LOMAC community Bored or just Dead?

[leafer]

leafer, did you get your copy of FC yet?

 

 

Not yet. Shipping is like half the price of the game! And I don't want to download cuz I don't have highspeed and don't know anyone in this slumville that does. heh

 

Oh, well...hopefully by next year though, I'm writing a script and it is almost done. I was told by everyone that read it, Americans and Thai that it blew them away! :D

[Guest ruggbutt]

Leafer, I'll mail you a copy of FC, the terrain pack and the patches if you like. That way you can purchase the serial number on the site and it should be painless. Let me know if you wanna take me up on this.

[leafer]

Leafer, I'll mail you a copy of FC, the terrain pack and the patches if you like. That way you can purchase the serial number on the site and it should be painless. Let me know if you wanna take me up on this.

 

Wow, ruggbutt. Lookie at what ya gone and done...Ya got me all teared up now, and I hardly ever get that way. :D Where is that roll of tissue I always keep handy on the puter table. heh

 

Yes, I would appreciate that very much but I really don't know how to thank you, ruggbutt. I have to go to work but I'll be online in about 10 hours or so.

 

Wow, man! Again, thanks a lot!

 

Hey, when I get some serious cash and I know I will, I'll mail you a set of my homemade racing pedals! That's a promise. :)

 

edit:

 

here's what im talking about.

[Guest ruggbutt]

 

Wow, man! Again, thanks a lot!

 

 

PM me w/the mailing info and I'll get it out in the morning (Monday).

[Guest Cali]

PM me w/the mailing info and I'll get it out in the morning (Monday).

 

Wow Rugg your such a sweet guy! See ya in a few months.

[Guest ruggbutt]

Wow Rugg your such a sweet guy! See ya in a few months.

 

If I'll give you my phone number I'll mail a CD to anyone. :D

 

It's still hot out here. Hope ya can handle it.

[Guest Cali]

If I'll give you my phone number I'll mail a CD to anyone. :D

 

It's still hot out here. Hope ya can handle it.

 

By the time I get there it will be cooler.

[MBot]

I think LOMAC is a bit death. For a game that needs hand made missions to be flown, there are not enough availiable. Lets face it, there is about one new mission every 1-2 weeks, the mission subforum is as good as death. What do the people play if there are no missions available ( apart from MP, wich is only a very small percentage anyway ) ? Playing the few stock missions over and over again ? Playing only quick battles and doing sightseeing ? Thats what I do mostly because there is a lack of interesting missions, and that reduces LOMAC quite a bit. It is like having a Ferrari but no roads to drive on. Even worse for me, I don't quite like the design style of most of the few mission builders out there ( not realistic enough for me ), so I have to make my missions myselfe. Buliding, testing and tuning a mission takes me about a full day, and while playing I know exactly what is going to happen...

 

So IMHO Lock On needs the following to keep alive:

 

1. Missions and camaigns, lots of them. People have to start making them and flood the forum with. And this continuously for the next years. ED can make as many planes as they want, without missions only few are going to fly them.

 

2. A better editor with triggers, events and scripts. This will increase the quality of missions by a magnitude. With the current editor it is very difficult to build even only half decent missions. I consider my best mission to be only decent, because that is all that you can get from Lock On. So with more dynamic missions, more interaction and scripted events that are easier to build, people will enjoy the missions more, more people will enjoy the same missions and more more people will build more missions ( nice sentence :) ).

 

3. Better AI and comms ( =interaction with your envoirment ). This will make a good designed missions excellent. Imagine the simplest possible CAS mission, blast a couple of tanks with your A-10. Sound pretty boring. Throw in a AI FAC with realistic procedures and comms and you get a truly exciting expieriance. Currently a mission designer has to bend himselfe backwards to create a mission that wont let the player fall asleep on the first and last third of a mission ( everything before and after combat ). Throw in realistic ATC procedures and comms and the player wont even think about ending the mission after the objective is complete, because he actualy wants to fly the long way home to get guided on the ground. Interaction with your envoirment will create a natural imersion factor that takes away a bit from the burden of the mission designer to keep the player interested.

