The so called "Dueling Arena" is a JOKE!

[nrshida]

Just before the thread gets too far from the OP; there's no implication this is going to save the game, bring an influx of new subscribers, change the habbits or opportunities of a largely score-focussed-by-any-method player-base. It's just a simple request for a concession to those Koth-like, ACM-centric, self-challenging people who enjoy having a good fight with a higher frequency than can be found in the (often sedentary) MA.

It would only work at all as an official HTC arena which is always available. Steel the Sheep is an officially-hosted arena which is also empty and apprently an inside joke which I've never actually got myself, but there it is on the front page. Of Aces High. 'Multiple arenas with unique environments offer different styles of gameplay' says the website. 

[CptTrips]

When I was creating the offline missions, I definitely had to create custom AI capability settings for different AC to get what felt right to me. The default settings were generally too extreme.  WWI planes needed different settings that Spits and I-16 and FW-D9 all needed customized settings to feel reasonable.



I agree with DemonSlayer (I don't say that often).

I would separate Match Arena and a Free-For-All Furball arena.

I would setup the FFA similar to how we were setting up that custom arena:
Small map (ctfbffa1 is what we had been trying) ring of mountains to contain action.
Two (maybe 3) fields same country positioned on perimiter.
Kill shooter off.
No scoring. No AI.
Font tab. Replace Steal the Sheep.
Non-pay arena.

Would anyone go in there?  Shrug.  No less that Steal the Sheep.

But it's not me you have to convince. 

[Vinkman]

…Speaking for myself....the old Furball Lake arena would encourage more old and new players to actually go there and have some fun. Just my opinion.

Pick-tard lake. Worst place in the whole game to play.

[SPKmes]

yep..That's where shidas idea of all one side works...you will still get the crew that dicords or whatever they use to team up but it won't be the lopsided rubbish it turned into

[Eagler]

There were 4 of us in it the other day and we could not get 2v2 to launch

Eagler

[Lazerr]

There were 4 of us in it the other day and we could not get 2v2 to launch

Eagler

I remember when it first came out and had some popularity.  We had 8 to 12 guys in there at times doing everything from 1vs 1 to 4 vs 4 and it was a blast.

I don't know if a club, or a small dueling bracket would maybe help draw some interest in it?  Maybe Wednesdays or Saturdays every  week?  If it had the same following as MNM, it would be a blast.

I personally don't have the time to devote to setting something like this up, but I would definately support it. 

As far as the free for all area with AI, I'd have to be really bored in the MA, and have absolutely nothing to do otherwise to want to fight those gamey drones.

[Simon]

Furball lake DA was pretty popular with the initial influx of Fighter Ace migrants, but it died off on its own after the first couple of years. It was a Tempest-pickers paradise. There was plenty of ganging and no shortage of alt-monkeys and ack-runners doing their utmost to land kills. It was pretty pathetic as I recall, with a few rare exceptions like the breakfast club and dueling league. At least there were no Yak3s back then... 

I think Match Play is fantastic, although a little cumbersome certainly for new players. I just wish there were more 1v1 aficionados nowadays.

[Puma44]

Furball lake DA was pretty popular with the initial influx of Fighter Ace migrants, but it died off on its own after the first couple of years. It was a Tempest-pickers paradise. There was plenty of ganging and no shortage of alt-monkeys and ack-runners doing their utmost to land kills. It was pretty pathetic as I recall, with a few rare exceptions like the breakfast club and dueling league. At least there were no Yak3s back then...  :

Sounds like a description of the MA on any given day.

[Eagler]

I think it begins with someone/ anyone announcing in MA for anyone wanting to go h2h

I almost never hear that...

Eagler

[DmonSlyr]

Furball lake DA was pretty popular with the initial influx of Fighter Ace migrants, but it died off on its own after the first couple of years. It was a Tempest-pickers paradise. There was plenty of ganging and no shortage of alt-monkeys and ack-runners doing their utmost to land kills. It was pretty pathetic as I recall, with a few rare exceptions like the breakfast club and dueling league. At least there were no Yak3s back then... 

I think Match Play is fantastic, although a little cumbersome certainly for new players. I just wish there were more 1v1 aficionados nowadays.

I think the water depth perception had a big impact on many people not flying there anymore after the switch to AH3. And it took too long to fix that issue so people just left for something else. Then HTC changed it go the match play and that just made it even more complicated and took things away from the original furball lake.

All of the guys with interest in ACM in the DFC left and the enthusiasm just died.

