Man, Its been years since I played this game (2007)

[COndor06]

Thought I would check in with the current Aces of HT. I spent about 5 years playing with a great group of people here. Our squad (Hells Angels) was even sponsored by CH Products and they gave all the squad members new joysticks and throttles. Those were some fun times.

We had to make a squad video for CH for their website. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHNX8y8tKJc

So I was wondering, hows the game play these days? I noticed VR has come to Aces High. I built a full scale 202 degree FOV flight sim and was thinking about coming back for a few fights. Does Hells Angels even exist anymore? lol

Obviously we were a group of older guys. We spent thousands of hours crewing bombers as Rooks with fighter escorts every Saturday night from about 7pm to 4am. Great times.

I see a lot of rumbling about hoards out there. We used to crew up with other squads from other countries and spend a night taking those hoards out. Do you guys still do that stuff? 

[DmonSlyr]

Thought I would check in with the current Aces of HT. I spent about 5 years playing with a great group of people here. Our squad (Hells Angels) was even sponsored by CH Products and they gave all the squad members new joysticks and throttles. Those were some fun times.

We had to make a squad video for CH for their website. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHNX8y8tKJc

So I was wondering, hows the game play these days? I noticed VR has come to Aces High. I built a full scale 202 degree FOV flight sim and was thinking about coming back for a few fights. Does Hells Angels even exist anymore? lol

Obviously we were a group of older guys. We spent thousands of hours crewing bombers as Rooks with fighter escorts every Saturday night from about 7pm to 4am. Great times.

I see a lot of rumbling about hoards out there. We used to crew up with other squads from other countries and spend a night taking those hoards out. Do you guys still do that stuff?

Id say the game is bit different than it use to be because so many large squads have left and there is a lot more individual flying. It can be tough to get kills quickly because of the lack of abundance of fighters. The general game is the same for the most part. I think the game is much harder than it use to be. Players have gotten better, and planes like the yak3 in abundance have made it harder to get kills. Its tough for players to constantly get ganged or have players run from them in their super planes. Thats just the nature of it. The whole ACM dueling side has gone out the window. Hardly anyone wants to actually learn air combat. There are still some big fights in the prime time hours. Special events are very good and very fun to play in. Id highly recommend playing in those.

[oboe]

Hey COndor06,

That sounds like you guys had a lot of fun; didn't realize CH sponsored squads at one time.

The game is prettier now than it was then - terrain is more detailed, many more custom skins, better detail and graphics in many aircraft cockpits.   The VR experience is really pretty good.  Hitech's view system allows use of the hat switch views with VR, so you can look behind you in VR in a way that's not possible in IL-2 or DCS (I *think*).   

Dmonslyr nailed it pretty well regarding the demise of organized squad ops vs more individual flying, and the popularity of the Yak-3.   Still, there are more than a few active squads, though the Angels don't appear in Arlo's excellent list of active squads:



I think you'd still find a lot of fun here.  What's a 202 degree FOV flight sim?   Are you talking about a simpit?

 

[FX1]

Half of the player base are what I call uber vets. More than likely your going to fight guys with 10,15 years of experience.  Violator is correct that the is much harder but I guess that's why we all come back after all these years.

[COndor06]

Id say the game is bit different than it use to be because so many large squads have left and there is a lot more individual flying. It can be tough to get kills quickly because of the lack of abundance of fighters. The general game is the same for the most part. I think the game is much harder than it use to be. Players have gotten better, and planes like the yak3 in abundance have made it harder to get kills. Its tough for players to constantly get ganged or have players run from them in their super planes. Thats just the nature of it. The whole ACM dueling side has gone out the window. Hardly anyone wants to actually learn air combat. There are still some big fights in the prime time hours. Special events are very good and very fun to play in. Id highly recommend playing in those.

Army of Muppets? I remember you guys. Our squads used to fly together. I think one of our squad mates (Bear) started flying with that squad when Hells Angels broke up.

Thanks for the update

[COndor06]

Hey COndor06,

That sounds like you guys had a lot of fun; didn't realize CH sponsored squads at one time.

The game is prettier now than it was then - terrain is more detailed, many more custom skins, better detail and graphics in many aircraft cockpits.   The VR experience is really pretty good.  Hitech's view system allows use of the hat switch views with VR, so you can look behind you in VR in a way that's not possible in IL-2 or DCS (I *think*).   

Dmonslyr nailed it pretty well regarding the demise of organized squad ops vs more individual flying, and the popularity of the Yak-3.   Still, there are more than a few active squads, though the Angels don't appear in Arlo's excellent list of active squads:

I think you'd still find a lot of fun here.  What's a 202 degree FOV flight sim?   Are you talking about a simpit?

 

Yes sir. I bought the 202 from Simpit but I ditched the short throw system and went with the 4K projection. Much nicer. Its too bad the squads don't form up as much. Most of the fun was hanging with squad mates. We made a squad video and I sent it to CH and they jumped right on board. They sent me 18 complete flight systems to share with the squad. We couldn't believe it.

I was looking through the squads but I didn't recognize any names.

[oboe]

Yes sir. I bought the 202 from Simpit but I ditched the short throw system and went with the 4K projection. Much nicer. Its too bad the squads don't form up as much. Most of the fun was hanging with squad mates. We made a squad video and I sent it to CH and they jumped right on board. They sent me 18 complete flight systems to share with the squad. We couldn't believe it.

I was looking through the squads but I didn't recognize any names.

Amazing story!  I looked up Simpit 202 and dang, that looks sweet!   There could be some of the same people still flying but they may have changed handles over the years, so you wouldn't recognize names.  I've stuck with oboe over the years for simplicity's sake. 

I'm a fair to middling pilot, having fun in a lot of different aircraft models and types rather than specializing in one.  I still find fights I can win and plenty where I'm waxed in under 10 seconds.   U.S. primetime weeknights you will find 100+ pilots online.   Plenty to have a good time.   Come back and try it - the Rooks need ya!   

 

[Shuffler]

Look what the dogs drug in. LOL.

Howdy ya ol geezer.

[COndor06]

Look what the dogs drug in. LOL.

Howdy ya ol geezer.

I'm a Geezing right along. lol Thought I would try and find out if any of the old crew were still around. Thinking about coming back in for a few fights. What they hell are you doin round here. lol

[Traveler]

I think it was more a case of new players not joining squads, and squads losing members due to the expense of upgrading to keep up with the game.  I know that the 113th trained a lot of new players that once they learned the in's and out's of the game left the squad to play on there own or left the game. 

[perdue3]

<S> Condor,

Good to see ya.

[Shuffler]

I'm a Geezing right along. lol Thought I would try and find out if any of the old crew were still around. Thinking about coming back in for a few fights. What they hell are you doin round here. lol

They need old folks to help across the tarmac. I r it.