a BETTER strat system for all.

[Skyguns MKII]

Here's my vision, I like a hierarchy system:


level 2 - Five medium sized cities like we used to have each containing one of the five factories (ords, fuel, troops, radar, and field guns). These are spread out at an equal distance from the front line offering the enemy a relative even opportunity to hit any one of them. The factories can be resupplied by players, but not the cities. A city will rebuild its particular factory at a rate that is affected by its health. If a city is damaged it will "pop" after a certain amount of time similar to the field towns. A railway system will link all five factories and capital city together. Trains will carry supplies to depots, where truck convoys will fan out and deliver the goods to airfields and vehicle bases. If a map has an ocean, the trains will carry the supplies to a port which will spawn out merchant fleets to carry supplies to other ports on other islands to be distributed. The merchant fleets, unlike the carrier groups, cannot have their courses altered by the players, but the guns of the escort destroyers can be manned to defend against enemy planes and naval blockades.

what about the railroads on other landmasses? otherwise it would be pretty rare to see on the maps we have...

[guncrasher]

The main thing is strats should be very difficult to get back up under an hour. doing this will make it a major objective for both sides. achieving this could be done a number of ways. Perk the supplies needed to get your strat up or make it take A LOT more supplies to get back up. I agree with you and thinking about it, it would be more appopiate to make the supplies repair less when dropped on a strat. Make it only do a small fraction of what they do now but only on strats. 
 

ok food for thought then i am out of here:

what would happen if let's say aircraft factories in strats get destroyed and you:
  a :  cant up a plane
  b .  cant resupply it

choices left would be:

 a. fly bombers
 b. switch countries
 c. logoff and if frustrated because it happens too often you quit.


or even if only hq gets destroyed for 1 hour.  how many people will stick around because they cant see where the fights are?  to be honest with you, most of the country will be either deserted by switching or logoff.

this is worst as when we had the so called "night".

leave the strats the way the are now.  a fun thing for bombers to do and for some other pilots that like going after the bombers.  perhaps move them closer or add more if you wish to bomb more but that's it.

semp

[Skyguns MKII]

leave the strats the way the are now.  a fun thing for bombers to do and for some other pilots that like going after the bombers.  perhaps move them closer or add more if you wish to bomb more but that's it.

semp

but that's the problem! People don't go for strats as much as they used to because of the way they are now. My ideas are only a basis for change. It doesn't need to be a full hour, but the major thing is that we make it a bigger objective than it is now and have it more elaborate (elaborate being the supply lines i had posted)

[guncrasher]

but that's the problem! People don't go for strats as much as they used to because of the way they are now. My ideas are only a basis for change. It doesn't need to be a full hour, but the major thing is that we make it a bigger objective than it is now and have it more elaborate (elaborate being the supply lines i had posted)

I understand what you are saying, but seriously lots of people dont have the time for a 2 or 3 hour mission like the strats require.  you cant force people to do what they dont want to do.

some people love bombing but most people dont.  now I am not against taking away the fun from the bombers, hell they make sometimes life interesting around abase.  but you are talking about forcing people to go defend strats taking time to go up to 25 or 30k  so we can keep using fighters.  me personally will not climb that high, it's not my idea of fun and based on how most people fly they have no interest either. and if you force people to do what they dont want to do, they will logoff. it's just that simple.

put a cap on the altitude of the bombers to 10k and then we talking about something else 

semp

[Skyguns MKII]

I understand what you are saying, but seriously lots of people don't have the time for a 2 or 3 hour mission like the strats require.  you cant force people to do what they don't want to do.

some people love bombing but most people don't.  now I am not against taking away the fun from the bombers, hell they make sometimes life interesting around abase.  but you are talking about forcing people to go defend strats taking time to go up to 25 or 30k  so we can keep using fighters.  me personally will not climb that high, it's not my idea of fun and based on how most people fly they have no interest either. and if you force people to do what they don't want to do, they will logoff. it's just that simple.

put a cap on the altitude of the bombers to 10k and then we talking about something else 

semp

its not forcing, its encouraging. People would be willing to make runs like that if they knew it would be for a better effect and I'm sure a lot of people miss bomber hunting. HQ and strats would be near noncapturable bases as they usually are. The main thing about this wish is more toward the supply roots than the strats themselves although they do indeed need a makeover as many would agree.

