Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Aces High General Discussion => Topic started by: nrshida on April 11, 2016, 04:30:45 AM
-
Sometimes I can only get to play at very off-peak times, like 11:00 CET. Lately there's often something like 30 players in the MA. Today I logged in as a Knight to find planes with 20 ENY or less are not available. I looked at the roster and there was something like 16 Knights, 11 Rooks and 3 Bishops. There was nothing going on on both Bishop fronts so I switched to Rooks. By the time I'd done that out there were 14 Knights, 17 Rooks and still 3 Bishops. Now it said planes with an ENY of 24 or less not available.
I know other planes with less ENY are available but if I want to fly my Ki-84 & cannot switch sides for another 6 hours, then the realistic option is to log out and try again later - if I have time to play! With players numbers so low I think other players likely do the same, hence the rapidly fluctuation numbers. Can't see that even the most competitive planes in the AH planeset would profoundly affect the outcome of the 'war'.
Could some concession be made to the off-peak time players where the ENY be dropped between certain hours or allow a player to always switch to the lower side anytime, say?
-
Even later then that can get bad....up to about 2-3 EST there should be no ENY or side switch time. Logged on twice in the last 4 days...once I get vulched trying to up to defend (all ack still up)....next day I fly to a base that some porker came from only to find 3 manned guns shooting from 6K out....yea man guns are fine the way they are :rolleyes:
The low number times really show the games true colors...hopefully HTC takes that advice over the "everything is fine" prime time pkayers....everything is not fine when I have to work just to try to find a fight.
-
It was the Bish's low numbers that was the cause of both the Knit and Rook ENY limits. You should have joined Bish and flown 262s for uber cheap!
-
I find myself logging in and logging out within 5 minutes more than i put any time into the game lately.
The sad part is, i logged in and was ranked number 1 overall with no effort at all.
That might say something about how many people are even playing?
-
It was the Bish's low numbers that was the cause of both the Knit and Rook ENY limits. You should have joined Bish and flown 262s for uber cheap!
Me caveman stall fighter. Ugh :rock
I fear there'll be a tipping point. Much lower numbers than now and then no one will bother, just log out at off-peak times. Then it becomes a question of what time of each day the game starts. The DA is totally dead now no matter what time I go there. Seen a few of the most hardcore DA types on the roster of the MA.
When I stated playing the game I think there was a separate MA arena at off peak or do I remember that wrong?
-
I find myself logging in and logging out within 5 minutes more than i put any time into the game lately.
The sad part is, i logged in and was ranked number 1 overall with no effort at all.
That might say something about how many people are even playing?
Do I need to log in and cheer you up?
-
Do I need to log in and cheer you up?
Shoot me a message when you do.. better hope there is a small map or you will log from boredom.
-
I find myself logging in and logging out within 5 minutes more than i put any time into the game lately.
The sad part is, i logged in and was ranked number 1 overall with no effort at all.
That might say something about how many people are even playing?
I'm ranked 1000 in Bomber....have not flown a single bomber yet...that probably tells you more about how many are playing.
-
I'm ranked 1000 in Bomber....have not flown a single bomber yet...that probably tells you more about how many are playing.
there could be 3000 players tied for 1000 place since they have no sorties.
semp
-
I think it should be a maximum of 70 players before the ENY kicks in, or just simply make the 10> ENY planes a perk cost. The perk cost is better than not getting to fly the plane all together. That's IF we want to keep the "same side mentality" if not, please change the side switch times.
:pray
-
What does ENY stand for anyway?
I'm assuming it's some kind of handicapping system to not let one side get too dominant? And the side swapping limit is to dampen the numbers getting uneven?
-
I think ENY should apply no matter what because 16vs3 is just as bad as 64vs12. Whether they are all hitting the same areas or not they could post a mission or flock together at any moment.
Side switching off peak may be a solution allow one swap on login then, 1 hour between switches. Also only allow switching to the low # side at any point.
-
Also only allow switching to the low # side at any point.
I can back this idea. Make sense.
-
I think ENY should apply no matter what because 16vs3 is just as bad as 64vs12. Whether they are all hitting the same areas or not they could post a mission or flock together at any moment.
Side switching off peak may be a solution allow one swap on login then, 1 hour between switches. Also only allow switching to the low # side at any point.
+1
-
What does ENY stand for anyway?
