104th Phoenix Dedicated Server Info

[Pronin]

Have you guys ever considered having more variety in the missions?

 

It seems every mission is nearly identical. Every plane available on both sides and they go at the bullseye, and strikers go to their safe space.

 

The few times the server does run unique scenarios (such as 80's and AWACS) makes the server so much better.

 

Have you guys played IL-2 Battle of Stalingrad?

 

Their multiplayer is set up about as good you can do. Map shows very clearly marked objectives. You click on a field, pick your plane, and go.

 

Fighters have a reason to 'airquake' because they are actively protecting ground pounders.

 

Ground pounders have to actually deal with a high threat environment instead of attacking a random assortment of ground vehicles in their safe space. Winning the game is based on destroying the enemies ground targets, and their limited number of aircraft.

 

Since the 104th has been down, many other servers got a boost in popularity and people were impressed with the variety of scenarios that were available. Some people are upset that now that the 104th is back up everyone is back and all the other servers are dead again.

 

But as you've said, you're THE most popular server, and if the scenarios that you run is what the people demand, then I guess it's just not for me.

[104th_Maverick]

The missions on your server don't feel like missions, more mindless fly to bulls and shoot at things while attackers do their own thing.

 

 

We have addressed these issues several times, way before you even started flying in DCS or posting in this forum... I don't know if you know this ... but we have been doing this for over 10 years.

 

 

We have tried many times in the past to make our mission more realistic, while 'some' people enjoyed it 'most' people did not.

 

We are not stupid, we know our server is not for everyone, we have also not 'lucked' in to this position. We have worked extreamly hard for more years than you have even heard of DCS to get our server and Squadron to where it is today.

 

So please forgive me if I don't take advice for some sarcastic kid who has no history of giving anything to DCS apart from his self treasured 'feedback' which you seem to rate so highly.

 

Before you go off on another rant about how you think we should be running our show go and read this - https://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=2102399&postcount=87

 

This might actually 'educate' you in some of the issues server admins have to deal with and situations we have to take into consideration to provide a popular server.... you know rather than just assuming that you could do a better job and that we don't know what we are doing.

 

then I guess it's just not for me.

 

 

Sadly our server is not for everyone sir, I'm sorry you've not been able to find what you're looking for from our server, however as you're aware there are other servers out there. Hopefully one of them can give you something closer to what you want until we can perhaps bring it to the table at a later date.

[Manzanita]

I'll leave some constructive criticism then and be on my way.

The missions on your server don't feel like missions, more mindless fly to bulls and shoot at things while attackers do their own thing.

 

Integrate the mission so that fighters and attackers co-operate, mindless airquake is fine, you can still do that but your missions often leave little room for co-operation between roles because the ground targets never have a CAP threat near them.

 

Make it feel like playing an objective counts instead of what you have now. I know I'm not the only one who feels this way, perhaps just one of the more vocal ones.

 

No doubt you'll completely ignore this anyway because it seems you've some hubris about your status as a server in a videogame.

 

+1

[OperatorJack]

;2970012']We have addressed these issues several times, way before you even started flying in DCS or posting in this forum... I don't know if you know this ... but we have been doing this for over 10 years.

 

 

We have tried many times in the past to make our mission more realistic, while 'some' people enjoyed it 'most' people did not.

 

We are not stupid, we know our server is not for everyone, we have also not 'lucked' in to this position. We have worked extreamly hard for more years than you have even heard of DCS to get our server and Squadron to where it is today.

 

So please forgive me if I don't take advice for some sarcastic kid who has no history of giving anything to DCS apart from his self treasured 'feedback' which you seem to rate so highly.

 

Before you go off on another rant about how you think we should be running our show go and read this - https://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=2102399&postcount=87

 

This might actually 'educate' you in some of the issues server admins have to deal with and situations we have to take into consideration to provide a popular server.... you know rather than just assuming that you could do a better job and that we don't know what we are doing.

 

 

 

 

Sadly our server is not for everyone sir, I'm sorry you've not been able to find what you're looking for from our server, however as you're aware there are other servers out there. Hopefully one of them can give you something closer to what you want until we can perhaps bring it to the table at a later date.

 

Thanks for misrepresenting my views entirely by the way.

