Author Topic: Why not just change the eny system and let it be community based?  (Read 2563 times)

Offline KillerPops

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Re: Why not just change the eny system and let it be community based?
« Reply #30 on: January 07, 2023, 11:16:10 AM »
The entire combat flight sim community is literally screaming for content, a continuous real time strategic war made up of multiple player made tactical missions. Everything that AH has essentially. However, ENY in the current form has no place in this IMO. It's simply way too artificial. Just because there is a reason it exists, doesn't mean it's a good solution to a problem. It's more of a hack to fix a symptom of an inherent flaw or poor game design, than it is an improvement of the sim.

Because of such things people leave. Instead they go to IL-2 and DCS and set up their own servers. Servers with lots of lags and zero strat due to basic limitations in the server mechanics and way too limited set of planes and vehicles. The things that do exist are pretty nice though (good looking), but the immersion, depth and gameplay that AH is capable of is not there of course. Nevertheless people feel it's a better solution than AH.

And there is War Thunder for everyone wanting a game game instead of a sim game. Not that War Thunder is particularly good in the game department either (as a sim we all know it is useless), but it has found a formula to both lure people in and to keep them there for a long time. It's more like some kind of eval dark force that suck a substantial amount life out of all other flight sims essentially.

It's hard to see that a continuous strategic war/sim can function without some kind of ENY functionality though. All real wars soon come to an end when one side suddenly has a technological advantage, and the same would happen in a sim. Another thing that will happen in a sim, is that "everyone" will take the best stuff. This will not happen in real life due to lack of recourses, things take time to make and deploy etc. This must be prevented in a sim. I mean, most people log in, jump in a plane and want to win the battle. They want to take a base, shoot someone down and so on. They want to succeed in their mission, whatever that mission is. What's going on in the "war" is secondary, but it is of main importance that a successful mission as a result makes the war move in the right direction. This also requires a system where people can pick missions that are important to move the war in the right direction, and are given credit for taking such missions. Today people are given more credit for shooting down a Dora with an I-16 than the other way around, which is just ridiculous. That's not how wars are won.

This is where strat comes in. Strategic bombing, defense against strategic bombing, transport and so on. AH has some of this also, but not nearly enough. Development of more/better strat will naturally be the place where the ENY functionality is placed without appearing ridiculous. That and a system suggesting missions tied to credit. Credit are given based how much you improve the strategic advantage. This could also be tied to a rolling plane set where newer planes are available as time marches on, like it used to be in WarBirds a 100 years ago :-) There are other ways instead of a rolling plane set also I would suppose.

DCS is allegedly making strat/server system now. It will be interesting to see how that ends up, if it ever materializes. The main problem with AH seems to be this:

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HiTech Creations was founded with a simple philosophy, by Dale "HiTech" Addink, in 1999.  It's not to create a large corporation, a vast gaming network, or a line of online games.  It's just to create one game, but one that is better than any other like it.  Contrary to most companies, our goal is to keep the company small.  We know that with a singular focus and an experienced cohesive team that enjoys its work, the production, service, support, and overall level of satisfaction will be unmatched.

Right now it seems to me that HiTech Creations is in a been there, done that mode. For anything to happen, fresh blood is needed, which is difficult with the given parameters set by their philosophy. What's likely to happen is the whole thing is sold.

Well, that's my two cents on ENY  :)  :bolt:

Offline The Fugitive

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Re: Why not just change the eny system and let it be community based?
« Reply #31 on: January 07, 2023, 12:40:01 PM »
Only the first paragraph had anything to do with ENY. The rest was about the strat side of the game.

ENY is a mechanic to adjust the "fairness" of the game. If a team is always out numbered and with the best equipment how fair or fun is it for the underdog? ENY is a must.

Is it set right? NO, I think it could be adjust for the lower numbers. Im sure the setting is just a percentage multiplier or some other flag in the coad. HTC could/should spend some time in the game and monitor whats going on. It has changed quite a bit over the years.

As for the strats, I dont think its a part of the game many enjoy. The long flights with out much effect isnt many players "cup of tea". Quick action is what most players want. DCS isnt going to explode with interest if/when strats are added. What is needed is what we have here, a complete game. There is something for everyone in this game. Fighters, tanks, bombers, base captures, win the war, and yes even strat attacks. Until those other games add all of that they dont have a chance of lasting as long as this game has.

Offline Dadtallica

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Re: Why not just change the eny system and let it be community based?
« Reply #32 on: January 07, 2023, 03:02:29 PM »
I only liked mid war because it hasd no jets but there was also twice as many active players back then.
Back in 2022 after a loooooong break from 2010. Old name Ratpack, same for the BBS.

