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My Thoughts on the Fatigue System


Stikman

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I've raised this in the DIF lobbby and in discussions with Tornado, but wanted to lay out my thoughts on the new fatigue system to see what others think.

I argue that, with the new fatigue system, the DIF designers ought to consider adding a fifth pilot slot to each country. :cool:

If your missions go swimmingly well, fatigue is not a problem. But, if you have a few back to back missions where wingman and leader get shot down :mad: and accumulate 36 fatigue, with only four pilots, you can end up having to fly one with 9 fatigue--something I don't like to do.

In addition, having only four pilots per country can make it difficult to have a well-rested pilot at the right level available to join in a multiplayer match. And I think the designers have said they are trying to encourage more human vs. human play.

Having a fifth pilot slot also might--eh, probably not--make it easier to (gasp!) delete a pilot in order to enter a tournament, as I had to do the other night when I signed up for "Til Death Due You Part." (And by the way, shouldn't it be "Do" vice "Due"?) I went with a Japanese entry because I was least "emotionally invested" in those pilots. Not to mention I had just lost another Japanese wingman, making the decision of which pair to delete that much easier.

I'm sure you guys won't be shy in reacting to this. :D

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So don't get shot down! smile.gif

4 if fine IMO - your example only applies when every one of yuor pilots get shot down every time!!

you can also buy Iron Nerves to reduce the fatigue you suffer.

I find that I usually only play with 2 pilot pairs, and bring in a 3rd only when one of them gets damaged or shot down.

Flying with 9 fatigue (-1 structure) is not a massive problem.

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I am in agreement that there needs to be some way for players to participate in a tournament without having to retire one of their pilots. I'm not sure what the solution should be at this point, but we'll figure something out.

As far as the fatigue problem, I tend to think that four pilots is enough. It is actually intentional that you might have to occasionally fly a fatigued pilot. If it's happening too much, we'll take a look at it, but it builds character to fly fatigued once in awhile. smile.gif

I think some players forget that they don't have to always fly the most powerful aircraft available. If your pilot is fatigued, you might want to have him fly one the earlier (and less lethal) aircraft so that your opponent will be similarly equipped.

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The fatigue is super the way it is. Stikman you would not like the old system. You would get anywhere from 80-236 points of fatigue if you were shot down. That was the case for my highest pilots at the time. There was a time or two that I was flying with just 2 points of damage to shot me down. Plus you had to tail someone just to shot. Man I miss them days. NOT!! smile.gif

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Bartbert: Thanks for the suggestion on flying a lower level plane. I'll give that a try.

Mistura: I did fly under the old fatigue system for a few weeks. I recall that sometimes I would get a really high dose of fatigue, but it seemed to reduce very rapidly. Maybe it's just nostalgia, but it seemed like my pilots were less tired then and I had more ready pilots to match up for human vs. human games.

Bottom line here: I love this game. I haven't touched another game in the two months or so since I got the full version. Even have a couple of new games that I haven't bothered to install yet, cause DIF has captured my gaming time.

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Yes, the old fatigue system could be brutal! My higher pilots were always getting a minimum of 200 points of fatigue. However, as Stikman has pointed out, the fatigue wore off VERY quickly. If I had a pilot with 300 fatigue, by three turns with other pilots, he was usually rested. When the new system went online I was always having to fly one of my pilots with fatigue. I suggested to Stik that maybe 6 points of fatigue should be the "normal" rate rather than 9 points because a pilot with 6 fatigue does not have the -1 airframe penalty.

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It's the way the game works smile.gif

I tend to agree with your unstated assumption - that fatigue should affect the pilot not the aircraft, so a performance penalty is probably more appropriate (performance being, IMO, something that a tired pilot would affect).

other things that are perhaps not properly linked are some of the skills:

1/ Natural pilot - should add performance rather than structure for the same reason

2/ Zoom climb & power dive - should only be available on some a/c eg early Spitfires and Hurricanes with the infamous carbureted engines should not be able to power dive, neither should any bi-plane (too much drag) or most Japanese planes (famously able to be evaded by diving away)

But the game works well as-is, and making changes like these would have to involve some serious play-balance testing IMO.

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