How far we've come

[GFShill]

An old Air Warrior squadmate was cleaning out his email address book and came across my email, so he sent me a note to see if it was still active. A couple of emails later, I'm reading the archives from our old Air Warrior online squadron and I find this gem.  I think it gives a good sense of how far we've come in today's wireless broadband fiber-optic world of online gaming.

For you old farts, enjoy the memories!

Subj: An Air Warrior's tale

Date: 97-03-26 17:59:58 EST

From: PancakeUS

To: Torrey, Maveric024, Bowhunter0, Foesdoom, JConn39880, PJtrap, Knight0240, DDegr83733, MGlynn6735, MMille7880, Nemo112, BIL KC, DLonga5849, RandyS1178, Spit XII, Wheels43, NateComm, Jerm UK, Myhhr, RLonga, DELTAV55, MojosChild, JoeGIR, MadMan5215, Lasher026, Birminghpj, phillip@mcs.com, RiVaL99, JoeC63, LRSchultz

The day started like any other. I checked the duty roster after dinner and saw the peg placed in the hole next to my name. I was assigned flight duty. Nothing special, just a routine patrol along the perimeter of our airbase. It would be a milk run.

I walked over to my craft and swung down into the cabin, adjusting the rudder pedals as I eased into the seat. I hit the ignition switch and listened to the familiar chatter of the hard drive as the Pentium powered up. I flipped on the speakers and the monitor, bathing the cockpit in the familiar blue light as the machine went through the automatic pre-flight checklist. When the chatter ceased I tabbed the internal modem. The signal squawked in my ear as the craft lurched forward, ready to take to the sky. Traffic was unusually heavy, but the tower gave me clearance to taxi. I released my NumLock and proceeded into the pattern. I worked my way through the menus as I had done so many times before - it was almost reflex now - and proceeded with my mission.

I quickly climbed to 10,000 feet and leveled out. There was a bogey just south of my position so I banked the Corsair over and headed off to investigate. As I closed on the atoll two more bogies popped up. I suspected that they had lifted off of an airfield and would probably be low so I kept the throttle forward and went into a shallow dive. I spotted them below me, three dots tight together, circling a neutral field. When I got closer I saw that they were Hellcats, formed lined astern and climbing.

My first pass was clean. I knew I was going too fast to get a shot so I blew through the group and climbed out, hoping to break them up like a cue ball. It didn't work. They stayed in formation. I swung my big bird around and set up a high-speed head-on shot. They were packed in so tight I didn't even have to aim. My bullets converged on the lead plane and continued into the second and third. They separated slightly after the pass and disappeared. Totally. I was now alone over the atoll.

I knew exactly what had happened and there wasn't anything I could do about it. My three-plane kill had just been snatched away from me the way the morning sunshine burns away the night-time dreams. I leveled out and waited for the inevitable notice from the tower that would indicate that my clearance had been revoked. Traffic had exceeded the flight line capacity and the hub had reached critical mass. There was nothing I could do but put the plane back on the ground and start over.

America Online is a very harsh mistress.

Pancake ^Skull^
CPID: Cakes

[Saxman]

Oh man. I remember trying to play AW4W on a below-system-requirements rig (SX33, needed a DX66). Half the time I was vulched before the world even loaded around me, lol.

[ODBAL]

That reminds me about my favorite part of AW, the Headon shot rarely even resulted in a ping on the NME!  Good memories!

[hyster]

i remember upping bombers for the 2 high value targets deep in eny territory (can any1 remember what they were?) with a squaddie as a gunner.
must have flown for at least 60 Min's to hit both tgts and was rtb when i noticed a conn had upped to intercept us.
being a long way behind the lines a decided to grab from around 20k (i think), by the time the conn got in2 viz range i was around 30k.
i dragged the conn for about 20 Min's while he tried to gain alt on me and closing very slowly.
when he got to 3k dead 6 bam "host connection lost" (or whatever aw3 version of that was).

what i had forgotten was that my isp (dial up) disconnected me every 2 hours 

disclaimer:
time,distance and alt are for guidance only as it was over 10 years ago and I'm getting senile.

[A8TOOL]

That reminds me about my favorite part of AW, the Headon shot rarely even resulted in a ping on the NME!  Good memories!

