Originally posted by hubsonfire
However, my sense of gamesmanship tells me that I should only enjoy winning at poker when I have done so fairly- that is to say, when I don't enjoy any sort of overwhelming advantage. I guess I fail to see how anyone would only play a game, or enjoy a game, in which they have some sort of advantage.
Ok, bear with me on this one...
I fly Jugs a lot, its my favorite plane to fly. Only thing is, you have to be careful about how you fly it, as its a slug down low. Not fast enough to out run the burners, turns like a bullet, and climbs like a rock. Dives like an S.O.B. though. So, I take off behind friendly lines, climb to 15K plus, and then head for the action. In my time playing, I can count on 1 hand the amount of time I've been able to fight the plane in its element--at 20-25K+, and they've always been either 152's or bombers. I've seen Yucca and Blukitty do some nasty stuff when outnumbered and at a disadvantage in the Jug, but I'm no where near that good yet. So, I try and set myself up for success before I enter the fight the best I know how at this point in my AH experience.
Now, take this technique wrought large. If I am trying to take a base, (and using the suicidal goon killers mentioned in my previous post) and trying to suppress the base while taking the town in order to keep the goon from dying before it can get troops out, I've got a strong motivation to try and take a base that is not showing any activity on the dar bar--surprise and all that. I don't want GV's or planes shooting down the C-47. If I rush headlong into a base with an established CAP, I can guarantee the goon doesn't last long.
I don't expect any quarter in the MA. The sterile environment of the TA and DA is where I can exercise skills in a fair fight. Even if 85% of the pilots show some sort of sportsmanship and "fairness", the other 15% are prevalent enough to ruin my sortie expecting "rules". If there was a sportsmanlike attitude around the MA's and a good fight resulting in air superiority for the attacker gave them a "gimme" base capture, you might see folks attack defended bases. They would do so knowing their goon was safe unless their attack failed. But, I've seen guys bail out of planes so they could run into the bunker and shoot the troops coming in. With that type of defensive tenacity, you're going to have a hard time convincing the base-capture types they should modify their tactics...
Ideally, you would have an even distribution of players on one side defending, attacking, and flying patrols to knock down attacks before they got to the bases. But, whose going to organize and/or convince people to go up and drone around at altitude for 45 mins at max cruise in order to CAP a portion of the map that is quiet, on the off chance someone might try and take the base?
For those that feel like taking bases is an entertaining part of the game, its a valid tactic. Its certainly historically valid. I'm not a big land-grab kind of player, but if I was, given the state of things in the MA's, I'd certainly use it. My squad goes on the occasional base capture from time to time, and we use it as a tactic. There's still some teamwork and technique necessary for the capture, regardless of whether or not anyone ups or not. The only advantage the offense has in this game (from the strat aspect) is the initial surprise and momentum, and even that is threatened by god-like dar bar and the radar at each base. Since the defenders can keep re-upping after they are killed, the offense doesn't offer an advantage long-held. Take out all the fighter hangars, and people start upping IL-2's for the ultimate HO fest. I personally think that is a pretty gamey technique, but it works for them and I expect it. So again, yeah, the attackers have some fairly strong motivation to take bases where the crickets are chirping. Remove that motivation by some technique other than peer pressure, and you've given them a fair shake at tackling a defended base.
