The Problem:
The MA is becoming boring/frustrating. (See Hangtime's Thread)
More often than not, giant furballs and gang-bangs are all that can be found in the MA.
Missing are organization, strat, surprise and options.
Strat;
With the last major release (1.08) of Aces High, strat was drastically changed.
Strat targets now rebuild automatically (Via trains) and can be rebuilt by players (Cargo Sorties).
Instead of increasing player organization and cooperation by requiring greater teamwork to achieve strategic goals, strategic missions have been altogether abandoned. Most players are not willing to participate in a difficult raid, that even if successful will be rebuilt before they get home, giving them no chance to reap the rewards of their hard work by implementing follow-up raids.
Before 1.08, I personally would knock down the HQ several times a week. Now, I can't even remember the last time anyone's HQ went down. As a result, radar-down sneak captures are gone.
Small Fronts, Large Player-Base, Limited Options;
With increasing numbers of players in the MA, all-too-often many players find themselves looking for something to do other than participate in the big furball or gang-bang. A persistent base of players who are ready to up as soon as they realize that something different is going on means that raids are intercepted more often. When a countries front line is down to 4 or less front line bases, and there are 300+ players in the arena, finding or starting a "fresh fight" can be impossible.
Radar, Too Much Information!
Get together 20 countrymen with a base capture objective, climb to 15K, fly 50+ miles to your target, and meet 20 co-alt+ enemy...
Why plan? Why organize? Well-planned missions fail too often because the enemy has too much warning.
Nothing kills the incentive to organize like an enemy informed of your actions!
Personally, I avoid planned missions often because I know that they are doomed.
If they were successful more often, I would participate more often.
To be successful, the enemy shouldn't know what is going on the instant 25 P-47s spawn on their own runway. When I see a big red bar appear opposite an empty friendly base, I have a pretty good idea what is going to happen in 15 to 20 minutes. I am probably going to get myself killed on my current sortie well before they get to their target. This means that I will have plenty of time to spawn, climb to alt and intercept them, or at least sneak out and hunt down their goon.
Giving Away the Locations of CVs.
It's hard to imagine that the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor would have gone so well had a trigger happy IJN pilot launched an hour early and attacked Pearl Harbor by himself. The same principle works in the MA.
If player feel that organized missions are too likely to be intercepted or well-defended against, or sneak captures are too unlikely to be successful, and strat targets are a waste of time, what are they to do? Join in the furball... or join in the gang-bang.
Solutions:
Strat;
Instead of trains and trucks fixing strat targets and bases, their absence should degrade the strat target or base.
If a strat target does not receive a train for X amount of time, it goes down in production. Perhaps no trains arriving at a city for 45 minutes; city goes down 20%. For each additional 15 minutes without trains, city goes down another 20%. Players can bring in supply C-47s to make up for missing trains by keeping city from going down further, but, C-47s WOULD NOT REBUILD STRAT TARGETS!).
If an airbase does not receive a convoy for X amount of time, it's fuel, ammo, troops and radar drop or become disabled (partially, for each missing convoy).
Why is this better?
Instead of being MANDATORY targets for successful strat raids, train killing would become an ALTERNATIVE method for denying the enemy the benefit of operational strategic sites.
Radar:
Changing a few aspects about the current radar status, could have a great impact on how the game is played.
#1. Abolish Enemy-Bar-Dar below 500 feet. Encourage sneak raids. Sneak raids would mean that players would have interesting options 99% of the time. 4 guys, with discipline, could capture an enemy base 100+ miles in enemy territory.
#2. Abolish Enemy-Bar-Dar in enemy territory. No dots or bars 25 miles beyond friendly bases. As stated above, organized missions could at least get to within 25 miles of an enemy base before the enemy is warned Via radar. Enemy would still get a 5+ minute warning, enough time to oppose, but not always en-mass.
HTC, if you want to see more organization in the MA, give organized players a chance to be successful more often.
Hold Flight on Aircraft Carriers.
Sneaking an aircraft carrier into attack position, behind the front line, is nearly pointless because someone always launches from it while it is en route and gives away its position. If the commander of the CV could "Hold Flight", organized CV missions would take place often. Players would have confidence in the mission and sign up because they would know that the enemy would not have warning before the mission starts. Everyone who recognizes the value of the CV's location would become unified in their efforts.
Effect on Bomber Use:
Replacing the value of strat targets would increase the use of bombers in Aces High.
Reducing the effectiveness of radar would also mean that slow-climbing bombers would stand a better chance of making it to target at lower altitudes, thereby increasing the use of bombers in the MA. I don't know why, but I have always felt that HTC has been looking for ways to make bombers more relevant and used in Aces High.
In general, incentive needs to be given for the organization of players in any sized group. When players find success by working together in small groups, they will develop greater knowledge, skills, and incentive to work in larger groups.
The above ideas would make Aces High more interesting, less predictable, create greater options, and promote teamwork among players.
eskimo
