Suggestion: diverse interesting multiplayer game modes in SoW

[Madfish]

Hello all

I'm new to the board but I've been watching this game for a while. My first contact with flight sims was Chuck Yeagers Advanced Flight Trainer as a really young child, followed by Flight and others. I skipped a ton of sims during the last years though, so my ideas might have been implemented in one of them already. If that's the case I'm sorry.

The reason I mention this is because I really enjoyed alternate game modes, they always gave the games so much more live than "just a campaign" or dry simulation. So my idea is to add new game modes, especially multiplayer ones.

I enjoyed the "testflight" sessions in Chuck Yeagers AFT. I also enjoyed the aerobatics in Flight. Some of this could be modded by the fanbase but what about some real new modes that could bring even more people into the SIM scene?
For instance:

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Teams (2+) - Roadrage
Two or more teams.
Two roads from A to B will constantly spawn vehicles on A which are trying to get to B. Each team now has to try and shoot or bomb as many vehicles as possible. The enemy team does the same. Both teams can try to "designate" a pilot or two to go and stir chaos amongst the planes of the other team. The team which kills the most vehicles in a given amount of time is the winner.


Teams (2) - Capture the Flag
Two teams.
A flag is spawned in the middle of an area. You need to bring it to your "goal" area to score. The plane holding the flag will fly slower than usual. It should behave as if the landing gear is down, also it could lose the flag on sharp turns (similar to the gear again for easy implemetation).
Enemy team needs to shoot down the plane that holds the flag, then grab the flag by flying over it. Eventually flags could be passed to other teammates somehow?


Teams (2+) - King of the Airstrip
Two or more teams.
Inspired by king of the hill, an airfield in a center location will serve as a trigger that adds points when a plane of your team lands on it. The other team has to try to destroy the plane and land a plane themselves, which will be the target of your team.
As soon as a plane of any team has landed on the airfield a timer / counter ticks down and reaches zero sometime, which will mean this team has then won the session.


No teams - Air Race
No Teams.
Race through a course of smoke (or similar) rings / poles. These could be on the ground and in the air. (Chuck Yeagers AFT had something like that, Flight had something similar as well)


Dynamic teams - Planehunt
Two teams due to runners / hunters.
A random plane gets labeled as the runner. He now has to try avoiding being shot down. His position on the map will be shown every 2 or 3 minutes or so. The others have to find him and shoot him down.
The runner will have a slightly reduced top speed but better climb and sink to avoid "straight runners" (going full throttle in one direction) and to give him an advantage of better ability to operate in 3d space.
If the runner evades the team for an x amount of time he won the session and someone else is the next runner. If he gets shot down the shooter / killer is the next runner. (Bad luck if he's in the middle of an angry crowd at that point =P)

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I believe that game modes such as these could make the game more beginner friendly and fun for everyone. It could be a huge opportunity.

I will watch this thread and try to add suggestions others make. I'm sure there are a ton of ideas, or even critzism, you guys might have. Feel free to ask me for more details or artworks and bring your thoughts on this to the table. :]

[Ernst]

Crazy man! But I will not enjoy it. I think the idea of a flight combat simulator is totally diferent, and my opinion is that there is no need for so much arcade features.

[WTE_Galway]

Originally Posted by Ernst

Crazy man! But I will not enjoy it. I think the idea of a flight combat simulator is totally diferent, and my opinion is that there is no need for so much arcade features.

Team Fortress or tribes anyone

On a more serious note, online air racing has had quite a big following in IL2 over the years, so hopefully SOW will also include smoke and Pylons.

[Hunden]

What about Tag you forgot Tag. Watup Cuddlefish!!

[Xilon_x]

Ei man airrace not is ARCADE air race is serius server whit real start airplane procedure take off and landing.
in IL-2 EXAMPLE exist two type alternative mode to use the simulator.
AIRRACING and ACROBATIC server.
two serius server not ARCADE if you call ARCADE this type of game you not have the ADRENALINE AND ITELLIGENCE for managemant enjine and for complicate manouver of flight.
YOU SEE THE RED BULL AIRRACE LINK OR RENO AMERICAN AIRRACE.
and read the information.

