upon my genetic makeup, or call me names.
Because there is no need for that Zoney.
Whether we like it or not, we are all in this thing together. And if we fail to realize that we'll be without this thing altogether.
:salute
Now go kill.
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Not possible for single days, but...
(http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/4378/clipboard01ey.jpg)
Tour 20 is a randomly selected AH1 tour, it was a much different game back then not just because of the players but also because of different (and often less) gameplay options.
Thanks Lusche, that is exactly what I was looking for. Now, do you have one for a current tour so a comparison can be done. I am curious if GV usage is higher than it was in the past.
Thanks
Fred
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Ugh. The current map is horrible for generating GV battles. Went from 2 days of GV bliss to spending 3 hours looking for a battle, firing maybe 10 shots, killing 1 tank, getting totally bored and logging off. Wake me up when the map changes.......
Zed
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Thanks Lusche, that is exactly what I was looking for. Now, do you have one for a current tour so a comparison can be done. I am curious if GV usage is higher than it was in the past.
Tour 138 ended only about 3 weeks ago. Not recent enough? ;)
I personally could not think of any reason the GV usage should have drastically changed in the last 20 days, especially as the big change is now about 3 months ago and did not have any immediate or even mid-term impact on the overall GV usage time as you can see above.
But if anything surprising happens, I will let you know :)
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Ugh. The current map is horrible for generating GV battles. Went from 2 days of GV bliss to spending 3 hours looking for a battle, firing maybe 10 shots, killing 1 tank, getting totally bored and logging off. Wake me up when the map changes.......
Zed
Well, I guess that's a problem when a player narrows down his interests and participation in this game to a very small and distinct aspect of the gameplay. Broaden your horizon and have more fun :old:
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To be honest, I still dislike the GV update, only because the distortion or opacity placed on some tank sights wears my eyes out. I think they should be clear. That said, tank fights now take place at the distances they should. Tank fights are also easier. What I mean by this is: With fixed zoom tanks sights, and with a moveable range graduation, it is much easier to be consistent with hit after hit. With the old system, the urge was to change the amount of zoom, which resulted in a shift of your aiming perspective relative to the range of the vehicle.
I still believe that there should be places on all maps where it is exceedingly difficult to bomb GV fights. The Grinder map (more of these) is a great example. The perimeter is lined with V-Bases, all lined by high canyon walls. They have little strategic value, and are in depth, so if some one captures on, there is probably still another out there.
If I were to make any recommended change to promote "fair play" I would say changed the graphics slider to have a GV and airplane setting. Currently you can reduce your vis range to 1.5k. Meaning, you can turn off all trees, etc... and then you would start seeing things. This used to be OK, because tanks were shooting 3k with the mega zoom sights so if you wanted to have a prayer of defending yourself you had to be able to see that far. Now, I feel most kills I have gotten have been in the 800-1.2k range. (good armor model). I would recommend that the slider brackets be 500m/3k/5k etc.... to prevent guys from lowering their settings and getting an edge. This I think is why some guys feel there are being "shot through trees" etc....
Still a thumbs up from a very vocal "I hate the GV update guy". Please clear the sights up if you want to keep a guy like me online for an extra hour. It just hurts to squint at a "foggy" tank sight for very long.
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I still believe that there should be places on all maps where it is exceedingly difficult to bomb GV fights.
And once again I must think of the best GV combat are we have, tank town on trinity, which is well shielded from planes, has multiple bases and spawns, expanses of open terrain mixed with well covered terrain and a town for suspenseful hide-and-seek combat... and is empty, while thousands of kills are made at the point&click spawn at A135 are made ;)
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Zed,
:aok :aok :aok The latest "gv" update has made gving far more enjoyable to me. I agree though that some maps make it much more enjoyable than others. Give it some time though, I seem to notice that gv's are becoming less and less of a fight separate from the air war, and that the two seem to be starting to compliment one another. I'm comfortable that as things settle in they will only get better for everyone.
For instance, the addition of the M3 75mm has allowed for the increase of using gv's to destroy towns, however their vulnerability to aircraft gunfire requires that they have ample light fighters to cover them. In turn, this means that the non bomb toting attackers aren't able to bomb**** defending armor... And of course, now the attackers have to bring there own armor to deal with them...
etc.etc. etc... The community is still discovering what does and doesn't work, but all in all there's a lot more of us in gv's trying to figure it out.
(btw, I'm the one in the T34-85 that's always facing the wrong direction, and has a great big target painted on his arse)
<S>
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Tour 138 ended only about 3 weeks ago. Not recent enough? ;)
I personally could not think of any reason the GV usage should have drastically changed in the last 20 days, especially as the big change is now about 3 months ago and did not have any immediate or even mid-term impact on the overall GV usage time as you can see above.
But if anything surprising happens, I will let you know :)
Sorry, I misread the chart..
:salute
Fred
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Ugh. The current map is horrible for generating GV battles. Went from 2 days of GV bliss to spending 3 hours looking for a battle, firing maybe 10 shots, killing 1 tank, getting totally bored and logging off. Wake me up when the map changes.......
You know who to thank for the map reset, too, that took us from a good map to a crappy map.
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Have had zero problem with driving GV on any map..........maybe a bit challenging on that one terrain full of steep mountains.
That said, the T34 is now useless on many terrains it used to be able to travel.
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The T34 engine is modelled correctly, imo. It has a 4 speed transmission and anyone who knows anything about engines, transmissions, torque, RPM's, and engine load will understand WHY the T34 is not as spirited going up hill as it was prior to the addition of the auto transmission. It is not worthless in the least bit, but its Achilles heel is more obvious now (low acceleration).
With regards to the tank sights and their clarity and asking HTC to go back to an "all clear-equal footing", I could not disagree more. The difference in optical clarity is partially what helps further differentiate the tanks. That is one of the best things about that big gv update. The historically accurate tank sight reticles, optical clarity, and proper zoom capabilities have jumped AH light years ahead of where there were at. The TC position and auto transmission are also good things, imo.
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The T34 get's stuck sideways on a gentle slope that the m4 will climb in 3rd gear.
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Well, I guess that's a problem when a player narrows down his interests and participation in this game to a very small and distinct aspect of the gameplay. Broaden your horizon and have more fun :old:
When I first started playing AH all I did was fly. I didn't even know there were GVs in the game! It took me 3 weeks to discover tanks, so yeah, I have done the flying thing. I just don't enjoy it as much. Is it wrong to want the GV part of the game to be as fun all the time as the game is for the people that fly? Are you saying that the GVs are not supposed to be an integral part of the game but just a distraction for when one is bored with flying?
Yes, I understand that AH was conceived and developed as an air combat game, but GVs were added and there is a significant number of us that prefer GVs over flying. What's wrong with wanting to improve our in-game experience? What's wrong with whining about things that make the game less fun for us? I am not asking for the game to be made GV-centric and cater to my particular needs. I am just asking for adjustments to be made that facilitate the fun factor for people that prefer to GV. :)
We do have a few maps that have a couple of GV bases close enough together they can be driven between so you don't have to use a spawn point. Other than the ndisle map these are the places where decent, ongoing GV battles happen. We just need situations like this for all maps. It shouldn't take too long to do some map editing to facilitate this.
Making it easier to have fun GVing in no way has to affect the fun factor of the flying aspect of the game. :)
Zed