What would you like to see at an event??

Headshot, not having a pop at anyone, I for one welcome such threads. Bash heads together and see what falls out.
Recon missions can be excellent, I prefer defence. Everyone is different
As for some feel they are not being catered for, perhaps I am missing something. As far as I can see there are games to suit everyone.
Now I seem to remember a us airborne game that was cancelled as no us airborne signed on... So moaning about that is a moot point.
Certain games such as oh let's say Arnhem SHOULD be british/ German only... Sorry if that annoys the yank players.
Point I am trying to make is one size does not fit all, someone somewhere is going to get the arse and feel slighted cos they only play 97th division of the lesser windings own rifles ( catering dept) and they can't play.
That's life.

Balance is key. Aim to low and you get SISK, push to high and you get 4 blokes and tin of spam. And sometimes you just need plain old silly.
We take ourselves way to seriously.

Balance is the key - but not in one game! SISKs for those who DON'T take the game seriously, high-aiming games for those who DO take the game seriously! Each sector (and all shades in between) should be catered for.

Seem to me they are catered for, people prefer to moan about minutiae, throw their teddies out of prams and then whinge about the lack of games for them NOT to attend.
Christ I wish I could go to these games, I'm lucky to get to one a year. I'm hoping that will change once I get the jeep finished.
Boys and girls you never had it so good. Maybe that is the problem!

Balance is key. Aim to low and you get SISK, push to high and you get 4 blokes and tin of spam. And sometimes you just need plain old silly.
We take ourselves way to seriously.

Balance is the key - but not in one game! SISKs for those who DON'T take the game seriously, high-aiming games for those who DO take the game seriously! Each sector (and all shades in between) should be catered for.

Seem to me they are catered for, people prefer to moan about minutiae, throw their teddies out of prams and then whinge about the lack of games for them NOT to attend.
Christ I wish I could go to these games, I'm lucky to get to one a year. I'm hoping that will change once I get the jeep finished.
Boys and girls you never had it so good. Maybe that is the problem!

My name is HeadShot and I endorse this post.

Headshot, not having a pop at anyone, I for one welcome such threads.

Totally agree. Like you, I feel that people just need to attend the bloody games that are organised.

It's like double-penetration anal fisting. Sure, it doesn't sound like something you'd enjoy, but you never know...so give it a go!

I am slightly bemused at people who've never attended an event suggesting 'new' things that should be done which have been done since the first CiA event in 2006. Again, even our first event started with the US side filling sandbags and reinforcing their positions for the first hour or so.

What a condescending and smug comment this is, sorry but are you saying new players shouldn't put any idea's or suggestions forward just incase you or someone else has tried it before at a game they haven't been too.

All you are looking for is catered for in the smaller games. The bigger ones will always have various different units.

What would I like to see? I'd like to see the bigger events not having a pot pourri of units...

Define people being more concerned about being hit, I am assuming you aren't taking about hit taking, more about lying down ect. More playing dead.

No I'm talking about a degree of realism where people actually value their life rather than behaving like some indestructible Rambo

Authentic distribution of weapons, most people have one gun, maybe two.

Again it is what I would like to see - occasionally. The rifle only game saw quite a few poeple with rifles I would just like to see that expanded upon with a weak SMG and an LMG. Oh dear and there have I been trying to convince my girlfriend that everyone has at least 9 guns.

Maybe it me but we seem to be going around in circles. Most asking for the same ideas in a slightly different way.
Still no harm in it.

Sometimes it helps for people to realise that events are giving what they want only it's been labelled slightly differently.

What a condescending and smug comment this is, sorry but are you saying new players shouldn't put any idea's or suggestions forward just incase you or someone else has tried it before at a game they haven't been too.

What he's actually saying is that some of the "new" ideas aren't so new if you look at past games, he never suggested that new players shouldn't have any input! If Headshot is being "condescending and smug", then sorry, you're being provocative and putting words in other people's mouths with it.

I am slightly bemused at people who've never attended an event suggesting 'new' things that should be done which have been done since the first CiA event in 2006. Again, even our first event started with the US side filling sandbags and reinforcing their positions for the first hour or so.

What a condescending and smug comment this is, sorry but are you saying new players shouldn't put any idea's or suggestions forward just incase you or someone else has tried it before at a game they haven't been too.

If that's what I'd said then I'd agree with you, but I think you've misinterpreted my words a little.

What I actually said was that:

I am slightly bemused at people who've never attended an event

suggesting things that they'd like to see in event, even though they're things that have been happening since the dawn of WW2 airsoft time.

