Fighting

[Changeup]

I have spoken via PM and via telephone lately to a number of folks that play the game.   Almost all of these folks won't skip a fight no matter the planes involved or the advantage or disadvantage.  They're typically categorized as old timers I guess. Yes, there are plenty of newer folks that will fight, no doubt.  Plenty of GV fights...Lordy Lordy those guys get it on, seriously.  But regarding the air, we wanted to ask the community.

Here is our multiple choice question for the community:

Why don't more players stay in an aerial fight during gameplay in any aerial situation?

A.  Fighting to the death isn't as fun as landing kills of any kind

B.  They don't really have the personal time to learn enough ACM to get themselves out of pickles of any size but still love flying and competing

C.  Too much ego-bashing and bullying on 200 the times they DID stay and fight but lost and then had to hear about it for an hour

D.  Love to have a great score.  This is a reason BTW and it really shouldn't be harassed.  If it wasn't, there wouldn't be scoring in the first place

E.  This is how they learned the game from the start.  Hittum and forget um

There are other reasons obviously but these came up so I thought I'd ask you.   In an attempt and changing some gameplay and maybe even some attitudes about the fight to help keep people we already have and to keep new folks interested in getting better.

 

[Wiley]

A.  Fighting to the death isn't as fun as landing kills of any kind

Any person with half decent gunnery can dive into a crowd and kill one or two of them before they get killed if they don't care about surviving.  Working a crowd and surviving takes more planning, forethought, and SA.  It's also just generally more fun for me.  The real artistry is fighting the crowd from the bottom and surviving to rtb.  I don't know if I'll ever get to that point as I am not that tremendously interested in turning it into 'work'.

Wiley.

[Copprhed]

I've gotten to the point that I'm not able to bring myself to play the game any more. Honestly, Changeup I think it's every one of the reasons that you suggest. Newer players don't have the same reasons for playing that many older players do. For example, as a kid growing up, I idolized WW2 fighter pilots from any country and I loved the planes. I used to get in trouble in school for drawing P47s instead of doing my schoolwork. When the first computer game came out for the Commodor 64, I believe it was called Mig Alley, and had  side by side screens of little jets, I was thrilled. I played Chuck Yeager's Advanced Combat Trainer and many, many others over the years. I thrilled at the combat. Today's younger players only want something that they can "win " at, and don't care about what the game is really about. They are the same players that searched for and used the cheat codes for their Nintendo games. They really don't understand that there are many forms of "cheating", with "gaming the game" being one of them. Playing Aces High isn't about winning, it's about a code of honor and true competition between people, done fairly with no advantages being taken, just pure unadulterated combat. They don't understand that a fight well fought, win or lose, is a victory in a GAME.

[Latrobe]

I think it's a combination of A,B, and D. Mostly D with A running a close second. You can say all you want about this game being competetive and all that jazz, but in the end a lot of people will still view it for what it is, a game. When it comes to games people want to beat it in the easiest possible way through known glitches, cheat codes, and other people show them how to beat it i.e. beat it for them (not saying there are cheats for Aces High, just games in gerneral). For Aces High you "beat" the game when you have a really good score. So people look for ways to manipulate the scoring system.

People like to look good, and be seen as something. What better way in Aces High to do so than to get your name in lights by landing kills? The minimum requirment for that is only 2 kills, so do whatever you can to get just 2 kills and land. Be it coming into a fight with a 5 to 1 odd advantage flying with friends, or hitting the deck and running as soon as you lose 1 advantage. So long as you can get 2 kills and land them you will look like you've done something great.


I wonder how people in Aces High would play if there was no ranking system or name in lights. Aces High is evolving and changing as new updates are released, old players leave, and new players enter. Whether it's a good direction... we'll soon find out.


 

[BluBerry]

I have spoken via PM and via telephone lately to a number of folks that play the game.   Almost all of these folks won't skip a fight no matter the planes involved or the advantage or disadvantage.  They're typically categorized as old timers I guess. Yes, there are plenty of newer folks that will fight, no doubt.  Plenty of GV fights...Lordy Lordy those guys get it on, seriously.  But regarding the air, we wanted to ask the community.

Here is our multiple choice question for the community:

Why don't more players stay in an aerial fight during gameplay in any aerial situation?

A.  Fighting to the death isn't as fun as landing kills of any kind

B.  They don't really have the personal time to learn enough ACM to get themselves out of pickles of any size but still love flying and competing

C.  Too much ego-bashing and bullying on 200 the times they DID stay and fight but lost and then had to hear about it for an hour

D.  Love to have a great score.  This is a reason BTW and it really shouldn't be harassed.  If it wasn't, there wouldn't be scoring in the first place

E.  This is how they learned the game from the start.  Hittum and forget um

There are other reasons obviously but these came up so I thought I'd ask you.   In an attempt and changing some gameplay and maybe even some attitudes about the fight to help keep people we already have and to keep new folks interested in getting better.

 

I would vote for a modified version of [D]
I think the pursuit of bettering your score is a big part of it. Also though there are those who find enjoyment in knowing that as they run, you can't catch them and it's going to frustrate you.

Some days I find it fun to try and never die, other days I die 50 times because i'm enjoying picking random planes and going to furballs with no alt.

I think the game has just become so stale after all these years. We are only now seeing pictures of what the game should have looked like 5 years ago, so dog fighting has become the same repetitive thing to a content hungry consumer. Tanks are trending right now, and are popular with gamers and always have been, and HTC was quick to release tank updates and grow their audience a little more. I've always felt like GV's in general have been gaining more fans in the game because its something to do other then flying the same old planes.