 

Shan't be replying anymore because you've put your argument across like a child would, putting words in my mouth.

 

CTRL+Ex3 :pilotfly::pilotfly::pilotfly:

[104th_Maverick]

Shan't be replying anymore because you've put your argument across like a child would, putting words in my mouth.

 

 

Cool story.. see ya!

[Pronin]

@Maverick

 

I read your post and the one you have linked and I can't say I agree.

 

Do you not think at this point that the 104th is popular and well known enough to not have to rely on the assumption that only A2G pilots join first and will leave unless they are in their own special zone?

 

That formula makes sense when you were competing with other servers for players, but now that you guys are the undisputed #1 server, I don't think you have to do that anymore.

 

I would also like to bring up the fact that IL-2 BoS is much more casual than DCS as a sim, yet still has realistic and believable missions every time the server rotates. How can this be? Why dont they find it unfun? BoS has more players in its top server than all of DCS combined. They must be doing something right.

 

If I'm wrong and the majority of the community disagrees with me, then that is fine. But I have the feeling that people would be in favor of this sort of modernization. The only other server that comes close in #'s is Blue Flag. They take it a couple leaps farther than what I am proposing

[duffeys1]

;2970017']Cool story.. see ya!

 

 

 

Mike and Mav,

 

Appreciate everything y'all do for the community and with your server. Expect a significant donation tomorrow compliments of =RvE= via myself.

[Tricky11]

I personally think the 104th have got it right. There is a happy medium and the 104th are right on the money. You can jump on the server for a quick sortie or two or spend hours on there and not get bored. They are no overly strict and there are only a couple of simple rules to follow. And if you want to play something a little more hardcore then you can jump on Blueflag or open conflict. Or if you are like me i like to sometimes spend a few hours just doing touch and goes in various aircraft i will jump onto the VA server. There are plenty of servers out there but i seemed to spend most of my time on 104th so they must be doing something right.

[104th_Maverick]

But I have the feeling that people would be in favor of this sort of modernization. The only other server that comes close in #'s is Blue Flag. They take it a couple leaps farther than what I am proposing

 

 

Some great points!

 

We have ran with this model for some time now and believe it is the best way for us to run a populated server. Sadly its not as simple as relying on our position within the communitee to fill the server as there are peak times and quiet times during the day.

 

During the quiet times its the fact that the Target Areas are not within easy reach of enemy fighters that keeps people flying in the server until more people get online at the peak times.

If people got shot down everytime they tried to make it to the target area then they would leave the server... simple as that.

 

So we have tried to give a platform to people that allows you to fly while the server is populated with low numbers while not succumbing to the first enemy fighter that connects straight away.

 

As I said you do make some great points, I do wish we could make our missions more realistic to get guys like you excited but, it is a lot harder than it sounds.

 

Take the Blue Flag for example ... what these guys have done is absoultely incredible. Even as a DCS veteran I am totally blown away by what they have achieved, nothing in DCS comes close to what they have done and it is fantastic!

However this took them a very, very long time to work out and is something that still causes them stress.

 

We decided to go down a different route because at the moment we do not have the time available within the squadron to try and tackle something similar.

I hope everyone can appreciate that what Blue Flag has accomplished took an INSANE amount of hard work by the entire Blue Flag team and is not something that can be reproduced easily.

 

We do plan to tackle an online campaign next year at some point however its something that is going to take a lot of trial and error and time to get right.

 

If it was easy for us to make our missions more realistic while maintaining our player number count we would do it sir, unfortuntaly we have tried before in the past and it did not work.

As I mentioned earlier, some people really enjoyed it but we 100% seen a drop off in numbers on the server.

 

Keep your eyes open for us next year, we have a few plans in the pipeline to take our show in a more realistic direction and hopefully reach out to guys like yourself who want a bit more from their DCS experience.

 

We can't please everyone and we don't try too, however geniune feedback (from people not trying to troll us) is always taken on board and if we can make our server better for a wider audience while not affecting its popularity we will do everything we can to do so.

 

We 'might' have something coming up in the near future in the NTTR map that should be more up your street ... watch this space ;)

 

Mike and Mav,

 

Appreciate everything y'all do for the community and with your server. Expect a significant donation tomorrow compliments of =RvE= via myself.

 

Thank you sir :D, great to have you guys back in the fold flying again S!