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Offline Ruckus

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Re: Why not just change the eny system and let it be community based?
« Reply #33 on: January 07, 2023, 07:20:45 PM »
Another 2v1 country situation happened to us Rooks where the Rooks had more players than any other side, but the Bish and Knits were both attacking us. Their combined force surpassed our numbers as we were hammered from both ends, but we were also the ones facing the ENY problem. I get that ENY is there to balance the fairness as The Fugitive mentioned, but isn't there some way to program ENY so that it's contingent on the number of enemy engagements triggered by proximity or something like that? It seems like there has to be some other metric rather than the number of players online to correctly balance ENY.

Offline Softail

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Re: Why not just change the eny system and let it be community based?
« Reply #34 on: January 07, 2023, 10:03:57 PM »
Post some ideas on how to balance a lopsided situation before deciding  ENY should be eliminated. The side with the lowest numbers has a big disadvantage. Fighting a horde can be quite frustrating. The horde does not need the best rides. The lowest number side does. Come up with a better system to balance the sides when the numbers are not balanced. The auto select for country using bonus perk points is helping. The players that switch sides get to know players in other countries. That is important as well.

We all want to use our favorite ride, but now is a good time to learn some of the mid war rides. And get good at it. Practice offline intil you get the feel for it.


My two cents.


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Simple....increase Ack strength and durability on countries with the lowest players on a logarithmic scale.   That will make taking unmanned bases much  harder and force stronger countries to fight each other first.    Then everyone can fly whatever plane they wish.   


Offline KillerPops

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Re: Why not just change the eny system and let it be community based?
« Reply #35 on: January 08, 2023, 08:13:38 AM »
What is needed is what we have here, a complete game. There is something for everyone in this game. Fighters, tanks, bombers, base captures, win the war, and yes even strat attacks. Until those other games add all of that they dont have a chance of lasting as long as this game has.

I agree with the first point. Today only AH is this complete game that the entire flight sim community is actually urging for. I disagree 100% with the last point. All the popular games today (DCS, IL-2, War Thunder) have lasted for more than a decade already. Il-2 came out in 2001. DCS in 2008. War Thunder in 2012. Each of them has a player base that is orders of magnitude larger than AH has ever had.

Why is that? One can only speculate. As for myself, pre DCS, I would actually never imagine that people actually would urge for the degree of fidelity that DCS has. It's downright ridiculous in many aspects, but it obviously sells. The same can be said about War Thunder, only it's in the exact opposite end of the "game spectrum". Why is War Thunder popular when it's 100% arcade?

War Thunder is perhaps the easiest to answer. It can be played on any PC and on any game console. Just jump in, play the game and have fun. No investment in time and studying is needed. No investment in PC or sim gear is needed. DCS is the exact opposite. Super steep and long learning curve (for each and every aircraft). Not really playable unless you have a minimum $2000 gaming PC and minimum $1000 HOTAS setup and $300 pedals, not to mention at least a huge screen and some head tracking, another $1000, unless investing in top of the line VR (and only top of the line will work with somewhat satisfactory degree in DCS).

My point was that ENY is a solution to a problem that shouldn't be there in the first place. It's one of those things that drives people away from AH. It's essentially a hack to fix poor strat design, or poor game design. AH is the only game with a decent amount of strat today, yet people rather set up their own servers with (ancient) IL-2 1946 or (ancient) Falcon 4, simply to get something with real looking strat. ENY dumbs the game down, it's as simple as that. It makes it more game and less sim in a dumbed down manner. Many people want more game and less sim, and they go to War Thunder. If people want less game and more sim, they go to IL-2 or DCS.

ENY is a mechanic to adjust the "fairness" of the game. If a team is always out numbered and with the best equipment how fair or fun is it for the underdog? ENY is a must.
Again, WHY is a team "always" out numbered, and WHY is that ruining the fun? Rhetorical questions, I don't except an answer.

The problem with AH is it's a "sandboxed" game with it's own "sandboxed" rules and game mechanics. Its fun only as long as you agree, or at least can live with these sandboxed rules. ENY is part of this. Il-2, and in particular DCS, has shown that this sandboxing is not what people want. People want realism, the more the merrier. Strat is lacking in Il-2 and DCS. It is included in AH, but only limited, and only within the "box". One thing in particular is lacking, and that is to link credit (points, score, rank whatever) to missions that affect the strat status in a positive direction. This will give more immersion, more depth, more realism. Otherwise, quite frankly, why not just play War Thunder? (which is exactly what people do for quick and uncomplicated fun. I cannot understand what's fun about it, but that's just me I guess).

For us old-timers coming from WarBirds, AH was continuation of a game that was disintegrating (WarBirds). AH was a viable alternative in the workings. It didn't offer anything new though. The same sandboxing, the same rules (for all practical purposes). Most had one foot in AH, one foot in WB for a long time. AH won eventually. But, at the same this opened the eyes to several other games with much added realism, like Il-2 and Falcon 4. In particular Falcon 4 showed what could be done with (AI) strat in particular and fidelity of the aircraft systems, while Il-2 was a more realistic WarBirds in many ways, less sandboxing, more aircraft fidelity and realism. Il-2 initially had some strat, but this was more or less gone in the newer series from 2013.

