All it would need to be is a C&P of SB but just with different restrictions (Third person, RB controls and some markers)
It would need a counter to airfield camping though, so one team doesn’t get stuck in an “enemy air superiority” nightmare where they are constantly bounced on takeoff. Big AA guns (127/128mm) or “radar” updates where the game tells you (infrequently) where someone near the airfield is (not the constant track that happens when you’re on spawn radar). Trying to keep some fun factor in for both teams would be very difficult though, and a mode like this would probably only be pulled off with a lot of players on each team.
Would be no different to SB. Yes spawn camping can occur, but thats why you have 3-5 AFs. Just spawn at a different base.
You also have mechanics like AF guardians (AI controlled fighters meant to attack nearby players) which whilst they are currently broken in SB, could be fixed to help provide adequate protection. Then you also have the AFs themselves. They are well defended just like they are in ARB. Though with much larger maps, the option for much more powerful SPAA systems becomes open in the future (like Patriot or S300)
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I think Patriot and S300 are too much for the game tbh they have ranges that are way too far reaching. Probably better with like Hawk/I-Hawk and SA-3/SA-6 (S-125 and 2K12 respectively), probably along with some form of PvE SEAD using anti-radiation missiles like Standard, Shrike, and some of the Eastern Bloc ones (who’s name I forgot lmao)
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was thinking more in a nerfed state 15-20km bubble of protection around an AF max. but yeah, there are maybe other better options for those shorter ranges, just the first 2 I thought of.
But yeah, we need proper SEAD mechanics in SB. Would be so much fun
just place a lot of MANPADS and SPAA on the airfields, but also further from the airfield, hidden amongst the terrain. Otherwise camping airfields would be too easy with modern aircraft.
Yeah, that would work too. further out but at a reduced density would be good in most gamemodes I reckon already
Yeah, KH-25/25MP/25MPU/27, KH-28, KH-31, but I don’t have ranges for these kinda missiles off the top of my head.
Nah, its just noobs. Normal players are still cautious because we know its high risk high reward.
Its dead. If it’s just noobs then noobs make up 98% of teams.
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There’s no skill, all outcomes are random
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I believe some of these are in the files for the next update so i wonder how they will be implemented.
Although i really share lot of your views on things - your reference to Ground RB is imho the main reason why a rework of Air RB should focus on maps and game play first before you might even think about a multispawn in Air RB.
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Basically the main flaw of multispawn modes is the illusion for newer players that a respawn option would give them alternative options and might be suited to turn around a almost lost match in a victory.
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Seeing this option more realistic - the only players which will benefit are long term / more experienced players - the 98% rookies in Air RB will neither have adequate experience nor actual skill to use the additional flexibility.
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So if you apply the same stupid game mechanics like in Ground RB respawning rookies will decide close matches just by killing your own tickets and provide the enemy with additional spawn points.
So if you see Air RB currently as mode in which wrong decision making leads to a “Game Over” event - a multispawn Air RB would just increase the possibilities for rookies to make mistakes. You would see the same ODL discussions and the result would be the same. Or just imagine endless streams of Ju 288s bombing respawning bases…
As long as the mode is more attractive than Ground RB regarding economy Air RB is flooded with non-pilots - without a significant increase of the average player skill you try to fight symptoms, but not the root cause of the decline of Air RB.
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I would love to see Air RB EC. As is, Air RB plays like Air AB (a quick furball and gameover). EC will enable time for attack and bomber aircraft to flourish and not just favour fighters - making many of the premiums more attract to buy.
I see no reason for this not to be added to the game - just stick it in Events like Sim EC and let players decide which mode they prefer to play.
And with regards to airfield camping; as with Sim EC, air defence systems can be utilised to solve that problem. To allow strike aircraft at least one pass (as IRL) I would suggest exponentially increasing defence system aggressiveness (accuracy/fire rate) based on time an individual spends in the vicinity of the airfield, thus anyone trying to camp will eventually just get deleted.