 

 

[Coxy_99]

I must say tho i know its mentioned (Couldnt find it) you need a 2.0 server it runs smoother atm than 1.5.5

[104th_Maverick]

Working on it as we speak Coxy ... should hopefully have our first NTTR PvP mission ready for Sunday!

 

Once we have a few missions built in the new map we plan to do Nellis Nights at least once a week on our dedicated server, to try and drag some people to Vegas! :D

 

We also have plans for a second Dedicated NTTR server however this won't be till next year at some point.

[Frostie]

Mav I know I don't need to tell you to ignore the hate mail, but you guys put up a great gateway for all comers. You cater for all types to enjoy DCS without the need for necessary co-ordinated attack and defend team play to have fun, this is the perfect way to acclimatise new comers as well as allow team players to do there thing in the same server.

 

When we ran a server we concentrated solely on the frontline scenario trying to promote teamplay and communication, but ultimately this requires some seriously dedicated ground pounders, it doesn't really help someone just looking for casual A2G. Thankfully Blueflag came along and forced this whole teamplay aspect on everyone. There is no doubt that the 104th and Buddy spike are covering a large portion of the community needs.

 

Keep up the good work guys.

[Coxy_99]

Nice about time :p

[Falcon_S]

104th server for me is ONLY where I want to play every day because there no imposstors, labels, external views, export and all other cheat odds.

 

Also, if I have 5xDCS crash (conn.timedout, dcs crash, server crash...) that will use 10minutes of my life but on REALISTIC BF that will cost me 45+ minutes. In the beginning I liked the BF concept but I simple don`t have time to wait while all these scripts bullied me in combination with DCS.

 

Other servers I don't want to mention until their missions don't have at least WP`s. No WP`s but big PAYPAL banner on briefing screen is included. :lol:

 

So... Long live 104th Dedi. :pilotfly:

Edited December 1, 2016 by Falcon_S

[OperatorJack]

Hmm, this really gets my neurons firing :thumbup: :music_whistling:

[BIGNEWY]

guys if you post make sure it is within the rules of the forum

 

https://forums.eagle.ru/rules.php#en

 

if you can not do that don't post

 

simple

[StandingCow]

I don't see what the problem is... every server fills a niche. If you don't like one server there is probably another that does what you want. No reason to bash any server, the more the better for the DCS community.

[104th_Maverick]

Hmm, this really gets my neurons firing :thumbup: :music_whistling:

 

I knew you'd come along :thumbup:

 

Exiled ;)

[OperatorJack]

Now if only the player counts of the remaining servers went back to how they were too :thumbup:

[RIPTIDE]

For anyone that's interested...a GFX was installed, the GFX didn't work properly. GFX was shipped to someone to test. GFX was fine, but issues with Bios were detected on a similar system during testing. A different card was sent to the location that was demonstrated to play better with the Bios.

 

Took about 2 weeks but the current solution should last a long time.

[Oceandar]

What is the maximum ping threshold ? still around 330 ?

Keep getting protocol error and stream error messages.

Last time I asked in TS that my callsign wasn't on banned list. I've no mod whatsoever, clean install.

Thanks

Edited December 2, 2016 by Oceandar

[Jman]

Glad to have the server back up!

 

S! Good to see you back Mav

[Heli Shed]

I've run a vfs - the 74th vfs 'The Flying Tigers' - one of the most successful A2G vfs's in my view. The members were all elite - no they really were.

 

We trained hard, we fought easy. Anyone who flew with us knew you were flying with a serious RP element of combat flight simmers. We used formalised and correct VP, stringent TTP's and strict conduct.

 

We were dedicated and we committed.

 

Our missions were only ever realistic, well founded in scenario and heavily briefed.

 

We were a serious bunch.

 

And that was exactly the problem.

 

 

Mission design needs careful construct to meet as many capabilities by pilots as possible, in order that it is shared, experienced and ultimately used as a learning tool for us all. The community is too small to be too nepotistic.

 

The 104th is an exemplar of the 'catering for all' ethic in my view. No one does it better - some don't like that - that's just how it is - can't please them all...................

Edited December 2, 2016 by Tyger

[Coxy_99]

Now if only the player counts of the remaining servers went back to how they were too :thumbup:

 

F-5 vs Fishbed is also airquake im not sure where your going with this?