[Nathan60]

I understand what you are saying, but seriously lots of people dont have the time for a 2 or 3 hour mission like the strats require.  you cant force people to do what they dont want to do.

semp

So break up the "one strat to rule  them all" or  put  more  strats on the  map(depots and  dumps  and   smaller factories)

[Skyguns MKII]

So break up the "one strat to rule  them all" or  put  more  strats on the  map(depots and  dumps  and   smaller factories)

another great idea

[guncrasher]

So break up the "one strat to rule  them all" or  put  more  strats on the  map(depots and  dumps  and   smaller factories)

well hammie since strats are not gonna affect anything other than score or risk losing players. why have lots of little strats when we already have lots of little towns to bomb?  plus add the bases and cvs.  there's already plenty of stuff to bomb.  just ask the dick weeds who organized a big mission to knightland last night, with I am pretty sure more than a few bombers with escorts and managed to kill the dar at one base  .     

semp

[Nathan60]

well hammie since strats are not gonna affect anything other than score or risk losing players. why have lots of little strats when we already have lots of little towns to bomb?  plus add the bases and cvs.  there's already plenty of stuff to bomb.  just ask the dick weeds who organized a big mission to knightland last night, with I am pretty sure more than a few bombers with escorts and managed to kill the dar at one base  .     

semp

Well,  Who  says  the  spread out  factory/zone strats  has to  be  worthless? Also had they been bombing  strats in multiple  locations  I'm surre they  woulda done  alot of damage

[Wiley]

Well,  Who  says  the  spread out  factory/zone strats  has to  be  worthless?

Well, more or less HTC does.  I'm not in the mood to look up a direct quote, but the gist of what I've read on the forums is, HTC does not like the idea of strats limiting the enemy's ability to fight beyond what it already does.

You never see a post in the wishlist forum saying, 'Gee, y'know what would be swell?  If my rides of choice could be limited by the other side bombing factories in our territory.  I feel this would greatly enhance my gameplay experience.'

Nobody wants it to be done to them, some people want to be able to do it to the other side.  The ability to drain their ability to fight extends only as far as porking ords/hangars/troops/fuel.  This is where HTC has apparently chosen to draw the line.

Wiley.

[Noir]

as long as people don't accept that they can't up their prefered ride all the time, the strat system will not change.

HTC doesn't seem to give a **** anyway.

[Nathan60]

Well, more or less HTC does.  I'm not in the mood to look up a direct quote, but the gist of what I've read on the forums is, HTC does not like the idea of strats limiting the enemy's ability to fight beyond what it already does.

You never see a post in the wishlist forum saying, 'Gee, y'know what would be swell?  If my rides of choice could be limited by the other side bombing factories in our territory.  I feel this would greatly enhance my gameplay experience.'

Nobody wants it to be done to them, some people want to be able to do it to the other side.  The ability to drain their ability to fight extends only as far as porking ords/hangars/troops/fuel.  This is where HTC has apparently chosen to draw the line.

Wiley.

Well, the  rides avail  need not  necissarily be limited, but  the fuel and such should be and the  time it  takes  for  these things to come  back up  at base. Say  the  fuel gets porked  you can't  take more than 25%  until base is  resupped by player or by truck convoy however  that fuel convoy comes  from a  depot that is  damaged,  the  more  damage the depot/refinery  has  the less often the convoys  go  out  and the slower a base's  fuels sups  are avail.   Just  batting  around  suggestions as it  stands  now with the hording   AH plays  what  I would  expect  World  of Planes to be like, just with lesser graphics  and  better  flight modleing.

[Lusche]

Well, more or less HTC does.  I'm not in the mood to look up a direct quote, but the gist of what I've read on the forums is, HTC does not like the idea of strats limiting the enemy's ability to fight beyond what it already does.

