I saw a link to the website a while back, on another site. I bookmarked it but never got the chance to come back and register. Now *looks around* I guess I'm here. Glad that's settled, then.
One of the reasons I -am- here (other than just breathing in the aromas of boiled praties and Guinness) is to look for pilots who want to get into some trouble. I play a game called Battleground Europe: World War II Online.
LINK
It's an ongoing, 24/7 campaign sim, based around the battle for Europe in WWII, had the Blitzkrieg not been successful. Players can take the parts of British or French (Allies) or German (Axis) ground forces (infantry and armor), naval forces (cargo ships, destroyers, and river patrol boats), and pilots (fighters, bombers, or transport planes for paratroopers). It's a complete, combined arms sim, with as realistic performance models as was possible to create. It's played on a 1/2 scale map of Europe...a single map covering over 350,000 square kilometers (over 135,000 square miles), to my knowledge the largest game map there is.
NOW, the game's graphics are more than a bit dated. It's been out since 2001, with some updates, but not enough. It started badly, with the publisher (Strategy First) forcing a release before the game was ready. They then split with the cash, leaving the developers (Cornered Rat Studios, aka "The Rats") holding the bag with virtually no funding. Over the years, bugs have been eliminated and graphics updated, and new funding is making current updates possible. Still, the less-than-state-of-the-art graphics also allow more people on the same (only) game map. You can set the game to show as many players as your system can handle, although visual distance and landscape/buildings keeps the practical number you can see at any one time fairly low.
The one BIG difference in WWIIOL is the immersion. You can get SO involved that you don't notice the time passing. As you're flying, you may fly over ground battles for towns or small parties of infantry searching for enemy forward bases. Be aware...they CAN shoot at you. Ground forces can have AAA (anti-aircraft artillery) at their disposal. They can even shoot a plane down with a lucky rifle shot to the pilot's head, so don't get cocky and fly too low.
As a ground pounder, you have to be on the lookout for enemies EVERYWHERE. They can be behind any bush or tree, or sniping from any number of windows. It's an amazing game.Here's the deal. We need people. Pilots would be nice, but ground and naval forces are needed too. The basic game is free (FTP), which gives the basic tier of equipment (lowest tier aircraft, rifleman), but a "Starter account" subscription is only $4.99(US) per month. That gives you some upgrades as well as two special bonus items or permissions which change each month. The full game is $14.99(US) per month if you sign up for a 12 month easy pay plan. At the very least, grab a rifle and get into some fights or hop into a plane and fly a few missions for free, then see if you like it enough to go further. There's even tactical airpower, where bombers can eliminate enemy factories and cause the flow of enemy supplies to slow down or stop entirely, for a period of time. That can make a HUGE difference to battles.
The game will be releasing on Steam in a few months, and we're expecting lots of new players. If you get started now, you could train and become a member of High Command (HC) by then, should you desire to. HC members decide what brigades go where, how supplies are routed, and what units attack and defend in what areas.
Either way, we need boots on the ground and planes in the air. I play strictly Allied, but it's up to you which side to play and when. You can even switch sides to help even out battles, although there's a 15 minute wait time when switching. If you get ingame, you'll see me as odonovan1. Unfortunately, the naming system doesn't take capital letters, apostrophes, or fadas. *sigh*
Hope to see some Irish presence ingame. Come help teach those eejits how to fight!
Slán,
O'Donovan
(That seems strange to type, as I usually go by "Irish," everywhere. It'd be a bit redundant here though, methinks.)
