S3 Series

I reiterate my previous thoughts on ignoring the human bombers and attacking the escorts.

The bombers aren't dying because the damage model is incredibly weak. They are dying because they fly too fast and in terrible formations and the escort is very ineffective, a lot of which is a result of the bomber speed and girl scout trail formations.


If the only way to keep the bomber pilots in the game is to disregard their own poor formation discipline and up the bomber hardness multiplier until they can fly sloppy to Berlin and back, I vote for AI bombers. The formations they fly make for better films anyway.

The last two human bombers I shot down were below 1000 feet over eastern France, one below the tree tops.

If we don't shoot at the human bombers they won't quit, so its a win-win. We don't have to be the Fedeyeen versus M1A1 Abrams and they can build cross country time unmolested.

We could also "miss" our intercept of the player bombers and rack up the AI bombers and any escort they have

Got it...new DM. Buffs took a beating.

Any idea of how many were PK's vs vital parts being blasted off?


Dobs

Y'all probably don't want to hear this but I'll say it anyway. Another reason for the overall decline in attendance could be the frequency of S3 frames. Used to be up to 3 or 4 weeks between S3 events. The S3 was the Superbowl of Warbirds and players were very excited to participate in them. Nowadays, you get one weekend off and it starts up all over again. I realize the original purpose of having more S3 events was to keep interest up and satisfy hardcore grognards. But from my viewpoint attendance has steadily declined over the past couple of years.

To me the S3 has become nothing more than an organized Main Arena event lately. Survival and accomplishing the mission isn't as important as it used to be. Racking up kills and squad scores is the name of the game now. One reason the buffs were decimated is that their scorts are free to follow shooters to the deck to get those kills. I've run into almost as many enemy fighters on the deck as I have escorting the buffs at alt.

Make the S3's unique again and focus on rewarding mission accomplishment and survival and you might see more participation from the buff drivers.

Just my .02 worth and an opinion. Everybody has one.

rat...

Valid point Rat..

Have had numerous discussions with Dawger about "gaming the game"/playing to win the series vs intent of the S3.

In theory if you follow the intent of the series and execute it well, you should be "winning". As we can see from this series, Axis are doing there job very well....Allied escorts have a tough time stopping the Buff Killers and are either driven down or "lured" down.... Buffs are alone, and the clubbing begins. So we would expect to be ahead in points. Even with the success we have faced, the buffs are one drop away from getting a tonnage award in points.

More spacing between events would be nice...anticipation, preparation, and the staff can catch their breath and enjoy it vs feeling like they are swamped. Having been a "recent" return in the last few years, the arena numbers seem to have crept up slightly....but the S3 numbers have declined.

Too much, too often? Loss of US time zone players? Hard to say...I know there is a group who keeps accounts ONLY to fly S3s....

So intent of the S3 is mission based, points dictate success, and since points seem to matter to many...drive their behavior...and not necessarily toward S3 mission goals/intent.

Tough nut to crack, but good post.

My opinion to follow...........

5 frames is 2 frames too many.

3 hours is 1 hour too long

1 week break between series is 1 week too short.

The willingness to change settings mid series discourages the hell out of me. I have little to no desire to continue with this series now that bomber hardness multiplier will change mid series.

The constant deferral to "bomber" pilots and avoiding the fight (by fighter groups in the S3 it seems) in S3 and the Main Arena has me reconsidering my further participation in Warbirds. I am here because I want Warbirds to move forward and provide a venue for those looking for human versus human conflict and interaction. Every time we are successful in achieving that, a new barrier is placed in the way.

I agree with many points made here:

Too many series in a year - I would like to see three to five weeks off between series and I am not a fan of the month delay in frames during the holidays. IMO the last series should end no later than 14 Dec. The first series of the year should start no later than 14 January.

I do like the five frame format since we (axis) have frames 3, 4 and 5 usually claimed, with 1 and 2 going to the cross-dressers (Lol TM!).

Three hours too long? I only think that when I get our side killed at merge. But there have been frames that I fondly recall where three hours went by and I didn't have a chance to finish my tea. I love those types of frames.

I would say, keep the 3 hours and five frames, but reduce the number of series. If you must reduce something else, take the series down to four frames. Three is too short.

I just looked at the 2015 calendar and here is an example of a schedule that I think would work.

New Series begins Second Sunday in January and runs five weeks (off for SuperBowl), and ends mid February. Next series begins first Sunday in March and runs five weeks (off for Easter) and ends in April.* Next, and FINAL SERIES OF THE SPRING begins first Sunday in May and runs for five weeks (Off for Mothers day).

Summer Series should be fun what-ifs but not full five week series. Maybe a DoA (PLEASE) three framer or Ami/Brit vs VVS OR Invasion of Texas (Using the San Antonio map). But nothing big that requires full attendance during the summer.

The Fall Series should begin the Sunday after Labor Day and runs into October. Then the last series of the year starts first Sunday in November.

This schedule gives us five official series a year + a summer of fun smaller events with ample breaks between the series and breaks for the major holidays.

We are very close to the 100 mark for events, BTW. I think we should start planning something for that one. Maybe invite the old sticks to reform for a discount for five weeks sign-up.