if there are multiple uppers or encroachers on a 1v1 do you feel that means you must be the one to be the guy that interferes with the on going 1v1 or could you instead engage the nearest of the new comers?
Okay, let's start here. I realize it's simple to say 'well, you should leave the 1v1 be' and it sounds all good and polite and honorable, but let's look at the mechanics of this. Let's take two different scenarios that could occur from this simple statement.
Scenario 1- I happen upon a friendly in a 1v1. I'm within 1k alt either way, I'm cruising at speed. There's another bandit headed in the general direction of the 1v1. He's also co-alt, cruising at speed. It's fairly clear-cut at this point, right? I engage the second con. We both have our 1v1. Everything's fairsies, everybody's happy, right? At least until somebody gets shot down, now there's a 2v1. Or, if the second bandit is treating it now as a 2v2 and trying to bag the friendly, who is being dragged by the bandit he's in the 1v1 with.
Scenario 2- I happen upon a friendly in a 1v1. The center of their engagement is a couple thousand feet above me, maybe a bit more. Their vertical maneuvers generally put them low enough that if I maneuvered properly, I could take a shot. Without too much trouble, the bandit in the 1v1 could set up for me and take a shot on the way by. There's another bandit headed in the general direction of the 1v1 from the opposite side of the two engaged planes. He's co-alt with me.
Why am I expected to put myself at a disadvantage to the bandit that's engaged in the 1v1 and hope (probably vainly) he doesn't capitalize on me going by on the way to the second con? Typically now you're engaged in a 2v2, not a couple of 1v1s. If the two bandits fight it as a 2v2 instead of a 1v1, either me or the friendly is going to get saddled up on and creamed.
Should I respect the 1v1 and pull off, and let the friendly whine on 200 about how he was picked by the second bandit? And/Or get pissy because I 'hung him out to dry' because I left him to his 1v1? This is also assuming perfect SA. Maybe I was moving into the area away from an unfriendly horde that's headed this way 6k behind me, and my attention's split, so all I see is two enemies, one friendly in front of me. There's a freaking legion of other possibilities here, and we're only looking at a scenario with 4 planes all off by their lonesome.
do you think if you had gone around instead of through the on going fight that the enemy would have been inclined to break off his fight and giving his 6 to the enemy he was already fighting to persue you instead?
Okay, what if I keep my distance and go around and the second bandit comes straight in on the friendly to saddle up? Because I was trying to be polite and respect the 1v1, I'm out of position to save the poor schmuck and he gets pissy because I hung him out to dry.
I'm sorry, but if there's more than the 2 of you within icon range, I just don't think it's feasible to have the expectation that everybody on the battlefield clears out of your way like the main fight scene in a movie.
do you really get so many requests for help that it really gets that confusing for you to remember who needs it when you are encountering a 1v1, a 2v2 or even a 3v3?
It's not that it comes up that often, because frankly the arena doesn't work this way. There's the 'if it's red, it's dead' mentality, and I think the majority works in that framework. My point is, if just one guy in that 2v2 or 3v3 say, 'Guys, leave the 109 alone, he's MINE ALL MINE!' and his fight is not 10,000 feet below the rest of you, why is it suddenly up to all the rest of you to concede to his wishes, when the bandits might not be playing by the same set of rules, and you have no way of figuring that out other than by their actions, and the fact that things happen so quickly in this game, they can take advantage of a couple seconds of decision making on your part to leap in and drill the friendly who you're leaving to do his thing. And more often than not, now the guy's whining on country because nobody called his six.
Never mind the fact that it's now taxing your SA to be in the middle of a multiple-con dogfight and go 'Oh, that's his 109 that he's declared as MINE ALL MINE and I'm not supposed to engage it. *dodge the con I'm currently engaged with* Hmm... the 109 seems to be saddling up on me OH F-' 'You have been shot down by the 109 that was MINE ALL MINE.'
It seems to me that the duelist advocates are one of two things- Either your SA is so poor, you can only handle interacting with one con at once or your SA is so freaking off the charts awesome, that you can manage to keep track of your 1v1 when there are ten other planes in the area. The rest of us may not have that capability. Rudimentary IFF might be all the other people around you are capable of in a multiple on multiple engagement.
I know for myself, I get overwhelmed if there's more than 2 bandits interacting with me. And that's on a good day, and assuming they're not working together all that well.
Just to be clear, I agree, coming in from 10k higher to pick the only available bandit from in front of a friendly is dweebery. No argument there. But when other planes start to appear on the horizon, I think some people have unreasonable expectations of the people around them as far as SA and the fact that a moving battle is rolling right over top of your designated 1v1 space.
Wiley.