I really can't remember ho's in AW but I'm sure they were there. AW used a hit bubble so trying to hit someone was pretty easy compared to AH which had none. Taking a ho shot and missing seems hard to do.

What I do remember was warp on command players and you couold stir your stick when low to the ground and instantly r3everse w/o crashing. The 555th Wolf pack I think was notorious for that and for exploiting a few other cheats. Think thats what their name was anyway. Definitely the 555th though.

Coming into this game after AW was closed I remember being able to HO with a very straight shooting F4U-C from over 1000 out. My first real kill here was with an F6, which was modeled quite different from AW's.

Getting a handle on stick settings was a pain here as well. It looked much different than it does today....it had something extra that I kind of remember looking like a graph.

[Corrs]

AW memories...I have forgotten more than I remember...
But I do recall:
My favorite base was Centurion when they named them
I flew with the RCAF as Cz in the later years of AW before that CO of the Black Dragonz II
Stuka dive sirens, turn fighting spits with the stuka
Favorite plane was the A-26
$300 AOL bills, pay by play time
WWI arena

I think I still have an old AW copy from gamestorm or kesmi, I might have to install it on the PC for memories

[CAP1]

That reminds me about my favorite part of AW, the Headon shot rarely even resulted in a ping on the NME!  Good memories!

yep...i remember that

[Ack-Ack]

I really can't remember ho's in AW but I'm sure they were there. AW used a hit bubble so trying to hit someone was pretty easy compared to AH which had none. Taking a ho shot and missing seems hard to do.

Head On shots for the most part were disabled in AW but those planes that had nose mounted guns for some reason got a head on shot modifier (can't remember if it was a 15% or 25% chance for a head on shot).  Planes like the Lightning could almost HO with impunity without having to fear being HO'ed back unless they were engaged with another P-38 or a Butcher Bird.

AW was also a game where the slower connection speed you had the better.  IIRC, from my days as an AWAR and AWARTECH, using a 9600 baud modem offered the best connection quality.

ack-ack

[Torcher]

I remember doing Spit factory raids or upping a deathstar b17. Favorite ride was a K4 with the minimum fuel load ...  not much flying time but a nimble little biatch with a kick.

[GFShill]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the biggest shocker, compared to Aces High...

The 109F was a dogfighter match for the P-51D.   

Sometimes I miss the Deathstar B-25 runs when you could pack a squaddie in every gun position and light up a furball.

And back then, you had to pay by the hour! 

[NoBaddy]

Head On shots for the most part were disabled in AW but those planes that had nose mounted guns for some reason got a head on shot modifier (can't remember if it was a 15% or 25% chance for a head on shot).  Planes like the Lightning could almost HO with impunity without having to fear being HO'ed back unless they were engaged with another P-38 or a Butcher Bird.

AW was also a game where the slower connection speed you had the better.  IIRC, from my days as an AWAR and AWARTECH, using a 9600 baud modem offered the best connection quality.

ack-ack

Last time I remember carring...AW used a randomizer on headons. Every hit you got had a 90% chance of being tossed. I think it was in the early 90s that they gave planes with centerline guns (38 & 109) a bonus. Man, did those planes get popular.

[ROX]

I still have AWIII and play it from time to time.

It's not until you re-visit the ancient battleground of Kesmai & Co. until you really appreciate the graphics hork done by HTC & Co.


ROX

[Mav]

AW, my  first true Air Sim Love.  Good to see some of Pancakes work.  He was a great guy.

[TequilaChaser]

AW, my  first true Air Sim Love.  Good to see some of Pancakes work.  He was a great guy.

well look who the Sheep dragged in here!  It's been awhile, Mav..........  Welcome to Aces High 


never knew NB "ever cared" about the Randomizer and yes it was 10% chance your hit counted........for as long as I recall

sometime in AW3  ( Before EA ) they switched Full Realism to "Hit Shell" and Relaxed realism stayed with the "Hit Bubble" if I recall correctly.....

[Mav]

Hey TC, it has been a long time.  Aces High has a bit more of a learning curve than AW did.  I am finding myself a bit rusty after 10 years of layoff.  I ran into Whels from Cland not to long ago.  Its amazing seeing some people that I knew so long ago still playing air sim games.