Capture the flag - An online time waster!

Had an idea for another miltiplayer mode that I'm sure a lot of people would enjoy. Capture the flag. Go to Unreal tournament, Quake III, lots of other older games that are still being played online after 10 years or more. One of the most popular play modes is capture the flag (CTF).

Two opposing sides on a smaller map. The rules are simple. Fly through the open hangar at the enemy's airfield and cap their flag. You'll have defending AA guns and planes trying to stop you, all the while the other team is trying to do the same thing. To score a point you have to fly through the enemy hangar and cap their flag, make it back to your base a fly through your hangar. If someone takes you flag you have to shoot them down to retake it.

I know it's not a realistic game mode, but no more "immersion killing" than most dogfight servers with their endlessly respawning planes.

We already have the planes, the maps, AA guns, and Hangars. All you need are two hangars with doors open at both sides and people who want a quick action-packed game without having to dedicate 3+ hours of their life to it. Sounds like it wouldn't be hard to implement for one of the many patches I'm sure we're going to see this year.

What say you Banana forums?



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[ChrisDNT]

RBJ, is it you ?

[White Owl]

There's a time for fanatically faithful historical re-enactment, that can be a lot of fun, and then there's a time for just playing around in cool airplanes with your buddies. Good idea.

[pupo162]

haha! nice one!

I've seen many gmaes been created along the years more int othe spirit of having fun rather than being realistic

The somoker, try to shoot down the plane with wingtip somoke, if you suceed, you become the smoker.

LAnd in the base, try to land in the enemy base wheels up!

Airracing, you know, go into crazy circuits and besides trying to be the first place, try to get into the finish line!


CTF, would be another one, could easely be done i nthe same way of the above: a plane eho passes in enemy hangar must torn on wingtip smoke and land it.

cheers!

[JG4_Helofly]

I don't think that such a game mode would be fun in COD.
Imagine the guy escaping in his 109 by climbing for hours: No hope of catching him.
It might work if everyone had the same plane, but even then ctf is a fps game mode. I doubt it would work well in a flight sim.

[JimmyGiro]

Originally Posted by JG4_Helofly

I don't think that such a game mode would be fun in COD.
Imagine the guy escaping in his 109 by climbing for hours: No hope of catching him.
It might work if everyone had the same plane, but even then ctf is a fps game mode. I doubt it would work well in a flight sim.

German fighterbombers, like bomb carrying 109s, often committed 'tip-and-run' raids on south coast Britain during the full period of German occupation of France. Therefore 109s ALSO FLEW LOW.

The trouble with 'enactment' players is that they get stuck in single 'historic' stratagems, like a play-actor that must stick to their lines, and neiber ad lib; they lack the gameplayer's capacity to solve problems. Hence anything new is an unsolvable problem to them, that breaks the 'game'.

I think CTF is a splendid idea.

[Jaws2002]

I played CTF a quite a few times in Rise of Flight and it can be fun. A bit different than what you described. You have four, five flags per map, you have to CAP them at close range for some time in order to capture. You have a timer showing your progress. If enemy planes show up in the "CAP range" the timer stops until you shoot them down or they go away. once you capture the flag, the base attatched to it becomes yours and you can spawn planes from there to deffend it, or attack the next flag.
It can be good easy fun to have with a bunch of friends and a bunch of beers.

[Kikuchiyo]

Originally Posted by Jaws2002

I played CTF a quite a few times in Rise of Flight and it can be fun. A bit different than what you described. You have four, five flags per map, you have to CAP them at close range for some time in order to capture. You have a timer showing your progress. If enemy planes show up in the "CAP range" the timer stops until you shoot them down or they go away. once you capture the flag, the base attatched to it becomes yours and you can spawn planes from there to deffend it, or attack the next flag.
It can be good easy fun to have with a bunch of friends and a bunch of beers.

That sounds more like point capture. Personally I think adding in some not so serious game modes to MP might actually be a breath of fresh air that can breathe some life and new players to the genre. Hell, it was Flight sims that eventually got me into playing FPSes. When the genre started to die I had to look other places for that thrill of learning skills to out gun other players. I don't see why the reverse couldn't work. That sounds like a lot of fun. It would be cool if the FMB can actually be used to make something like that.

Sure it wouldn't be for the hardcore serious simmers, but I think that is sorta the point. It would help bring in new players, and could add a whole lot to the community.

Another quick and simple (aka not for the historical accuracy enthusiasts) might be something along the lines of air races, or aerobatics competitions. Or odd man out dogfights (one guy doesn't have any ammo, but improved speed or the SU-26). Everyone else is trying to gun him down. Work together or not).

[Les]

IMO the more variety and options we get into the product the better. Raise 'em all up the flag and see who salutes, let 'em sink or swim etc etc. In time it'll settle down and whatever gets the numbers remains. The overall aim being having the series live on for as long as possible with as many people playing/using it as possible.

As long as the main core sim elements aren't compromised, better to explore and experiment and try pushing the boundaries than just settling for more of the same old stuff we've been doing for years, especially when you can still do that anyway if you want to.

No matter how serious or casual we are about it, we're all in it for the fun of it. Whether you're deadly serious about re-enacting something, or highly competitive against AI or real pilots, or just using the game as a venue for social interactions, it's all some kind of fun or another. So, the more the merrier. Whatever keeps the population up and sales coming in, is good for everyone, if it means Oleg and the crew can afford to keep building and expanding and improving upon the core elements of the sim.

[Feuerfalke]

Originally Posted by Jaws2002

I played CTF a quite a few times in Rise of Flight and it can be fun. A bit different than what you described. You have four, five flags per map, you have to CAP them at close range for some time in order to capture. You have a timer showing your progress. If enemy planes show up in the "CAP range" the timer stops until you shoot them down or they go away. once you capture the flag, the base attatched to it becomes yours and you can spawn planes from there to deffend it, or attack the next flag.
It can be good easy fun to have with a bunch of friends and a bunch of beers.

Agreed. I like this game-mode as well. It's something a bit more dynamic and new.
This is also possible in DCS-Simulations. Here it's not really flag but the bases themselves, but the idea is the same. There are some nice and realistic missions with this game-mode.