How did you get started in Aces High?

[jamusta]

Watching the discovery channel.... Thought to self, "self, that looks fun." Never flown in a sim before. I sucked so I would just gv around. Been hooked ever since.

[koda76]

Been on-line since dos 1.0 and used a puter with no hard drive just 2 floppys to boot it up and a 300 baud modem cradle. Spent a small fortune over the years on per hour charges but learned to build everything first then "jump" on and off.
I then bought a canon puter with 3.1 and an 80 meg hd.($2500)and got a cd called FX2000 back in 1995. (Fighter Experiment 2000--->in the future I guess)
Was an off-line game. Well I finally upgraded to a gateway and when I went to load the game a message popped up saying the cd was spinning at an unbeleivable rate!) As I was still on dial-up at 10 cents a min I never could afford to surf much.
Then I had the chance in 2002 to be a beta trial participant for adsl service. I surfed the whole internet in about 2 hours, just went nuts. In my surfing I came across some on-line flight sim out of Korea, I could load it but the menus were in Korean and I could not get off the ground. So I surfed some more and bingo, found AH1. I loaded it and read enough of the help files to get going, went to take off and blew up, went to take off and blew up.....10-20 times.....I finally saw a plane shooting me (those guys had to love vulching me) so I bailed and went to H2H.....stayed there for a few months then decided to try the MA, so I paid my dues and went through a very steep learning curve as a loner for over a year. Was flying one weekend with a few guys between two bases all weekend, we would take it, Rooks took it back, all weekend. That is where I met In The Sun...he invited me into a squad and I have been with the *NDM* ever since. I still don't have a clue how I ended up a knight, I think when I first got on I was a Bish but knights sounded so cool I switched right when I logged on. I have and will remain a Knight and NastyDeadMan until the game is gone or they have my memorial flight....<>

[Rafe35]

Very nice, JB73 !

My stories aren't good to tell, but giving a shot

Found Aces High at http://zdnet.com in Winter 2001 and download it, but didn't played until around Spring 2003(Ah yes it long time).  I have been playing H2H for long time that I didn't have enough money nor credit card to joined AH Subscribe, but H2H was free that I could practice well before head up into MA in early Summer of 2003.

After I subscribe AH,  I remember I went to Squadron Page at Hitech Creations, Inc. Website and I was looking for a F4U Corsair squadron which I was interesting joining F4U Corsair squadron.  So after long search of Corsair squadron, I finally found one and it was VF-17 "Jolly Rogers."  Boy was I surpised?  

I was glad that I joined VF-17 Jolly Rogers, I mean Arlo and rest of the guys was fun and it was wonderful time last year, i mean it was a blast.  

[Mak333]

Well, I am one of the young ones here at 17.  I started my computer gaming when I was about.. oh 8-9 years of age.  Started off with this brand new game called Microsoft Monster Truck Madness.  Hell yeah it was lot of fun - this was before the internet stuff.  And then I got into another game called Hellbender.  My friend and I who moved to California had lots of fun hooking up a LAN connection and playing.  I then got into the war games.  Delta Force came around and it looked awesome!  I can remember playing on these massive (which seemed like massive) terrains in which there were a good 20-30 people per side.  I then continued Novalogic's trend and got into DF2 and DF:LW.  I stopped around DF:LW because the next game that was coming out was Task Force Dagger.  From my experience in DFLW, it just didnt seem worth the money to buy TFD. I was starting to crave realism.  A game called Operation Flashpoint came out and I was immediately hooked to that.   A year passed and I really was interested in WWII games but haven't seen any out. I then heard about mohaa from a friend.  Ahh yes, the EA generation of WWII gaming.  Then mohaa turned into BF1942.  I played those games quite often.  Again I craved more realism.  Mohaa just didnt cut it with it's quirky style of gameplay, along with BF42's unnatural plane model.  I thought to myself, hmm, wouldnt it be awesome to stage this huge WWII air battle?

One of my squadmates for BF42 at the time Sisk, who is now with the Nightmares suggested this game called Aces High.  I said, hmm ok, i'll try it.  I immediately got in the game and I was like, no way, to realistic for me. (I couldnt even get the plane off the ground)  I then realized I needed to learn the basics of the WWII birds.  That basically started me up.

Sisk stopped playing for a good time while I was having a blast =).  I said to Sisk a few months ago, why don't you come back man?  (He was more into these other games like Battlefield Vietnam and Call of Duty)  I said, cmon man you really gotta play, AH2 just came out and it is twice as realistic as the first.  I actually influenced him to start playing again and before ya know it, he's with the Nightmares.   And here we are now, I'm now 17 still playing Aces High

[2stony]

My wife bought me Air Warrior in around 98', but my puter wasn't up to it. I tried it on her laptop and was hooked. Once I got my own puter upgraded, I went online and really became hooked. I flew with the 99th for my first squad, but a lot of the original group started leaving and the squad went downhill. I jumped ship shortly afterwards and was recuited by the 555th and mostly flew in the BigPac. I flew AW for about 2 years and then got out of it for one reason or another. I still kept in touch with HB555 and one day in 2002 he tells me he's flying a game called Aces High and how much better it was than AW. I joined the squad he was flying with right out of the gate which was the 1st Nasty in Sept. 02' and was hooked again.



