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A Message from Swanny On SA3s

Posted: December 14th, 2008, 12:10 am
by The Admin Team
All,

I'm going to explain my position on the SA3s and why there were some new ones modded into the maps.

BF1942 can be played one of two ways - teamwork based, or free for all deathmatch. In my mind, the mostly conquest maps make OUR way a teamwork-oriented one. It makes OUR server a teamwork-oriented one.

That being said, the primary goal of any conquest map is to capture and hold flags. To do that, we have people on the ground that move to the vicinity and dig in. Planes' (and for that matter, attack helos') Primary purpose is to support those ground troops and armor in accomplishing that mission. It is not to dogfight, or fly around and concentrate on getting as many points as possible by the end of the round. Bombers get armor and fighters protect bombers.

Now, in an even matchup, all is well. Evenly matched teams will fight on the ground, in the air, whatever. But when one team has a veteran bomber and the other team has squat, it is difficult many times for the losing team to get a foothold to come back, sometimes even get out of their main base. To that end, the SA3 was introduced.

If ground troops are screaming for support and being ignored, or the team matchup is too off balance, then it is somewhat equalized by the SA3. While it is extremely difficult for ground troops to take out a frogfoot with only stingers, an SA3 rocket, in the right hands, can clear a path to the closest flag for troops ready to make a comeback.

I know that pilots will not like this. In my opinion, planes are way more powerful than anything else on the map, if used properly. But one person shouldn't be able to go 46 and 0 on ANY map, and I've seen it happen. One person shouldn't be able to hold down the entire opposite team.

In addition, a good bomber (I'll mention Specialist and Nico here) thinks nothing of removing an enemy SA3 to continue their runs. I've seen both pilots even take out both SA3s on Alamein in ONE pass.

I've seen suggestions here that we remove the planes totally and stick to helos and tanks only. I hate to cut pilots off entirely, but one day we just might find out how that plays.

The main thing is that the SA3s were not put in to punish pilots. Flying is a great skill and should be admired and acknowledged, just like good tanking. The intent is to balance out the frosty cans of whoopass a good pilot can dish out, make it fairer, give everyone a chance and keep things close.

I realize that many people will disagree with me about this. I'm OK with that. Just wanted to explain the rationale behind it.