S! Lrat members,

I See that things havn't panned out this campaign for the allies. Also as a note that during this campaign it seemed we were a lil short handed. With Aussie, Anfiach, Hotjoe it really took the sails out of us. I know that we all have other things going on but i just hope that we can all get back into the game for #55. Also, id like to also maybe consider going through the roster and bleeding out those that arn't either on anymore, or havn't really kept in touch with the squad. I know this is a fun squad, but i really think we try to keep use collected as a squad, and it would be a good idea to instill the priorites so that we know the orders of operation. With the advent of the new patch coming in the fall, i think it will inhance the gameplay, but maybe we should work on more tactics and group assaults to help those in need of rank and the cause... I have a few things i've been working on and once compiled id like to introduce a few tips. If you have any further comments, questions, concerns and your availbility updates please share.

Do not delete Xxenox (or however it is spelled) off the top of my head I an't think of anyone else but I don't know who is currently inactive.

Don't delete the older squad members that are over 1 year old.

I will return to WW2OL no doubt! as soon I find a job.
Damn I miss WW2OL.

Wally

How I wonder if you and I were the members he was talking about deleting

i agree it is anoying to have dead wood in a squad i have not been active for a while but i hope you won't disband me from the squad in game i will be back Aussie05 help

I back in game just 3 days ago.

Now waiting on Anf to return but he prolly wont return till mega update with rag doll where you can see butt up after they get shot so you guys can have butt seaks. lol.

lol
oi wally I'm staying at mums till my bro goes back to Astan

Ah cool ANf will catch up on weekend if you are on.
Work is hard.

I'm still here.

I own my own business and work from a home office. On one hand this allows me to play at very odd hours from early morning to late at night and every time in between. I usually log in when I'm on call for support (which is code for sitting by the phone and hoping it doesn't ring) and this runs in shifts.

On the other hand, when things get busy as they invariably do, I can be away from the game for days or even months at a time depending on what I have going on.

Added to that, I'm still not sold on this game. I'm in love with the concept and that's probably the only thing keeping me subscribed atm.

I've come to the conclusion that the whole Axis vs. Allies thing is completely fraudulent. It would be more accurate to call it Majority Subscribers vs. Minority Subscribers. This discourages me from playing a great deal.

Imagine a game of tic tac toe where your opponent gets two moves to your one. How much effort can you really put into that type of game?

As a business model this is great for CRS as it ensures that the majority of their paying customers will be 'winners'. But it makes a sham of the game model.

On an instance by instance level the game is fine. You can achieve personal or even team successes within each instance. But to say that you fight to win the overall war is ludicrous as long as the winner can be manipulated manually (I've seen it done this campaign). Axis players log in en masse to Allied side to prop up false hope (and it is false hope) for the Allies because they already know the map is going to be a pushover. Then when they either can't keep the charade going any longer or they're satisfied with our level of moral they switch back. A pre-determined outcome in this respect deserves no real effort IMO. No one fights for 2+2 to = 5, because it never will.

The ability to switch sides is a huge killjoy for me, and is based soley on a 'good business' model. If your customers complain they are loosing, you can just tell them all to click a different side and they will win (without question). Winning = happy customers who will more likely continue to play.

Imagine a campaign where every player logged in to the one side, and they win the map within a day because there is no opposition. This scenario exposes the fatal flaw in this game. I enjoy the challenge of determining the outcome of the overall war through skill, hard work, experience, even larger numbers to a certain extent. But when you take all that away with the click of a button you throw out all of the above and you are left with winning or loosing based on the click of a button... To me this is like paying $15/month to be losers as entertainment for the other side. We're already going to loose, but we'll just keep telling everyone not to give up so the Axis have something to shoot at (got to keep those majority subscribers happy afterall).

If the situation were reversed (Allied op Axis) winning via a button click is no more appealing to me than loosing this way.

Frankly, this beef of mine takes the 'give a shit' right out of me.

I love to play instance by instance with the squad, but honestly I could care less about the map. Maybe the new update will change this in some respect or another.

Heh, I can understand your frustration mate but these things go in cycles. True, whomever has the numbers will likely win the map, but it is never predetermined before the map starts. There are a lot of issues involved and it can be frustrating as hell sometimes. The majority of the frustration, however, comes from our passion for the game. I really wish that I could afford to be subbed all the time, I wish even more that we still were able to conduct interdiction mission s like we used to, unfortunately those opportunities are few and far between. Once you have played this game long enough, you will come to realize the patterns that shift. The game is relatively balanced now, although I think the Axis have received a little too much help recently, but that's the nature of the beast. You will find that quality and quantity of leadership comes and goes as well as the numbers.