Once (if ever) the game is up to par with where it should be, I think you will have people staying to fight to the end because the game is enjoyable and fresh, versus now where its the same old same old and people are inventing new ways to stay interested. Running from a fight to save your life and better your score is a new and interesting thing to do for some, because they are bored of doing the fly die rinse repeat.

[mthrockmor]

Combos.

It is a culture thing. Coprhead may have the better summary. Some seem to respond to this likes its an arcade game. I'm not sure though I have a decent idea how to handle the culture thing. That takes leadership that emmanates from the top. I suspect that strong squads would help. When I first joined there seemed to be more than a dozen squads that amounted to something: The Few, 80th, Loose Deuce, Claim Jumpers, Army of Muppets, 68th Lancers, 91st bomb wing, etc, etc, etc. These squads had themes and specialties and with so many members flying with certain expectations and rules it was hard to get out of line.

That is my sense though I've only been here a few years.

boo

[Changeup]

Those a great thoughts and are much appreciated.  I hope there are more folks that offer an answer too

[ink]

I call it the "wussifacation" of america....

people think because they didn't die...they "win"

even if that means running from a fight.....

they do whatever it takes for a "win"....
even scetchy.... dirty..... lame GAME play and call that winning....

hey I killed you...you are in the tower....even though my 10 buddies all have assists on you...thats winning....

hey it took all 40 of us to take a base....

this Game is awesome....the game play sux to high heaven....and isn't gonna get any better.

[Crash Orange]

When (or if) you go to the gym or schoolyard to play a pickup game of basketball, do you play 1-on-1, 2-on-2, or other sizes of equally matched teams, or do you offer to play against 5 guys by yourself?

Note: the answer for most people has nothing to do with "Nintendo generation" or "cheat codes" or lack of skill or even ego or any of the other nonsense posted here by a bunch of whiny old women.

[Oldman731]

Here is our multiple choice question for the community:

Why don't more players stay in an aerial fight during gameplay in any aerial situation?

A.  Fighting to the death isn't as fun as landing kills of any kind

B.  They don't really have the personal time to learn enough ACM to get themselves out of pickles of any size but still love flying and competing

C.  Too much ego-bashing and bullying on 200 the times they DID stay and fight but lost and then had to hear about it for an hour

D.  Love to have a great score.  This is a reason BTW and it really shouldn't be harassed.  If it wasn't, there wouldn't be scoring in the first place

E.  This is how they learned the game from the start.  Hittum and forget um

Possibly it's a modification of your Answer A, or perhaps it's an entirely different Answer F.  But over the years many people have posted that they fly this as a genuine simulation; their goal is to fly the way a pilot in a real war would fly.  Often that will mean that they avoid combat when they perceive they are disadvantaged.

It isn't my choice, but I recognize it's valid enough.  I remember a couple of guys we used to see in AvA who played their roles to the hilt.  No idle chit-chat, formalized radio communication, landing in trail, that sort of thing.  Hey, it was good to have them there, even if it did sound a bit odd to my ears.

- oldman

[jeep00]

not really able to answer this one. you are asking what the community thinks other people's reasons are for what the "old timers" consider "avoiding a fight". to what I CAN answer, I don't avoid a fight. they are all fun in their own way. just two nights ago I ran out of ammo and still made a couple turns with a yak hoping to auger him. I saw more red coming so decided to head for home. the yak followed by did not catch me. when I said on 200 I promised I would fight if I had ammo, the yak turned. because both of us knew it wasn't really a fight if I had zero ammo. I had used the very last round downing a 190 just as the yak showed up.
so the game seems to me in far better shape than the minimal number of inputs you will get here. I cannot give numbers but it seems to me about a tenth of the players I find online, if that, spend any time here on the bbs.
YMMV

[waystin2]

I like to kill red guys.  I like to kill them in the air, I like to kill them on the ground and in the water.  I will boom and zoom, turn and burn, pick, vulch, shoot and bomb them whenever I find them.  I will do this repetitively with a big grin on face until it's time for bed.  The only thing that dictates how I go about killing red guys is the moment I am in.  There is no set method for dispatching a red guy, just be aggressive at all times.

 

[Copprhed]

When (or if) you go to the gym or schoolyard to play a pickup game of basketball, do you play 1-on-1, 2-on-2, or other sizes of equally matched teams, or do you offer to play against 5 guys by yourself?

Note: the answer for most people has nothing to do with "Nintendo generation" or "cheat codes" or lack of skill or even ego or any of the other nonsense posted here by a bunch of whiny old women.

We all know, by your post, what kind of Aces High player you are...not a player, but a gamer. The game has nothing to do with honor, quality of play or skill for you.. It's all about winning, no matter how, and that is the main problem with the game as it stands today.

[Vraciu]

I like to kill and survive.

I am getting to the point I can get two, occasionally three, victories and make it back to base with decent regularity.   It is just taking me time to improve over that.

I will almost always fight a 1 v 1 if I am not too far from parity in the merge, unless it is a guy I know is gonna' smoke me any way, in which case it depends on my mood.  Sometimes I live to fight another day (extend), sometimes I say, "What the heaven," and go after it (merge).

I am just trying to work my way up the ladder from two victories, to three, to four.   Until my gunnery gets better though, I consider survival a win in and of itself...

[ink]

I like to kill red guys.  I like to kill them in the air, I like to kill them on the ground and in the water.  I will boom and zoom, turn and burn, pick, vulch, shoot and bomb them whenever I find them.  I will do this repetitively with a big grin on face until it's time for bed.  The only thing that dictates how I go about killing red guys is the moment I am in.  There is no set method for dispatching a red guy, just be aggressive at all times.

 

sounds like a Dr Zeus song....