Okay the community has spoken the intention is good but the implementation isn't going over well?
So firstly anything we implement can be unimplemented so don't worry on that front.
Fuel issue will be sorted.
Respawn time on choppers will be increased to encourage better flying.
Wasting helis will be discouraged.
Whitelisting slots will never happen not on the public servers it's simply not what aw is about.
One problem with Repair Specialists fixing the helicopters, the tail is still too broken for most people to fly with or land safely at base.
It goes something like this;
Me: Fixed it!
Pilot: Thanks Potato!
-spin up and lift off, starts spinning around..
Pilot: I got this! (back to base we go and fix the rest, GG, no problem)
OR
Pilot: WTF is this?! Potato you lied!!1 It's still bro.... (pilot died)
The main reason i stopped playing as a Repair Specialist, people don't know how to handle a heli with a half working or broken tail.
I've lost count of how many Hummingbirds i returned to base with broken tails on the old EU2 (EU4).
Sadly Ahoy can't fix this.
And then the fuel problem, is it possible to add 5-10% fuel (if empty or below X%) to the vehicles at the end of the 'repair'?
So if it drains the pilot/driver can still get to a safe(er) spot and get fuel.
Me and "insert name" (dont remember who) discussed a neat idea that would fix the fuel problem but it might be hard to implement, jerry cans!
like on the wasteland servers where there are jerry cans you can carry around and refuel vehicles, then either the pilot can have 1 or 2 jerry cans in it's inventory (just enough to RTB) or the engineer can have one in it's backpack
like i said, it's probably is going to be really hard to implement but it is a suggestion.
As just a passenger I certainly like when pilots are more careful when approaching AO. Logging on and dying 3x in crash before I reach AO for the first time is total turn-off.
But the idea with pilot siting by the damaged heli and waiting for refuel, I don't see that working.
Yesterday I was on repair specialist class and Huron I was in took some beating and landed, I repaired it immediately and pilot thanked me, but then reported that it has no fuel. So we blew it up. Air-lifting fuel cistern to the damaged heli is - in my humble opinion - nonsense:
* You are risking second chopper. (The Buzzard will not care you are on mission of mercy)
* You are risking another pilot.
* You now have TWO helis out-of-rotation, prolonging waiting times for everyone on server.
1) Partial solution would be - if it can be programmed in - to remove fuel-leakage from the game.
2) Even better would be: allow pilot class to carry Toolbox. If they know they can repair, they would try hard to make safe emergency landing.
You might say it makes repair specialist obsolete, but I think that class only makes sense if you log-in to become part of vehicle/boat crew anyway.
I really don't think more rules that require enforcement is the route to go. Yes these are bad behaviors you want to address in the interest of the community, but I think addressing them will have more negative impact than the benefit it would net you. We all want top class pilots, the reality of course is it is a public mission - so every now and then a nub pilot joins and things go tits up. There are enough choppers generally for people to get to the AO so it is not really a problem..
Pilots also take risks to get troops on the ground as close as they want, sometimes they get punished. It happens, but it is a shared risk.
Ultimately it is a philosophical question about realism and we have to choose one end of the spectrum or the other. If this is going to be a public mission, then it needs to be somewhat arcadey. If not, then sure put it on Veteran difficulty and have at it full mil sim style. Trying to occupy the middle ground is neither here nor there and just frustrates people I think. I fear enforcing this type of thing would make piloting a chore and we would produce offenders and less Super Snakes. Just my 2c.
Unless an 'Offroad Repair Vehicle' or something like that is provided, or a Pilot gets to carry a toolkit (although, they are in the helicopters most of the time anyway) so that he can effect his own repairs, then there may be a problem, unless the guys running as Repair Specialists are top notch.
I do agree, pilots are one of, if not the most important role on an I&A server and many pilots do not fly the helicopters the way they are intended to be flown. You often die when you get into a helicopter with a random, unknown pilot, and it shouldn't be like that. It's usually a combination of lack of skill, and cooperation which causes this, as people on the ground generally think the pilots are the only ones responsible for keeping the air clean of jets and making sure that the troops gets from point A to point B safe and secure. We say that we want more skilled and experienced pilots, but at the same time we want to be an open and easily accessible community.
