Author Topic: Combat theatre..a failure?? (Read 1343 times)

LePaul · « **Reply #60 on:** April 10, 2002, 10:46:40 AM »

Toad for President!

Seriously, you hit a lot of the things I've been trying to express right on the head.

hblair, I know you do a lot of work on the CT, and it seemed to me you were taking all your suggestions from those who already frequented the CT. You'll never lure new blood into the CT if you are skimming for ideas only from those who hang out there, or in the CT forums.

Right now the biggest selling point the CT could brag about is new maps. SO many folks are tired of the same 4 in the MA right now. Plus, with a 2 sided war, those whining about a constant gang-bang can be put to rest.

I'll try the CT out tonight to see what's new. I'd like to see Nuttz's new maps, too!

Kieran · « **Reply #61 on:** April 10, 2002, 10:49:50 AM »

Well, last night the CT had some great F6F vs. Zeke action. The fleet was off our port, we defended against high waves of organized and well-flown F6Fs in strike formations. Later, a fleet battle ensued, intertwined between base captures. It had everything the MA could have offered except the useless whining on open.

hblair · « **Reply #62 on:** April 10, 2002, 10:58:43 AM »

Actually Lepaul, my setups were the most MA-like of any that have been run, and were done that way to try to get the MA crowd to give it a look. I think what I did was about as MA as you're going to get without going with long icons.

Don · « **Reply #63 on:** April 10, 2002, 11:47:10 AM »

>>It seems there are always <12 people in there.
Not nearly enuff to warrant any kind of organized and sustained action. Hmm, guess CT is a failure eh? <<

I realize there is more to this first post but, the opening coments (above) are compelling.
If there are 12 people consistently flying there, that means there are 12 paying customers having fun...failure? I don' theen so;)
For sustained and organized action well, when I last looked there is already a place for that, the Main Arena. I understood the concept of the CT was developed to satisfy the desires of some, to also provide an alternative arena with alternative terrains, and customized modeling to satisfy those who wished that kind of environment.
What is there to advertise and why? Is it to get over 400 per night in there to tax the over burdened servers? Or is it to get a majority of pilits to fly in an environment which some have decreed as more realistic?

For me, I don't fly there because the few times I have, I got ganged by a stream (read conga line) of 6 or more fiters; no different than the MA, and in the MA, I could at least get to see them from a longer way out

Sure I got some kills but, I get them in the MA too, and there are usually more countrymen in on an effort.
My connection in there was just as unstable as it is in the MA, and there are more targets in the MA than there are in the CT.
So for me, I am one who likes having an alternative arena but, I like where I regularly fly too.
And btw, who says AH is stagnating?

Oldman731 · « **Reply #64 on:** April 10, 2002, 11:54:02 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Kieran
Well, last night the CT had some great F6F vs. Zeke action. The fleet was off our port, we defended against high waves of organized and well-flown F6Fs in strike formations. Later, a fleet battle ensued, intertwined between base captures. It had everything the MA could have offered except the useless whining on open.

Yes, it did. To me, that was the essence of the CT - just as when we had Battle of Britain. It's about as close as you can get, in an on-line sim in 2002, to working your way back in time. Made me think of Sakai's account of his fight over Iwo - Zekes v. Hellcats. Great stuff. Wish we could bottle it and pass it out to those who think CT is for old ladies.

- Oldman

Don · « **Reply #65 on:** April 10, 2002, 12:19:23 PM »

>>I find the implication that "the MA population is just too stupid to know any better and if it was just crammed down their throats they would thank us for it later" rather insulting. <<

While I am lagging a bit in this thread, I didn't read that implication anywhere. While I have noticed there are self styled elitists in this game, I didn't see this implied.
What I saw implied and stated, is a guy getting tired of the game he is playing...pfft! Maybe he needs some time away; happens to all of us at times I guess.
Or, if he wants something different, then perhaps he should go over to the CT and spend some time there, instead of trying to determine what is good for all because it may be just the ticket for him.

Fariz · « **Reply #66 on:** April 10, 2002, 12:30:18 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by eskimo2

Fariz,
You are one who needs to give it more of a chance. You will be surprised. I see you have logged 3 hours in the CT in the past 3 months. The CT can be dull at times, but it can also be even more intense than the MA. There are times that you can spend 80% of your time engaged in good fights, and there are times that you can really see what was so great about a particular plane, that is when it is fighting it's true advisary.
Give it more time bud.

eskimo

Eskimo, that is what I do

Come to CT, play for 30 minutes, borred, go away. I will give it more tries, may be it will change.

Fariz

Don · « **Reply #67 on:** April 10, 2002, 12:37:36 PM »

In the days which marked the beginning of the end for Air Warrior, there was a new version developed and implemented (AW2) It was to be the answer to what supposedly all AW'ers wanted and the embarkation from AW-DOS and AW4W; it was an ungodly mess. The beta ran for 8 months and it was free. This meant there were hordes of dweebs and children; most of em flew the relaxed version (9 g turns and you never stalled or spun out). Many old hands of the FR (Full Realism) crowd turned our noses up at it and continued in 'our arena". The numbers were much lower than the numbers in the AH CT arena. We would switch sides to even out numbers and knew everyone who flew there. We even helped any new person who came there to fly; it meant potential new numbers for our brand of the game (FR).
It took some getting used to fly it but, most came to find it was better than RR.
Then the Kesmoids decided they wanted to go corporate and got bought up by a succession of suits and continued to ruin the game. The FM became a joke, and anyone could fly it without any learning curve at all. The rest of the story is history.