I mean all of these problems you described are issues with Air RB right now. Multi spawns doesn’t exaggerate the problem or change much of anything with regards to new players.
ODL will always be an issue and the only way to truly mitigate this would be to give everyone some sort of a reserve vehicle or to allow multiple spawns into the same vehicle like Sim EC or Naval EC.
The upcoming update does add the ability to use backups mid-match so it’ll be interesting how that impacts ODL.
No matter what you do, you will never change the fact that new players don’t play the game well. The best that can happen is the matchmaker tries to equally distribute newer players to each team but it’ll never be perfect.
I agree that we need fixes to maps, team sizes, and objectives but as i said in my OP, there really is no point of a No Respawn game mode anymore. It doesn’t provide any benefit, which is why all the newer game modes have some sort of Respawning mechanic.
If Gaijin changed Ground RB to be a No Respawn mode, people would freak out. Im just saying to give Air RB the same mechanic that Gaijin gives every other mode.
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I’d probably play ARB if it had respawns. The respawns could come in waves and have air spawns based on class. Essentially respawns acting as waves in an operation.
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I am not sure if we have the same understanding about why Air RB has seen such a quality drop in the last 3-5 years. I do agree that Air RB is stuck in a “non-development” trap, as the mode looks the same without adapting to increases in plane performance and decrease of pilot skill on average.
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I am a passionate pilot too, but some years ago it was actually a challenge to play Air RB, as the overall player skill was especially at BR 4.0 - 6.3 rather high and you needed actual skill and a meta plane to play there successfully.
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Now you are forced to play non-meta planes in order to reduce your massive experience advantage vs the average opponent in the same BR range in order to have a challenge. Anything else leads to no fun.
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Even as i assess myself as a rather mediocre pilot, i was able to score K/Ds of 10-15:1 in the BP 109 F-4 or in the US P-47 D-28. And in the 5.0 full-uptier (85%) “Ju 288 black hole” in my Italian P-47 D-30 (assigned to 4 Ju 288 in 6 vs 6 matches) i scored a 7:1 k/d - unthinkable 3-4 years ago.
So the lack of experience as seen today is caused by players just reacting on gaijins offers and economy differences between modes. As long as the Air RB economy is far better than Ground RB and tasks like bombing respawning bases require little to zero skill - there is simply no need to improve as long as the received rewards of doing such tasks allow a rather fast progress.
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From my perspective this respawning bases nonsense in May 2020 was the root cause for the decline of average pilot skill - offering multiple possibilities to earn SL/RP without any skill necessary opened the mode for non pilots even more.
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I still remember when i first met 3 bombers with an early bot script (B-18Bs) programmed to drop (all 3 bombed the same base) and chase the nearest enemy - i did a split-S followed by a steep dive and all 3 died due to overspeeding…
So in order to solve the experience issue you either have to align Ground RB economy with Air RB economy - either by increasing Ground RB rewards or decreasing Air RB rewards - and to get rid of respawning bases as the main challenge of pure base bombing was to kill the enemy airfield, a pure base kill is and was always a milk run in the “right” plane.
Again, i see the benefits of you other proposals in the OP, but without fundamental economy changes respawning in Air RB changes nothing - except that a few experienced players might have more options.
In addition you might look at your last battle summaries. You will find out that the overwhelming majority of RP income is a result of battle score / actions / activity and most important, your survival time. Do you really expect that you get the same rewards in a respawning mode?
…i recommend to grab a coffee and check out this thread:
You will get a grasp of how newer players and experienced player see af aaa in general and how toxic the forum community is…
Both of you - have a good one!
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Essentially a RB EC, Gaijin used to run those, and I enjoyed playing that a few years ago. I sure hope they can introduce it as a new game mode.
We did have Air RB EC for a very very short period of time. They ran an event for 2 days like 5 - 6 years ago. It was pretty fun.
EDIT: this isn’t the one I remember since I distinctively remember flying japanese aircraft [Event] Enduring confrontation in the skies above Stalingrad - News - War Thunder
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