[0973] Iron Eagle's Jet Combat Area

[AFsoccer]

As many of you know, we've had trouble with the timer for jets being only 10 seconds when they fly off the map. Although we've used a work-around on Kashan and some other maps, it's not optimal and isn't permanent. So... we're trying a new thing where we've enlarged the combat area for jets on Iron Eagle so that it is now 2000m past the map edge. The timer remains at 10 seconds but this larger area should provide plenty of room for manoeuvring.

However, the enlarged combat area affects the minimap for jet pilots. Jet pilots will have to zoom in on their minimap or set it while in-bounds. If they open it in non-zoomed mode while out of bounds, then the minimap will re-center and show their out of bounds location.


This only affects pilots when in a jet. It does not affect anyone else.


UPDATE: Since I was getting comments from players that hadn't even tried the new system, I've been forced to lock this thread. We will be looking for feedback on this in a few weeks/months once you have all had a chance to see the pros and cons for yourself.

Thanks.

[saXoni]

I have not tested it yet, but as far is I know, the out of bounds limit on Kashan Desert is 3 minutes.
If your new out of bounds system does not work properly, why do you have to set the out of bounds limit to 10 seconds, when it's 3 minutes on Kashan Desert?

Thanks,
saX.

[sell]

i don't know if its have been reported already,but i did only play this layout once because of this bugs.
on the jet version of iron eagle we did set up a fob with tow and aa, if we did Mann the assets we did have head 120 seconds time like we would be in a death zone, also this happened to me at the stationary aa`s at radar station, and also the spawn point in the mec main did disappear for 20 minutes, so some one did set up a fob near the main, later the spaw point did comeback, so id could disappear again, no vehicle did block the spawn point.

[AFsoccer]

saXoni: the work-around on Kashan Desert affects all vehicles and infantry and could potentially be exploited. It was meant to be a short-term work-around.

sell: all of those bugs were fixed and reported in the appropriate threads


Please limit your replies to just the jet out of bounds options stated in the OP. Thanks.

[Maverick]

I think option one would be better, I won't have to worry or not weather or not if I pass out of bounds, I won't have to go "oh ****!" and turn that beast 360 back to battle, plus I can cruise around looking at nothing for a while till a new target pops up

[AFsoccer]

I think option one would be better, I won't have to worry or not weather or not if I pass out of bounds, I won't have to go "oh ****!" and turn that beast 360 back to battle, plus I can cruise around looking at nothing for a while till a new target pops up

Hmmm, good point... now you can stay off map (within 2000m) for as long as you want. I never thought of it that way.

[Jolly]

Jet out of bound and wait for a target is good,and we can avoid air combat more likely once our oppoent is an super ACE.But i dont know the Limit of the time.Once i am dead out of bound, I'll be the "target"of friendly

2000M extended combat area is good!!!Map is not a problem,and pilots can find their way by compass at the bottom or HUD.

This topic just reminded me,Can Dev guys think about Helo's out of bound combat?????And those 2km Map adds jets????

By the way,once our server updated,i'll add the map in maplist,and i'll post our feedback as soon as possible!!
Hope we can help!

[Celestial1]

I think it should be a pretty unanimous decision that having a greatly expanded jet maneuvering zone is well worth some minor issues with the map, as opposed to having a cramped space with a far-too-short Out of Bounds timer.

[AFsoccer]

UPDATE: Since I was getting comments from players that hadn't even tried the new system, I've been forced to lock this thread. We will be looking for feedback on this in a few weeks/months once you have all had a chance to see the pros and cons for yourself.

[AFsoccer]

Thread is now open.

[Stealthgato]

Hmm, this system enables the option of having jets on smaller maps now... ?

[Jafar Ironclad]

It does enable it, but what does that get us? All the potential targets and anti-air defenses are now concentrated in a 2km area. The jets would either completely dominate or be utterly ineffective. It's already a bit small of an area for heavy attack helicopters as it is.