 

 

After the above points are achieved, the next step would of course be a dynamic campaign. But I consider this as a "nice to have" and not a must. Janes F/A-18 is the prove for me that a flightsim can have exiting and dynamic missions without having a dynamic campaign, as long as there is good gameplay, a good editor and people willing to use it.

[Mako_159th]

Well in short - Join a Squadron!

 

I fly with the 159th, who are still recruiting.... We fly both the Su33 & Su25T running dynamic campaigns.

 

If anyone is bored with flying on their own, come and join a structured well established Squadron, there are plenty about! I found this increased both my enjoyment and appreciation of the game tenfold.

 

If you are interested in the 159th, pay our forums a visit and post your interest : 159th Forum

 

See you there? :D

[pappavis]

2. A better editor with triggers, events and scripts. This will increase the quality of missions by a magnitude. With the current editor it is very difficult

 

I agree on this. Implementing a missionditor with scripts and triggerpossibilities will not be easy. If the editor itself could support copy-paste, that would already mean a HUGE improvement in usefullness. Support for the windows built-in Clipboard so one could copy obejcts between missions would be a added bonus.

Ofcourse everyone has his wishes. ED has given attention to all aspects of lo-mac: flightmodel, ECM, radars etc but havent done anything yet to make the life of missiondesigners easier.

 

Please ED, in the next path due include cop-paste/clipboard-support for the Mission Editor.

[bflagg]

I agree on this. Implementing a missionditor with scripts and triggerpossibilities will not be easy. If the editor itself could support copy-paste, that would already mean a HUGE improvement in usefullness. Support for the windows built-in Clipboard so one could copy obejcts between missions would be a added bonus.

Ofcourse everyone has his wishes. ED has given attention to all aspects of lo-mac: flightmodel, ECM, radars etc but havent done anything yet to make the life of missiondesigners easier.

 

Please ED, in the next path due include cop-paste/clipboard-support for the Mission Editor.

 

unfortuanately, this request has been made since the initial release.

[Guest ruggbutt]

I have a bunch of coop missions designed for LMR (Lock On Randomizer). The mission goals are the same but everything else is "random". If you guys would like a copy of them let me know. We flew a bunch of them w/the 169th squadron and had a ball. Hard missions and competent pilots. It doesn't get any better than that!

[VVanks]

Look at 1.11, just proves my point about the radar vs fun thing.

 

And third party made missions? Why those start becoming the only missions played, you know the product is DEAD.

[Alfa]

Look at 1.11, just proves my point about the radar vs fun thing.

 

And third party made missions? Why those start becoming the only missions played, you know the product is DEAD.

 

The product is "dead" because people play missions made by fellow players?

 

....right :icon_roll

 

- JJ.

[GGTharos]

I'd say the product is dead when it's no longer being played.

 

As for the radar vs. fun thing, huh?

 

I'm sorry, but I was able to explait this in the beta test to shoot down a flanker driver with the A-10. With the original AWACS code, he would have just seen me through the mountains and I wouldn't have had the chance. So -what- are you talking about?

 

Is knowing that you have no chance fun, or is knowing that there are weaknesses that you can exploit and win while being the underdog fun?

[Cdr.Instigator]

OOhh............. The drama !!!!

[enigma6584]

Look at 1.11, just proves my point about the radar vs fun thing.

 

And third party made missions? Why those start becoming the only missions played, you know the product is DEAD.

 

Looking at 1.11 proves how dedicated ED is to it fans. I have bought every flight sim ever produced by this company since the original Su-27 Flanker. They have never given me pause to question their credibility or sincerity. Their flight sims have given me endless hours of fun and learning with respect to combat aviation.