[Skoshi Tiger]

The beauty of having a multiplayer flight simulator is that you can organise ANY sort of contest or modes of play you want.

All you have to do is host a server, come up with the list of rules, keep score and there you go!

Unfortunately from my experience of playing online, expecting the players on your server to actually read the mission briefings or acting like they're on a team would be a big ask.

People just go off on tangents at times and the biggest arguments I've see are between members of the same sides, rabbiting on about shoulder-shooting, or shooting burning planes, cutting in on a dogfight.

Human nature I supose, I guess You also need a server admin guy with an eject button!

Cheers!

[Madfish]

@Hunden
Sorry, is Tag different from what I called Planehunt? =p English is not my native language so I might mix something up. I thought instead of touching (ramming) a bullet hit would count as tagging as well. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tag_%28game%29
Would you think that two planes actually touching each other would be a realistic thing to aim for? I'm sure it'd be very hard to pull that off. :]


@everyone
Actually these game modes aren't supposed to be arcade at all. They are a purpose, not a different grade of difficulty. You can fly them all with the settings you choose (max. realism for example). So it'd still be the serious sim we know.

Shooting down other planes is not more meaningful then shooting down cars or a specific marker (flag) or whatever I believe. Target practice etc. is a military procedure as well by the way. You don't always practice the "real thing". Imagine that for a sniper - just impossible. Same goes for fighter pilots these days, shooting down other planes just for practice is just way too expensive. ;]

So yeah, don't see these game modes as arcade please. The planes will still behave the same way and I personally don't think it'll be easy to fly. In fact it might be very hard to master the tactics behind these modes, combined with strategies, the airplane limits and behaviors.


Given the right tools I'm sure the community could also contribute a lot if the game supports it. If I knew how I'd be willing to work on something like that. I just think it'd bring a whole new dimension to a game genre that currently isn't too attractive to non-hardcore simmers mostly.

We've seen other games and simulations being successful by breaking some boundaries and using the same core elements to provide players with content that essentially prevented them from getting bored with the game. To be honest with you I even believe that in the future we will be able to land at an airport and sit down virtually and have a chat, social components, and it'll be successful. But we're not there yet in flight sims so I just thought it'd eventually make sense to give players something else to do and still hone their skills or shoot at targets etc. :]


By the way, the red bull air races are really neat. I was seeing one live and it was really crazy. Racing in 3d space is just so much more exciting. =P

[EDIT]
Like Skoshi Tiger just mentioned - the problem is usually enforcing these rules in a rather objective and neutral way. Talking to people and telling them how you want them to act / fly just won't work. So real modes with serverside enforced rules could be making a BIG difference.
However, eventually things could be made so flexible that we can add our own modes and apply templates for them (counters, triggers etc.) to maps.
For example for planehunt / tag you'd need some way to make sure that everyone is actually allied and only the hunted plane is vulnerable to shots and also that the killer get's to be the next runner etcetera. Trying to just talk to people and make them play that way is always troublesome I believe.

[Splitter]

You know, as much as I disliked the idea on first reading....there may be something there. I've spent a lot of time in first person shooters that use some of these concepts for competition. And then some others are just plain fun whenever you get bored with the same old game.

I REALLY want to say these are silly suggestions but I can't because I know I would play some of them lol.

BTW, my own personal theory: Xilon is a a member of the development team with a sick sense of humor . I can't make heads nor tails of most of his posts. What nationality is he and where does he get his ideas for posts?

I'm tellin' ya, someone is having a great big guffaw.

Splitter

[kabal]

I liked the idea VERY MUCH!!!

After all, after flying serious for some hours, one may want to play just and purely for fun.

[WTE_Galway]

Originally Posted by Splitter

BTW, my own personal theory: Xilon is a a member of the development team with a sick sense of humor . I can't make heads nor tails of most of his posts. What nationality is he and where does he get his ideas for posts?

Splitter

Italian I believe, and a big fan of historically accurate explosions.