Does anyone know...will the game take into account the altitude of the plane or the relative altitude between planes? Or... is the game going to be essentially 2 dimensional?

--------JaggedTech

sorry, but at Gencon Wizkids said they really worked hard to get 3-D into the game but it jsut became too complex for them to use it.

Think of everyone flying in about 500 feet of vertical airspace, and you wont miss it

Drat, kinnison got here before me.

Oh well.

I wouldn't expect that WK will make it more complicated than the original.

Thanks for the info.

In my experience with aerial combat games, altitude is only worth it in games where 1 player controls 1 plane. 1 on 1 dogfighting is perfect for having as much detail as possible. You can even add pitch considerations (how far up or down the nose is pointed) if you want to go all the way.

Once players start controlling lots of planes at once, however, the addition of altitude rules alone has MASSIVELY slowed down gameplay in every single game I've used them. It basically doubles or even triples the amount of time it takes to play, because it effects every aspect of the game. Movement, fire arcs, hit mods, everything ... all of which have to be considered on every single plane you're controlling.

This is also true of space combat games, when comparing 2d to 3d gameplay.

actaully a freind of mine has developed a 3-D space combat game using real newtonian physics. We can get a 2v2 battle done in about an hour. Nice thing about this is there are enough charts and gaming aids to make the gameplay run smoothly.

but again, that is a differant game.

That sounds really interesting, Kinnison. That sounds like something I might be interested in.
:)

blackgryphon I agree it would be fun to have a 3D battle if i would go at normal speeds. I think I may to try develop a version of crimson skies that includes altitude, but goes the normal speed.

Kinnison, yes like I said using true 3-d with a few ships/planes works just fine. Players can keep that much dynamic information fresh in their mind. It's when you start pushing lots of units that dynamic statistics such as altitude bog things down.

Which brings me to the question, how many planes is ClickSkies (tm) intended to be played with? The sqadron packs coming out lead me to believe it's not just a ace dogfight game.

you can have a squadron battle (4v4) or 8 planes in a free for all. it really depends on how many players you have, and how big of a battle you want.

The best thing about crimsons skeis is that because your speed determines when you move, it works really well with Multiple players

It will be fun to have a free for all witha lot of people.

That would be nice to see, especially in sanctioned play...!

Pirates (Faction A) attack Zep (Faction B), which is defended by security forces (Faction C).

In the course of the battle, the Zep drifts of the border of Faction D and is attacked by it's militia.

Cool... :devious:

Altitude would also be fun to use with a 3D map. Just think a cliff is just ahead and if you don't go to a higher altitude you would crash.