 

I enjoy spending countless hours in the mission builder creating missions for questions I run across in my history readings on air combat. I like the idea of creating a mission in order to try and understand how one would react in a specific tactical situation. All of course within the limits of the sim.

 

So I personally would not classify this sim as dead. For some people though it will tax their creativity to the point of frustration.

[Rastus]

Those who are bored with single player missions should consider joining some of the multiplayer games that happen in Hyperlobby. At the moment there is a good variety of quality missions being hosted. Using comms programs such as Teamspeak & Ventrilo also add to the immersion & teamplay aspect.

 

In single player I was playing on & off, downloading & creating missions trying to find that "satisfaction". Well I found it online. Human players are so much more fun to fly with. There is a wide variety of skill levels playing at any one time, so even an absolute noob can usually score a kill.

 

If you are bored with single play, & have a DSL or simmilar internet connection, Give it a go. You might find a whole new aspect to lockon that you never realised before.

[Guest Cali]

To piggyback off of what Rastus said, you can also fly on-line co-ops which I find very fun. It is fun to set off on a mission with 3+ friends, have a common goal and make it back to base alive.

[golfsierra2]

Luv Lock-On

 

My 0,02 $:

 

Hmm, lets see:

 

-This game has absolutely no storyline (don't tell it does because I can't find it)

I write my own storyline - almost everyday !

-If it does, then it's in some obscure region of the world which nobody gives a crap about

I wouldn't be more interested inLock-On if it would be located at Nellis or Miramar - your point of view is very US-minded - mind to say so. Did it ever come to your mind that there are some umpthousand other sim pilots around the world flying Lock-On ? In remote locations you never have heard of.

-This game is focused on the hardcore sim people who care more about radar rather than fun

Handling radar modi and weapons IS fun to me !!!

-This game riddled with bugs (still)

Right, so is Falcon and any other simulation or game whatsoever. So...?

-It runs slow with high settings, and looks crap on low settings. Takes up huge amount of ram on medium settings.

Time to upgrade your computer..

-This game has no appeal what so ever to new people because it's so complex and not fun oriented

Only if you see it from your point of view or your definition of fun....

-This game does not create any tostesterone when playing

I think, you either need a girl friend or a fast car or both....

-This game is nowhere near as fun as USAF

Yeah, you stated that before....and I don't care about it. There are many other real military personnel here on this forum, RAF, GEAF, RNAF, PAF, FAF... and they are not complaining that Lock-On is not about their Air Forces - so why are you complaining here ?

 

So what is the bottom line of all your complains here ? If you don't like Lock-On, why do you play it then ? I don't get what you wnated to say with this....

[T-Bone]

Raven, USAF is a game made by Janes in 1999.

 

 

 

T-Bone

[golfsierra2]

Raven, USAF is a game made by Janes in 1999.

 

T-Bone

 

Thanks for this hint, USAF was totally unknown to me....

 

What a misunderstanding..sheesh....

[suntrace1]

-This game has absolutely no storyline (don't tell it does because I can't find it)-

 

I don't care about the storyline, all i need are various missions (SEAD, CAP, CAS, ...) in various conditions (wind, weather, enemy strenght) that can hold me on the edge of my seat = at least some sort of Dynamic Campaign engine, please

 

 

-If it does, then it's in some obscure region of the world which nobody gives a crap about

 

Well, Crimea was and is very important strategicaly, but it doesn't hold a candel (at least in charm and sentimental value) to some other regions, like Iraq, Afganistan, Israel - Egipt, or Sydra and so on, at least for a ''western' player. Still, i can at least image that those are Afganistan's mountains and that i'm operating from a carrier in Persian Gulf - not a big minus

 

 

-This game is focused on the hardcore sim people who care more about radar rather than fun.

