aaah, finally got registered
Hello everyone.
Yup, there are many blue fighters, and not much else. The engine is geared for this. Maps can be won by fighters alone, and besides forward airfields being out of commission, anything bombers do does not affect the fighters. A lot of depth is lost this way.
In my opinion, there are many ways to fix this, some simpler than others.
For example, penalize the loosing side in the next map/campaign. Give them less planes. Right now, there is really no reason to even win the map. Sure, it's more fun than loosing, but so what? Both sides start with a whole bunch of new planes. Bombers try to affect the ground war, so it matters to them, but fighters? Why would they care? Of course, this idea has the disadvantage that the loosing side might keep loosing, in a nasty cycle.
In my opinion the best way to do it (would involve a lot of code) would be for small victories or defeats to matter. For example, supply. Right now, there are only two states. Some supply, and everyone can fly, or no supply, and the map is lost. Hitting supply points has no effect on the map at all in the short term. Hitting AF supply has a little, but not much. Hitting static planes can add up to the total "planes lost, map lost" state, but until then it does not matter at all. So where is the incentive to protect anything? The only incentive are medals, so just shoot down planes.
I think the engine should focus on the ground war. Tanks moving around and taking land would be the only way to win a map. Planes lost simply cannot win a map. Tanks would move much faster, but they would be slowed down in certain circumstances. If fuel from the supply point is hit, then the tanks slow down, until, they stop if there is none left. This is dependent on fuel. There should be no need to hit the entire supply column, destroy every truck, to stop the advance of the tanks. It is also dependent on the amount of fuel (total) in that supply point.
Supply points should only move very rarely. If much land is captured, then the lines should be long (as in RL) and the supply should be harder to protect. Right now, supply columns are very often right next to the supply points, making them very hard to hit. This makes no sense. They moved, they were exposed.
If ammo is lost, then the tanks should fire more slowly to illustrate the lack of ammo. If repair-kits are lost, then they should miss more often, as they would be damaged. Or they should become lighter tanks, to illustrate the damage to the armour. Or something along those lines.
In this way, a very successful bombing mission can be a very serious victory, not just a few more numbers on your stat screen. The loss of any supply or a whole column can be very, very serious.
Airfields should have a maximum number of squads allowed on them, and this number grows with size and supply. Not just "on" or "off".
Planes lost should matter, but not just for winning the map. It should matter to the pilots. Right now, there are squads with many, many spare planes. In RL, this would not be possible. Planes were needed, not just idling on the runway. And the loss of reserve planes REALLY does not matter right now. This should be changed, too.
For example, pilots who do not fly for a while might loose their plane. And if planes on an airfield are bombed, then the ACTIVE planes should be lost, not just the reserve planes.
But reserve plane losses should matter too. I'm not sure how right now, but I'm sure we can think of an idea.
Further, loss of supply should also matter to the pilots, not just the tanks. Perhaps as supply is lost, planes must take less and less fuel, or repairs must be made in the rear, or repairs take longer, or as ammo is lost bombs cannot be taken. Something like that. Increasing the map times to two hours would be really cool, too.
These are just examples, and I'm sure that some are not perfect, and could cause complications, but the point is that small changes to the ADW universe made by bombers should matter. Fighters are the main force right now in ADW. Fighters win maps, fighters cause the enemy to fly bad planes, fighters do everything. In RL, fighters were just there to stop the bombers. The bombers are what cause a war to be lost or won, the bombers caused an offensive to succeed or fail. Fighters just support.
In my opinion, this would also encourage much more teamwork between fighters and bombers, which we are sorely lacking unless the squadrons know each other or are nice people. Right now, there is no incentive to work together. Bombers need protection, but the fighters don't need to care about that, as it does not affect them. They only go to protect an area because that is where the enemy can be found.
Vilnus » 27 фев 2008, 22:55 
FFS SO many words...