ACM is pretty much dead in AH now. Most people are too big of pansies to get their but kicked in the DA learning ACM and the MA has turned into "who can fly the fastest plane and run away when they lose advantage the fastest". Too many run and easy mode planes now that saturate the MA. No place to go on the regular for quick action fighting. I love the concept of the MNM, but it does me no good if I cannot play it and it's only one night out of the week.

[Oldman731]

Sounds like a description of the MA on any given day.

There were DA people back then who posted things like, "Why can't we have our own war in the DA?"  As Simon Says, the original dueling idea had been replaced by a free MA.

- oldman

[hazmatt]

ACM is pretty much dead in AH now. Most people are too big of pansies to get their but kicked in the DA learning ACM and the MA has turned into "who can fly the fastest plane and run away when they lose advantage the fastest". Too many run and easy mode planes now that saturate the MA. No place to go on the regular for quick action fighting. I love the concept of the MNM, but it does me no good if I cannot play it and it's only one night out of the week.

During the time when the greatest number of these guys are one I've taken to flying the d9 and focus on chasing down ponies. It's not as exciting as a knife fight but I do get some satisfaction from it.

I have one recently where a pony from one of the squads, known for flying groups of 25k ponies, got in a fight with me in a d9 1vs1 in the deck after getting chased down. After a few minutes of fighting I was able to get him. It didn't matter to me that his squad mate (that I suspect he was calling for) showed up afterwards in a high spit and was able to kill my low and slow d9. I was happy to make that ruiner of my fun pay! 

I wish they would bring back EW and MW arenas. Was much fun back in the day with Sparkles and some of the others that used to hang out there.

[DmonSlyr]

During the time when the greatest number of these guys are one I've taken to flying the d9 and focus on chasing down ponies. It's not as exciting as a knife fight but I do get some satisfaction from it.

I have one recently where a pony from one of the squads, known for flying groups of 25k ponies, got in a fight with me in a d9 1vs1 in the deck after getting chased down. After a few minutes of fighting I was able to get him. It didn't matter to me that his squad mate (that I suspect he was calling for) showed up afterwards in a high spit and was able to kill my low and slow d9. I was happy to make that ruiner of my fun pay! 

I wish they would bring back EW and MW arenas. Was much fun back in the day with Sparkles and some of the others that used to hang out there.

Yeah, it kills me that everyone just flies the fastest planes and creates the chain reaction. I don't think most people even know how to dog fight.

I think the EW and Midwar would have been more fun and more populated on a much smaller map. No one wants to fly 25 miles in slowass plane for one guy to fight.

[Eagler]

There's an idea...

A map with some closer bases that only have early and mid war planes enabled..

The other bases can be further away for bomber and late war types

Then those of us who would rather fight than fly, would have a place on the map to enjoy

You can even make those closer bases unable to be captured to keep the a2a alive

Eagler

[nrshida]

with a few rare exceptions like the breakfast club and dueling league. At least there were no Yak3s back then... 

Yeah awesome. That's where I lived. Having more than one practical arena means you can always move about if one becomes a bit lame. It's not so now. Players just log off. Some stop subscribing.

I just wish there were more 1v1 aficionados nowadays.

Speaking only for myself (CET player), I've been driven away (or my hobby made inaccessible if you like, which amoounts to the same thing) because in the MA presently available to me any amount of hard-earned skill can trivially be countered by exploiting the arena and not the ACM-plane-player combination. As an example there's a couple of (well a pair actually) players who absolutely refuse any kind of even fight and will burn 5k of energy in a shallow dive to escape even a less-manouvrable plane if it isn't a convincingly safe engagement for them. They'll be promptly back if you engage someone else though.

One of these was a consistent MPA dueller. After a long break I fought him regularly for a month losing a high percentage of fights against his Spit9. Right up until the point I found a reliable method to defeart him. After a something like 10 out of 12 defeats ratio he started ducking me in the MPA too. That's a snapshot of differing philosophies and goals right there. Apply these incompatible philosophies over time without some kind of balancing system and...

The ELO is a good system for something long-standing like a chess competition. But in the MPA if you have a high ELO and get defeated even by proxy by a lower-scored player it costs you a lot and takes ages to get back. Your rating can plummet in minutes. Same system for both AI and human players. The upshot of that is, again, to discourage gameplay in those whom are unable to ignore score or even to have score used as a peeny-comparison tool (I noticed a week or so ago on the forum, lol).

A better system might be some reward-based system where if you don't fight at a reasonable rate then your ELO degrades automatically. That's what essentially happpens in some other sports.

Anyway, all sorts of things could be done. If there's an inherent unwillingness to make a simple concession like unlocking three airbases then it's just idle chatting around the coffee apparaat.