Rook, Nit or Bish?? who has the close ties?

[ROX]

So far there are 17 squads in the Knights Alliance.

No sidehoppers.

It's our $15 bucks a month.



BTW:  My hat is off to bishop's Falcon23 who does exactly the same thing on his side. 

         There is also a rook that organizes and does the same thing on his side. 




ROX

[Zazen13]

When I came to Aces High after the demise of AW I found 90% of my old school fighter jock friends were Rooks. At the time Rooks were HUGE underdogs with Bishops outnumbering them 3 to 1 24/7. It was a very rough environment to learn the game and is the root of my intense dislike of Bishops in general.

The axiom,  "Birds of a feather flock together", holds true in AH. Those that say all countries are the same are completely FoS. There are squadrons and individuals unique and intensely loyal to each country that tend to sway the rest toward one style of play or another. These people help attract and retain like-minded souls, not everyone of course, there will always be mavericks and nonconformists, but the majority. I have proved this in the past with some famous threads that the oldies surely remember and you can <search> for. I will sum it up briefly here.

Bishops, in general, have little to no interest in a protracted air fight, they just want to take as many undefended fields per unit time as possible. Usually after they attack an undefended field with an overwhelming force and some resistance manages to form before they affect capture, they get their butts whipped. Instead of coming back to try again and create a furball they "mass-quit" and look for some other undefended field on the map to swarm. Bishops will always abandon a fight to join a mission to attack some undefended base on the edge of nowhere.

Bishops have a couple of very large squadrons composed largely of new players and/or those posessing very little individual fighter combat skill. This predominance tends to lend itself well to the creation of large missions which allow the relatively unskilled/inexperienced individuals to share some measure of success as a part of the mission they could not otherwise possibly hope to obtain alone.

Rooks are unabashed furballers, they are the antithesis to Bishops. Rooks will always forego base capturing if there's a furball to be had. In my opinion Rooks are the most fighter friendly country, but the least land-grab friendly one. Rooks are by far the best combat communicators and their mutual support in fights is very realistic and effective. This whole "fights-first" mindset is why the missions dudes get so frustrated on Rooks. If there's a good furball happening there's cricket's chirping in their mission rooms which naturally has an adverse effect on their effectiveness at the real estate aspect of the game.. Rooks have the highest proportion of experienced and talented fighter pilots and the lowest number of real estate broker types.

Knights are an amalgam, in a way I feel sorry for them as they lack the 'super-squads" that tend to generate country cohesiveness. Knights are decent at everything but great at nothing. Knights will try to be like Bish sometimes and horde capture, but lack the Bish-like Borg-Servant mindset to do it very effectively. At times they will try to be like Rooks and furball but their combat communication is very poor compared to Rooks and their squads are relatively small so fewer people tend to operate in close mutual support of one another in a fight. Over-time the hardcore real-estate junkies have migrated to Bish and the fighter purists have left for Rooks leaving Knights with a homogeneous blend of neither extreme. This makes them adaptable and versatile but at the same time less effective at any particular aspect overall.

[oTRALFZo]

I understand the whole argument on "chesspiece loyalty" and I would never tell you what to do with your 15$. I get my 15$ worth each time NCLawman and GHI are within vox range...some bish so tight, they can do such a great impersonation that you have to check twice to see whos really talking

[uptown]

That's pretty damned good Zazen. I agree.

[Zazen13]

That's pretty damned good Zazen. I agree.

Thank -You sir. <<S>>

[Guppy35]

I think it would be fairer to say that the most visible <insert your chess piece here> players may fit the profile Zazen is talking to, but as a dedicated country hopper, I just don't see the majority of players being any different.  Good, bad and indifferent on all sides from my experience.

I'd also suggest that if you could nail down who all the country hoppers are, looking for the largest darbar whily flying for the low numbers country, you could fill another country all together

[Spikes]

When the rooks get on a roll, they stay on a roll. When you get missions planners like DREDger or Limbo0 to run missions, after about 3 base takes you've got a solid base stealing group that can easily roll 10 bases, and we don't need 50 people to take it either. 8 110s, 4 nik's and 1 goon usually do us good.

[moot]

Apparently your brain turns to mush if you type this magic code ".country 1" inside the game Aces High.  Send this to 10 friends and the curse will lift!

[Zazen13]

I think it would be fairer to say that the most visible <insert your chess piece here> players may fit the profile Zazen is talking to, but as a dedicated country hopper, I just don't see the majority of players being any different.  Good, bad and indifferent on all sides from my experience.