I'm assuming it's some kind of handicapping system to not let one side get too dominant? And the side swapping limit is to dampen the numbers getting uneven?
ENY is simply an abbreviation of enemy. It is the rating given planes & vehicles against other enemy people. OBJ is simply short for Object, it is the rating give a plane or vehicle against ground objects.
Perks are awarded based on Your planes ENY / dead plane ENY.
HiTech
-
I think ENY should apply no matter what because 16vs3 is just as bad as 64vs12. Whether they are all hitting the same areas or not they could post a mission or flock together at any moment.
Side switching off peak may be a solution allow one swap on login then, 1 hour between switches. Also only allow switching to the low # side at any point.
Depends what you call "off-peak", and "low-number side". Wouldn't want to stop someone from switching to be with his squad, when the sides are 64 v 60.
-
ENY is simply an abbreviation of enemy. It is the rating given planes & vehicles against other enemy people. OBJ is simply short for Object, it is the rating give a plane or vehicle against ground objects.
Perks are awarded based on Your planes ENY / dead plane ENY.
HiTech
Thank you. Makes perfect sense and I think it's a good system in isolation with a lot of players. However it seems at off-peak times the 6 hour side switching rule in combination with ENY makes more problem that it solves. It's just a subjective impression of course. Would you be willing to try for a trial period swapping to the low side anytime when numbers are below 50 players say?
-
I would call off peak 9am to about 3pm UK time so 4am to 10am East coast. Anything less than say 80 players total across all 3 teams. Rock bottom has been something like <20 recently :uhoh.
At these times having 2-3 squaddies would make you a mini horde so yes they would be blocked. I would say for 80% of players in squadrons they routinely do not switch unless they are a bit of a maverick and enjoy looking for a fight so being able to swap within the hour or on login would solve that.
-
I would call off peak 9am to about 3pm UK time so 4am to 10am East coast. Anything less than say 80 players total across all 3 teams. Rock bottom has been something like <20 recently :uhoh.
At these times having 2-3 squaddies would make you a mini horde so yes they would be blocked. I would say for 80% of players in squadrons they routinely do not switch unless they are a bit of a maverick and enjoy looking for a fight so being able to swap within the hour or on login would solve that.
I would extend that out to about 5 EST.
-
The issue is simple. "Safety in numbers".
-
NRShida
Being an Aussie, I pretty much only fly in off peak. What we off peak people do often is liase offline via Facebook and organise to meet at a certain time and also where, i.e. DA. We have a lot of fun doing that and usually end up with 5 to 10 players in the DA, all mates, much laughter and good times :)
Or jump in the MA and ask if anyone wants to head to the DA, usually a bunch will if there isn't much happening.
NG <S>
-
Didn't we once have a single arena during peak low numbers times back when the MA was split in 2? Concessions have been made respective to numbers. If there is a time at which less than 75 people are in the arena that holds for 4-8 hours, that is not an anomaly nor something customers are paying to be disappointed by.
The goal for HTC is to build the customer base into the future and return us to more than 75 in the MA at peak low times. AH3 has the ability to do this. For now, unless AH3 will go live inside of the next 30 days. Maybe something should be done for the faithful customers who are accepting the numbers poor playing conditions of peak off times. Their experience should be as good as HTC can manage to make it in the face of how good peak time players experiences are.
We also need to consider that Hitech may not have the code in place to trigger side switching at will when the arena numbers hit 75 or lower for a given amount of time. Or the code in place to disable ENY for the same conditions. He is the only person coding and debugging at all levels for AH3.
In the face of AH3 being prepped for go live, seems much of this is simply not enough Hitech to go around coupled with an unwillingness to have faith in AH3. It is obvious given Hitech's resources, he has chosen to take a lot up front on the chin from his customers while trying to get the next version of Aces High out the door.
And his customers are heartily giving it to him on his chin since it's obvious he has no other choice within the parameters he has to work by.
-
I think ENY should apply no matter what because 16vs3 is just as bad as 64vs12. Whether they are all hitting the same areas or not they could post a mission or flock together at any moment.
Not if 13 of the 16 are asleep. This is a big problem at night, the percentage of people who aren't anywhere near their computer but never bothered to log off goes way up and skews ENY. In practice below about 50 players the number of people logged on for each side becomes random and meaningless in terms of the numbers of players actually engaged. This is especially true when one side is near a map win late at night, nobody on that side logs off because they want the free perks.
