All true, but the fact of the REAL event was, pilots with their real life tulips on the line tended to insist on having those advantages as often as they could.
Well of course. Why wouldn't you? If this was not a game and the tracers flying at me represented a very real danger to my life; you bet your bottom I'd be at 30,000 feet, if "playing" at all. Thankfully, this is just a game.
Nothing you have stated (with a disclaimer than I may have missed something), with respect to "real engagements" is untrue. However, when you look at the historical accounts of real engagements, there is nearly always a party at a disadvantage. This goes back to your comment that DA 1v1's are "staged." Throwing an arbitrary number out there, 90% of all kills recorded in WWII were the result of one party (a) being at a disadvantage and (b) being unaware.
The pilots with the most stick time, typically Germans, found themselves in situations where they were at a positional disadvantage, often enough. Some; especially those with time on the Eastern Front (for whatever reason), pro-actively sought to teach newer pilots the methods by which to combat and reverse these disadvantages.
Take it from the man himself:
"Never abandon the possibility of attack. Attack even from a position of inferiority, to disrupt the enemy's plans. This often results in improving one's own position."How much "attacking from a position of inferiority" do you see in the MA? I don't see much. I see a lot of running as soon as the advantage is lost. I think this is because the average player who finds himself at an "unexpected" disadvantage (read: "How the **** did he do THAT!?") does not understand how to turn the tables back around again. By running, he is doing the absolute worst possible thing he can do - show the bad guy his tail.
It's a rare treat when I come across an aggressive pile-it who attacks from a disadvantage (smartly, not recklessly). You can identify those savvy cartoon warriors within the first few seconds and you know that the fight will be a good one. By contrast, chasing Mustangs or Doras or Tempests all over the map until they can drag you to a small air force of Spit 16's gets tiresome...
The real joy of this game for me, and for many others, are those instances where, even in the case of unequal positions, a good fight results.
It's like chess in - not only three - but all four dimensions; the fourth being time... that ability to observe the behavior of an enemy aircraft at that particular moment; and predict what *he* intends to do and where *he* intends to be 5 seconds from then... placing *yourself* in a position with in the three spacial dimensions to gain an advantage at that position
and instant. When *both* of the contestants are doing this simultaneously, you end up with a palm-moisturizing fight that is fluid, dynamic and lasts minutes, not seconds.
It's a rare, rare treat these days. In fact, its so rare that, when it happens, most of the guys who have been playing AH/AW/WB for years can usually identify the other guy just by what he's flying and how he's flying it.
The list ain't that long anymore. If I see a Corsair on the deck, surrounded by cons, with flaps out and guns blazing,, its Skyrock. If I see smart, but very aggressive, tactical decision making out of a 38, I know its Delirium. Same plane, but more "passive trickery?" Probably Soulyss. La7's used to be immediately identifiable as Shane. Lord help you if you came across a Spit V with another in tow... there's Levi and the H-man. If I see a 51 below 5K and slower than the speed of sound, its Oldmn. Etc, etc, etc, there are maybe twenty of these guys left, if that.
Point is, there is so much more to this game than landing X number of kills. Just like women, its quality, not quantity. I'd rather have Jenna Jameson once than Rosie O'Donnell a thousand times.
With absolutely no malice or intent to antagonize, I would be glad to go over to the DA with you, purely for fun, to show you just how much of the game you are missing and just
how much there really is to learn. Why else to you think some of us have been playing the same games for 10-15 years?
You can start at 20K, Ill start on the deck. Plane of your choice and I'll show you how you got beaten afterwards... and hell... I ain't even very good anymore. Noobs like Grizz can beat me half the time.
Cheers.