The entire point of this conversation is for organisers to see what people would like to do differently, or to suggest new innovations and ideas which organisers might not have thought of and to see what things are popular amongst players so that they can be used more. I just think it's a bit bemusing that people who've never, ever been to an event are suggesting ideas that are actually pretty much par for the course.

I say this as an organiser who has four stereos and large batteries in his loft specifically designed for the purpose of playing special effects sounds!

I don't think that's a condescending or smug thing to say.

Q: What's the number one thing I'd like to see?

A: Players actually getting out there and attending the organised events and supporting the organisers who put in so much effort, rather than sitting at home pontificating about what organisers should or shouldn't do, whilst amassing a vast, yet pointless, collection of uniforms and guns.

i think some of the misunderstanding's here are due to geography ,some things are regular to some event organizers and not other's ,share and enjoy is the message here.
i also like the idea of more synchronicity in terms of kit on a side.camo is fine where its called for but the best spectacle is to see a mass of regular troops.
set dressing and sound affects are also a plus
and i agree that every game does not have to be a famous historic battle but that a bloody skirmish over a farm building would be just as good.

Headshot, are you referring to me as a new player who is suggesting things but has never been to an event? If you are I would like to point out that the thread is simply asking what we would like to see at an event, it doesn't say not to post if you have never been to an event. If it has been done in a past event in say 2007, I wouldn't know as:
1. I've only been actively on the forum since last spring
2. I was 9 at the time.
I'm simply just making suggestions as to what I would like to see at an event. If it has been done before, just say so.

Headshot, are you referring to me as a new player who is suggesting things but has never been to an event? If you are I would like to point out that the thread is simply asking what we would like to see at an event, it doesn't say not to post if you have never been to an event. If it has been done in a past event in say 2007, I wouldn't know as:
1. I've only been actively on the forum since last spring
2. I was 9 at the time.
I'm simply just making suggestions as to what I would like to see at an event. If it has been done before, just say so.

Here's some light reading: viewforum.php?f=69

I note you are 15/16 so fair enough, as you've probably not been allowed to attend any of the past games.

Thanks, I'll probably look through them later

Not sure I have much to add to the existing comments. One day I'd like to do a 24 hour event though, 24 hour as in 'camp out in the game area still in character but get some sleep', not creep around at 2 in morning shooting each other. The US camp/base at Bastogne was just fabulous. midday to midday sounds rather civilised.

More non combat stuff generally really - recce, patrolling, setting up OPs, laying out minefields and phone lines, constructing defences, moving supplies around, peeling spuds (as long as we can eat them), polishing the generals boots or whatever.

Cheers
Martin

More non combat stuff generally really - recce, patrolling, setting up OPs, laying out minefields and phone lines, constructing defences, moving supplies around, peeling spuds (as long as we can eat them), polishing the generals boots or whatever.

Pity you missed Jedburgh. I (and CiA as a whole) have been giving thought to more events along a similar vein, so, you never know what might come up in the future.

I like a lot of the ideas being thrown out there, realism is where I want to go kit wise, but ammo wise I'm comfortable with what was set by Gunman, I'm quite happy to do real steel, but it'll need some getting used to.

I'd personally like to see similar set ups for some events I missed, Jedburgh sounds absolutely awesome from what I read and The Visit Of Hauptmann Horn was another I missed and I'd like to have some events like that in the near/far future as that would be great fun in my opinion.

The rest is pretty much the same as Headshot

Anyway, for me, I would like to see:

Working command structures with all players cooperating in this and following the given orders, no matter how wrong they sound. (ie: Players who are there to follow orders, not to twist things their way to achieve a victory.)
A very large (1000+ acre) woodland site with vehicles for some, but with the majority tabbing across the site with the possibility of being ambushed.
Living in the field with no modern equipment visible.
A 24hr scenario - though without 24hr gameplay for the above reasons. (ie You get up in the morning without a specific start time and carry on where you left off, leaving the possibility of being bumped by the enemy at dawn.
A wide scoped scenario with multiple objectives including scouting missions, ambushes and fixed targets.
Use of pyrotechnics within the scenario. (eg Destroying objectives)
Cooking on fires or period stoves (though not always possible depending on sites)
A proper HQ.

Having 24 Hour battles would be absolutely brilliant.

I'd like to see more WAAFs. And horses. And sillier hats. But you can't have everything.

Well, there is no reason why the question "What would you like to see at an event??" can't be answered by suggesting things that used to be done and aren't anymore such as sound effects etc., and also I don't think anyone should take umbrage if people who have tried things and have an opinion based on experience express those opinions. It does seem though that there aren't too many many properly new ideas yet to be mined, but sub 350 rifles only was the first properly new idea in ww2 airsoft that I had seen in a good few years so who knows . So what would I really like to see... another training day because I can't go to the one in March . I do like uniform looking units, and I like to see roleplay to the extent that people behave like 40's soldiers in the field: obey orders and (at least try) to use section tactics, properly. I have enjoyed standing orders that compel units to retreat / regroup when numbers get low and the "no bandage if you died last time" rule is a good one for making people retreat once thay have been wounded.

