Originally posted by Kev367th
Each buff = 1 kill.
Therefore 3 = 3 kills.
Unfortuneately 'deaths' doesn't give a clear indication of plane usage which is what I was after.
That's especially true with a plane like the Lgay7. Lgay's have limited fuel and ammunition relative to most other planes in the set. Lgays are also harder to kill due to their speed and small size relative to other planes (pilot notwithstanding). Because of these factors they are actually under-represented statistically by kill/death stats. They kill less and die less on average per sortie used.
Planes like the niki with huge range and ammoload which are relatively easy to kill because they are slow and larger are over-represented by kill/death stats relative to the numbers flown. It is because of these factors that, as we are saying, there are a disproportionately high number of Lgay7s relative to other planes in the set in the MA. Much more than kill/death stats may indicate.
For example it may take 5 Niki's to get 10 kills and 4 of them are likely to die in the process. But, it will take 9 or 10 Lgay's to get the same 10 kills and perhaps only 1 or 2 of them dies in the process. On your chart the Niki is actually more represented statistically in this scenario, but in actual fact, in the MA, in the fights the Lgay outnumbers the Niki (or any other plane) 2 to 1. Thus the problem. You may look at the above scenario and say well that's fine from a kill/death perspective the lgay7 isn't killing as many as the niki, but that is false. It is false in that the lgay pilot with be flying at least 2 sorties for every one of the niki, ever taking into consideration more lgay's are living therefore rtb'ing, by virtue of it's speed, acceleration and climbrate further exacerabting the lgay7 plurality crisis.
Variety is the spice of life and of AH, the over-predominance of the lgay7 is rapidly eroding that facet of AH's appeal, spend a few nights in the MA during prime-time and you'll figure it out really fast, HiTech, it ain't subtle...
Zazen