Pre-AAS

[TeflonDon]

Hey

In the "rants" thread people have been talking about the days before PR became AAS-based.

What was gameplay like before that? I thought BF2 was AAS, with the main difference being that flags did not have to be capture in order, which was changed in PR with AASv2.

-Tef

[thegreatnardini]

AAS is completely PR, in vanilla BF2 and other mods any flag except the uncap is capturable. This meant that you needed to defend every flag, and your forces were spread throughout the entire map. I personally love AAS, it allows the entire team to be fighting over one or two flags, as opposed to "flag-hopping", where the teams went around in a vicious circle capping flags. Since you could only spawn on squad leaders and flags in vanilla capturing rear flags was important, but now we have rally points, firebases, apc's, etc. we can place behind enemy lines that pretty much simulate capping a rear flag.

[Rafterman1987]

AAS also simulates a logical frontline / supply line. I hate to beat on Operation Ghost Train but it's easiest to understand. If you didnt have the north AND south bridge logically you'd have no supply line up to temple or tunnel. You just wouldn't leave the enemy in a position where they could cut you off fom your supply line.

Besides, nothing is stopping you from a pre-emptive attack on flags not marked in AAS (other than Main bases; calling main bases uncaps creates confusion i find, people think that if its not marked in AAS the enemy cant attack under TG rules ).

My final argument in favour of AAS is this: your orders come from generals in RL, the commander in PR isnt that general, he's just the guy that has to carry out the wishes of the generals and the generals are represented by AAS :P

[Gahlas]

Pre AAS in PR was a lot of fun at TG. The gameplay, I believe was a lot better because you were not constantly fighting at the flag like you are now. If you were on defense, you had time to prep, set up spots, allocate kits, etc without 3 squads instantly on you. You never knew where or when the enemy was hitting from.

Attacking was more fun also. You didn't always know that enemies would be there, they didn't know when you would hit or where from. You had time to observe, plan, etc much like defense without worrying about constantly being over run by 3 squads at the flag. It was very fun stuff.

The whole purpose of AAS is to create those frontlines but it never actually works. Maybe in a Tacmod like secnario but there will never be such a tight nit event like that here again. I think they ought to drop AAS completely. Just my opinion though. You PR guys probably love it.

[TheSkudDestroyer]

Yes, I do.

After playing an hour of PoE2 I often get sick to my stomach with all the flag hopping.

AAS may be an annoyance at times, but god I love it for keeping the game coherent.

[fuzzhead]

yea if you want to know how PR plays without AAS, just give PoE or OPK or the other bf2 mods a spin....

v0.7 will feature some new game mode(s) for the ones that are getting tired of AAS...

have you tried playing Al Basrah?

[Rafterman1987]

PoE2 pumps up the action too far. That's definatly a game for people with ADD lol. I tried it again for the first time in a year the other day, my head was spinning from how fast the flags go up and down lol.

[IMI-50AE]

It seems a bit ridiculous to use supply lines as an 'excuse' for AAS. Considering we aren't talking about an overarching campaign stretching days or weeks, and also taking into account that you would have the battlefield secured before bringing up supply elements, doesn't it seem a bit rediculous to say that it simulates supply lines? Now maybe if there were campaigns where how you performed on previous maps affected the supply chain and in turn affected what sort of support you would recieve, I would buy that, but in a small set-piece battle with mostly infantry, it seems a bit harder to comprehend. Now yeah, I know you're not refering to setting up depots and bringing in convoys of 5-ton trucks, but still.


To be sure, I like AAS over Vanilla's 'whack-a-flag' mentality, but of course it isn't perfect. Of course, it also seems strange that two opposing militaries would set up rather significant bases that are within easy mortar range, but compromises are made. I realize I strayed off-course, and I'm not even sure what point I was trying to make. I guess it's that using the whole "Supply Lines" and "Front Lines" thing is a bit odd, considering that attacking the rear area and disrupting enemy C3 and supplies are important goals in warfare.

My $0.02

[Lucky Shot]

Flags that you defend correctly in POE do not change hands. If they dropped AAS, I could be convinced to try PR again. But I don't believe that frontline style is the "best" way to play.

For what it's worth, I agree with IMI around supply lines. You could support supply lines on Al Basrah from the US flag into ANY MEC flag. But AAS works well for those who like to camp knowing that the enemy has no choice but to go to the flag that they know your at. Imagine the paratroopers who refused to go behind German Lines in WWII because it wasn't the next point in a linear battle.

Lucky Shot

[snooggums]

Originally Posted by Lucky Shot

Flags that you defend correctly in POE do not change hands. If they dropped AAS, I could be convinced to try PR again. But I don't believe that frontline style is the "best" way to play.

For what it's worth, I agree with IMI around supply lines. You could support supply lines on Al Basrah from the US flag into ANY MEC flag. But AAS works well for those who like to camp knowing that the enemy has no choice but to go to the flag that they know your at. Imagine the paratroopers who refused to go behind German Lines in WWII because it wasn't the next point in a linear battle.

Lucky Shot

With only 32 players on a side AAS helps focus the battle. If we have 128 per side and 8 flags I could see having all the flags open as options. With AAS2 there are often two flags on each side in contention at the even point, so four total flags in play for the 5 squads on each team. It is rarely focused on a single flag for very long.

[fuzzhead]

I have put in about 10 hours into PoE and have never ONCE seen a squad defend a flag for more than a few minutes.... same with vanilla BF2... and the same with PR without AAS.... people by default dont want to defend in BF2.... so AAS gives them good reason to, with clear advantages to well prepared defenders. in PoE and other mods I noticed no real reason to defend. Why defend when you can go attack and get more action/points/kills/teamwork etc at the next flag, then when the enemy comes back to the flag you were just at, you can go attack there all over again. this is the kind of brain numbing mentality that really irks me in BF2...
AAS is far from perfect, but I think it has given gameplay a lot more structure and strategy in place of conquest.

[TheSkudDestroyer]

Defense is often more fun and more "epic" than slaughtering yourself running up a hill towards a flag.

[knewman]

Ever played whack-a-mole? Then you know what BF2 without AAS is like.

[Lucky Shot]

Originally Posted by fuzzhead

I have put in about 10 hours into PoE and have never ONCE seen a squad defend a flag for more than a few minutes.... same with vanilla BF2... and the same with PR without AAS.... people by default dont want to defend in BF2.... so AAS gives them good reason to, with clear advantages to well prepared defenders. in PoE and other mods I noticed no real reason to defend. Why defend when you can go attack and get more action/points/kills/teamwork etc at the next flag, then when the enemy comes back to the flag you were just at, you can go attack there all over again. this is the kind of brain numbing mentality that really irks me in BF2...
AAS is far from perfect, but I think it has given gameplay a lot more structure and strategy in place of conquest.

You never played POE at TG then. But I can understand why some might think that people are not smart enough to defend flags. BF2 suffered from too many flags, did you see how many flags were on Dragon Valley 64? You couldn't POSSIBLY defend them all. Yet at TG on Vanilla, we attempted to defend every flag we had. I understand though that if you don't feel that the BF community as a whole doesn't defend flags, but we never had that problem at TG.

Lucky Shot

[Lucky Shot]

Originally Posted by knewman

Ever played whack-a-mole? Then you know what BF2 without AAS is like.

Yes, Ever defend a flag on BF2? I know what Whack-a-mole is, I also know that AAS is an artificially created bottleneck. If you can't figure out what flags are worth defending, then yes, you need AAS.

Lucky Shot