I don't know. War Thunder aside (hopeless case), Il-2 and DCS have some visions of the future for more and better online activity. ENY has been in AH since the very beginning as far as I can remember. Hated by most, defended by few. Surely it's time to put it at rest. Replace it with something that adds realism. Or maybe not  :lol 

Offline Eagler

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Re: Why not just change the eny system and let it be community based?
« Reply #36 on: January 08, 2023, 08:34:16 AM »
It probably should be removed just to get the maps to be won and switched out faster than it happens now...

This way a crappy larger map won't be up all weekend

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Offline DmonSlyr

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Re: Why not just change the eny system and let it be community based?
« Reply #37 on: January 08, 2023, 09:21:04 AM »
I love the sandbox style of the game because it's an evolving war that takes strategy to win. You can roll somewhere and set up attacks. Bombing, Jabo, fighter, and tanking all has a place in this game. When the battles grow large, that's where the excitement comes and this is what brings players to the game. No one wants to see a huge map with no action on it, which has been my biggest gripe. Maps like BowlMA and CraterMA staying up for 4 days and taking over the entire weekend really irritate me because morning gamplay is just really boring.

All it takes is to remove these stupid maps, bowlMA, craterMA, and Buzzsaw and replaced with the 3 new maps floating around. I think you'd see a growing # of players be able to find fights in the off hours on all 3 sides. This will naturally fix the ENY issues during off hours. This will keep more players in the game during off hours because they can find action. You'd start to see bigger fights during off hours which is precisely what the game needs to build larger fights and more players overall with balanced gameplay.
« Last Edit: January 08, 2023, 09:22:51 AM by DmonSlyr »
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Offline Softail

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Re: Why not just change the eny system and let it be community based?
« Reply #38 on: January 08, 2023, 09:29:42 AM »
ENY has been in AH since the very beginning as far as I can remember. Hated by most, defended by few. Surely it's time to put it at rest. Replace it with something that adds realism. Or maybe not  :lol


No, ENY wasn't introduced until we were well into AH2.  Hated by the vast majority.  Many just left the game because of it.  And yet...it stays.

A horde of early war aircraft will still take a field easily when defended by 4 people in late war vehicles and ac.
« Last Edit: January 08, 2023, 12:28:41 PM by Softail »

Offline knorB

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Re: Why not just change the eny system and let it be community based?
« Reply #39 on: January 08, 2023, 10:52:59 AM »
The nail that sticks out...

Offline 100Coogn

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Re: Why not just change the eny system and let it be community based?
« Reply #40 on: January 08, 2023, 03:31:42 PM »
Why hasn't mERv chimed into this discussion?  He's the one that started this topic.

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Offline mERv

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Re: Why not just change the eny system and let it be community based?
« Reply #41 on: January 10, 2023, 05:04:39 AM »
Why hasn't mERv chimed into this discussion?  He's the one that started this topic.

Coogan

Out of respect for those who asked me to take a break and because HTC finally responded, I've been quiet.

Don't get me started  :neener: you might carry a lot of clout with the boys here and at the lodge but that kind of gaslighting is getting old....  :aok

For those who don't know why a comment like this brings such a direct response just let it go. No one is interested in my personal beefs, especially new ones like with coondog. I'm not going to dig up his recent gaslighting post that motivated me to directly call him out in a separate thread.

I started this to stimulate conversation on the subject. I am beating a dead horse talking about ENY and cheating accusations over and over.

HT answered me and I am good with whatever is best for the business. Even if it means shutting my mouth about issues that have been going on for years   :salute

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« Last Edit: January 10, 2023, 07:00:52 AM by mERv »
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Offline trogdor

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Re: Why not just change the eny system and let it be community based?
« Reply #42 on: January 10, 2023, 07:54:15 PM »
I'd fly Mid-War with you, MaX.
But I think it'd just be you and I in there  :(
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Offline Badboy

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Re: Why not just change the eny system and let it be community based?
« Reply #43 on: January 11, 2023, 05:56:24 AM »
I'd fly Mid-War with you, MaX.
But I think it'd just be you and I in there  :(

Me too!!

Mid war was my favorite arena ever. I was very disappointed when it went away.

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Offline Eagler

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Re: Why not just change the eny system and let it be community based?
« Reply #44 on: January 11, 2023, 07:15:32 AM »
Me too!!

Mid war was my favorite arena ever. I was very disappointed when it went away.

Badboy


 

It's where some of us lived before it was removed

Main was always just main with every twit in the game in their uber planes...sorta like it is now  :cheers:

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