 

I started simming with LOMAC, 2 years ago and yes, it's a hardcore sim, that requires a lot of time to master (i can't even think how much time i'd need for F4). People that play LOMAC were surely simmers before, 20% are newcomers to the genre and i'm sure that many of them don't even learn how to fight in A-10, give up and put it on hold for 'some' time. And deduct from that other simmers, that went back to F4/WoV/IL2 because of various reasons, well, you're left with even smaller (but just as enthusiastic) group of people.

 

-This game riddled with bugs (still)

 

It depends from the perspective, v1.1 is a !dream! if compared to v1.00 and current bugs are not joy-stoppers - this was the biggest progress for this title. Well done ED!

 

 

-It runs slow with high settings, and looks crap on low settings. Takes up huge amount of ram on medium settings.

 

Now this is very true. When LOMAC came out, it was claimed that this game was meant to be played on future hardware, but it looks like that's not entirely true. Some simmers have dream machines (3+ GHz, 7800 GTX in SLi and 2 Gigs of RAM) and LOMAC only gives 30fps no matter what resolution you play - that IS a dissapointment! I was ready to buy myself a new top-of-the-line PC, but since the code doesn't allow higher FPS, i'll stay with this one till LOMAC2 comes out, which i hope, will be graphicly a lot less constrained and ''future'' oriented ;) as this version is.

 

-This game has no appeal what so ever to new people because it's so complex and not fun oriented.

 

It has appeal, untill they realize how steep the learning curve is, and get back to BF2 for a quick shot of adrenalin

 

 

-This game does not create any tostesterone when playing

 

Hmmm, OK, i don't get this one :)

 

 

 

All in all, all LOMAC needs to shine like a star is:

 

- Dynamic Campaign

 

if not in F4 league then at least something simmilar. It would breath life into LOMACs georgeus body. Creating missions every night is not fun and not easy ,may i add. It takes me an hour to make something fun and there are many occasions that i'm just too tired to play it out, afterwards.

 

 

- more forgiving graphics code

 

- ''Tom Cruise'' mode and hot chicks that wave when you land/takeoff from the carrier for beginners and testosteron addicts (well, maybe an MP3 player in the cockpit, so i don't need to Alt-Tab on long missions)

[Guest EVIL-SCOTSMAN]

Now this is very true. When LOMAC came out, it was claimed that this game was meant to be played on future hardware, but it looks like that's not entirely true. Some simmers have dream machines (3+ GHz, 7800 GTX in SLi and 2 Gigs of RAM) and LOMAC only gives 30fps no matter what resolution you play - that IS a dissapointment!

 

 

TRUE, it dont play any better/faster on my dream machine as it does on my other pc, DAT is a BIG dissappointment. same stutters same fps yada yada yada

[Sulman]

The obsession with a dynamic campaign is worriesome, to me at least. F4's campaign is the benchmark, undoubtedly. F4:AF seems to have got the title where it should be, at long last.

 

Think about this though:

 

Thousands of man hours, seven years of work, and a cast of many, many tweakers and coders were involved in making that happen. Even now, other playables have been dropped and the focus is solely the F-16. I think it is quite simply unrealistic to expect a similar product in the Lomac line, without inviting very unfavourable comparisons.

 

What we have now is a superb sim. It looks great, the flight-modelling is (I think) the best out there - even on the non-AFM aircraft, and the avionics modelling is sufficient to give the player a detailed experience of operating the respective aircraft.

 

Best of all, each surface unit, be it a SAM system or ship, is lovingly modelled and accurate. ED has gone to alot of trouble to model radar theory, I'm not referring to specific avionics suites but the whole lot, theatre wide, and whilst it isn't perfect it's very good.

 

The Crimea is a good theatre; small enough to be very detailed, big enough to be geographically interesting and to provide some variety.

 

Whilst the mission editor is a bit rough around the edges, the limit is basically your imagination. Want a storyline? Write one. Do what you like. Anything's possible. I can live without a dynamic campaign, as long as the simulation is well-rounded, and fun. Lomac is.

 

Cheers

 

 

James