[Jolly]

Alright,we had tried this map in chinese server, i do have some feeling.
Larger combat area is great,but mini map do confused me.
Sometimes,i have no idea where my jet is,after some mins,i have some feeling about the location of myself,maybe i am quiet farmiliar with this map,and i shoot down all F-16s.
One thing is pretty important--Marker.pilots are more rely on those marker,especially during landing.
You dont know where you are when approaching airfield,as a consequence, marker is vital.




Here is another problem i got:When i am landing with my mig29,it always explode without any reason,two times,it happened.if it's because of i didnt land the jet on runway,then the runway is too Narrow for us.........

[Rudd]

the new system allows jets to loiter in teh surrounding terrain waiting to be called in, rather than flying in a big circle until eventually being shot down

the new system therefore represents reality alot better imo, and helps alleviate the problems of having small bf2 maps.

downside is that jets become more powerful, however we can balance that out in other ways

[Celestial1]

It is extremely difficult to fly like this, mostly due to bombing becoming extremely difficult. (Do note that at the time I didn't figure out what the deal was with zooming in while out of bounds, I couldn't seem to do much of anything with the map when I got in, I'll have to try again next time and see if I can figure it out, so this post is considering a completely broken map)

With not being able to judge where you are from the target, and bombs not having a lock-on system similar to other weapon systems (LGMs, etc), it would seem that fighter jets are now almost completely useless (with the jet area now being so large, it decreases the chance of finding other jets and bombing being much more difficult now that it is difficult to gauge how far you are from the target), while attack jets can still function relatively decently (now have less of a chance of being found by enemy aircraft, can use LGMs to spot the laze making everything a lot easier for them).


I think that if this system were to stay, I would recommend the following:

1. Remove the minimap from a pilot's view (it's effectively useless, and will only take up space on the screen)
2. Expand the distance for anti-air systems, to allow jets a more effective range and ability to find and track enemy aircraft targets (if possible, allow long range missiles to lock-on from a farther distance, and short-range missiles can only see but not lock-on until they catch up to the target).
3. Rework bombing HUD; Add lase indicators to the bombing HUD, and expand the distance for seeing ground lazes, so that a fighter jet can skim the clouds and find the laze (alternatively, reenable 3D markers for jets only)

If 2 & 3 can be done, then I think this system might turn out to be better for jets. If they can't, I fear that flying will become extremely difficult, because it is so very hard to relate where you are from the target. With jets moving at a very high speed with such a relatively short view distance, and no way to make any estimate on the vertical angle one must achieve to properly acquire the target, it will probably be commonplace for the pilot to come out at the wrong angle and not be able to compensate in time to hit the target.

(Sorry for posting the first time, I misunderstood what you were saying; I thought you were saying only the MINI-map was screwed up, not the full map.)

[Jafar Ironclad]

[*]Rework bombing HUD; Add lase indicators to the bombing HUD, and expand the distance for seeing ground lazes, so that a fighter jet can skim the clouds and find the laze (alternatively, reenable 3D markers for jets only)

We probably don't even need to fix the hud itself for this one; simply add an "trying to get a lock" tone for that instance; it would get the same effective outcome without having to re-work the hud. Maybe the tone from around 1:07 in this video (Used as warning sound, not DROP THE BOMB NOW sound)

[LieutenantNessie]

Extended area is good, but the minimap is just horrible. I tried flying there, no idea where I was. The map only shows a bit of the western part (both mini and full map) and I have no idea where am I supposed to go bomb if someone ask's radar station, alteast not a way not to get shot down.

Please bring back the old minimap, you can't even see the airstrips (except the isreaeli one)

[AFsoccer]

However, the enlarged combat area affects the minimap for jet pilots. Jet pilots will have to zoom in on their minimap or set it while in-bounds. If they open it in non-zoomed mode while out of bounds, then the minimap will re-center and show their out of bounds location.

Did you try changing the zoom? If you do this while inbounds, it will re-center.

[LieutenantNessie]

Did you try changing the zoom? If you do this while inbounds, it will re-center.

Tried a few times, let me go check again!

E: Zooming only centered it to bijar and when i go unzoomed it's the half out of bounds map again