Actually, Squid, Rabid is right on the money on this. Airball is much easier then woodsball in many factors...
Terrain: Airball is usually on a flat open surface, the worst you usually have to worry about is tripping over inflatable anchors or the occasion gopher hole, usually well established sports fields where standard cleats are sufficient. Woodsball many people wear boots for the ankle support as turning your ankle can be quite common as the footing is not as good as it is on an airball field. Which field would you rather dive on? Airball or woodsball? Why?
Foilage: Airball fields are usually quite clean brush wise, usually very few ground considerations to obstruct your feet other then the inflatable anchoring system and the occasional gopher holes. Woodsball you have to contend with poison oak/ivy, all kinds of brush, nettle, etc. Again, which field would you rather dive on? Usually people will only dive into poison oak/ivy once... and thats when they dont know what it is. A week later when all the hives stop itching, they're more aware of what not to dive into simply because thats one of the last things they ever want to do again as it is a truely miserable experience.
Local wildlife: Airball fields are usually quite well established on sport fields, astro turf, carpeting, indoors, etc. where you dont have to worry too much about the local wildlife getting pissed off because you disturbed its home. How often has a family of rattle snakes come slithering out of a dorito because you hit it too hard? I've personally have had that happen on a woods field when I got close and personal with a fallen tree, tucked in real tight, next thing I knew there were snakes everywhere.
Communication: Airball, being wide open, is much easier to communicate visually and verbally with your teammates. With the terrain differences alone, its much harder to keep tabs on your entire team in Woodsball without using radio gear for verbal level... usually visual is limited to a couple rows of tress. Additionally if you're playing on a large multi acre field, you can have your people spread out over such a large area so as to not be able to hear each other.
Field size: The biggest airball field I've played on was 200 feet long, not even the full length of a regulation sized soccer or football field. The biggest woodsball field I played on covered 3 square miles. Try keeping track of where you are on a woods field that large where terrain features are not the blue dorito on the right or the red/white beer can in at the 50.
strategy and tactics: Airball I equate to playing checkers, the moves and positioning are obvious and everything is pretty much what you see is what you get. Woodsball I equate more to the game of chess with half of the pieces not visible on the board. Woodsball typically takes the strategy and tactics to a whole different level over airball as terrain features alone have to be factored into the game plan.
Multitasking: There is simply more crap to keep track of in your head while you're playing woodsball then there is while playing airball, thats just the nature of the beast. Not only do you need to worry about what the other guy is doing, you need to be very aware of what's going on around you environmentwise.
Spectator friendly/Sideline coaching: Airball presents more sideline commenting simply because its a wide open field and people watching can usually see the entire field especially when they're in the stands. Airball is definitely hands down the more spectator friendly. Woodsball is quite the opposite, its extremely spectator unfriendly as trees and undergrowth tend to get in the way of people seeing what's going on.
Sorry Squid, whether you can see it or not, you're quite wrong here.
-Evil Bob
Terrain: Airball is usually on a flat open surface, the worst you usually have to worry about is tripping over inflatable anchors or the occasion gopher hole, usually well established sports fields where standard cleats are sufficient. Woodsball many people wear boots for the ankle support as turning your ankle can be quite common as the footing is not as good as it is on an airball field. Which field would you rather dive on? Airball or woodsball? Why?
Foilage: Airball fields are usually quite clean brush wise, usually very few ground considerations to obstruct your feet other then the inflatable anchoring system and the occasional gopher holes. Woodsball you have to contend with poison oak/ivy, all kinds of brush, nettle, etc. Again, which field would you rather dive on? Usually people will only dive into poison oak/ivy once... and thats when they dont know what it is. A week later when all the hives stop itching, they're more aware of what not to dive into simply because thats one of the last things they ever want to do again as it is a truely miserable experience.
Local wildlife: Airball fields are usually quite well established on sport fields, astro turf, carpeting, indoors, etc. where you dont have to worry too much about the local wildlife getting pissed off because you disturbed its home. How often has a family of rattle snakes come slithering out of a dorito because you hit it too hard? I've personally have had that happen on a woods field when I got close and personal with a fallen tree, tucked in real tight, next thing I knew there were snakes everywhere.
Communication: Airball, being wide open, is much easier to communicate visually and verbally with your teammates. With the terrain differences alone, its much harder to keep tabs on your entire team in Woodsball without using radio gear for verbal level... usually visual is limited to a couple rows of tress. Additionally if you're playing on a large multi acre field, you can have your people spread out over such a large area so as to not be able to hear each other.
Field size: The biggest airball field I've played on was 200 feet long, not even the full length of a regulation sized soccer or football field. The biggest woodsball field I played on covered 3 square miles. Try keeping track of where you are on a woods field that large where terrain features are not the blue dorito on the right or the red/white beer can in at the 50.
strategy and tactics: Airball I equate to playing checkers, the moves and positioning are obvious and everything is pretty much what you see is what you get. Woodsball I equate more to the game of chess with half of the pieces not visible on the board. Woodsball typically takes the strategy and tactics to a whole different level over airball as terrain features alone have to be factored into the game plan.
Multitasking: There is simply more crap to keep track of in your head while you're playing woodsball then there is while playing airball, thats just the nature of the beast. Not only do you need to worry about what the other guy is doing, you need to be very aware of what's going on around you environmentwise.
Spectator friendly/Sideline coaching: Airball presents more sideline commenting simply because its a wide open field and people watching can usually see the entire field especially when they're in the stands. Airball is definitely hands down the more spectator friendly. Woodsball is quite the opposite, its extremely spectator unfriendly as trees and undergrowth tend to get in the way of people seeing what's going on.
Sorry Squid, whether you can see it or not, you're quite wrong here.
-Evil Bob
Comment