ErichVon Posted May 2, 2012 Posted May 2, 2012 (edited) My experience online as to a MMORPG is currently Aces High: http://www.hitechcreations.com/ and what used to be Warbirds, maybe still is: http://www.totalsims.com/info_warbirds.php WWIIOn-Line: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_Online Air Warrior: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Warrior For me, Air Warrior back in the 1980's was a long distance phone fee on dial-up as there were no local nodes and this was before the Internet became popular as it is and the http://www world. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WorldWideWeb Is DCS talking about one central server? Always on 24/7? I hope so and it is about time... I would gladly pay a monthly fee to access it and I'd cancel my Aces High account. The one thing I do not like about LockOn and DCS is the ridiculous nature of no central server, private locked out servers, and unregulated public servers, of not very many guys to play with and against; with decent ping rates. Aces High on any Eastern Time Zone night, primetime 8PM to 11PM has 400 or more people in it, worldwide. It is always on 24/7. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My current LockOn and mostly DCS purchases are: Best Buy had LockOn Platinum for $20 January 2011, the 2 disk boxed set with FC2, that got me started with the madness. I have DCS: A-10C Warthog purchased online, I spent most of last Spring and Summer learning. I have DCS: Black Shark (the 1st version) purchased online. Best Buy had A-10C Warthog, the boxed edition, sometime around Christmas 2011. Then I added and purchased to 1.1.1.1 I have DCS: Black Shark 2, the add-on I purchased online for what, $20, the latest and greatest, version 1.1.1.1 And P-51 will be next once I get the Ka-50 learned. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I usually play off-line against AI and I am happy enough with that. Edited May 2, 2012 by ErichVon
Smokin Hole Posted May 2, 2012 Posted May 2, 2012 A central server would require a 24-hour continuously running mission or campaign. I'd be very surprised to see anything like that on any current sim. The master browser system we have now is fine. The locked out servers are generally the best. Usually they only require a polite request to join on Teamspeak. Three minutes off effort for several hours of troll-free flying is a very small price to pay.
ErichVon Posted May 2, 2012 Author Posted May 2, 2012 (edited) A central server would require a 24-hour continuously running mission or campaign. I'd be very surprised to see anything like that on any current sim. The master browser system we have now is fine. The locked out servers are generally the best. Usually they only require a polite request to join on Teamspeak. Three minutes off effort for several hours of troll-free flying is a very small price to pay. Well, there are a few out there, just not here. Last night, wee hours, actually early this morning I played a private Multiplayer with not a bad ping rate of 151 to the =4c=SVFS server. I occasionally will play Mutiplayer. Edited May 2, 2012 by ErichVon
aaron886 Posted May 2, 2012 Posted May 2, 2012 If ED went to MMO/subscription-based online multiplayer, the hardcore crowd would disappear. That said, the current network code is incredibly robust and still very efficient by any standard.
104th_Crunch Posted May 3, 2012 Posted May 3, 2012 Even with rotating missions, I think an official ED server is a great idea. In fact, even have 2, one with arcade settings and 1 with full realism. Of course, still allow private servers as well. I would be happy to help with that project!
WarthogSmurf Posted May 3, 2012 Posted May 3, 2012 Thing is the above mentoined game are more game like. This is a simulator where ppl want to simulate actually operations with real codes etc. Most do so private so (pardon my french) the battlefield/modern warwafre kiddies dont spoil a perfectly prepped mission. Also most squads use TARS to communicate and keep in contact. So one big server most likely not. If you want a dedicated server join a squad and perhaps you will be surprised in how fun it will be
213 Posted May 3, 2012 Posted May 3, 2012 no, this is a hardcore simulator, not kiddie game or sim-wannabe like aces high.
nomdeplume Posted May 3, 2012 Posted May 3, 2012 Aces High on any Eastern Time Zone night, primetime 8PM to 11PM has 400 or more people in it, worldwide. It is always on 24/7. The current server supports up to 32 players. I don't think we'll be seeing a massive server anytime soon, just like I don't think we'll be seeing Falcon 4-style dynamic campaigns with large numbers of units populating the entire map. The engine is really designed to handle smaller engagements with a high degree of fidelity. Also, I think modern aircraft pose problems for this kind of development that WW2 sims/games don't suffer from (i.e. the speed at which units move around and the distances they can detect/engage others from). Not insurmountable, but I don't believe this is the direction ED are going. I could be wrong though; the new warehouses thing really only makes sense in the context of either a (somewhat) dynamic campaign or lengthy missions (implying lots of units). Still, it would take resources that I think they see as better employed elsewhere (and I don't disagree). I'm not sure ED could really bring anything special to the table in terms of hosting one or more "official" servers, anyway. It's all about the missions, and if they want to dedicate resources to making excellent multiplayer missions there isn't a shortage of people willing to run them. They could much better serve the multiplayer community by a) making a dedicated server and b) making it easier to find and install additional missions (e.g. by integrating a mission browser/downloader into the DCS: World front-end). It probably is also worthwhile reiterating what WarthogSmurf alluded to with the difference between the kind of missions public servers can run and the kind of missions private servers can run, and hence the experience offered. Just having a group of people who are all briefed on the mission goal, all starting at the same time and not out to play air-quake makes a world of difference, and it's almost impossible to get that to happen on a public server.
