I think the strats have made a difference too, and also the resupply that really don't make a whole lot of sense to the attacking team.
I also just think it has to do with map layouts and base distance, taking too long to find fights and action on the maps. Especially during the off hours, when you have to fly 20 miles just to fight a single con. The strategic type players don't care about the #s because they are attacking the map, and not other players. You can never change how people play the game, like Gangs and HOs or whatever, but you can change things like radar hardness and base layout/distance, that can really promote furball action and bring a lot of the fighter base back. Plus when you bring back the fighter base, they will choose to be apart of other parts of the game too.
The reason why so many players FSO and combat challenge is becuase of the air combat. This is what most of the people are really looking for. We need to bring big fun fights back to the MA, and that can only happen with promoting fighter action.
Very true. But there's a missing component, I think. What is truly lacking is not necessarily fighter v. fighter action but fighter v. any plane action.
Think of the MA as a marine ecosystem. What we have now is a relative overabundant shark population and not enough lesser predators and baitfish to support it. It's an unhealthy system.
If you think of town and base objects as the krill that feeds the little fish and bottom feeders, you'll see that our ecosystem has too many crabs and not enough schooling baitfish. Since the crabs and baitfish compete against each other for their feed, the animal that has the easier time finding food thrives at the expense of the other.
If you haven't figured it out yet, crabs are GV's.
The current game makes it too easy for GV's to dictate the ground war. We no longer have hordes and missions (schooling baitfish) attacking bases and towns because it much easier for players to take a GV to accomplish their task (finds food).
Without abundant schooling baitfish, we are left with the predators eating themselves with predictable results. The good pilots feed and the lesser ones die and die often, then leave the game for happier feeding grounds. Only the truly gifted or stubborn pilots can thrive in the current environment.
We need game mechanics in place to promote more aircraft attacking objects and GV's alike. It is far too easy for GV's to both fight and succeed vs. themselves but especially aircraft. When their success comes at the direct behest of the air combat, it is not healthy for an air combat game.
