Idea for an Ace Combat multiplayer game
Posted: 2009-02-24 06:30pm
This idea came to me recently, since I was never particularly thrilled by the multiplayer experience in Ace Combat 6. Basically, the biggest problem for me was that you mostly fought random dogfights; there were other modes but nobody really played them.
The idea, then, is to have a good old fashioned war, with bombers and fighters trying to accomplish missions. There would be two teams - roughly Nato vs. the Warsaw Pact - and one team would try and defend its territory, while the other would be trying to attack it. Part of the big deal is that the attacking team gets and flies bombers along with their escorting fighters.
The next two salient points are aircraft choice and team organization. The teams would be split up into groups of four, and each group - to be referred to henceforth as a "squadron" - would have to agree on an aircraft to fly.
Aircraft choice, then, would be fairly limited, so as to cut down on wasteful arguing over someone's favorite plane which isn't someone else's favorite plane.
There would be three categories of bombers, and four or five of fighters. I'm thinking it would work out somewhat as follows:
Category C Bombers: the older and slower planes, but are tough, can carry large payloads, and have a defensive gun. These would be the B-52 and Tu-95.
Category B Bombers: these are much faster, but have smaller payloads than the CatC bombers. These would be the B-1 Lancer and the Tu-22M Backfire.
Category A Bombers: the most advanced planes the opposing nations possess, these are limited in number. These would be the B-2 and Tu-160.
Then you'd have your fighters. I'm having trouble figuring out a proper way to divide them up, but I'm thinking I'd want about five different types, with four gradations from old (like the MiG-21) to the cutting edge (like the F-22), with a five type, the Interceptor (the F-106 and MiG-25) that are crap in a dogfight but can cut bombers from the sky with ease.
One other aspect I'm working on is a good way to have people fly something other than the F-22 and Su-37 all the time; I don't quite like the idea of limiting the number of planes of each type, because then it'll just piss off everyone who wasn't fast enough with their squadron to get the F-22. I do sort of like maybe giving bonus points, either for selecting weaker planes, or perhaps having the server keep track of how many times each plane has been flown, and giving bonus points for flying underused planes. The latter is personally my favorite so far, but it might go too far in raising the complexity of the game.
The game would play thusly: each team has, say, two airbases and the defender has some other random strategic targets in their airspace; the intervening ground is rather arbitrary and can just be open water for simplicity. The attackers then have to get their bombers through the defenders' air defence and bomb or cruise missile the strategic targets into oblivion. I'm still wrestling with the idea of having fighters carry air to surface weapons, in order to make sure the bombers play the biggest role in the game. I think, however, that in true Ace Combat style, the bombers would still have the same standard missiles everyone's always had in AC. Bomber pilots would be able to choose from two main weapons, bombs or cruise missiles. Category C bombers would have an advantage in bombs, while B bombers would have an advantage in cruise missiles. Both would be able to carry either weapon, however. I'm still not sure what to do with the Category A bombers, just that they'll be special.
Other ideas were for a "head-to-head" mode where both sides have bombers and strategic targets to defend, and the possible inclusion of player-flown tankers and AWACS.
Thoughts? Comments? What is good, and what could be improved? Am I a delusional madman?
The idea, then, is to have a good old fashioned war, with bombers and fighters trying to accomplish missions. There would be two teams - roughly Nato vs. the Warsaw Pact - and one team would try and defend its territory, while the other would be trying to attack it. Part of the big deal is that the attacking team gets and flies bombers along with their escorting fighters.
The next two salient points are aircraft choice and team organization. The teams would be split up into groups of four, and each group - to be referred to henceforth as a "squadron" - would have to agree on an aircraft to fly.
Aircraft choice, then, would be fairly limited, so as to cut down on wasteful arguing over someone's favorite plane which isn't someone else's favorite plane.
There would be three categories of bombers, and four or five of fighters. I'm thinking it would work out somewhat as follows:
Category C Bombers: the older and slower planes, but are tough, can carry large payloads, and have a defensive gun. These would be the B-52 and Tu-95.
Category B Bombers: these are much faster, but have smaller payloads than the CatC bombers. These would be the B-1 Lancer and the Tu-22M Backfire.
Category A Bombers: the most advanced planes the opposing nations possess, these are limited in number. These would be the B-2 and Tu-160.
Then you'd have your fighters. I'm having trouble figuring out a proper way to divide them up, but I'm thinking I'd want about five different types, with four gradations from old (like the MiG-21) to the cutting edge (like the F-22), with a five type, the Interceptor (the F-106 and MiG-25) that are crap in a dogfight but can cut bombers from the sky with ease.
One other aspect I'm working on is a good way to have people fly something other than the F-22 and Su-37 all the time; I don't quite like the idea of limiting the number of planes of each type, because then it'll just piss off everyone who wasn't fast enough with their squadron to get the F-22. I do sort of like maybe giving bonus points, either for selecting weaker planes, or perhaps having the server keep track of how many times each plane has been flown, and giving bonus points for flying underused planes. The latter is personally my favorite so far, but it might go too far in raising the complexity of the game.
The game would play thusly: each team has, say, two airbases and the defender has some other random strategic targets in their airspace; the intervening ground is rather arbitrary and can just be open water for simplicity. The attackers then have to get their bombers through the defenders' air defence and bomb or cruise missile the strategic targets into oblivion. I'm still wrestling with the idea of having fighters carry air to surface weapons, in order to make sure the bombers play the biggest role in the game. I think, however, that in true Ace Combat style, the bombers would still have the same standard missiles everyone's always had in AC. Bomber pilots would be able to choose from two main weapons, bombs or cruise missiles. Category C bombers would have an advantage in bombs, while B bombers would have an advantage in cruise missiles. Both would be able to carry either weapon, however. I'm still not sure what to do with the Category A bombers, just that they'll be special.
Other ideas were for a "head-to-head" mode where both sides have bombers and strategic targets to defend, and the possible inclusion of player-flown tankers and AWACS.
Thoughts? Comments? What is good, and what could be improved? Am I a delusional madman?