Mt5_Roie Posted May 3, 2012 Posted May 3, 2012 Our wing runs a Dedicated Server that's up 24/7 but runs our training maps. We rotate it weekly to change out the maps. But I don't think it could be adapted on a huge scale with monthly fees. People wouldn't want to fly all the time in the same place. Not only that, you would have more experienced pilots getting ahead of newer pilots and creating an unbalance in the system Coder - Oculus Rift Guy - Court Jester
ErichVon Posted May 3, 2012 Author Posted May 3, 2012 (edited) Thing is the above mentoined game are more game like. This is a simulator where ppl want to simulate actually operations with real codes etc. Most do so private so (pardon my french) the battlefield/modern warwafre kiddies dont spoil a perfectly prepped mission. Also most squads use TARS to communicate and keep in contact. So one big server most likely not. If you want a dedicated server join a squad and perhaps you will be surprised in how fun it will be Well, they ain't all kids. At least half are cussin' adults from southern USA and then the seniors, like me, that may be interpreted as worse than the kids! :) That's what they get for advertising on the Military Channel, retired vets. I'm looking. Waiting for the 104th server to reappear. I am a member with them, just not a squaddie, yet. Last summer, spent quite awhile with the S77th, but I have not seen them here in awhile. They play World of Tanks which I do not like. Aces High has better tanking wars. I have TS3. I had TARS last year but there was a glitch with it with TS3 so the S77th quit using it. It is probably fixed by now. I had 2 hurricanes come into our area last fall that kind of messed up my gaming time. I do find the sim combat missions here rather boring. What is fun is learning the intricacies of the various aircraft. I personally prefer a scoring system and capturing the flag. The world is a big marketplace. There are lots of people out there and lots of variation to a theme. It is like tribe mentality. Guys there knock this place; guys here knock them. It is all good. There are a few Aces High guys here that are going to kick butt with the P-51 guys that do not know basic aerial combat as I have seen already with a recent YouTube video. As to a realistic simulator, I am learning the Ka-50 lately. There are a few items that just plain do not function. So how real, is real? Anybody wants a real, math/physics oriented, boring simulator, fly Orbiter. But boring is also relative. Actually it can be quite interesting to dock a rotating spaceship in sync with a rotating space station like in the movie, 2001 Space Odyssey, and like in Orbiter. Edited May 3, 2012 by ErichVon
ErichVon Posted May 3, 2012 Author Posted May 3, 2012 Our wing runs a Dedicated Server that's up 24/7 but runs our training maps. We rotate it weekly to change out the maps. But I don't think it could be adapted on a huge scale with monthly fees. People wouldn't want to fly all the time in the same place. Not only that, you would have more experienced pilots getting ahead of newer pilots and creating an unbalance in the system That has to be expensive. But I <S> you for the effort.:thumbup:
ErichVon Posted May 3, 2012 Author Posted May 3, 2012 The current server supports up to 32 players. I don't think we'll be seeing a massive server anytime soon, just like I don't think we'll be seeing Falcon 4-style dynamic campaigns with large numbers of units populating the entire map. The engine is really designed to handle smaller engagements with a high degree of fidelity. Also, I think modern aircraft pose problems for this kind of development that WW2 sims/games don't suffer from (i.e. the speed at which units move around and the distances they can detect/engage others from). Not insurmountable, but I don't believe this is the direction ED are going. I could be wrong though; the new warehouses thing really only makes sense in the context of either a (somewhat) dynamic campaign or lengthy missions (implying lots of units). Still, it would take resources that I think they see as better employed elsewhere (and I don't disagree). I'm not sure ED could really bring anything special to the table in terms of hosting one or more "official" servers, anyway. It's all about the missions, and if they want to dedicate resources to making excellent multiplayer missions there isn't a shortage of people willing to run them. They could much better serve the multiplayer community by a) making a dedicated server and b) making it easier to find and install additional missions (e.g. by integrating a mission browser/downloader into the DCS: World front-end). It probably is also worthwhile reiterating what WarthogSmurf alluded to with the difference between the kind of missions public servers can run and the kind of missions private servers can run, and hence the experience offered. Just having a group of people who are all briefed on the mission goal, all starting at the same time and not out to play air-quake makes a world of difference, and it's almost impossible to get that to happen on a public server. Yeah, I don't think so, either. DCS knows what they are doing. I am sure they have studied the potential market to make profit and to keep doing so. But some of the guys replying to this thread are assuming without any real knowledge of what really goes on in the other sim/games. Everything that has been said as negative, actually does or did happen in each of the games I mentioned, as to your last stated sentence. I have both sims, I play both. The problem I have is mental overload. Just how many planes and different moves and sims can be memorized in an aging brain? DCS and Aces High is enough for me. I came in late. I am just learning FC2. I do not wish to cause any verbal grief.
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