Well, I started flying combat sims about 3 years ago....Warbirds offline against AI aircraft. All I learned was how to use basic controls.
Had a brief, two-week fling with MSCFSII. Didn't like the miniature arenas and the difficult to use set-up and the fact that it was almost impossible to tell when you were hitting the target.
Then one day while surfing the net for information on ACM I ran across a reference to AH. Downloaded it immediately. After only two days to learn the basic set-up I was hooked. Flew H2H for nearly a year before forking over actualy money to participate in the ma.
Joined CVPoppie's squad the 169th SSF flying for the rooks. Had flown with him in h2h. Seldom paid attention to numbers at that time.
Anyways, I remember one day in particular on the pizza map. I noticed that one base after the other was falling on the west coast to rook attack. Decided to join up with the flight to lend some assistance.
What a revelation that was! There were about a dozen guys, undoubtedly from one of the top squads, capturing bases like a well-oiled machine. They had it down to a science. Each pilot had a specific task, whether ack suppression, cap, or town reduction. They even had dedicated goon pilots, who usually took off about 5 minutes behind the main strike.
I didn't think to time these operations, but the total average time it took them to capture a base could not have been more than 10 to 12 minutes. Of course some of these bases were lightly defended, but the nme country never put up a determined effort to defend them. There were never more than 6 nme players in defense at any one time
That was the best example of organization and teamwork that I have witnessed in the two years I have been playing AH.
Why was this possible? The argument that they were hording doesn't hold water. Six defending nme pilots should have been able to disrupt such a small-scale attack.
The answer, I believe, likes in a point made in another thread. Rook pilots, as a group, tend to be older than the pilots of the other two countries. As proof, I offer the following facts/obeservations.
Rook numbers tend to be at their highest starting in the afternoon and reach a peak about 8:00p.m. and then begin to taper off slightly. The pilots that log on at these times are, I believe, working class stiffs who have had their dinner and are trying to relax with a couple of hours of flight-sim gaming.
Secondly, I believe that people of like ages tend to gravitate together in the same country. The older pilots (I am 50) tend to be put off by a lot of the smack talk and juvenile style game play of the younger pilots. I don't mean that as a slam against anyone that's just the way it is.
Thirdly, older pilots tend to be more into air combat history and tactics and are more likely to work together to achieve a goal. Younger players are game oriented and want action immediately, while the older pilots don't mind taking the time to set things up.
So, in conclusion, I think these facts are reflected, at least somewhat, in the game play and k/d ratios of each country; Rooks have a larger group of older and more experienced pilots, while the Bish have more of the younger group, and the Knights lie somewhere in between. Greater numbers may play some part in the overall results, and I am guilty of complaining about the numbers disparity at times myself. But the daytime numbers are usually fairly even, while the Rooks have more substantial numbers at night and on the weekends, which reinforces my belief that they are older, working stiffs.
