"For Rank" option per plane or vehicle, per sortie

[Old Sport]

In the "Score As" area of the clipboard's hangar page I would like to see the following option added:

[X] For Rank

If the For Rank checkbox is selected the option functions as AH currently does, calculating the points you gain or lose on that sortie into your rank for the tour.

When you deselect the option for the plane or vehicle you are choosing, i.e.

[_] For Rank

then the points you gain or lose on that sortie are still calculated for perks, as currently, but they are excluded from your rank calculation.

So, for example, you're a regular hotshot and you decide to try a plane you've never flown before. You can uncheck the checkbox and rest your heart assured that your prized rank will not be detrimentally affected.

Or alternatively, one of your bases is close to being capped and captured. Rank savvy gamers can uncheck the For Rank option and up repeatedly at the base under attack, confident that hard-earned rank status will not drop 500 places in two minutes.

Deadbeats with no interest in rank, who un-check the box for every plane or vehicle they sortie in throughout a tour, are displayed with NR (Not Ranked) in the clipboard Roster. When listed as NR no stats are publicly visible, but the logged-in NR subscriber can see his or her own list of kills, deaths, ratios, points for perk calculation, etc.

The fanatical gamer who lives for rank can just leave the boxes checked all tour.

In the bell-shaped curve of playerbase game preferences, many so-called "Rank Sentimentalists" find rank amusing, but might thoroughly enjoy occasional ribald, reckless sorties where there are no consequences from acting like Aces High II is really a highly entertaining game for $15 a month.

This option might even have a positive therapeutic effect for subscribers who are slipping over the edge, liberating them from debilitating anxiety caused by the terrible stress of trying to maintain rank (and of their heartbreak of Psoriasis) and help them find their way back to a more peaceful, tranquil and harmonious AH reality.

The For Rank option would initially appear selected (i.e. the checkbox checked) for each plane or vehicle. When you deselect the option, then it remains deselected for that plane or vehicle until you reselect it.

There is already a somewhat similar option of choosing "Fighter" or "Attack" mode, which changes the way points are calculated, and hence, how rank is calculated. So the "For Rank" option is for practical purposes no better or worse than that option.

Be well, and prosper.

[LLogann]

Not going to happen even with such a well organized, articulate, set of reasons.

<S>

[SectorNine50]

My issue with this would be the people that uncheck that box, then just go kamikaze.  You'd see a huge increase in lancstukas that will bomb and bail.  I'd be willing to bet it'd hurt game play more than it would help to be honest.

Imagine all the people that checked the "For Rank" that have to deal with the HO ramming unchecked players...

Plus everyone being ranked all the time gives you very accurate comparisons!

[Spikes]

It simply won't happen. When a score potato wants to go kill a CV and not hurt his score, up comes the Lancs with the For Rank box unchecked.

[Iron_Cross]

SectorNine50, and bouncing boobs...er I meant SpikesX have it right.  Tho your post is well thought out and articulate, the ramifications of this being implemented would be disastrous.

[Zazen13]

My issue with this would be the people that uncheck that box, then just go kamikaze.  You'd see a huge increase in lancstukas that will bomb and bail.  I'd be willing to bet it'd hurt game play more than it would help to be honest.

Imagine all the people that checked the "For Rank" that have to deal with the HO ramming unchecked players...

Plus everyone being ranked all the time gives you very accurate comparisons!

Exactly, while the accuracy of fighter rank can be legitimately debated. One thing is for certain, someone's fighter statistics can give you a fairly good idea of how they play. That is not to be confused with how skilled they are, because if someone is hellbent and determined to Bork their statistics they can make themselves look as crappy as they want to. The reverse isn't nearly as true however, a really crappy player cannot statistically represent himself as a lot better than he really is without cheating or compromising one or more sub-stats to the point of absurdity.

The fact that everyone is, in essence, "always" flying for rank, whether they actually care about it personally or not, actually creates a balance of opposing forces that cause those that care to be neither too cautious nor too reckless. It makes people find the middle path to an extent. Any provision that allows for wild fluctuations of extremes in flying behavior is going to be detrimental to the game for all of the aforementioned reasons and more.