P.S. My wife would get on me in those early days for flying so much, but I would just tell her: "You bought me the game, you're the one to blame"!(lol)

[StarOfAfrica2]

My first encounter with the addiction that led me to AH was in 1987 when my dad brought home our first computer.  I can remember being mad at him because I only knew how to use Apples and he bought a PC.  A Laser XT with 640k of RAM and a 20MB hard drive!!!  And because his reason for needing it was to bring work home instead of having to stay there and do it, of course we had to have a modem!!  Within a week I was desperately trying to figure out Compuserve and Genie.  That they had entire online communities was fascinating.  Then my dad got the phone bill and hit the roof.  Then he got his credit card bill and I'm lucky he didnt kill me.   But besides being fascinated by the online world, I discovered the MSFS that came with the bundle of software when we bought the computer.  I was hooked.

I didnt discover online flight sims until I found a box of AW4W.  I tried it out and it was like I'd been addicted to coffee before and now found a way to inject it directly into my veins lol.  It was GREAT.  But alas I couldnt afford it then with a baby and an expensive wife to support.  I got rid of the expensive wife, but it wasnt enough.  lol  I didnt rediscover AW until AOL in 97.  1.99 per hour.  The first time we got a 200 dollar AOL bill, I almost lost another wife.  When the next month was 250 dollars, I almost lost my life.  Pondering what to do, not wanting to give up this new addiction, I found Gamestorm.  And I found out that I could play AW through the GS portal rather than on AOL for a monthly fee instead of hourly.  Lets just say I was happy and leave it at that.    

I knocked around the RR arenas for awhile, picking up what I could.  I wasnt GOOD by any means, but I did ok for myself.  Joined a couple squads.  The Memphis Belle for awhile, and then one of the JG squads where I really started to feel at home flying with some really good guys (Dago Red and Ribie and BJB).  This was also about the time I discovered the Full Realism arenas and found out just how unrealistic "Relaxed Realism" was.  Hehe  And I discovered what I still today believe was one of the greatest tools AW had.  The Training Arenas, or more importantly the trainers themselves.  Guys (and gals) who would spend their time online teaching other people everything from how to start the engine to advanced ACM.  Some of them became not only good friends, but an extended family for me when my marriage went kaput.  They didnt just teach me to fly better, they taught me what the community in AW was all about.  So the FM wasnt the most realistic, and the graphics were dated.  The community is what made people stay.  To all the AW game assistants and trainers who are flying here in AH today, <> to all of you for putting up with my smartass mouth and big attitude long enough to teach me about respect and community (as well as how to fly without embarassing myself or my squad lol).  

I spent so much time in the Training arenas they eventually put me to work, and I never enjoyed anything more until the day I discovered Scenarios, another of the great tools AW had to draw people in and keep them.  One of my buddies had a passion for zekes, and dragged me kicking and screaming into Pearl Harbor.  I flew it every year after that until EA killed it off.  Which is funny because now I can climb up on my roof and SEE Pearl Harbor.  

When AW died most of the folks drifted over here to AH.  Some of them had been flying here for months and were already established.  I tried it.  Hated it.  lol  Not really fair to say that, since I never really gave it much of a chance.  Too bummed over AW, too much difference to the interface (clipboard), different FM.......I said heck with it and quit.  As many of you know though, the itch doesnt just go away.  Standalone games just werent enough, and I absolutely could not stand the MSCFS online arenas.  I returned to AH a few years older and hoping for a fix, hoping that maybe some of the old AW crowd was still around.  One hour of watching the text buffer fly with insults and 's and it felt like home  I was just starting to really get a feel for the game when AHII came along and I could no longer play.  Few months later, several new parts later, I'm flying again with even more changes to a FM I was really just getting used to and even more rust on my wings.  Ah well, whats life without a challenge?  