I think we have to differentiate a bit. High(er) impact doesn't necessarily mean limiting the opponents ability to fight
All what I have read by HT seems top indicate he is mainly very much opposed against ideas like aircraft factories, which do indeed very much limit one sides ability to fight, particularly when it's being hammered upon and outnumbered in the first place. Such things are very unbalancing and totally opposite in effect to balancers like ENY. And in this case I happen to find myself on the very same side as him.


However, the strats could still be significantly increased in importance without taking away the country with the short end of the sticks ability to actually grab a plane and fight. Many ways are thinkable: Simply increasing downtimes of the strats (which would make long range raids on them more effective), and/or increasing their score rating (making them more attractive), reintroducing a zone strat system (for more immediate effect as well as giving the medium bomber something to go for instead of the "drop town centers" routine), or assigning them a significant role in determining the war victory (my own fav). I'm sure there are many more.

[Wiley]

Well, the  rides avail  need not  necissarily be limited, but  the fuel and such should be and the  time it  takes  for  these things to come  back up  at base. Say  the  fuel gets porked  you can't  take more than 25%

...which would effectively ground a good number of plane types such as the 109s, russian stuff, spits to a certain degree, among others.

Why do you consider ferrying supplies gameplay?  I'm here to shoot stuff down and blow stuff up, not cart parts and fuel around to different air bases.

Lusche- The confusion I run into is, what problem are people actually trying to solve by proposing different systems?  About the only quasi-coherent point I seem to see out of these threads is to give people something worthwhile to fight over.

I like the idea of them affecting the victory somehow, but that would open up a can of worms because the vast majority of players on all sides are not all that interested in going deep with bombers.  For those who enjoy bombing, it would be swell, but I think they are relatively few, and unevenly divided between countries.  If hitting the strats were necessary for a win, I think it might cause frustration, and/or a shift where more of the people who like to bomb deep would switch to the country that does it more.

It really seems to me the game is painted into a corner.  People are attracted to the open-ended gameplay, but paradoxically given the ability to do whatever they want, the majority chooses to find the path of least resistance, which generally means they do the same thing over and over and over to achieve whatever goal it is they're trying to achieve.

Wiley.

[Lusche]

Lusche- The confusion I run into is, what problem are people actually trying to solve by proposing different systems? 

In my case: Enhancing gameplay (and long term attractiveness... yes, I'm being selfish)  by improving (restoring?) the variety of (combat) options. Strats and strat raids used to play a larger role. I would like to see that back, or even being of more importance than ever. Not to kill the tactical combat element of AH, but to provide another level of gameplay on top of it.

the vast majority of players on all sides are not all that interested in going deep with bombers.

How many don't do deep raids because there is no reason to do so?
When we got the new strats, players were still mounting many more raids on them, but that petered out quickly after they found out there was little point in them, both from the "war" as well as "score" point of view.
For a bomber guy, there are basically two targets left: Bombing random town centers for score, or killing bases (=tactical bombing) for the "war".


The problem with many proposals is that they want to fundamentally change the MA, very often at expense of one play style over another ("play my way"). I can say for myself that I try to add things instead of removing others and try to provide incentives instead of creating limits.



----

A personal note on the "diversity" thing: Thing's I personally did with the old strats

Milking: Rolling a vehicle to them or flying a B-25H from a nearby field.
Standard "regular" attacks at medium altitude on strats to support my country's operations on that front.
Long range lone NOE missions: Taking a Ki-67 or B-26 on the deck to an enemy strat behind the frontlines. I was very much into this, as it was in a way recreating the daytime raids of KG2 on England
Hunting milkers I: When a factory of my own side ended up in their territory, I did fly a fighter on the deck to surprise the inevitable herd of enemy milkers. Boy, the angry PM's I got! 
Hunting milkers II: When a horde appeared at our own Vbase that had a spawn to one of our friendly factories, I would quickly spawn a tank there before the VHs went down.