[Anaxogoras]

The others have given plenty of reasons for why this is not the best idea.

Fwiw, plenty of people already fly in attack mode when they're in a light fighter so as not to mess up their score.

[Old Sport]

<S> to you all for reasoned responses.

Actually I personally am only interested in turning off rank for myself for the entire tour, as I don't fly enough, nor at my age can I drum up any motivation to make "rank" worth anything. As a result, I and I presume multitudes of others, are assigned a valueless number to which rank-concerned subscribers compare their rank.

And I was also being a bit tongue in cheek, to illustrate a point about "rank savvy gamers."  

[ink]

In the "Score As" area of the clipboard's hangar page I would like to see the following option added:

[X] For Rank

If the For Rank checkbox is selected the option functions as AH currently does, calculating the points you gain or lose on that sortie into your rank for the tour.

When you deselect the option for the plane or vehicle you are choosing, i.e.

[_] For Rank

then the points you gain or lose on that sortie are still calculated for perks, as currently, but they are excluded from your rank calculation.

So, for example, you're a regular hotshot and you decide to try a plane you've never flown before. You can uncheck the checkbox and rest your heart assured that your prized rank will not be detrimentally affected.

Or alternatively, one of your bases is close to being capped and captured. Rank savvy gamers can uncheck the For Rank option and up repeatedly at the base under attack, confident that hard-earned rank status will not drop 500 places in two minutes.

Deadbeats with no interest in rank, who un-check the box for every plane or vehicle they sortie in throughout a tour, are displayed with NR (Not Ranked) in the clipboard Roster. When listed as NR no stats are publicly visible, but the logged-in NR subscriber can see his or her own list of kills, deaths, ratios, points for perk calculation, etc.

The fanatical gamer who lives for rank can just leave the boxes checked all tour.

In the bell-shaped curve of playerbase game preferences, many so-called "Rank Sentimentalists" find rank amusing, but might thoroughly enjoy occasional ribald, reckless sorties where there are no consequences from acting like Aces High II is really a highly entertaining game for $15 a month.

This option might even have a positive therapeutic effect for subscribers who are slipping over the edge, liberating them from debilitating anxiety caused by the terrible stress of trying to maintain rank (and of their heartbreak of Psoriasis) and help them find their way back to a more peaceful, tranquil and harmonious AH reality.

The For Rank option would initially appear selected (i.e. the checkbox checked) for each plane or vehicle. When you deselect the option, then it remains deselected for that plane or vehicle until you reselect it.

There is already a somewhat similar option of choosing "Fighter" or "Attack" mode, which changes the way points are calculated, and hence, how rank is calculated. So the "For Rank" option is for practical purposes no better or worse than that option.

Be well, and prosper.

to be perfectly honest i thought your statement

"deadbeats with no intrest in rank..."   was an insult to me and every one else who flies for the fight.
but it gives me a clue as to how you fly.

[Old Sport]

to be perfectly honest i thought your statement

"deadbeats with no interest in rank..."   was an insult to me and every one else who flies for the fight.
but it gives me a clue as to how you fly.

Well, I regret that my attempt at humor was not too successful in your case. Actually when I first wrote it, it was,
"Deadbeats, like myself, with no interest in rank..."
but for the sake of brevity I cut that, and some other things, out of it.

<S>

[ink]

Well, I regret that my attempt at humor was not too successful in your case. Actually when I first wrote it, it was,
"Deadbeats, like myself, with no interest in rank..."
but for the sake of brevity I cut that, and some other things, out of it.

<S>

sounds much better the first way
<S>

[Masherbrum]

Deadbeats with no interest in rank, who un-check the box for every plane or vehicle they sortie in throughout a tour, are displayed with NR (Not Ranked) in the clipboard Roster. When listed as NR no stats are publicly visible, but the logged-in NR subscriber can see his or her own list of kills, deaths, ratios, points for perk calculation, etc.

