Leaderboard

Gentlemen please. I would like other people to express their views. I don't want this to become a street fight between you two with the rest of us as spectators. You have posted equal arguments on this matter and I thank you greatly for your replies. I am sure we would all like to know what others think on this issue and if you have a view please feel free to express it. If anything is going to done to by the developers then a cross section of views I am sure will hold more sway.

I'm more aware than most of every little flaw in each of the... er, 11 (jeez, get a life Andrew!) movies I've made. That's why I nearly always delete all the source files as soon as I decide to release something. Otherwise I'm tempted to go back and tweak things endlessly. But there's more to life than LOMAC movies (so they tell me) and I make so many mistakes I'd be editing forever. The way I look on it, we've got people like GA producing "fast food" movies. When you want a movie Big Mac, nothing else will do, and the experience is always satisfying... for about half an hour. Then you want another one. :-) Then you've got people like me providing something with a bit more substance... a scruffy British transport cafe serving all day breakfasts on dirty plates. You might get food poisoning, but who cares because the food's good and lasts you until supper time (depending on the length of the credits). Finally you've got the Bill et John team who are out there in a class of their own, serving the finest movie haute cuisine on exquisite porcelain from a riverside balcony overlooking la Tour d'Eiffel. You might not eat there very often, but the memory stays with you forever. There's a time and a place for everything. Just don't forget to tip the waiter wherever you dine, otherwise next time they might spit in your movie soup. :-) Andrew McP

There's always a trade-off with movies. If I re-shot scenes repeatedly until I got them perfect (or as near as possible given the limitations of LOMAC, Fraps, and my PC), movies like that would take me 600 hours instead of more like 300. Actually 300's probably very conservative. Designng the mission alone for that movie took me probably 20 hours of flying and tweaking to get the AI to do what I wanted, and that's the easy part! :-) GA's movies tend not to require that kind of design effort. His expertise is in the editing department, and there he's the undisputed master. Personally I'm more in awe of the Bill & John movies though. Those movies have everything I aspire to... from technical quality to plot details. I've no idea how they manage to get it all right and stay sane! I swear they have a team of cheap Asian workers doing the leg work for them in a movie sweatshop somewhere. :-) http://billetjohn.free.fr/ Andrew McP

For those of you standing on the edge of the multiplayer cliff.. Myth: Everyone in HL is a shark with uber-skillz. Fact: many people are no different than you- just starting off. Myth: I have to get good with AI before getting online. Fact: hmm no, not really. In fact getting good against AI is probably detrimental because they both suck & cheat in so many ways- I don't know where to begin. You could say "I need to learn to take off and land, have a basic knowledge of systems & weapons, IFF, and be willing to read and follow the rules of the server." Yep. That'll do. Myth: I will get picked on when I get killed. Fact:... ummmm -No. If you are a good sport you will virtually never get picked on. If some a-### did that to a noob or anyone else in our server unprovoked- he'd be toast. It's not only rare- it's not tolerated. Sorry- the one most likely to laugh at you is probably in the room with you watching. Myth: It's all airquake. Fact: Sorry but this is Barbra Streisand. It's what you make of it. If you enter a server that has 1 or 2 guys flying A2G and you figure you're gonna fantasize about your mad-skillz by shooting them down over & over from 15 miles away- than you are the problem. Obviously- the 2 ground pounders choices are: a- changing planes and coming back to slap you silly. (count S77th in for that) b. have to go to a different server. There are also dedicated air to ground servers and individual dedicated air to ground missions present all the time. Cut the excuses. This one in particular is getting stale. (True story! A pilot wanting to pick on ground pounders and then whined on a forum about Airquake after we switched and shellaqued him!) Myth: All the servers are on ACE settings. Fact : This is mostly true, not a myth. :D Call it "toughlove" ladies & gents. It is not our goal to meet the needs of the lowest common denominator. If you really want to get better- this is the way it must be- regardless of your current level of skill. However- there are some occasions where the settings are relaxed to help the truly green among us to just TRY it. You can start your own server and set it as you wish. I have a seen a few doing just that lately. meh... gotta get ready for work.. outta time..

AC-130H Spectre - not sure if they are in the game already. Would be fun to see one circling around and pounding some buildings...