I believe a persons score is a fairly close barometer of a persons skill level. I don't think its definitive. There are too many variables to make it so. Lets say a guy makes top fighter in the LW arena. Does that mean he really is a better fighter pilot than the guy who ended up in the number two spot? I think a playoff between lets say the top 20 fighter pilots in the DA would answer that question. You would probably end up with two number ones though. One for the MA and one a dueler.
I like to keep an eye on my hit % and sometimes if I don't know who it was I was fighting I will look up that persons score.
A8Grind
Grind--
The month I made a little run at score ranking I ended up somewhere in the low 20s, even though my combat skills were mediocre. Now that I'm going more for pure adrenaline, I'm well in the bottom half of the rankings. Have I lost that much skill? No, in fact I'm better than I was back then.Now I understand where you're coming from, but I think you'll find that there are just TOO many variables in play for score to mean much of anything. You have to realize that rank is derived by combining your rank in every category you see on the score page, from fighter kills to bomber structure damage.
Now look at the relationship between skill and those score rankings. Start with basic "skill level" Whatever IS that? Is "Skill" being good at one on one? Or is it the ability to pick fights? Knowing when to bug out? Or, being able to hang in and get kills against overwhelming odds -- even if you die in the end? See, you'll get different stats depending on HOW you define skill...
Now look at the MANY variables that affect how your skill (again, whatever THAT is) shows up in the numbers. How many hours do you play? That affects total kills and points. Do you hate GVs? Automatically you're going to lose lots of ranking from that alone! Do you have the time and patience to up bombers for time consuming high alt strat runs? If not, your score drops. Are you willing to fly in a horde so the numbers increase your safety? Do you fly solo, or are you part of a squad that will give you cover and bail you out of trouble? Do you like to take territory, because if you do you'll have fewer kills per hour (on average). That means another category you'll drop lower in.
Now about the bizarre little quirks of the score system. Do you care enough to make a PT boat run that ends with a rocket attack on buildings? That's the only way to score points in one of those rank categories. Score chasers do that to get top rankings. Just about nobody else will, so they don't look as "good" even though that run has absolutely NOTHING to do with game ability.
Big picture: if all you care about is the furball then you'll have more deaths, and you won't have the base captures, ground target damage, bomber points, and PT runs it takes to get a good score. If you don't care about dying, your KPD will look worse than your "skills" could generate in other conditions.
Bottom line is this: Score rankings tell us how good you are at score rankings. It takes some skill to be at the top, but while there are definitely some great players with good rankings there are also guys who are middling at best - but play the score game very well.
