Originally posted by leonid:
Well, let's put it this way, if you're the type of flyer that goes right into the thick of a furball, or thinks nothing of flying into a gaggle of 3 or more enemy fighters, you deserve to die. And if your wingman is smart, he'll let you too. I mean, if you willfully put yourself into great danger without any plan other than 'WooHoo!' why should anyone else lift a finger to slow the process? Of course, there are extenuating circumstances, but we all generally know those when we see them.
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Unfortunately, reality was not so simple so as to allow pilots to always pick their fights. When the Luftwaffe was ordered to attack the massive bomber formations with fighter escort, I doubt many said, "No way, I don't like those odds. I'm outta here." They may have thought that, but they had a job to do, and they did it.
In my mind, flying intelligently doesn't mean picking and choosing your fights. It means making the best choices given the situation with which you're presented. You can't ALWAYS fight when things are to your advantage. THAT is unrealistic.
As to 'intelligent' and 'realistic' equating to 'cowardice', that's a crock. In WWII air combat, the most valuable commodity was the pilot, not the machine. No combat aircraft took 20-some years to build, and train. To fly realistically means just that. I couldn't care less what the plane set was. If I was really going up into the sky flying a F4U-1D against enemy P-51Ds, one of my big concerns would be 'Hmm, hope I get back alive.'
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I didn't equate them with cowardice. Realistic flying was far from cowardly; pilots may have had a mind toward self-preservation, but they also had jobs to do. If diving into furballs with no eye toward survival is unrealistic (and it is), so too is hanging around the edges of said furball and running when things get hairy. In one case, the pilot probably dies, and in the other he probably lives. Both are fantasy.
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Fortunately, for the majority of players, these uber-pilots will have a real concern for their own welfare, and their attacks will be made only under the best of circumstances. Upset those circumstances, and I'm almost certain these uber-pilots will break off. Thus, in some ways uber-pilots will be less of a threat then some kamikaze spit driver whose only intent is to kill you, and/or die trying.
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Well, to be more realistic then all Me262's should be outnumbered 10 or 20 to 1. They must engage fully-gunned bomber formations with fighter escort. That's realistic.
I think the point I'm trying to make is that self-preservation alone is not realistic, and many kinds of behavior that lead to self-preservation in the arena are far from realistic. Some are, surely, but others just plain aren't. I hope we have a system of rewards that differentiates between them.
You can't have your cake, and eat it too.
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Sure I can. You are.
I'm really curious to see how this works out. I've been impressed with everything I've seen from HTC so far, so I'm hopeful. I do have this nagging desire in the back of my head to see our current non-uber planeset fleshed out before we add anything over-the-top. What about P-47s, P-40s, P-39s, Me110's, Ki-43s, Ki-61's, A20's, A26's, B-24's, Ju87's, La7's, MiG's, more Yaks, Vals, Kates, Mossies, Hurricanes, TBF Avengers, SBD's, etc etc etc?
I'd be upset if we get a Komet before we get an Me110.
-- Todd/DMF
