The elimination match
Credit for this suggestion goes to W_Redmann who flys on the PS3. A while ago he threw this out while waiting in the lobby of an online match. Everyone thought it was a good idea. As far as I can see, he's never posted his idea to the forum, and I think it would be a shame if the developers never hear about it. I think it's a great idea for an online match. I've added a few ideas of my own to flesh it out a little more. Feel free to add your own ideas to make it even better.
The basic idea is an elimination match, no respawning, last pilot standing wins. To keep the downed pilots entertained for the rest of the match they would become spectators or "ghosts" when they are eliminated from the match. They could jump in any remaining plane and use their free look to watch the fight proceed (of course they couldn't fly it, or shoot the guns. Only watch). Maybe the developers can think of other ways they can view the remaining match as well. They will be able to voice chat, if they have it, with the other ghosts, but not with the remaining pilots still in the match (don't want to give any intel to the remaining players and bias the outcome through paranormal means! Also, no fair emailing tips to remaining players)
I hope this type of match will encourage the use of tactics other than what is currently employed in online matches today. Jumping into the furball won't be the best way to win the game. The pilot will have to choose more carefully who and when to attack.
The most obvious tactic for winning that I can think of is to let everyone else battle it out and then prey upon the last, hopefully damaged plane. However if everyone does this it will make for a long match, and ghost players will get frustrated and not stick around for the next game.
To discourage this, some type of timer should be implemented. It could be just a simple time limit, say 10 minutes, or whatever the host sets. Another option would be to give everyone 10 minutes of fuel at 55% power. I assume different planes consume fuel at different rates at different power settings. At WEP a bf109 might last only 5 minutes at its initial fuel allotment. A spitfire might last 7 minutes (this is a guess, just for example). But initially each plane has 10 minutes of fuel at 55% power. So this would be another factor a pilot would have to consider in his attack.
I can still see one problem remaining. The best tactic is still not to fight, conserve your fuel, and let everyone else battle it out. Besides public shaming by other players, one way of discouraging such cowardice is to change the endgame rules a little bit.
The last pilot standing wins for sure, as long as he shoots down the second to last pilot, or the second to last pilot crashes or bails (why would anyone bail?). But if the game ends because one of the two remaining planes runs out of fuel, then the winner is the pilot of the last two standing who has the higher match score as I described in a previous post. For this game pilots match scores will be hidden until the game ends. If you don't know the other pilot's match score, nor your own, you can't be sure yours is highest and therefore the only way to insure a win is to attack and shoot down the other plane. Running away is discouraged.
In addition to individual dogfights, this game would be great for team play. Imagine how the play dynamic will, hopefully, change when it's important to keep your fellow teammates in the air. In current team battles, I still get the sense that it's mostly every pilot for himself. Sometimes a coordinated attack or defense occurs, but it's not all that often. In this game it would be much more crucial, otherwise your team will quickly become outnumbered. When you have only one life, you want to make the most of it, and your fellow team members will value your life as well (if not, then you need to find different teammates).
I think this type of match will be fun for all. Players will have to plan attacks more carefully if they want to survive. Team matches will encourage more cooperation and coordination between team members. Eliminated players will get to see the rest of the match unfold, and voice chat with their fellow ghosts, encouraging them to stick around to the end. And pilots will feel quite a sense of accomplishment when they survive the entire match and win the game.
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