Some of us have been begging for years for the game to boot people from the arena if they go 2 hours or so without leaving the tower or moving their controls. Yes, some people would devise ways of getting around it but most wouldn't bother and in any case it's hard to see how it could hurt.
-
People who just sit in the tower should be auto-kicked after 10-15 minutes or so. Also when people log on they should be automatically enrolled with the chess piece country with the lowest numbers. They can always choose to switch to their favorite country or boyfriend or whatever...
-
He avoided switching to the side with three players. Seems to be less complicated as some are making this. There was minimal difference in ENY, between the other two sides.
-
He avoided switching to the side with three players. Seems to be less complicated as some are making this. There was minimal difference in ENY, between the other two sides.
There were no fights against the country with three players. None at all otherwise I would have swapped there.
-
There were no fights against the country with three players. None at all otherwise I would have swapped there.
You do have the option of starting a fight though. Just saying maybe next time try it.
-
not saying shida does this but sometimes you do have to engineer a fight (especially off hours) rather than tower watch / monitor scanty dar bars that may or may not indicate a correct level of cons inbound.
After about 10-15minutes of looking at the map you get a feel for what is on and then go about provoking an enemy reaction. Some of the best furballs occur out of recently failed base takes and you have to get airbourne to create that environment. Logging off in disgust that your meal wasn't on a plate for you does wear thin (again not directed at anyone in particular).
I do sympathise with guys who havent got all day and want a quick fight hopefully the 1vs1 arena might help with that.
-
Agree Bruv. Well stated.
-
Perhaps I am being lazy. I have tried to start fights. I shoot out radars, sometimes in a chain and try to fake I'm a huge squad. Sometimes there's a single upper, even whenI dump all my energy, even going -e they mostly seem to run to ack. Even that's rare, usually I get shot at by the 88-mm and I can't dogfight that, so I move away.
I just want to dogfight. That's apparently becoming an unreasonable request?
-
not saying shida does this but sometimes you do have to engineer a fight (especially off hours) rather than tower watch / monitor scanty dar bars that may or may not indicate a correct level of cons inbound.
After about 10-15minutes of looking at the map you get a feel for what is on and then go about provoking an enemy reaction. Some of the best furballs occur out of recently failed base takes and you have to get airbourne to create that environment. Logging off in disgust that your meal wasn't on a plate for you does wear thin (again not directed at anyone in particular).
I do sympathise with guys who havent got all day and want a quick fight hopefully the 1vs1 arena might help with that.
Problem is with the low numbers when you try to build a fight they just run for field supps or man guns...yea this game isn't broke at all.
-
Really and truely, the only way to make the game quicker with more action is to have smaller maps with closer bases. Having to fly 20 minutes to a field is the slow aspect to the game. It's not a big deal when a lot of players are in the area, but when the #s are low and people are spread out all over, there is simply no point in flying to a base with 1 tiny little dar bar with maybe one enemy that you can't even find. That's what people are talking about. I really hope to see some maps in the new version that have less bases and are moved closer together. Even if maps get won in 3 hours it really doesn't matter. That's why I had some really great fights in the H2H because the maps were small and people could find the action, they were bound and forced to engage, and this happened with only 4 players on each side. I feel this will be the only way #s will increase in the off hours time.
-
And you get the new arena in AH3 that quick matches you guys for fast fights if you show up and sit in the tower.
The MA terrains are built by "players", as long as they follow guidelines from HTC, their dream world gets accepted. So why not build your perfect MA terrain like Fester did and submit it to Skuzzy for approval? You seem to have an expert assessment of what's ruining the game.
Complaining in here will never persuade anyone to build your dream world on their time, which it takes a boat load of it to create a terrain. The AH3 terrain editor is pretty simple to operate and Easycor, Greebo, and the terrain team are happy to answer your questions.
-
And you get the new arena in AH3 that quick matches you guys for fast fights if you show up and sit in the tower.
The MA terrains are built by "players", as long as they follow guidelines from HTC, their dream world gets accepted. So why not build your perfect MA terrain like Fester did and submit it to Skuzzy for approval? You seem to have an expert assessment of what's ruining the game.
Complaining in here will never persuade anyone to build your dream world on their time, which it takes a boat load of it to create a terrain. The AH3 terrain editor is pretty simple to operate and Easycor, Greebo, and the terrain team are happy to answer your questions.