My point is, I don't want to see anything similar happen here. This is a damn fine game/sim as it is. And I have been here long enough to adopt a sense of ownership; its my game.
On the BBs here everyone has an opinion, which is great. It's only when an opinion is rendered that has as a clause that, 'there is something wrong because I see it that way, and everyone else is daffy if they don't'; that I get defensive and at times offended.
I would suggest that an opinion is just that and the right of anyone but, if you think your opinion is what will save the game, thats when I would suggest you check in to see a psych. in his 'happy place' to talk things over.

milnko · « **Reply #68 on:** April 10, 2002, 12:40:20 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Ozark

That's just great, thanks Milnko. I can't get that song out of my head now.

Then my work here is done.

Hi Ho Silver AWAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYY!

WhiteHawk · « **Reply #69 on:** April 10, 2002, 01:11:27 PM »

Thats a very good point Don. Why try to advance an excellent product. Don, would you still be flying AW1 or would you
be flying AH today if AW1 was still running and the same as it
was 10 years ago? Gimme a break.

AW had thier feet kicked up on their desks. They told
thier paying customers' If u dont like it, go elsewhere' knowing
full well there was no where else to go but $2/hr WB's.
(And I did try WB's)

In my opinion, and it is just my opinion, AH is still a baby,
and has to grow. Maybe tinkering woth the MA is a bad idea,
i dunno.

Maybe a better question for this thread is

Where does AH go from here? or is this the ultimate?

I wouldnt mind tooling about in a 109e-4 without getin
blasted by a 700mph La7. I guess i just lust for the
classic matchups, occasionally.

WhiteHawk · « **Reply #70 on:** April 10, 2002, 01:13:40 PM »

Toad
Sorry, I wasnt directing the second half of that earlier
reply to you. Just to those who feel thier $15 empowers them
to speak for 400 or 500 other people.

AKDejaVu · « **Reply #71 on:** April 10, 2002, 01:17:50 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by WhiteHawk
Toad
Sorry, I wasnt directing the second half of that earlier
reply to you. Just to those who feel thier $15 empowers them
to speak for 400 or 500 other people.

Almost as bad as someone feeling their $15 empowers them to impose on other people.

AKDejaVu

Mathman · « **Reply #72 on:** April 10, 2002, 01:31:05 PM »

I came up with an idea that may help the CT increase its numbers (if that is indeed what is desired), though I am not sure how practical the implementation of it would be. I was thinking that a map that was more or less split into thirds may work. One third would be early war ETO (i.e. BoB), another third would be mid/late war ETO, and the last third would be PTO.

This would give fans of the different theaters an area where they could fight in somewhat historical match-ups without having to wait for their favorite theater or time-frame to pop up. The main reason I haven't tried the CT very much is that I am not that much of a fan of the ETO. Until recently, that is all that was in the CT. This last week, if you have dropped in or read the CT forums, you will see that the Axis pilots were squeaking about the planeset (which I partly agree with some of what they were saying). Didn't exactly make for a good time.

Sabre · « **Reply #73 on:** April 10, 2002, 01:52:52 PM »

Mathman: I've heard that idea proposed before (may have been Lazs, to give him his due). My first reaction was that too many people would stray "off the reservation" and ruin others' fun. Then I though, "Hey, just use a 512x512 map and make it five or six sectors of open water between the reservations." I think something like this could be tried in the future at some point, but were faced with a variation of the "I'd fly in the CT if more people were in there" syndrome. We don't have enough people on-line regularly to run multiple areas; the action would be spread out too far, I'm thinking. On the flip side, would doing this kind of set up actually bring in more players? Would it raise the player density up to keep it on par with what we see in the single-theater/era set ups we use now? I don't know.

I'd suggest you hook up with a terrain builder and put your heads together to layout such a terrain as you suggest. Nothing fancy to start with; just a basic layout with fields, spawn points, and strat. You could call it "West World" (anyone remember that movie?

). Then we can look it over and see how it might workout. I'm not opposed to exploring new ideas...I just don't have the time to work on this with the other projects I've got going on.

lazs2 · « **Reply #74 on:** April 10, 2002, 02:14:52 PM »

math and sabre... yep, an "area" arena would be great for any arena. I would of course, prefer it to be in the MA where the planeset is not limited by the axis vs allied thing but any place to fly early iron unmolested by mid late and perk planes is a start. I don't think it will work all that well in the CT tho due to the limitations of axis vs allied. you will simply have three lopsided areas instead of one. still.... an improvement... early war could be fun despite the limitations.

and hblair... I don't think everyone cares about my weight. you are the one who was trying to guess it. I just figured that must be an important thing to your kind so I gave you the info.
lazs