I suggest an implementation of a "Final Count" for kill awarding - 7 simple "rules" to awarding an A2A kill:
1. No matter the amount of damage done prior to the event, the kill is always awarded to the first person who directly renders a plane incapable of flight - "Final Count".
2. In case of GVs/boats, the kill is always awarded to the one who 'explodes' the GV/boat, no matter how much damage is done prior to the event.
3. "Final Count" will come into work when following conditions are met:
- immediate pilot death upon impact
- immediate seizure of engine upon impact
- destruction of one entire wing
- destruction of one entire vertical stabilizer
- destruction of both horizontal stabilizers
- destruction of the whole aft section of the plane
- starting of a fire upon the aircraft
4. Once a "Final Count" is achieved, all following hits to the plane will be ignored as a determinor for awarding kills.
5. The destruction of half a wing will be treated as a "semi-final count": once this condition is achieved, only a direct "Final Count" condition will be recorded after it is under work. All other hits to the plane will be ignored.
ie) a Fw190D-9 severs half of a P-51D port wing:
- if another plane achieves a "final count" condition as described in #1 before the P-51D crashes or ditches, then the kill is awarded to that plane.
- if the P-51D crashes or ditches, and no other "final count" condition is met until that event, then whatever amount of hits the P-51D suffered after being severed half a wing, it won't count in kill awarding. The Fw190D-9 who severed that half wing will be awarded the kill.
6. The current method of kill counting (awarding kill to the one who did most damage...) will only apply under the following condition;
- a plane makes forced contact with the ground (ditches/crashes)
In this case, the fact that the target plane made a forced contact with the ground, will itself be treated as a "Final Count", and thus, any attack to the crashed/ditched plane after the event, will not count in kill awarding.
In other words, if the pilot of the attacked plane is forced back to his tower due to a crash, ditching&return to tower, or landing&return to tower, outside of a friendly airfield runway, in the vicinity of enemy aircraft, then the pilot who did him most damage will always be awarded the kill, even if some other person comes along and blows him up on the ground.
7. #6 will only apply to planes with prior damage due to hostile aircraft. A completely undamaged plane, that ditches or crashes or lands outside of a friendly airfield runway, will be applied the "final count" as usual. In other words, if a plane without any prior damage gets on the ground for some reason, then a "final count" will be in work as always, and the one who blows him up, or renders his plane unflyable, will be awarded the kill.
.................
I figure these 7 rules to determining who gets the kill, will eliminate the "you stole my kill" hoosegows from the game completely, with the exception of rule #5.
In case of rule #5, this rule is grudginly applied due to the fact that some planes still can manage to be aflight, despite loss of half a wing. In most cases, a plane which loses half a wing will immediately lose control and crash - thus, making it extremely unlikely for other planes to shoot it down during that short span of time, especially at typical MA engagement altitudes. However, if a plane loses specifically a half-wing at higher altitudes and spins down, then it will be the ONLY case where a typical "kill-stealing" will become possible.
Since I couldn't come up with a very simple determinor for deciding who gets the kill on that special account, #5 had to be created. In all other cases, a simple "Yes/No" logic based upon data can draw out an accurate determining process for awarding kills, without requiring complex human judgement.
Once this rule is under work;
a) every GV kill will be awarded to those who really 'kill' it. Tank busting aircraft will be required to truly "destroy" the GV to achieve a kill. It should be this way in matters of fairness, considering the time and effort required for tank drivers to achieve kills in an open combat situation without corny spawn point camping. Thus, with the "Final Count" rule applied, in most cases tankbuster planes will become a "support aircraft" that renders enemy vehicles immobile/useless, which should make it easier for friendly tanks to spot/kill it - rather than the "shoot a bit of rounds in every tank and collect the free kills when a friendly tank blows it up" plane.
b) every A2A kill will be awarded to the one who renders it unflyable. It won't matter how much damage any other person has done. If the plane is flying, then it's not a kill, nor should it ever be recorded as a kill. Only the person who renders it completely unflyable, has the rights to the kill.
c) kill stealing, in most cases, would be completely gone from the game. Once a condition is met which above 7 rules upholds, then all hits after it will not count. You may be able to track an enemy plane spinning down to the ground and blow it up - but you will never be awarded a kill for such behavior. Only when you truly render a plane unflyable, will you be awarded that kill, and noone, is going to steal that from you.
Thoughts and comments are welcome.