Just because I know how to offer solutions from 12 years of expert game play, doesn't mean I can create maps or have the time for it. Festers map works great because bases are closer together. I wish it was a tiny bit smaller. If you don't recognize this as a problem Bustr than you are just short sighted.
-
Just because I know how to offer solutions from 12 years of expert game play, doesn't mean I can create maps or have the time for it. Festers map works great because bases are closer together. I wish it was a tiny bit smaller. If you don't recognize this as a problem Bustr than you are just short sighted.
we do have small maps and they get rolled within a couple of hours mostly during non-prime time. and you want smaller maps?
semp
-
we do have small maps and they get rolled within a couple of hours mostly during non-prime time. and you want smaller maps?
semp
Rolling of the maps isn't the issue. You could go through 5 maps a day, at least the fights would be more engaging during the off hours.
-
what happens now when you have the small maps?
semp
-
we do have small maps and they get rolled within a couple of hours mostly during non-prime time. and you want smaller maps?
semp
Also, it's more about the base distance than the size of the map.
-
Also, it's more about the base distance than the size of the map.
small pizza or the uterus map have bases really close to each other. but I cant find a fight because everybody and their mother is in a gv. and that is during prime time. I normally log in then log off when I see those maps.
semp
-
small pizza or the uterus map have bases really close to each other. but I cant find a fight because everybody and their mother is in a gv. and that is during prime time. I normally log in then log off when I see those maps.
semp
I'm also a proponent of no TTs :D
The thing is, compello (the never ending map, looks like a galexy) has really close bases, but the fronts are too far apart. you got everyone scattered all over the map. It almost never gets won in 7 days. The fights can be a lot of fun, but it needs a shave of excess bases in the back. Even some of the smaller maps have bases that are too far away, flying 15 minutes hoping to find 1 con in a tiny red dar bar can get kinda slow.
-
Today I tried to stop an attack on our radar base. When I got there it was flat. So I shot out the radar of their nearest vehicle base and got shot at by an 88-mm. So using stealth technology I shot that out too. Then an OST thing came out and tried to shoot me. Their nearest airbase was a quarter of a sector away. Would have taken five minutes to get an e advantage and attack me.
Just can't start fights when you fly alone I think. Not in my flying hours. Bah, I give up :rofl
NikonGuy, just saw your post. I'll look for you and see if you're in a private arena. :salute
-
And in other news I ran into NikonGuy and SYSTEM and had a fantastic hour of good old fashioned one-on-ones in the DA and remembered why I loved the game. Just really quality flying, making new friends and trying out new aircraft.
Cobblers, to the war :old: :rofl :rofl :rofl :rock
-
Might help finding folks to fight by HT simply turning one all dar at low player count times. That way you can see all dots on the map, even when they are not in the dar ring.
-
Just because I know how to offer solutions from 12 years of expert game play, doesn't mean I can create maps or have the time for it. Festers map works great because bases are closer together. I wish it was a tiny bit smaller. If you don't recognize this as a problem Bustr than you are just short sighted.
Hitech won't have Waffle take your observations and trim existing maps. Converting them to AH3 will be done probably by players donationg personal time. Since you have just eliminated yourself from stepping up and solving your problem with your own map along with the like minded who support your observations. Who is supposed to whack all the existing maps based on your expert opinion? In the past year you have been very willing to take part in these discussions and the MA. You could have created your dream map in that time. Didn't Fester create his over three years with his spare time? I put my time into the new game.
-
Hitech won't have Waffle take your observations and trim existing maps. Converting them to AH3 will be done probably by players donationg personal time. Since you have just eliminated yourself from stepping up and solving your problem with your own map along with the like minded who support your observations. Who is supposed to whack all the existing maps based on your expert opinion? In the past year you have been very willing to take part in these discussions and the MA. You could have created your dream map in that time. Didn't Fester create his over three years with his spare time? I put my time into the new game.
I understand your point Bustr but you can't berate someone for choosing not to invest a considerable amount of their free time voluntarily. You don't know anything about their circumstances and besides, the game is not free to play. Your point is becoming a false dilemma. No need to be so protective.
-
I will be back online in about 3 weeks - Flying Aussie evenings. Look forward to some DA action :)
-
Simple guideline; if the number of bases out number the number of players, the map is too big for current low attendance gameplay.
There are a couple exceptions (maps that funnel action ), but too many bases dilutes gameplay FAR too much.