CALL TO ARMS DDz !

[Crash]

Again we need the views from the people who seldom fly or are thinking of returning as they might not have GB or DCS

[Jabo]

Personally, I'll be sorry to see '46 and CloD go. For me, DCS requires too much effort to be moderately competent let alone competitive and GBS doesn't have the planeset or scenarios that hold my interest all that much. It doesn't matter really though - I fly so little now anyway that my input to the group is token at best. That said, I do think that the group as a whole needs to find a way forward that suits the majority of regular flyers. Our decisions when '46 was THE sim were easy - now there are 4-5, making everyone happy is going to be nigh on impossible.

I will go along with the majority view for the good of the Dogz,  whether I decide to fly or not.

[wingflyr]

Yes, I too am sorry for my lack of attendance. The scheduled work week I picked for the spring sheet I thought would work.

Im finding it difficult to attend with the time I have allocated to myself or if I do its a very short session. With that said I will try to pick a better timetable for summer sheet in june, and start joining the Dogz more regularly during the week.

As for Sundays and Sats very little to none, time spent with the Mrs" especially with summer and good weather approaching. When I talk to Artie Zukker AP and Ross, I will mention the situation here at hand. Flyin with you fellows is a blast and would hate to loose that. So in summary, most of the week is good for whatever but depending on the work schedule of coarse. Weekends and some Fridays are usually out.    Cheers Dennis 

[Friar]

Salute Guys,

I must admit that I have had my head turned by Assetto Corsa and now the new release of Assetto Corsa Competizione, enough to upgrade to a new computer to get the best out of my new graphics card I got from work and the VR headset.

I have had the new pc a while now but have not got round to re-installing my flight controllers, a really big reason for not turning up to fly also my Sundays have changed and family demands meaning that timings no longer fit. Flying in the week is totally out for me as I am still hammering up and down the motorways of the UK.

When I did fly recently it was more to catch up with you guys and I am sad to say that 46' no longer got me excited. If we were to move to a sim that meant I could utilize my VR in a flight environment , that would be a slightly bigger stick to beat me with to get my arse back in the skies with the Dogz.

If we were to go with the VR compatible option (BoX?), could we do it in the public arena rather than a private server, might help recruitment?

Cheers, Friar

[Crash]

How would people feel about a weekend PM session? Not too sure about how regular I would be.

[APHill]

Salute guys,

My preference is GBS over DCS. As to committing to certain days of the week, well, being a male, I'm not good at "committing" to much, as my two ex-wives could attest to!

Tuesdays work for me flying BOX, I just need to make more of an effort to show up.

Regards

AP

[Jabo]

Having talked things over with a few people on TS, the idea was put forward that perhaps we should swap the regular nights for GBS and '46 so GBS got the Sunday primetime slot but 46 would still be available for the luddites (myself included). If attendance for '46 continues to dry up then we could maybe look at 2 nights a week on GBS and put '46 out to pasture, except perhaps when we want a change from the Eastern Front?

Just an idea like I say, but it seemed a pretty popular option.

[DD_Arthur]

1 hour ago, Jabo said:

Having talked things over with a few people on TS, the idea was put forward that perhaps we should swap the regular nights for GBS and '46 so GBS got the Sunday primetime slot but 46 would still be available for the luddites (myself included). If attendance for '46 continues to dry up then we could maybe look at 2 nights a week on GBS and put '46 out to pasture, except perhaps when we want a change from the Eastern Front?

Just an idea like I say, but it seemed a pretty popular option.

Would it be possible for these 'few people on TS' to post their opinions here in this thread?  From what I've read here so far it would seem the number of Dogz who either don't have '46 installed or who have lost interest in it would seem to out number those who still use it.

I'm not sure we need to associate GBS with the eastern front too much these days. Within the next two months it would seem likely GBS will be releasing it's new 'Deventer Bombing Range' map and an array of suitable aircraft to accompany it so I think GBS will undergo another growth spurt of interest as it turns away from the Eastern front.  

[delta7]

Unfortunately we are dropping numbers of active squad members and increasing options of sims so imho we wont ever get back to large numbers flying together. As long as hosts are willing I will fly il2 and box, others dont interest me.

[Painless]

Amazing to remember that we once flew just the one sim on Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and often Saturday !

Simpler times .....

Anymore opinions chaps ?.........

[delta7]

It is important we find out the reason for the low numbers Are people getting distracted for personal reasons or just wanting a change from routine or dont like types of missions we fly? This reduction in numbers has significance for squad funding and what we can support.

One further thought, if it doest effect funding then is this not really only a concern if the hosts are fed up with low numbers and dont feel it is worth their time? If hosts are happy to put up with low numbers then there should not be an issue, I dont think you will be able to get any agreement to reduce the sims we fly to concentrate numbers ,as there are too many individual preference s. I would recon that the only practical tweak is which days we fly which sim so good to have poll up on seperate thread to try to get best balance. 