Smaller games based on lesser known battles.. Guys it's airsoft,it's always going to be airsoft unless you can engineer one side win and one side loses.

Are you saying you don't want "smaller games on lesser known battles", or you don't think it's feasible because the outcomes aren't predictable? Genuinely interested as this didn't seem clear to me.

Yes not the best written response really. No I believe the point was more aimed towards re enactment style battles where side x beats side y. In airsoft a few good decisions, thrusts can alter the out come.
Smaller battles work just as well as the larger. I'm not a fan of scripted, if I'm honest. I like the uncertainty of chaos, altering the balance. For me it's not about winning or losing, it's the immersion factor. As said so many times and rightly so, the mindset. That's why for me sennybridge isn't a shitty Cold War breeze block craphole, it's Caen, Berlin and many others.
I would give my left nut for a site like the sets in Ryan or band of brothers... Ruined bombed out towns, but even then after playing them for a while they most likely get stale.
So why do it if its been done before. Every game offers something new, yet stil keeping that reassuring feeling of something so familiar.
Plus getting pissed with your mates is a bloody good laugh.

Yes not the best written response really. No I believe the point was more aimed towards re enactment style battles where side x beats side y. In airsoft a few good decisions, thrusts can alter the out come.
Smaller battles work just as well as the larger. I'm not a fan of scripted, if I'm honest.

Must admit, as far as I'm aware, a 'scripted' battle, where x or y side wins is one of the few things that's never been tried in airsoft? In re-en, yes, as the public shows have to be scripted for H&S and entertainment values, but not at a 'game', as it'd kind of defeat the point.

In everything I've ever been involved in organising/running, the 'script' has always included options for whichever side gains the upper hand.

Yes not the best written response really. No I believe the point was more aimed towards re enactment style battles where side x beats side y. In airsoft a few good decisions, thrusts can alter the out come.
Smaller battles work just as well as the larger. I'm not a fan of scripted, if I'm honest.

Must admit, as far as I'm aware, a 'scripted' battle, where x or y side wins is one of the few things that's never been tried in airsoft? In re-en, yes, as the public shows have to be scripted for H&S and entertainment values, but not at a 'game', as it'd kind of defeat the point.

In everything I've ever been involved in organising/running, the 'script' has always included options for whichever side gains the upper hand.

Sometimes there are elements that are scripted, or rather designed, for specific purposes. Often there are elements of the game that are tweaked on the hoof to ensure that everyone has a good weekend (eg suspending regen or moving an HQ) but I've never known anyone plan an event knowing the outcome.

In fact, one of the things I liked about the episodic-style day events was that each separate episode would alter the next scenario, a bit like the old Choose Your Own Adventure books.

Indeed it was a bit like that, the only real challenge i found those events where we had a 'tree' where if scenario 1 was a german win we went to secnario 2 and if if was a us win we went to 3 etc was making sure that both scenarios 2&3 had similar starting positions.

The big flaw in the episodic games was getting everyone back in position for the next bit without wasting too much time... if you *knew* who was going to win or a win made no difference it would have been easy but as it was you had to quickly move the side around between battles.

I think Craig cracked it with his episodic (to a degree) events where you moved across the site but the outcome still effected the bit played on it, like cassino.

Of course stuff like that just doesnt work on big sites and thats why we had to put 'standing orders' in to Gunman battles to keep any degree of 'squad battles' (surely the most fun bit of wwii airsoft, working as a unit against a unit) and to prevent one or two guys spending 30 minutes wandering around wondering where the battle was going on

Yes, we wrote it so there was a liner progression of scenarios, but successes in previous scenarios impacted on certain rules/objectives for the next one (or later ones). That way we could make sure there was a mix of attack/defense for both sides. Earlier on - when we were designing a tree - I was pulling my hair out trying to make sure there was no way that one side would end up being always on the offensive/defensive.

And yup - getting people back for the 'next one' without breaking immersion and in good time is the tricky part we keep trying to work on. Having a set HQ that a side moves out from (as at Eagles) helps, and then there is the idea to try and make 'dead' people return to HQ like they are still in a battle area (like Patton - but I think we had less of that once the 'meat-grinder' kicked in (also a case in point about 'constant attacks')). We have all done it - bimbled back to HQ chatting - and it is one of those things like shouting 'hit' that can be quite easily overcome ... I think so anyway.