[IronMike]

Maverick explained it a gazillion times, but I will try to explain it again, here is what I posted on our forums recently. Hate is nothing unusual for us, but ok, let us try again:

 

 

 

It is quite normal that a lot of ppl simply don't know what has gone into keeping DCS MP alive over the past ten years. it is great and we love to see that recently more and more good servers are popping up. what a lot of ppl dont know anymore: at times it was basically only three squadrons, us, the 51st and =4C=, who did something, later we got help from the 74th. and I don't want to boast here, it is simply how it was. There were some ruff times in between FC2 and DCS World. DCS A-10C split the community in half, we had to host two servers to cater, there were times in between when pilots on the server were so new, that we literlly flew without missiles, so that they could kill us and have a success feeling and keep flying. no joking here. we did and tried everything to not let MP die, together with the 51st. hours and hours of administration, event hosting and thousands of dollars went into it, not to speak of everything else which I forgot in the meantime. And by all means, this is not a complaint, this is our pride and huge luck. We may seem sometimes a bit secluded, maybe a bit arrogant, but really the one thing that drives our squadron above all is: community service. (And really, most of our members put in too many hours to mention into that. Daily.)

 

 

 

That is why our server (we are working on a second more realistic one atm) is set up as brought as it is. we want it to have a certain "hardcore" entry level for new players, means diving into the world without any assists, externals, etc... but at the same time giving them a chance to fly as "safe" as they prefer. an example: one of the most suggestions we get is to put the strikers on the front line, as it seems more realistic. of course it does. now, we did that some time ago: the result: when the server was low on ppl, it is usually strikers who populate it first, and then one or two fighters join. now these fighters find all those unprotected strikers at the FEBA. Guess what happened and guess what the complaint of the very same strikers was, who requested to be put at the FEBA. Of course they were happy to be back in "safety" the next mission around. And those were very very good and experienced pilots.

 

The 104th server is also mainly a 24/7 server. That makes it special in regards of teamwork: it doesnt always work, because the team changes several times a day (timezones!). However that also means that no matter when you join - and that was always our top goal - there is SOMEONE for you to fly with. Always. Of course there are up and downtimes, but one thing is sure, no matter when you want to fly MP, you can, because of the 24/7 server that tries to make as many ppl happy as possible. The missions we host have been balanced out through 10 years of MP experience. And in those ten years a lot of input from the community brought us closer and closer to a middle line. That doesn't make our server super special. But it makes it reliable, it makes it most stable and it makes it most accessible. That we think is a good ground base to help the community grow.

 

When it comes to realism however we would be the first who would love to see something more realistic, even much more realistic than blue flag (which is a masterpiece and great fun). But even the smallest adjustments, like say crosswind above 3m/s gets heavily rejected by the community. A year ago we weren't able to host cloud covers because the eastern european part of DCS was still catching up with hardware. Now, we don't blame them, in contrary we still want to include them. ATM we are thinking of hosting an Asia 104th server, because we have to exclude so many chinese and japanese pilots due to high ping. Very sad for us. So these are the set backs when you really try to make it good for everyone - worldwide. we live in many different realities, all of which have a right to coexist in our opinion.

 

But realism is something we love, as long as it makes sense within the boundries of the sim. We try to show that in the way we fly, which of course also has up and downtimes, but when it comes to flying, arcadish isn't exactly what would describe us, I hope. In contrary: many of the real life tactics, that are used in DCS today have been brought to the sim by the old squadrons, like the 51st, the =RVE=, the 104th and its predecessor the 169th Panthers with the help of the 44th Vampires and others. For the F-15 the major part came from us, of course. And today more than ever we are willing to share all of these tactics which actually have been optimised for DCS with the community. We think that the better everyone flies the more fun there is to have. The standard on the 104th server was much higher some years ago. But that is because the community was so much smaller. So when you enter a balanced 24/7 server, naturally when it comes to realism, the more we grow, the more we have to balance our expectations as well.

 

As for the criticism: please bring it on! Please challenge us, so that we can improve for your MP experience. But if you call us a cancer, like someone did recently on facebook lol, don't forget that it is still you why we do what we do. ;-)

 

 

Thank you all and S!