Originally posted by Midnight
WMLute
I understand what is being said, but then what range is considered a breaking off of the 60 second rule?
Example - I pass another plane (nose to nose, head on, co-E) heading to what I see as a 4 man fight about 6 or 7K away. The plane I just passed reverses and tries to get on my six. As soon as he completes the 180 degree turn, he calls out "I am engaging you Midnight, you have to turn" By the time he completes the turn, he is 1.2K away and fading (due to lost E in his turn). I know that he cannot build speed to catch me, so I continue to my original destination.
OK, so I keep pulling away from the guy and get over 2K away from him... does that break the 60 second clock? If no, what range would? 3K, 4k? There has to be a feasible engagement limit.
--- edit ---
And to those who say KOTH is all about fighting, I agree. However, picking the order in which you fight is not against the rules. I try to determine where the biggest threats are and try to engage them first and don't want to have to engage someone I percieve to be inexperinced or a newbie. If I see ManeTMP and some guy named L33TOnE, I am going to try to setup an attack on Mane to fight him, regardless of what L33TOnE thinks about engaging me.
excellent questions. I would ref. you a few posts down to this thread
http://www.hitechcreations.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=149064"The Hovering Non Fighting KOTH Vulchers" where I asked some similar questions, and made some similar points.
ManeTMP, BigMax, and I have gone around and around re. the 60 second rule. In one instance, I merged with ManeTMP, and he dove out. I had an Alt/E advantage from the merge, and so I kept up with him. I was now 1-2k back, and say maybe 2-3k higher(ish, I have slept since then) and he was slowly pulling away in a gentle dive. So we fly like this for a min, then 2, then 5, the whole time arguing over the country channel. Per. the KOTH rules, he HAD to turn at 60 seconds. Could I have have blown my alt/e and caught up with Mane? Yup. That was what he wanted me to do. He wanted me to fight "his" fight. Did he have to turn after 60 seconds passed and come back at me? Yup. That was what I wanted him to do so he would have to fight "my" fight.
Mane felt that I should have dove in, converting my alt to speed and attacked him, and by not doing so that I was avoiding the fight. What it all boiled down to after much "discussion" was this. Mane had to turn. Too bad that I had the advantage, but he had to turn. You can run in KOTH, but only for 60 seconds. If that means you have to reverse into a situation where you are at a disadvantage, then so be it, you gota reverse.
When you passed that con nose to nose co-E the fight was "on" at that point. You merged. You are then fighting. You can choose to extend for up to 60seconds. Distances are not relative at this point. You just merged with a guy, you two are fighting. Just because he reversed and you didn't doesn't mean that you are not in a fight. You just chose to extend, he chose to reverse. You have 60 seconds to position yourself in any way you choose. You can extend, climb, zero G dive what ever. BUT you have to reverese within' 60 seconds.
If you pass someone co E like that, and neither of you break, turn, reverse etc, then IMHO u2 are not in a fight, and there is no 60 seconds rule. I have seen this happen as well. You don't HAVE to fight every plane that you see, but you can't avoid fights either. Let's say I am flying over 3 guys fighting on the deck, and in the distance I see a co-alt plane. I can choose to go attack the co-alt plane. I dont' HAVE to dive into the furball just because it's there. I can pick who I fight. BUT let's say I fly over 3 guys fighting, and there are no other con's in the area. Yes, I have to then dive down and fight. I can't just fly away. That would be avoiding.
The CM's can't watch every fight, and much of this is on the honor system. In the King of the Hill, you can't just fly around avoiding fights. In this past KOTH, BigMax, Fuzeman and myself watched a pilot go from fight to fight, never really commiting, and when chased, would drag his opponents into each other, and get them to fighting, and fly off. They never extended over 60 seconds (mostly) and would fly back and cherrypick the guys that WERE just chasing them and now in a fight. What they did was "technically" within the rules. They never extended over 60 seconds, and they would merge back and come within 1k of their opponent and then fly off again. Eventually, after most other players were dead, they would then start "fighting" and attack the remaining stragglers. What they did was totally legal, but I feel violated the spirit of the King of the Hill. Are they allowed to do this? Yes because it breaks no rules. It's a tad on the weak side, but legal. Generally this isn't an issue, because you got a ton of guys in the tower watching the fights in CMI mode, and teasing any player doing this. TRUST ME. I've done exactly what I just described (not for a whole round, or most rounds like the player we watched) but for a encounter or two, and I was razzed quite hard by the guys in the tower. I won that round btw, and you know what? As great as it felt to win that round, it didn't compare even a TINY bit to the rounds i've won where I took on all comers and beat 'em. When I won the KOTH USA last year, it was in a c202 with only one tiny mg. working, more of my plane damaged than not, and having killed 6-7 guys, mostly in 2-3 on 1' getting gang banged because I was a two timer. Now THAT was a round that felt AWESOME to win. Heck... i'm still talking about it.
I totally understand wanting to attack the biggest "threat", as I fly the same way. If I see (insert unskilled pilot name here) flying at me, and just a bit away I see say (insert skilled pilot name here) I would MUCH rather attack the greater threat. Unfortunatly that isn't how KOTH works. If me and (insert unskilled pilot name here) merge, the fight is on. I am not able to just fly past them and go for (insert skilled pilot name here). Well, you can actually. You have 60 seconds to do what you want. But you and (insert unskilled pilot name here) are fighting, and you HAVE to fight them. Like I said earlier in this thread,
KOTH is not about avoiding all fights except the ones you want.
