Arena settings, what can be adjusted?

[julle]

Hi,

I´m a WB WAR ROOM player who just opened a 2 week trial account. I would like to know what can be adjusted in the CT arena. I had a wild thought to try to bring my squad the =Flak Panzer Oilers= in here for 2 weeks...

Our "demands":

- NO enemy ICONS
- Friendly name (no range) at app. 500 yards
- NO inflight radar, or those red/green "bars" on the map
- NO killshooter
- Weapons lethality set down a bit app. 20%

Could these terms be acceptable? Or can the arena even be set up like this? Is it possible to test these settings on H2H? One more pleed: We would LOVE an estern front setup on the "baltic" map!

Col. julle, CO =Flak Panzer Oilers=



http://www.eztargets.com

[Kweassa]

Before anyone else starts throwing tomatos, I'll write down my opinion on your suggestions so it may act as a buffer (just kiddin' Julle  )

* about Icons

 No enemy icons does add somewhat of a suspense factor to the game, but due to limited graphics it has a lot of problems. I myself was once a advocate for no icons play, but after a lot of experimenting around, it has a lot of problems so far.

 I've tried a lot of full-real no icon games in 1C:Maddox's "IL-2". The graphic levels are as high as it gets within current tech levels for commercial use in that game. No icons work in IL-2, but just barely. Set the graphic levels anything else than full detail and spotting enemy planes become a real pain, more than one can imagine.

* about icon range

 It is an interesting concept, and I'm sure there are a lot of alternatives to current icon functions. This suggestion seems very positive.

* about dar coverage

 Well.. it just won't work. I like flying with my eyes only too, but there are other people with other preferences. Considering that, current radar settings with slow update rates seem to be only sort of compromise there can be..

* about kill shooter

 This could be interesting. Actually watching one's line of fire might add a lot to CT type of game play. There have been other people who suggested this to HTC, but if I remember correctly HTC doesn't approve of on-line arenas(MA or CT, SEA etc..) without killshooter. Myabe they'd change their minds.. who knows?

* and finally, the lethality..

 BoB lethality is good enough No few-ping snap shots since all planes are mostly armed with .303(7.92mm) guns. It takes a lot of hits to down fighters, you really have to maneuver the plane so it sits behind the enemy in a good position. No 1000 yard ping-kills here. Lot of heart-pumping close quarter dog-fights in BoB CT. I guess if there is room for improvement, it is in the damage modelling - both graphical and systematical.

 

[skernsk]

Originally posted by julle
Hi,



Our "demands":

- NO enemy ICONS

Can't be done.  Short icons is the best we can do.

- Friendly name (no range) at app. 500 yards

Friendly icons are long range (6k).  Why shorten it since they are on your side anyway?

- NO inflight radar, or those red/green "bars" on the map

When there are only 20 or do in the arena the DAR helps you find a fight.  Whenever possible the CT guys set up dar historically accurate or in a case where dar was nonexistant they set it up in a limited capacity for gameplay purposes.

- NO killshooter

Good idea, but what happens when you get an idiot running around the arena shooting down his own teammates?  It happens fairly often in the MA a "newbie" saddles up on ya and thinks he's got his first kill.....then he wonders where his tail went as he plummets to the ground:)

- Weapons lethality set down a bit app. 20%

Why?  Is it more historical or just harder?  I prefer gettings kills at the explense fo dieing myself rather than ping the hell out of a plane only to watch him keep flying....that is not fun.

Could these terms be acceptable? Or can the arena even be set up like this? Is it possible to test these settings on H2H? One more pleed: We would LOVE an estern front setup on the "baltic" map!

the CT folks keep changing it regularily.

Col. julle, CO =Flak Panzer Oilers=

[/B]

[sling322]

Oops...what I meant to say here is that HT told me he will never code in tower only dar even for events use.  Currently, we can turn dar off, but its off no matter if you are in the tower or in a plane.

[Nifty]

sling, whatchu talking 'bout?  We turn off DAR in the SEA for events all the time.  what HiTech won't let us do is turn of Icons on the server side.    Of course the clipboard map is still there, but all it does is tell you where you are when the DAR is turned off.

[Sabre]

- NO enemy ICONS
- Friendly name (no range) at app. 500 yards
- NO inflight radar, or those red/green "bars" on the map
- NO killshooter
- Weapons lethality set down a bit app. 20%

Greetings from the CT Staff.  Most of your questions have been answered.  I will expand on the 2nd and 3rd request though.  Right now we can completely disable radar (in tower and in flight), but there is no option for giving people tower-only radar.  For whatever reason, HiTech has deemed this undersirable.  As for Killshooter, history has shown that turning it off in an on-line arena (except for the Special Events Arena) causes too many problems.

In H2H, you can have each player turn icons off,  the host of the H2H session can turn killshooter off, turn radar completely off, and adjust leathality down.

My suggestion is to try some H2H practice with your squad, then give us a try.  The CT settings are a compromise of providing a more immersive WWII experience while still insuring maximum gameplay.  And welcome to AH.  I think you'll like it:).

Sabre
CT Staff

[Durr]

If you like to play with extreme realism, like me, you can do like I do, and no changes will be necessary for everybody else.  First turn off all icons using alt I, until no icons is selected.  Then print out a copy of the map to navigate from, and do not pull up the inflight clipboard after that.  If you do that, you have eliminated the unrealistic in-flight radar, all icons, and the GPS type moving map display.  What is even better, this has required no change in the game, and allows those that would prefer to keep using those features to do so.  Just bear in mind that it will be a little frustrating at first, but once you get used to it, it is the best way to play hands down.

[ergRTC]

hey durr, that is pretty cool.  Nice idea.

I think one other thing worth noteing julle,
HTC has spoken before about some of these things, and his reasons for these things are rather good (some of them).
(this is my take on what he said, I may be wrong, I may be right)


1. limited graphics/no 3d visuals.  You need the icons to recreate a pilots ability to both recognize an enemy plane and judge distance.  Of course you can turn these off, but then you are basically a one eyed pilot with bad site in your only eye.  


(my own opinion)
2.  Radar.  The 1 minute refresh is great as it brings it back to a more realistic feel, and for that matter england and germany (pretty restricted in bob) had radar and used it to its highest potential at the time.  I would actually rather see a red smear over an area of 70% likelyhood than a definite dot, but that may be annoying.  HTC likes to keep radar all the time, because weenies whine about not being able to find the fight.  When defending england i dont think radio silence was too important, and i have heard stories about outfitting spits with radios (adding weight) and pilots squeaking, so I assume there was leading flights to the enemy planes (dot dar).  


(my own opinion)
3. Bar dar.  This one is probably the most real of all of these things.  If you are in dover, sitting in the tower.  I hope central command has the ability to tell you that enemy forces have been spotted over the channel and the relative numbers of them.  Radar at the time was more than capable of this, as well as 'posts' of guys with binoculars.