Okay. Now for my 2 pennies on it. I am one of those noob squadies. I am not an excellent ACM guy but I am trying to get better. Bronk, you have nailed me to the ground more than a few times. We do train on our squad night. Tonight's was practicing on dive bombing, which I still suck at. We have in our squad a person of incredible skill who is our primary training officer for ACM and I have learned loads from him. I read Fighter Combat twice. And I'm STILL not as good as most of the folks in the game at acm. I do much better in a tank.
My point is, from day one in RT I was NEVER asked to be a sacrifice fly. When the best I could do was get a goon to town without hitting a tree, I was always given constructive criticism and encouragement by my squadron. That has not changed, or my squadron affiliation would have
BTW Bronk, The last time you shot me down, if I recall correctly, It was three against one while we defended a base and it was a B&Z from ten thousand feet above me. I'd have to check my gun cams to be sure, but that's not what I really call ACM.
First, let me say I'm not picking on you or your squad Cee64E, but I would like to use your situation as an example.
You say your not very good in a plane, but are trying, and thats cool, but in a mission your a small part of the whole. With a mega squad you are more comfortable because even tho you think your not very good your squad mates have your back and will cover for you. As a principle, thats cool, but from a training stand point its a crutch. You don't have to get better because someone else will cover it for you. You don't have the same motivation as someone in a smaller squad. They have less people, so to be able to handle the same missions they have to be that much better. This is what I see is the problem with the mega squads. Not that they aren't training, but that maybe most aren't learning, because so many people have there back.
When I was CO of a big squad I would figure out what I needed to take the base. I knew my squad was good for 70% hit rate with bombs. I would load the missions with those numbers and very few extras. If I didn't have enough people to hit two bases at once the surplus went on to the next base to prep it, not to over load the main attack. The point is we force each player to handle his load. They all knew we where counting on them to hit what was expected of them. Sure sometimes we missed, but when you hit dead on, there was a thrill of accomplishment. If it takes ten bricks to do the job, and you only bring 12 you better make as few mistakes as possible. You fight smarter, better, harder. Today, mega squads throw a whole wall of bricks at it. They don't care how many hit and it doesn't take a lot of skill. It doesn't force anyone to get better, it doesn't hold anyone accountable.