lakespeed

Hmm....it must be something activating it on my end then. Not sure why though, the controls are off, unless I am missing something.

Sorry for not clarifying. If I play a game, say Escort or 1v1 combat, both against human and AI, around the 2nd turn of the combat of that game all of the sounds come back on, the machine gun fire, engine sounds, etc... even though I have all of these off on my preferences on the main DIF lobby screen, and they are off when I check the options during the game, but the sounds still come on. Even the lobby sounds come back during the points screen but once I hit the actual lobby they stop. It's really weird, and I don't know if this is an isolated issue with me or if others try to shut the sound off and also have this problem.

I like to play with no sound so I can listen to Live365, so I play with the sound options off but about the 2nd or 3rd round the sound effects kick back in. How do I keep them off?

Well, I can tell you that I do basically all escort missions, except when I lose my ED, then I try to do 1v1 and hope I don't get killed until I get my ED back. I always purchase an Ace Pilot card, not the IMS:2D card. I too don't like this card because it is overpowering, and I agree that it should be booted. I can tell you this, escort missions have gotten a lot harder IMHO, usually if you are engaging 1 element and are within 1 altitude level of the other element, that element will stop attacking the bombers and gang up on you. I'm getting shot up pretty bad on every mission, and once you get bounced by the other high level element, usually you can kiss your wingman goodbye. I'm not complaining, I actually like it because it make you have to use a lot more thinking on what cards to play, knowing full well that you have to sometimes turn tail and run when things go bad. So I guess I'm saying that escort missions aren't milk runs like you may think. I've also been playing the board game since it came out, so I'm used to my brother playing every dirty trick in the book on me, so I've learned the hard way to show no mercy. :eek:

Always the trouble when posting from work and memory. I was thinking about the raiden. It is not so bad but definitely the worse of all the top fighter ( I know someone have to be ), but taking into account the 2 best fighter of all the nation he is still the worst, right under the P-47 and only just above the Zero ( and it is a matter of taste as I will rate the Zero as better with the extra 2 perf ). And I do agree the AI is playing more and more smarter nowadays and he start being able to handle bombers correctly ( especially at Higher point count ). But I was just signaling some behaviour it still have. I am wondering if the AI is aware of the spoil aim skill too. </font>

Whew, that's a long post! Let me comment on some of your ideas and give you a little feedback. 1)I don't really agree with this assessment. What aircraft do you mean by J1N2? I think that was the "Irving" but that aircraft is not available. The earlier aircraft are a bit weak, but realistically that's what the japanese planes were in WWII. They had little if no armor, and the pilots rarely used parachutes. That's what made them more agile. Usually with the Japanese aircraft if you get the Marksman skill you can get bursts using your agile skill to get in position. 2)I think that's in the works. I too would love to see the French next. I need some easy targets for my German pilots! 3)The way to fix it against humans is to agree before-hand to a starting altitude. I like it against the bot AI because if I have a really bad hand (see #6) it ay give me some time to draw some decent cards. I hate getting smoked with no cards to defend myself! In the board game, some aircraft cannot reach altitudes of very high, or even high. I don't think this carries over to this game. 4)Not really sure about this one. I'd prefer to pick my skills as I go along, instead of having an order to pick in. Also, I think more skills are on the way. 5)Sometimes the AI does weird things, like draw an extra card with no one at the same altitude level, but I don't really worry about it. The AI is pretty tough as it is, and I think since the last upgrade it's gotten a lot smarter. I've noticed the the fighters will disengage the bombers now when I'm close and double-team me. Never happened before, and they really make you work for it. I think Stalin's Orchestra has lost 3 of his top aces recently, and he's one of the better/best players here, so ask him if he thinks the AI is getting tougher. 6)I noticed this too, but if you buy some redraw's like I started too, it helps to avoid this problem. Sometimes you have to think outside the box. :cool:

That's happened to me too a couple of times. What I did was minimize then maximize the screen, and it seems to fix the problem.

Stop complaining - you're getting 2.6 kills/missoin on a monthly basis with your top pilots - WTF can be going wrong??!! Other than that sometimes you're the pigeon, sometimes you're the statue! </font>

Ouch! I've gotten smoked against the AI since the changes have taken place. Maybe it's just a fluke, but I've been shot down almost every mission, with no chance of parole. I also had a set of rookies on thier first mission draw pilots with skills, they never even stood a chance. Also, someone seriously needs to shuffle the cards. When you start with 12 cards, all of them IMS or manuevering, and you get jumped with 3 OOTS cards in a row, twice, makes me think that someone out there hates me!

That's very similar to how "Achtung Spitfire" plays out, I'm not sure if you are familiar with the game.

It'll surely hurt the uber-ace pilots, which I have a few of myself. Not that it's a big deal, I just play for fun anyways. I wonder how many are out there like myself that just likes playing against the bots and really for now isn't all that interested in being pushed in a direction of playing online against live opponents? It'll be interesting but we'll have to see if the changes help or hurt.