Friday Update, Q&A - December 23, 2011

[ATAG_Bliss]

Originally Posted by cheesehawk

No disrespect to you intended Bliss, I do know how hard you've worked on your server. And simply put, without your server out there, a large part of the people here would not be playing this flawed game anymore, kudo's to you for being part of what's keeping this game alive. But you reinforce my point, the limitations of the game make everything dogfight aka airquake. There is very limited ability to make one thing effect another in an ongoing process, the game engine creates glitches and crashes. Being an ongoing mission, with endlessly repeating flights, static targets, no real objectives that effect mission-planning, or outcome, invariably produces a simple fps style of experience. Added to that the endless balancing of sides (which I viewed as a concession to a vocal minority/majority perhaps innaccurately, but still my point of view), I simply choose to abstain from your particular server. Still, no offense intended, and I'm still appreciative of all the help and tips you've personally given me earlier, my understanding of the FMB and scripting is in large part thanks to you! S!

Yet, beneath all that, it is the problems in the game itself, which do not appear to be scheduled to fix while still under the title we bought, and expected to have working, is the main culprit. To call what we have now a merge of dogfight and co-op is oversimplifying what a co-op truly is. What we can do now are simply co-operative play in a airquake environment, not a true co-op, not true historical missions, not a realistic simulation of the Battle of Britain. I think even you can concede that.

Your ideas of airquake are very different than mine. Airquake is having 2 airfields 200m on some fantasy island with airstarts and fighting to the death. Having an objective based mission(s) is far from that. It's as if you think that FB got to 46 with regards to knowledge, 3rd party tools, and the community in 7 months instead of 10 years. Things like this will take time, just like with the other title. Expecting this type of stuff from the get go is a just a bit ambitious don't ya think?

Just because it's not there yet, doesn't mean people like us aren't working towards it. FFS we've just figured out how to script some sort of win conditions for objectives to load other maps etc. It's as if you think mission building / coding in this game takes minutes. I mean, no offense, but I'd love to see you do some of this stuff you are talking about. Just because a mission has a historical scenario around it, doesn't necessarily change the tactics where people to choose to fly it. When you stopped flying on the server was when the 5 spitIIa's were put on there. And ever since then you won't fly there because you don't know how to fly against them. If it had to do with airquake, you never would have from the get go.

[CaptainDoggles]

5 doesn't sound like a lot when it's 20 on 20, but when it's late at night your server becomes unplayable because all 5 red players are in Spit 2s and all 5 blue players might as well leave the game.

[ATAG_Bliss]

Originally Posted by CaptainDoggles

5 doesn't sound like a lot when it's 20 on 20, but when it's late at night your server becomes unplayable because all 5 red players are in Spit 2s and all 5 blue players might as well leave the game.

That's strange, because when I've met a SpitIIa at altitude in my E4 saying there's only 2 of us on the server, it's the best dogfighting I've ever had in the game. Throw some teamwork in the mix and they'll run home to momma.

Btw, late at night is usually when I fly.

So, no new planes for CLOD....in other words a bloody abandoning...

[Bewolf]

no new planes I can live with, but having to wait for the addon for some major fixes is indeed a bit of a let down. the BoB scenario still has massive pontential, and though I see why concentrating on the russian market may even be important for the team, it still is a huge waste and a let down of sorts. I will fet the BoM for sure, but I simply do not feel the love for the product like it was with the old IL2.

[CUJO_1970]

So...not only is CLOD released unfinished, there are no plans to finish it at all.

[adonys]

the usual bla blas, and some worrying news. that's sad

and considering that today, after 9 months of "patches", the current state of the game is pretty much still the same as at the launch back in march, aka disastrous, and with these news.. I don't know what else can be said..

there are a few words in the answers which you guys seem to miss: many "will work on", not "we've worked on" (and finished it) or at least some "we're working on".. which sums up towards zero..

[Sutts]

Originally Posted by Tvrdi

So, no new planes for CLOD....in other words a bloody abandoning...

Come on Tvrdi, you really are the most negative guy I've seen for quite some time....even more so than Tree perhaps

Firstly, I don't remember any extra planes being promised for this title. I'd say what we have is more than adequate (for now).

CloD is not being abandoned at all. With the new sequel we will immediately have access to ALL the new functionality, objects and aircraft which will no doubt include the flyable Dornier etc. that would be nice to have.

Development is expensive and new funds must come from somewhere. The alternative is a still-born series and no hope for high fidelity WWII air combat for the foreseeable future. I know what I'd rather have.

Please get over this feeling of being wronged. The developers are trying hard to make the best of a bad situation and a successful outcome will benefit us all.

[Sutts]

Well I'm feeling pretty positive about things and I really don't see where all the negativity is coming from.

Facts....

1. We are getting a sequel, and that is a very good thing. Let's not forget how much we NEED this sim to live on and develop...just like IL2. No one else is going to give us what we crave for with such exquisite detail.

2. CloD will continue to be patched and I'm sure some very nice improvements will arrive in short order.

3. CloD will be reborn when merged with the new title....all the new goodies will magically be available to us to use in the skies over the channel. That is fantastic news...although I didn't doubt that's the way it would be done.

4. The BoM release will be hugely popular with the home market and I'm sure many over here will snap it up too - lots of lovely ground pounding and hopefully vast areas to fly over due to the sparse object density. That's got to be a good thing for the series with a fresh cash injection to make it even better.


I really fail to see why so many are on such a downer? The game will improve and the future looks bright. Just look what they did with the sounds. Now imagine the same job applied to the graphics, FM, AI.......

What we paid for this is NOTHING, ZILCH, DIDDLY SQUAT....compared to what we willingly fork out for PC, joystick etc. Just look how much you can spend on TrackIR alone! Let's get this in perspective before ranting on like it's a defective 30 grand BMW.

Please, give the guys a break and start appreciating what we have and what they're trying to give us (if we let them). Support them. They really are on our side. I'm a programmer and I know how much blood and sweat you have to put into such complex software. It really is incredibly hard to produce something like CloD and with a community like ours it's a real thankless task.

As my favourite character would say...have a little faith baby, have a little faith.

[adonys]

I'm sorry, but our faith got lost during these 9 months in which we've got basically nothing.

any words on what is the "secret feature which was supposed to make all the competition go screaming"?!!