SA2

[TrueKill]

one day in aug. 2001 i was lookin up cheat codes on gamewinners.com and seen a little banner that siad come fly Aces High with real WWII A/C (something like that it was a long time ago) so i clicked on it and started DLin it thank god i had cable modem of i probly wouldnt be here after i DLed it i went online and with my dumbarse went to the MA didnt know anything bout channel 1 or that there was even a country channel (when i got on all my radios were set to "1 All" and vox was on 101) so i sit there tryin to figure stuff out and ppl are typin stuff about c47 NOE to A?? from A?? and i type on ch. 1 whats a c47 wheres A?? whats NOE i remember that guy got killed and started ******in at me (that would be the 1st time but i would piss many more ppl off in my 3+ year flyin AH) so after bout 10mins of makin a fool of myself some1 said go to the TA so i went after about 30mins i got off the ground usein my mouse (btw i would like to <> ghosth and widewing for helpin me out back then) so i was flyin around in the TA and offline for the 2 week trial but didnt have money to pay for it cuz i just bought a $10 joystick (was 14-15 at the time and i was usein my lunch money) after that free trial i started anouther one and got used to the stick and aimin and shooting at ppl (this was back when u could kill ppl in the TA) after about the 1week of my 2nd trial i got landing down (no more flyin into the ground for me) after that i started patin for it after it took me bour 2 hours tryin to make a good name  "TrueKill" i wanted "TrueKiller" but that was to long back then u could only get 8 litters in ur name so after about 3months playin joined my 1st squad the 367th~Dynamite Gang. great bunch of guys but i hated spits flyin around everywhere and i heard about the CT iv been in there a few time no1 was on and i was so stupid i thought that was were ppl show movies of WWII stuff but then one day i saw ppl in there and started flyin and loved it no more spitVs.spit it was just like real combat after about 2 weeks flyin in there i joined a squad JG-3 "UDET" in witch i flew with for about 1 and a half years and then the current squad im flyin with JG-54 "Grunherz" been flyin with them about 8-9 months and hear i am still addicted to this Drug we call Aces High.

                         TrueKill
                      JG 54 Tech Offizer flyin AH from 2001-????

[327thBS]

it all started one early morning...i turned on the the tv bam! there it was..the commercial for AH! i was hooked






PS:9658 is on temporary leave..due to school: "I'll be back" tho

[NUTTZ]

I lost a bet.

NUTTZ

[Schatzi]

This summer, while i was away for a few weeks, my boyfriend started playing AH. When i came home on weekends, i sometimes took over the stick, never really having played any kind of flight sim.
One of those times i recall chasing a b17 all over the lands for over 20 mins. Cant even remember what plane i was in. Might have been a spit, might have been something completely different. and although i dindt shoot him down, i had fun. in the end we both had to give up being out of ammo.
My bf and me were both still wondering how someone could manage to get a kill, much less two, and then manage to rtb and LAND, since everytime we got close to the enemy we had about 30 secs to live.
A few weeks later he was in a squad. I still was taking over stick from time to time. His squadmates wondering about his maneuvers...
Needless to say i was hooked as well... got my own account and here i am, proud member of the 71 Eagle Sqn now myself. Still trying for those two kills, but having fun nonetheless among friends i might or might not ever see irl.

I never once came online with no one saying hello. I think thats a lot more important than any authenticy-discussion and flaming of tactics.

[JB73]

been seeing alot of newer names in the forums lately... thought i'd give this a

[SkyChimp]

Err heh friend told me about it simple

[dedalos]

Bad Luck?

[HavocTM]

First comp was a TI-99 4/A with cassette loading.  no flight sims there just trivia.

First combat flight sim was Top Gun on an IBM PC/AT in high school.  Basically a flat line for an HSI and i think asterisks for bullets.

Did A-10 Cuba, MSFS, etc.  Then got hooked on Falcon Gold and built my first system with (GASP) 7MB of memory and a 1MB Vesa vid card.  Unfortunately 7MB of all mixed up memory is not a good idea but the game was playable with 4.

Met my wife on AOL and moved in with her.  She had a mac :-( I soon found myself playing Chuck Yeager Air Combat and Flight Unlimited.

A few yrs later played MSFS 2k and did the virtual airline thing.  THAT got me hooked on online multiplayer.  ATC, radar, flight plans.. woohoo!  

Then that one fateful, cursed, wretched, bastard of a day when I was watching discovery wings.  

My wife had to slap the **** out of me to get me to snap out of it.  Downloaded, signed up and BOOM there went three years of my life.

Started blabbering about it at work, got Howitzer hooked and he somehow started kicking my bellybutton almost immediately.  It took me over a year to get 100 perks lol.

Falcnwing invited me to the BOPS and then I started Dustoff a year ago.

This game takes the best of people and the worst of people and amplifies them.  I have had vicious, nasty, flaming vox battles with folks who later became my very best friends.

The AH moment that nearly caused my demise was when DrDea put FoxxBatt online via phone held up to his mic.  Fbat was dying and in a cancer hospital but the first thing he wanted to know was how we were.

When I started AH i had no children and didn't understand why someone would expose their kids to this environment.  Now I have a ten month old and I can't WAIT for him to be my wingman.

Thank you HTC, Pyro, Skuzzy for a wonderful game.

Lastly, I want to apologize from the bottom of my cold heart to anyone I have ever said a negative comment to about your kids.  I truly did not understand what life was about until I had mine.

and check six!

[SkyLab]

Always been a flight sim junky.

AH was just a natural progression.