... however Ive never seen or heard these rules in every time ive been in the DA arena.
Ya know if there was a post on "DA Rules" Would be nice to see, You can't bash someone for not knowing rules people say are "Old as Airwarriors" To those who flew then sure. Not those who only been in DA since October, and yet Ive never heard anyone mention them. I've spoken few times on 200 in DA asking setups and such.
DA, in these months, especially after closing of H2H, is mostly just a bunch of squeakers ace wannabes, especially if you consider those who fly in the Lake. So, no wonder you might have heard nothing of the standard accepted rules... but, the definition itself of duel, that 2BigHorn posted and many referred to, should have told you that entering a duel with an advantage is unfair. The purpose of a duel is to see what pilot flies better... that's why you fly the same plane with the same loadout, to nullify any possible advantage.... and that's why you agree to have a Co-alt, Co-E merge. You might even haven't known about those rules, but a bit of common sense should have supplied well for them.
When you are in DA, you're not in combat, you're dueling. It's different. It's not MA, it's not about ranking, it's not about winning: it's about out-flying your opponent, starting with equal conditions. That's what DA is all about. If you understand this, and understand why dueling as you did will bring you nothing but disdain from most of the community, then there's still hope for you.
Btw, one final thing: yeah, you may have asked in DA for rules and setups... but when you enter in a new environment, it's always better (even and mostly in RL) not to ask to the first persons you meet.... ask to the ones who've been around the most, the ones who can really be of help.
