Game Play question.

[Daddkev]

  Wow!

[Shuffler]

Defense is the most fun. Take off and fight. No flying a sector or more. No need to climb.... they come to you.

[Chilli]

Defense is the most fun. Take off and fight. No flying a sector or more. No need to climb.... they come to you.

It could be.  I love the fleet off shore battles, minus the puffy ack.  Due to the convenience of the carrier right off the field most planes don't have a bunch of altitude and the fights are somewhat even.

It is a totally different story trying to defend against an organized horde driven mission, where the attackers are coming from other fields and generally have a high cap and enough energy to pick off any would be defenders .

The first thing that came to mind when I read your post Shuffler, was that you were from a particular cartoon country (that I won't name) and therefore were not as familliar with the amount of difficulty in just getting your wheels up, nevermind fighting.  But then, you could just be someone like me that will give it 3 chances to get up without being vulched straight off the runway just so I can flop around and pile up as many bodies as I can and then land kills right in their face. 

The problem with defending straight off a capped field, is that it is generally taboo, especially if you are in a squad that is conscious of their ranking.  I say that squads are the way to go in AH2 to maximize your fun. 

[Bear76]

Defense is the most fun. Take off and fight. No flying a sector or more. No need to climb.... they come to you.

Absolutely 

[Oldman731]

The problem with defending straight off a capped field, is that it is generally taboo, especially if you are in a squad that is conscious of their ranking. 

This is one of the reasons I will never fit in a normal squad.

- oldman

[wiskyfog]

weren't there hordes in WW2?

[kilo2]

I won't up off a capped field. It has nothing to do with score. I don't find fun in being dog piled.

I up from a field that is close and hope to make it before they take the base. Does it really matter though? They take a base so what?

[Chilli]

  There goes the ole lipstick on the pig again.  Hordes are not in any way advancing the game or adding subscriptions.

Aces High takes the art and science of vintage WW1 and WW2 air combat and sets it in a high intensity online multiplayer environment.  Hundreds of players simultaneously battle it out against each other in massive aerial dogfights and bomber raids.

^^^
Sound like the massive hordes rolling over bases to you??  I am treading very lightly here, because the rest of the ad, and I believe the majority of the player base, better represent what AH2 still has done right.

Hordes taking bases is not the problem, as much as the void of action in vast sections of maps....... leading to...... boredom....... and eventually......... 

[kilo2]

There goes the ole lipstick on the pig again.  Hordes are not in any way advancing the game or adding subscriptions.

^^^
Sound like the massive hordes rolling over bases to you??  I am treading very lightly here, because the rest of the ad, and I believe the majority of the player base, better represent what AH2 still has done right.

Hordes taking bases is not the problem, as much as the void of action in vast sections of maps....... leading to...... boredom....... and eventually......... 

So you know hordes are "not advancing subscriptions." How would you know that?

Just because you are bored doesn't mean those 50 guys in the group are. Honestly I have never had a problem finding what is listed on the front page.

[Guppy35]

weren't there hordes in WW2?

Yes, and people really died in WW2 as well so overwhelming numbers made a big difference.  Lacking the actual death bit in the 'game' makes that a lousy justification though.

[grizz441]

Only a BBS rookie would parallel hordes with the real war, tsk tsk.

[33Vortex]

I love to defend, the vast majority of attackers buy a one-way ticket. Some are aware of it and don't mind, others just aren't aware of it. It is rare to encounter attackers which actually value the return trip home as something to strive for. The game does not reward it, much. So on the defensive I find myself looking for opponents who have the same thing in mind as I do, their demise.

 

[Chilli]

So you know hordes are "not advancing subscriptions." How would you know that?

Just because you are bored doesn't mean those 50 guys in the group are. Honestly I have never had a problem finding what is listed on the front page.

No, no and NO!  IN no way do the hordes that we see pictured with 40 plus countrymen flattening a town and airfield reflect massive aerial dogfight or battle (even going out on a limb here and saying that many of them are the same names over and over again).  Don't mix that up with a FURBALL.

Furballs are exactly what is described on the front page.  I could do that all day.  I could run in a horde and take bases all day also.  The big difference is, one actually discourages aerial combat, destroys plane hangars, vulches would be combatants before their wheels ever leave the ground and moves from one deserted area to another.

Now, if you enjoy throwing caution to the wind and roll directly into the horde (which on occasion I do), then you might find a quick fight or two before you find 5 or more guys diving at you from every angle including HO in the name of a base cap.

Kilo, if there was no problem with the system that we have that rewards hordes, then you wouldn't see so many threads about them or, as in the case of this one, what can be done to defend against hordes.  So let's be honest and say this is not what encourages a 2 week trial subscriber to pay to play or even keep some of the old veterans that know how much better game play has been in the past.

[PFactorDave]

I would like to take the conversation back toward possible solutions...

Several people have suggested some form of perk modifier for defenders as a form of motivation to defend...  I would like to reiterate my opinion that perk bonuses would not be effective. 

I decided to park my beloved Ki-84 in favor of something faster that can dive.  My thinking being that I would make an effort to fight the horde.  I thought that a faster plane that can dive might be the ideal choice for picking the edges of the horde.  Since I don't enjoy flying 262s, I opted for the P51D.  I was shocked by how few perks you earn on a multiple kill sortie.

The P51D is a low ENY aircraft.  You earn virtually no perks for flying the screwy thing.  You would think that if perk modifiers were an effective motivator, there wouldn't be so many P51Ds flying around the LW arena.  And yet, the P51D is everywhere.  Players seem to prefer the safety that the speed of the P51D grants them over the perks you can earn in an higher ENY airframe.  Why?  Because that speed allows them to avoid being shot down. 

I believe that this is human nature.  I also believe that a perk bonus for defending will not be enough of a motivator to get a significant number of people launching to fight the hordes.

Just my $0.02...

[Rob52240]

I wonder if it might be more fun if defenders if defenders were allowed to get a bit of an air spawn in close to a base that they just lost.  Too often there is not enough of a fight.  Either the attacking group gets intercepted en route to target, or they get to the target and the fight is over before it had a chance to materialize.