The Axis have always had more subscribers, but the slightest obstacle causes them to collapse and they will either log off or switch sides. The Allies have attracted a lot of those types of players in the past 2 years because of increased success but I have been warning against this because it meant that the quality of our leadership and the quality of our side's players would diminish, and it has. Back when 1.27 was released, the Allies had just cleaned house in the HC leaving us very capable leaders with good attitudes and the only players we had left were hard core team and goal oriented people that were capable of moving the map regardless of numbers. With the patch came back many players from the past so we had a surge of numbers on top of those core players and the Axis were in disarray having never before faced the Allies on a level playing field. LRAT played a huge part in the Allies rise to power. We logged 317 official armor kills in Campaign 32 with the actual numbers being higher but at the time CTD and Alt+F4 did not record kills in the CSR. That number was from only 4 members of LRAT (others played infrequently or had left the game/squad). Those kills were made on supply interdiction missions, we never went near the city battles. As you can imagine, 300+ pieces of armor never reaching the front had an enormous impact on the map. Numbers can be overcome and even small 'instances' can have great effect on the outcome.

We suffer a lot by either not finishing an objective before players have to log or players simply giving up on an objective. Too many times I have seen a city on the verge of being captured and suddenly, everyone leaves. We have tried desperately to increase the numbers here in LRAT but we can't get people to stick around. I have to admit, I've not been the best leader for a long time but I haven't exercised the iron grip on things like I once did and so people tend not to follow when I give them the choice. I think things changed dramatically after 1.27 because I was no longer living in the same time zone and the old SAS had dissolved. With the death of supply interdiction we have been left searching for our niche. We have a lot of quality guys in this squad, just not enough of us are on at the same time to accomplish much as a squad, lately anyway.

My point though is simply, if you enjoy the game and you believe in the concept, don't toss it by the wayside, victories come and go, as do numbers. You will find the most joy in finding ways to out wit the enemy and find ways to exploit weaknesses. Don't forget though, if you want to take a break, we can play Americas Army or ArmA 2 together. Americas Army is free with built in VOIP as short missions that don't require commitment and I own ArmA 2, Aussie will get it when he can and Meshifty and Jimmy109 both own it as well. It is a very versatile game that we can build missions with to suit our own tastes and the AI is good enough to make Coop worth while, along with the ability for the game to create dynamic missions for us without the need for a restart. It is a game where we only have to rely on our squaddies rather than the hordes of nameless lemmings.

Other than that, don't worry, you have yet to experience the misery that the Allies suffered before 1.27. Also, the less you focus on what the HC is doing and everyone else, and the more you focus on just being a soldier in a battle, the more fun you will have. This was the greatest game in the world to me until I got mixed up in dealing with the HC and fussing over every decision they made. Just spawn in and focus on the targets in front of you and the outcome is rarely disappointing, win or lose. Also remember to check the forums. I post every message I get from HC to tell us about upcoming operations and this will tell you good times to jump in for the fight. I also suggest joining flights with 101st guys (hopefully you won't leave us for them ) as they do some great airborne ops. LRAT was born in the 101st and we still get along well with most of them.

Wow all this orange text blew my eyes out lol. i hear what you guys are saying, and i can agree with just about all of it, having been in game since basically day one, well its grown up ever so slowly. im like grab in the sence that im not so concernced with what hc does anymore, and basically apply myself and hopes that squadmates agree that certain objectives in game hold more value than other. if we can make impacts such as anf has stated where its interdiction, or blowing up factorsy(even though its timely) sticking to princples like capping spawnables,gaurding spawnables, coordinated attacks such that we arn't wasting supply, things of this nature can greatly improve our chances, and hence why i like having smaller more educated and modeled squad ops. if we all work on the same page and have enough hands on deck, this game can be simple. its so basic its funny but the players and HC are flawed at the times its most important. i would rather accomplish a strategic mission then worry about points(but its a bonus) anyawy, also wanted to let you guys know that i got another new rig built slightly better then the one at my house so now i can play at the gfs house, problem being.... its still here at her house where the handcufs have my time in game held back. see you guys when i can manage to get in game S!

Yeah LRAT were very good at supply interdictions, once I made 5 tiger kills/disable on supply line.

I'm hoping the town to town resupply will return someday.

I don't really care who wins the campaigns. I can only have an effect on the mission at hand, if it affects the whole campaign then that is great. I don't worry about the whole big picture, that is for HC to worry about. I enjoy just playing the mission at hand. I rarely leave a town that is being overrun. I like to stay in it to the end.
I think this game has the best gameplay I've seen. I have been disappointed with the graphics but that looks like it will be improved soon.
I also wish we had more opportunity to interdict supply. What is going to be the squads new specialty if we cannot cut supply?

Team work.

lol wally