Aces High gets 'Special': Special effects in Version 1.03

Mission editor relieves many of difficult task of organization.

The 3^rd week in June saw the release of V1.03 in Aces High, with many bugs as expected in a new release, but special effects that leaves ones jaw slack in awe. Night mission bombing runs are something everyone needs to experience. Explosions with confetti material as the enemy diseningrates, the introduction of the Zero, Yak, FW190-A5, and the M3, and the surprize introduction of the P47D. A mission editor that is intuitive to use makes ones life easier to plan and organize raids. Some of the new features of Version 1.03 include:

New lighting effects - Beautiful sunrises and sunsets and improved cloud lighting give a cinematic quality to the landscape in the game in resolutions up to 1600 x 1200 and color depth up to 32 bit.

Special effects- Buildings exploding in a shower of debris leaving burning, smoking, wrecked shells, as well as tanks firing smoke shells to lay down a covering screen are among some of the new visual effects.

Squadron aircraft logos- Allows player squadrons to upload custom artwork to our host to be automatically displayed on their member's planes and vehicles.

Mission planner- Allows players to plan and organize complex missions encompassing up to 256 players per mission plan.

Roger Wilco integration- Allows players using Roger Wilco, a real-time Internet voice communication application, to configure its use through AH, making it much easier to use within the game. Visit http://www.resounding.com for info about Roger Wilco.

Terrain editor- A separate terrain editor will be released shortly after the release of version 1.03. This editor allows players to generate their own terrains to be used offline or in free multiplay. Players can also submit them to HTC to be used for general online play or special events. An auto-download feature for terrains has also been incorporated to make it easy to always get the correct terrain.

New planes and vehicles bringing the total number to 25.

A6M5b - Considered by many to be the ultimate version of the legendary Japanese Zero.

Fw 190A-5 - Germany's formidable air superiority fighter and interceptor.

M-3 Halftrack - Allows players to carry troops as an alternative means to the C-47 cargo plane.

Commanding Officer

Red Dragons Aces High Division

by "Ripsnort I./JG2

Things were just great until the ending of Flying Circus's beta stage was imminent in september '98, the squad had to decide whether to stick with their old game and loose all those pilots who weren't willing to pay or find a new simulation to play in which would have meant giving up some great friendships and friendly rivalrys with other Flying Circus squadrons. In a democratic vote it was decided to move on to another sim, Sierra's WW1 flight simulator "Red Baron 2".

The new CO, RD-Sneaky, put a lot of effort into getting the squad started in Red Baron 2. It worked, and soon it almost felt like the squad had never left Flying Circus, especially when many of our old allies and enemies from Flying Circus moved on to Red Baron 2, including the Arabian Knights, Jasta 18, Skeleton Crew and the Wing Walkers.

Again the squad was growing at a phenomenal rate, and one of the new recruits that joined in november '98 was me, Redwing. The squad again became a well known and respected part of the community, we were involved in lots of player organized events and squad vs. squad wars. It was a great time, but eventually more and more of our members got bored with the game, mostly due to the developers complete ignorance when it came to updates or patches. The game was stagnating, and so was our squadron. Average attendance at squad meetings was low and in October '99 we finally scheduled a command staff meeting to discuss the future of the squadron. At this time the command staff consisted of our CO RD-Rocket, our XO RD-Lister (now called Duma), RD-Apathy, RD-Snoozy and me (the former CO and XO had left us in summer of '99). We decided to move on to a new simulation again, but this time not giving up the old one by just splitting the squad into "Divisions" and forming a new Division instead of making the whole squad move to that new game.

It proved to be a very rewarding, the newly formed Aces High Division commanded by me and Duma grew and became the biggest squad in Aces High's beta period with 24 enlisted pilots. When Aces High's beta period was over there was no discussion about moving on to another game again, we were too addicted. At least Duma, Rocket, Bullzi, Apathy and I were, the majority of our pilots wasn't, and we lost them all. It was a costly decision to stick with Aces High, but I'm very confident that we will eventually regain our old strength and become a big squad again.

A short note on our other Divisions, the weren't THAT successful. A few weeks back we merged our old Red Baron 2 Division with the Jasta 18 which became our sister squad in the process, and we're still trying to get the other divisions rolling. 

Command staff: CO - me (Redwing); XO - Duma; TO - Rocket

Pilots: Apathy, Bullzi, Goat10, Terracota 

I mentioned them before, Flying Circus and Red Baron 2. Some of us also have been involved in the Confirmed Kill closed beta test and played Warbirds Head2Head, we never had a squad or division presence in one of those games though. 

I remember one squad meeting during the Aces High beta test sometime in december '99, we captured 4 fields on our own in less than 3 hours and our fighters scored an unbelievable amount of kills. And this was on a saturday night, so the arena was far from being empty. 

When we decided to form the Aces High Division we agreed on representing a USMC unit, we had been flying for the germans in all our previous games and wanted a change. The current lack of a historical arena doesn't allow us to really act like a USMC unit right now, but as soon as this changes we'll be fighting in the pacific theatre for sure. So currently we're just flying the F4U-1D and keep pretending we're a USMC unit. We agreed on not flying the F4U-1C anymore, even if its firepower was historically accurate its still not much fun for other players to be ripped apart by 2-3 pings.

Not yet, we're an international squad and its damn hard to figure out a day and time when members from the US and from europe can make it on a regular basis. So right now I just email the squad when I feel like its time for a meeting again and we agree on the day and time. I try to schedule the meetings on a weekly basis that way. 

This depends on Rocket, if he can make it to the meeting he usually provides us with some tactical training in the Training Arena or on a H2H server before we head into the Main Arena. If he can't we usually just head into the Main Arena and learn ACM the hard way.

I bet every Dragon would ask for a different plane here, but personally I would love to see more Japanese and US planes used in the pacific theatre. And of course, Carriers (yes I know it's not really an aircraft)

Thanks for your time Redwing! Pleasure interviewing you! Ripsnort 

JG2 put it to a vote, and majority ruled. Tour 6 JG2 (both squadrons) will be changing countries on a 'Good Will' tour to share our vast knowledge and experience by 'visiting' another country. As the Allies did in WW2 with bomb runs ending in Russia, JG2 will do the same. It was decided to go to Rooks. Funked requested that we fight against them rather than with them, since we have a friendly rivalry going with this squad. As of July 3^rd, 2000, all JG2 wanting to participate in this Good Will tour will report to Rooks. Those not wanting to participate can remain Knight, but will be considered open game for those who move to Rooks. At the end of tour 6 we will move back to Knights for tour 7. Another vote the following month will tally up for another change of country tour for tour 8. We will see how the first change of countries turns out.

This change will be beneficial to JG2 in how the enemy executes tactics, as well as flying with those we've been shooting down for the last few months. It can only solidify this fine squadron we have here in Aces High. As you know, the 308^th has done this as well, with no demoralizing sides effects. Looking forward to seeing you all in Rookland!