I think this map is great!
It has something for everyone, air fields, air domination, ground targets and bases!
I would love to see more maps like this!
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Yeah. One of the best parts of this update. I hope we will see more maps get this mode. It is by far the best thing that happened in the last 10 years to Air AB. It is coming up way to less.
I agree. People who just want to dive to the middle furball can do so while contributing to the team. On the sides you get great small-scale engagements. And there is stuff for people to bomb which is a major issue of the missions with only airfields.
(I only play Air AB till 6.0 BR so I can´t tell how it plays with jets, I prefer Air RB for them)
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My experience is comprised of rounds using a 10.x though 11.0 US Tech Tree lineup, and has been very positive though I do see a few areas for growth, or potential implementation of mechanics in the future which could see things become a little more static, and could help.
But in general Air Conquest maps are far better than their Domination counterparts simply due to being larger, which provides the distance and time for missile busses to actually reach altitude, joust, intercept and Boom and Zoom, and for smaller fights to break out generally leading to it being less likely that a 3rd party will interrupt a developing dogfight.
The biggest complaint I would have personally is that both of the maps implemented so far are a little too featureless, and are generally quite flat so there isn’t really any terrain that can be used or route(s) planned(like some Ground strike maps have obvious valleys, hills and depressions that can be used to reach bombing targets) that can be done to help Strike aircraft evade detection and survive being intercepted by missiles, wile I’m sure the eventual implementation of DECM & ECM pods will help, though until that occurs they are still fairly vulnerable though I would wager that it is very likely to change considering they are going to have Active Radar Missile(s) proliferate further, though even with a +1.3 / -1.0 BR spread and common up-tiers, F-14’s aren’t too much of an issue since you can see the team lists and simply need to respect them for the most part and preemptively deploy countermeasures and maneuver.
All in all even in their current state I would have no issue if they replaced Domination which often devolves into 3~4 minute rounds when one team begins to spawn camp due to a lack of targets after having overrun the initial fighter wave) wholesale, as they serve as a nice half step between the Ground Strike and EC maps, which brings things much closer to a small scale RB EC match, which I think was the pinnacle of WT’s map / mode design since it had something to for each of the aircraft types and generally didn’t completely devolve into a handful of dogfights in short order, and the fact that players can respawn unlike ARB EC fixes some issues with things snowballing, as long as people employ their lineups efficiently and play to the situations strengths and cover teammates.
They could go further with the introduction of forward deployed static AI SAM (e.g. SA-2 / MIM-23, SA-10 / MIM-104, etc.) sites as it would help reduce the likelihood / delay the progress of fighters into the Spawn / Airfield, should they break through the fighter screen and provide a reason to take guided ordnance. Or so there are additional uses for Anti-Radiation, Cluster and Firebombs should they be implemented.
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Yes, I am also a big fan of semi realistic features that are present in some Air AB only maps which should get priority if Gaijin plans to expand this mode to other maps.
Seems like they have a big win across all BR ranges for the arcade community with this mode.
Hope someone takes note of the positive feedback.
Another thing that would be interesting would be maps were the objective types are inverted with two Air capture zone and a single airfield objective.
it does seem a bit weird that there hasn’t been a feedback thread though I do get with the forum changes occurring at about the same time that it might have been missed or will be further expanded / adjusted in the coming updates.