[Painless]

Personally I think we really do need to drop 46 and have done for too long now. Not sure changing evenings would make any difference? Let’s see what Tom’s stats spread sheet comes up with, see what Arjen is ok with and go from there.

Funding is an interesting one, fewer numbers = more expensive for each of us I guess without some kind of change in donations or server expenses.

[FoolTrottel]

If you really want to fix the low numbers, go out and recruite actively. New members is what we need. People will always drop off, find different interests, just move on. For sure, having 4 types does not help here. But, guess what the numbers would look like had we still be doing only 1946 and CloD... 

Even if and when we setup a new schedule that fits best, I'd be pleasantly surprised if we regularly have sessions with 10+ jocks.

So, anybody want to become recruiting officer? 

 

(Oh dear, that's kinda negative isn't it. We're all doomed!)

[DD_Fenrir]

Not at all Arjen.

First we need to fix the schedule, work out what the most popular night is and what the most popular sim is. It makes sense to put that sim on that night, then work down the pecking order.

That way when we go to the wider community to recruit we can say authoritatively "we play X on this night, Y on this night and Z on that night" and they can decide if it's something they want to get involved in.

As for dropping 46 or CloD from our flying schedule?

There is still room in the week for both the older sims - there are 7 days after all chaps, and only 4 sims - and there are people here, some of whom have no interest in DCS - understandably - and some whom have not yet been converted to the delights of GBS or are not keen of - potentially - spending a lot of $$$ to be able to play it. Some of these members are solid (if not crucial) supporters of the squad so by default they deserve to have the option of voting to keep their favourite supported. 

Either that or we risk alienating - or even elbowing out of the squad - old friends.

 

[Painless]

Good point Tom, I would not like to see anyone leave us because we drop IL2 46.

If that would be the case for anyone, please say so !

[Crash]

On 5/13/2019 at 4:35 PM, FoolTrottel said:

If you really want to fix the low numbers, go out and recruite actively. New members is what we need. People will always drop off, find different interests, just move on. For sure, having 4 types does not help here. But, guess what the numbers would look like had we still be doing only 1946 and CloD... 

Even if and when we setup a new schedule that fits best, I'd be pleasantly surprised if we regularly have sessions with 10+ jocks.

So, anybody want to become recruiting officer? 

 

(Oh dear, that's kinda negative isn't it. We're all doomed!)

I think we need to be able to say that we fly this sim, at this time on these nights. I have mentioned our squad on the Elite Dangerous forum and I sent MB Avro who popped up on the ATAG forum (a name I remember from the Ubizoo) a pm but he said he couldnt join as there was an error message on our website.

[PapaBear]

Well i mostly fly DCS and then CLOD, loosely using the term fly!! I still have IL2 but have not flown in it for quite a number of years!  now i manage to get on line with you chaps more often as the internet slowly gets better, sims have moved on a bit. As far as flying any other sims goes i think the three that i have mentioned will have to do for me, as my remaining brain cells struggle to keep up as it is. I really do enjoy flying and get great satisfaction from it when it all goes according to plan, i agree with Tom seven nights and four sims is worth a try, it would be a shame to lose any. 

  

[Snacko]

Following.. ?

[FoolTrottel]

2 hours ago, Snacko said:

Following.. ?

That won't do!

Give us your opinion ... all your wishes and needs and data are belong to us! 

[Snacko]

Well, we(you all) have been through this process a few times in the past few years.  It seems not to have brought in the new members or gotten people to show up in the past that you have wanted.  I hesitate to post an opinion because I'm not a regular anymore.  I mostly don't fly online anymore because I'm getting older(sleep/attention focus problems); and I'm doing other projects.  But for me, my favorite part of flying online was flying actual simple missions.  Something that was short and sweet and fun.  Then, do it again, and again.  The dogfight servers where everybody does whatever they want, I find boring.  I can do that on my own.. ie:learning a DCS/Box plane.  Once I can takeoff, nav, land and bomb/dogfight I would be ready to have fun online in a good mission.  Or, if there was specific aircraft training, that I think is fun too.  Touch and Gos, bombing range, all practicing a specific aircraft so we can fly that fun mission..

I will say that most of the successful online groups focus on 1 primary sim.  Even in DCS that gives you ~30 complicated aircraft to fly?  Even that is hard to get everyone to fly in a mission(ie. can't have a Spit on a mission with a F-18c).  So, it's hard keep the old players and recruit new ones.  So, I guess I agree with what Fen said in an above post.  You need to pick 1-2 sims, state what day you fly them.  Have regular "FUN" missions.  

That's my 2 cents.

 

[FoolTrottel]

32 minutes ago, Snacko said:

(...)

That's my 2 cents.

 

Thank you!

 

[Kira]

School's been ramping up lately, and Sunday is now my only day off, as I do need some income somewhere along the line.  Just haven't wanted to spend my now quite limited time doing this at the moment.  As for sims of choice, still IL2 and DCS.  I don't fly CLOD or the other much at all, even offline.