I'd also suggest that if you could nail down who all the country hoppers are, looking for the largest darbar whily flying for the low numbers country, you could fill another country all together

I did some rough census polling a few months ago, although unscientific, I roughly calculated only about 20% of the active AH population switches sides. About half of those that do switch are part of a squadron that traditionally only changes sides at the beginning of each camp on a rotation basis. So, only 10% of the player base (+-5%) switch countries during a campaign.

The original poster was speaking specifically of people who profess loyalty to one team or another. I know my squadron tend to go where they perceive the best fights are. But, the vast majority do not, they remain on one team come hell or high water and it is those people that collectively define the "demeanor" of a country. They form the substrate from which you can add or take away "floaters", but that will not change the team's fundamental defining characteristics. Think of it as a glass of salt water...I can pour a teaspoon of fresh water into the glass, but it's still going to be saltwater, perhaps a tad more dilute, but still salt water.

[Guppy35]

When the rooks get on a roll, they stay on a roll. When you get missions planners like DREDger or Limbo0 to run missions, after about 3 base takes you've got a solid base stealing group that can easily roll 10 bases, and we don't need 50 people to take it either. 8 110s, 4 nik's and 1 goon usually do us good.

Hmmm....not a single 38 mentioned.  The 12 will be discussing this transgression.....

[waystin2]

Obviously the Knights!  Why?  Because Pigs only fly in Knightland.

<Salute> Knights

[pluck]

honestly, they seem about the same to me.  Generally, the team with the most amount of players, are the people taking bases the fastest.  Generally, the lowest numbered team is losing bases the fastest.  I guess some countries may have squads dedicated to the land grab game, but that changes to.  years ago, bish steam rolled maps, more recently, rooks had been the ones taking maps and bish not.  Even squads long time loyal squads change, though less often.  It just goes around and around.  As far as one country being more friendly than the other...I don't doubt some may have found that to be true, however, I think it is more of just a personal thing, meaning it depends on who is flying, what arena, who you run into and so on.  I just don't see any country being better/worse, more friendly/less, or whatever be the case.  Sometimes you notice trends, but those change constantly.  Rooks used to be called alt dweebs, maybe they still are, but when I fly with them, most everyone I see is above me...by alot.  But for every person that thinks there country is the best for whatever reason, there are just as many who think that their's is...the opposite is also true.  just mho.

[BaldEagl]

I wouldn't know.  I've always been a Bish.

Gotta disagree with Zazen on at least one point.  There's a lot of communication among Bish in a fight.  At least a lot of check sixes and the like although coordination could be better.  Oh... and we aren't all real estate hordlings who run from a fight but we do have a strong contingent who fit that description.

I've pretty much always been a loner and not paid much attention to the social aspect of the game but I get a lot of support from fellow Bishes (WTG's, check sixes, winging up, etc.), some that I don't even really know.

[Lusche]

Generally all countries are the same if you hop a lot and fly at different times.
All have their share of altmonkeys, pickers, hotards, mindless furballers, clueless toolshedders, squeakers, generals, and incessant complainers. If there is a particular annoying player on your countrychannel, you can bet on the fact that there is an exact copy on each other country as well

Also one's perception of a country can greatly differ depending on what time you fly. For some weeks, rooks/bish/knights "suck" in the early morning, a few months later they may roll a map again and again at the same time. All depending on the ever changing appearance and flying times of differend kind of players.

That being said, there are some long established players/squads that can do make a bit of a difference, and seem to shape their country towards certain style - for example huge, obscenely oversized NOE'S are occasionally done by every side, but certainly have become a Bish specialty over the years.
And this may be the reason for an interesting fact: For many years the Bishop's overall K/D has been the lowest for tour after tour, while the Rook's is always the highest. The difference is quite significant and very stable over the years.

In the current year, the Bishops have a total K/D of  0.91, the Knights 0.93 and the Rooks 1.19

[thndregg]

In my four years here, I've flown Bish. The only exception was when I had a major disagreement with my squad superiors and I flew for Knits very briefly. I don't have enough experience with knits to form an opinion, and I've never flown with Rooks. I will say that my perception of Rooks, based on my encounters with them (especially at high alt), is that they have very skilled pilots and they coordinate well.

I do enjoy flying as a Bishop, mainly because most players I fly with don't take the game so seriously that it overrides the "fun factor." I am a poor fighter pilot, but to everyone I know here, that doesn't matter. As long as we're having fun, that's what it's about. The friends and acquaintences (sp?) I have gained over time keep me coming back. <S> you guys, you know who you are.