There was a suggestion in a thread earlier where Extra suggested that we could give known and experienced pilots a mark/badge or whatever to show that they are competent pilots. The purpose was to make it easier for people to pick a more reliable pilot to fly with, to lessen the frustration and respawnrates of the troops. The idea swiftly got shot down with the motivation that we're not a milsim. These servers are supposed to be accessible and we neither want people to feel excluded nor scare them away from trying new roles. Almost everyone was unanimous, this wasn't the way people wanted the server to go.
Mere 4 days later, this post, with its new set of rules is posted.
You're saying that people are misusing aircrafts, landing too close, abandoning vehicles, that they should not fly unless they know how to auto rotate and/or land a helicopter in a narrow space without an antitorque etc.
You're saying that the pilots do not value their helicopters, that they put them at risk and when it downs and then rather blow it up than actually repair it. I do agree with this to some extent. It is a shame that you as of today need to satchel a helicopter once you're downed. There are a few problems with makes this nessesary. The first problem is fuel, a problem which you say you will adress. It isn't often that you actually do carry a repair guy once you do go down, but the times you do the helicopter most likely won't have any fuel left by the time he's done repairing it. Sure, you may solve this, I've seen it done on other servers before in such a way that helicopters gain a few percent fuel once repaired, so I don't why why we can't have that here, but that is not the only issue.
You rarely have repair guys in you helicopter, and usually those slots are left empty. If you down your helicopter, you may be far from an AO (often you are), and taking a repair vehicle there would often take a tremendous amount of time, even with something you can airlift in with another helicopter. If you down too close to the AO you either need to drive there, or make sure that you have a competent repair guy, willing to help. If you try and fly there with a repair vehicle, you will most likely lose another helicopter, leaving you with even less helicopters for transportation.
The helicopters would have a lot of downtime, and people already complain if there isn't a helicopter on the helipad the second they respawn. The average random player has the patience and attention span of a five-year-old and you often see they beginning to mess around once they get tiered of waiting.
Some of these rules could be, but not on a server like this. The rules you're suggesting require way more disciplin, cooperation and communication than I've ever seen on EU 1 and 2. In the same way a writer has to adapt his style of writing to his readers, the server rules must be adapted to the player base. You can go ahead, you can give these rules a try, but I won't be flying with them.
All i see in these rules are a recipe for disaster. All I see is a server where piloting becomes more dull and boring, a server where people will have to walk for several kilometers because pilots are too tiered to wait for their repairs, or too tiered to actually return to and repair their downed helicopters. I imagine a scenario where helicopters will be left behind a scenario where people will take new helicopters rather than repairing the ones they use right now. People already do it. There are broken helicopters left at helipads or at old AOs almost all the time. The admins simply cannot keep track of it and the players don't even know where these helicopters are located. What's suggested would require even more babysitting by admins, and even with an admin constantly watching, I cannot even Imagine a scenario where this will work as intended, not with the current player base.
No, I do not like this idea the slightest. I think we're approaching this from a completely wrong angle. The problem isn't with the rules, the problem is the pilots. We do have a large amount of more than capable pilots, but they're often not the ones actually flying the helicopters. The pilot slots are very popular, they're often taken. People want to fly, they want to practice. Most of these pilots aren't the ones flying the way you seem to want them to fly, most of them are rookies trying their wings.
A suggestion to make sure that you have at least a few decent pilots on the server would be to take another look at Extras suggestion. I'd rather suggest that you white list 3 of the 5 pilot slots. Have 2 of the slots open for new players, to let them try their wings, but lock 3 of them. Have the top 3 slots only allowing more experienced pilots into them, pilots which you know are capable, pilots which have proven them self through tryouts and/or recommendations. Having one or two bad pilots isn't really a problem, as long as the other 3 are capable enough things will flow smoothly.
