Now maybe the plans have changed since Hatch gave me the boot but their idea of "brigade spawning" is what turned me off to the game. Many of us "lone wolves" were afraid that it would either force us into a squad or would prohibit us from using anything other than the most basic weapons, rifleman, PAK-36, Panzer II, 232, BF-110, etc. When I and others tired to make our concerns clear to the Rats (for those who don't know about WWIIOL, the "Rats" are the guys who make the game, Cornered Rat Software) we were usually told just to accept the fact it was coming and to realize the game would change whether every single person liked it or not.
What got me banned was telling Hatch to "Bite Me" when he started to get snitty at me because of my continual posts asking for a clarification of "brigade spawning". He banned me from the forums and a couple of days later during the "Channel Dash" his DD was the one myself and Borya were supposed to escort. Well, about an hour after the Channel Dash was over (thanks to a server crash) I got an e-mail saying my entire account was banned and don't bother to come back.
The game, despite all of its bugs, glitches and problems, was a heck of a lot of fun and I wish I hadn't been forced to leave.
My present (and disused) gamename appears to be "nosix". From clicking around on the Eagle Squadrons roster list I gather my first handle was "bcnu" as that's member #1 on the list; shortly after the live date I passed everything off to Chipwich as I hadn't yet managed to actually get the thing to let me enter without locking up ... but that was a long time ago.
I can see your concerns about the brigade spawning idea but CRS hasn't been shy about trying things that are unheard of (such as a combined arms MMO sim). In any case as you found out "bite me" is poor diplomacy :)
Hey, COEXERJ145, what was your handle in WWIIOL? I played off and on for a year and a half as "fpmoose", British mostly. Great game, although I don't agree with all the decisions the Rats made.
#6, my God, it's a small world. I remember the days of you and the 4th flying for the purple horde on WarBirds! :) (I flew WB as "moos" and AH as "fpmoose"...just activated an account on Aces High II but have been too busy to do much with it.)
}:-)4