If you can furball and do so regularly there is a good chance you are also skilled at energy fighting
Mechanic,
You used the word E-fight, instead of talking about people who OPHA only and never attempt to kill anything aware of their presence, so I'm going to have to call you on it...
No, there is a world of difference between between a co-e "duel" between similar rides and trying to E fight a good-turning kite with a brick. Given pilots of equal skill, the latter is far more difficult. Getting a kill is alot easier in a ride that can out-turn/turn with and "saddle up" on what it happens to be fighting at the moment, there is not even a debate about this. In a flight sim, (as opposed to a real war) ease of killing shares at least equal desireability
with ease of survival, therefore equal dweebishness if we wish to speak in those terms.
Altitudes of the fighters in our "air war" will be dictated by the altitude at which the aircraft which actually win the war operate (bombers, jabos, and in our case, the goon). Since they tend to operate rather low in AH, and since local air superiority right over the bases is what moves the map in this game, its a low alt world there is virtually no action and not much point going above above 15K. Nothing to do with most players being too morally righteous to grab alt. 15K is not that high, 5 minutes or so in the worst climbing rides available.
If the strategy of the MA revolved around hordes of bombers tooling along at 25K, 90% of the action would be from 15 to 30K instead.
If everyone played to win from advantage like this the furballers would beat smart flyers black and blue at the altitude grabbing game, you have the advantage not through skill but because furballers give it to you and still stick around to fight it out."
There is no advantage which skill can give you in hitting the alt-x command
And if one were to carry climbing to too much of an extreme, if you were hanging around at 30K in the MA for instance, there would be no point as one would be too high to protect/intercept, nay, even to see, friendly/enemy aircraft.
Circumstances also alter cases. For the lone P-51 encountering a co-e or better Spit16, it is entirely appropriate to try a turn or two to see if the Spit16 makes any mistakes, then bug if it does not. The P-51 is unlikely to survive a stall fight with a decent pilot in the Spixteen, and building a usuable E advantage will be a long process if possible at all. If we replace the Spit with a Hurri, then the P-51 can conceivably build a usable E advantage in a practical amount of time. If the same P-51 encounters a lone FW-190 co-e, then the P-51 driver will likely be the one pressing hard for an angles fight. The moral fiber or whatever BS we are speaking of in regards to the P-51 driver has not changed, merely the circumstance.
If you only energy fight and never furball you are most certainly limiting your virtual skills
I am a believer in keeping the tools sharp.
I was up until the wee hours of the morning last night in the DA with a squaddie, flying a low Hurricane MkI and helping him practice E fighting against a more maneuverable plane. It seems undeniable to me that in a 1v1, the man flying the Hurricane has the easier time evading attack and pushing the brick-flyer out in front than the latter does in trying to get a telling shot in without losing position. Then I was the one in a 109 and 190A5, fighting the Zeke from both E advantage and disadvantage. Once again, while the Zeke is quite killable with abit of E to work with, let me assure that the man in the brick has the harder task in terms of thinking one step ahead and gun solutions than the man in the kite.
DA and TA are open 24 hours a day and are a much better place to hone the skills than the chaotic MA. (Using the MA for practice is abit like going to a biker bar and picking fights instead of the gym to learn martial arts.) There is no requirement to needlessly sacrifice onself to the ubiquitous horde of gang-tards by getting into a stall fight right in the middle of them,for the learning process.
