Do you "live dangerously" or fly to live?

[Ripsnort]

I find myself in a variety of moods through out a tour. There are times when I like to fly the Pony high, rack up several kills, being cautious and careful, flying with wingies if possible, returning home.

Then there are times I like to jump in a Tiffy, fly to the nearest enemy airfield nap of earth, and spring up on unsuspecting launching aircraft...only to die after 3 or 4 kills by higher enemy A/C.

My flying style varies like the seasons, but seasons within a month...can't seem to fly just one way..I like to furball, I like to do missions, I like to fly 'Pony Conservative'..I like to take on 3 vs 1 in a zero....

QUESTION
Do you focus on one flying style through out a tour, or do you mix it up?


And speaking of living dangerously, I saw Hangtimes cat the other day, I know how he lives...

 
Do you have one flying style or several

[AKSeaWulfe]

I like to get down and dirty and get out of the fight alive. I've never been one for caution. :-)
-SW

[Yeager]

Furballed in every AC type for years.  Grew tired of it and accepted Ices challenge to make more out of this deal then just the usual gangbang furballs.

Working on proficiency (ie living) in the P51D for two tours now.  Using energy as a tool rather than an obstacle.  Its not as easy as I thought it would be.

Yeager

[Kieren]

The only thing I consistantly do is try to have fun. What that is at any particular moment is anyone's guess.

[funked]

(Edited to first person)

Flying to live when everybody else is not flying to live means very little.  

If all I care about is flying to live, I can increase my chances simply by climbing a lot before engaging.  I am higher not because I am smarter, but because I am more willing to be bored waiting for the plane to climb.

If all I care about is flying to live, I take the fastest, longest endurance plane.  Again, this is not because I am smarter or better, but because the arena setup lets me choose planes freely to get an artificial advantage over those who choose to less effective aircraft.

If all I care about is flying to live, I ignore any mission requirements.  Dive bombing, strafing, escorting bombers in risky places - these are all things that can get me killed.  I will avoid risky situations not because I am smarter or better, but because I don't have a mission to carry out.

Scenarios are a different deal.  If I die it hurts my side - Living is important!  Altitude is determined by my mission and the rules.  I can not choose a plane to give myself an artificial advantage - I fly what my orders tell me to fly.  I have to carry out my mission if possible.  I can't just run away if there are bigger issues at stake.

So I think for the MA, flying to live (and neglecting any other objective) is not appropriate, nor is it a sustainable* mode of flying.

However, in a scenario it can be of vital importance.  If I don't know how to fly to live, I am going to have problems in scenarios.

So I fly like a maniac for fun, but also spend a fair amount of time trying to stay alive, in order to keep my proficiency up for scenarios.

*Note:  by "sustainable" flying I mean this:  If everybody flies the way I do, do we still have a game?  If I get all my kills by hovering above a furball and waiting for somebody to dive in, what happens if nobody dives into the furball?  The answer is NOTHING.  Those kind of tactics are not sustainable - they are parasitic.


[This message has been edited by funked (edited 02-22-2001).]

[This message has been edited by funked (edited 02-23-2001).]

[lazs]

geeze funked ur sure a real killjoy... sorta like that little kid that pointed out that the emperor wasn't wearing any clothes.
lazs

[Vulcan]

I fly to live these days, but I also fly aggressively. If you see me flying away I'm just extending not leaving - the minute you turn your back on my tiffie... well  

[Vermillion]

I mix it up from tour to tour depending on what mood I am in.

There are some tours where I have flown to live and been ranked in the top 10 in K/D, and others where I couldn't give a toejam and have had a less than 1:1 K/D.

It just depends on what is fun or challenging for me that particular tour  

------------------
Vermillion
**MOL**, Men of Leisure

[Spatula]

Yes, i fly to survive. I make no pretence in thinking im a great ACM, turn-fighter type pilot, i aint, im completely crap at it. Cant stand dying. BnZ for me.

Boring? No, there's a challenge in improving your efficiency in it, ie gettin better k/d each tour. When i get bored of that i might start furballin.

[Voss]

I believe there exists a happy medium.

[Ripsnort]

Before this thread gets out of hand, please refrain from disrespecting someones flying style...I just want to know if anyone flies different styles throughout a tour, or if they stick to one style of flying (NON-SQUAD flying that is)

[Swoop]

I start every tour thinking "This tour I aint gonna do nuthin stoopid at all.  Fly to live".  But by day 3 I'm getting stuck in, like Douglas Bader said "it's like a rugby scrum, hang about on the outside and you'll get hurt, get stuck in and you'll be ok".

My flying style changes minute by minute, depends what the situation is.......if I'm 10 miles from any other cons in a 1v1 (damn rare these days), I'll play around for a while....dogfight.  However, I've also been known to ZnB 2-3 cons while flying a spit.  Really depends on the situation.

I've also been known to bait newbies into comin to shoot me down, sneak 250 yards on their 6 and tell em to look behind em......and then laugh hysterically as they panic and shoot their own tails off thanks to killshooter.    


 

[This message has been edited by Swoop (edited 02-22-2001).]

[Wanker]

Rip, I don't change my style, per se, because I don't have a style! I just change the planes that I fly from time to time.

Funked, my beloved Squadron leader, said:
 

Flying to live when everybody else is not flying to live means very little.

Gotta disagree with that statement. My favorite thing to do in AH is to bring my kills home for a safe landing, especially on a CV. I don't care what everyone else is doing. It means a lot to me.

[Duckwing6]

Can't stand dieying either .. do it pretty often thou  

i'm trying to help jaboing a lot... else i'm more the cautious B&Zer

DW6

[Ice]

Well, I don't know about Funked and what he stated, but dying sucks.

My objective is to kill as many nme as possible and at the same time denying others the opportunity to kill me. I'll fly however is necessary to accomplish that goal.

Cyas!  

PS...Hey Funked...ever hear the old tale about the father and son bulls sitting on a hilltop surveying all the females in the meadow below?

Well, I prefer the old mans approach

[This message has been edited by Ice (edited 02-22-2001).]