1.)  Classy way to put a smug remark in a thread starting post.
2.)  Please, tell me what is incurred by having "Rank" not being shown currently?   I can look at the Top 100 right now and eliminate 90+ and know WHO is good/ is not.   

I've been playing for almost 7 years and can careless what my "Rank" is.    I only chuckle at folks like SHawk that do it, because he can and others complain about it.   

[Old Sport]

I've been playing for almost 7 years and can care less what my "Rank" is.

 

That, my friend, is precisely my point.

But rather than passively accept the status quo, i.e. de facto rank, desired or not, as though the current rank functionally were sacrosanct, I decided to offer a suggestion for an enhancement to alleviate the incongruity. If my suggestion were implemented people who want rank would still get ranked, and would also have the freedom to choose their battles, to get the most rank-for-their-buck out of every last penny of their monthly $15. Those who could care less about rank can either be ranked passively, as is currently the case, or proudly bear their NR badge, showing many subscribers that they don't fly for numbers, but for sheer altruistic enjoyment.

And while I'm thinking of it, an additional aspect of the NR functionality that I'd suggest is that when the [_] For Rank checkbox is deselected, if the player happens to gain 2 or more victories during their sortie, upon landing they will not generate the usual text announcement of their achievement. They will have the personal satisfaction of a job well done, minus all those questionable congrats, like, for example, for 2 cherry-pick victories in a Tempest.

Lest I incur the ire of other fellow subscribers who fail to grasp the import of my writing style I apologize in advance to you low-ranked folks, some of whom actually deserve an accolade. <S>

[Murdr]

My issue with this would be the people that uncheck that box, then just go kamikaze.  You'd see a huge increase in lancstukas that will bomb and bail.  I'd be willing to bet it'd hurt game play more than it would help to be honest.

Imagine all the people that checked the "For Rank" that have to deal with the HO ramming unchecked players...

Imagine having a field capped for capture how the number of willing cap breakers will multiply if they could uncheck a box and not have it count against their score.  You create a situation to change behavior in the absence of concequences.  I don't see this as viable at all, and having an overall negative impact on  general gameplay.

[Old Sport]

Imagine having a field capped for capture how the number of willing cap breakers will multiply if they could uncheck a box and not have it count against their score.  You create a situation to change behavior in the absence of consequences.  I don't see this as viable at all, and having an overall negative impact on general gameplay.

I understand your point - if one believes the object of AH is more for some kind of ordered capture of bases, then yes, this might possibly have some detrimental effect. I say possibly, because I think after the initial break-in period, things would settle down to a recognizable pattern.

On the other hand, if you are looking to create massive furballs, then I think deselecting [_] For Rank would have a salutatory effect.

As far as change of behavior Murdr, that actually is a major aspect of why I posted this idea. A few weeks ago I met a P-51D at equal alt in my F4U-1, just us two, and the guy ran all the way back to base AA, and I went on ahead after him 'cause I don't really care and was downed by AA, and he got the proxy. He was around 500 in rank. Very recently I met a Spit 8 at equal alt about 11,000, all alone, hoping for some fun, and the guy HOed, me, which again I don't care about, but man, why not hotdog around a little with your opponent instead of just ending the show. This guy too was around 500. And yeah, whoooppeee.

It is just an opinion I have, that if people had the option to not worry about how ridiculous their rank appears in the roster (like mine which is usually far beyond +4500  ), then maybe more would be looking for those days of gaming yesteryear when air-to-air combat was pleasurable, and, may the best man win.

Furthermore, as far as affecting capped bases, I do believe that currently rank takes into account the actual time you are logged in. So, with the [_] For Rank unchecked, "log in" time for rank is diminished by that amount of time. That would have an effect on rank-or-consequences, and rank-achieving subscribers would have to limit the amount of time they stay unchecked in order to keep their rank respectable. The people that don't care about rank already up at capped bases anyway. And just to mention that I sometimes up at capped bases and occasionally get through the vulching hord. That's kinda fun itself.

<S>