Originally posted by raptor33
I always wondered what the response of a flight leader in real life would be if he heard one of his pilots say "Joe is in a great 1v1 fight. I dont want to be accused of gangbanging so I will keep my alt and let Joe take care of buisness."
Curious.....all kidding aside...if I were to watch from above and see my wingman getting beat up, when is it appropriate for me to jump in? After he dies? If I jump in before he dies, is it considered gangbanging? If yes, then why have squads? In the AvA, taking bases is frowned upon and covering your squaddies butt is frowned upon....so why have squads? Furthermore, if I am not there to help my wingman, then why have a wingman? No offense, but much of the advice and criticism I get from guys in the AvA is that the Avengers are clueless as it pertains to wingman tactics....but when we use them we are then accused of gangbanging.
Just a thought.
Raptor33
Well...a couple of things....
Plainly, this is not real life. Some people like to fly it like it was real life (we had four of them last night, if memory serves), and that's fine, but the fact is that you don't die and so the need to ensure that you don't die really isn't there. Many of us, if engaged in a good fight, would rather get shot down than have someone sneak in and pick the guy who is about to shoot us. Many of us wouldn't, but I think most everyone wants the enemy to have a sporting chance. That isn't real life, of course, but neither is this game.
Back in the Days of Old, and sometimes in the Days of New, when you had (or have) 30 or more people in the arena, wingman tactics worked just fine and lots of people used them. But when the numbers are low, using those tactics ends up with 3 or more people chasing one guy. The conclusion is usually not in doubt, and one or two such fights is often enough to make the one guy decide that he's had enough pummeling for an evening, so he leaves for the MAs. And the numbers get lower.
You've put your finger on one of the problems we have in AvA, which is squad-related. Squad members like to fly together. That works fine in the MAs, where you have hundreds of people, but in a small arena you really need to have another squad, or at least a similar number of detached people, for balance. The squads that regularly attend AvA have learned - as I'm pleased to hear the Avengers have learned - to have a few people switch sides to even things up until other people blow in. When that happens, just say you'd like to switch back with your squad, and go ahead.
It all works out in the end, hopefully.
- oldman
