Here are some things that seem odd about the ranking system in this game.
1. Its been said that the Rank system is used to track your individual progress which I would agree but it leaves questions as to why its:
a. Made public in a way that its numbered 1-50 for top pilots
b. Promoted on your main page for significance to new prospects
c. Given credibility by allowing only highest ranked players to control cv's
2. All the higher ranked players usually only play for the first couple of weeks and maximize padding score as quickly as they can during that time. Some only play for the first week only. Nothing the rest of the month, no activity for 3 of the 4 weeks.
a. Inactivity from these players are not considered in their score like detracting from their score?
b. Players that DO play the entire month get no credit for doing so, knowing that by playing they are risking their rank?
c. I would think this would promote less fighting than what the intent is wouldn't you?
I consider myself an average player, good looking, but average. 
I have experimented with rank and have noticed that a player like me will never achieve the rank of #1 due to playing the entire month, not based upon any particular skill set compared to another, but merely because I play more often than another.
Why not add a time that a player must play each week before it can be scored. ......?
Please feel free to correct me in my assessment, or if you take it personally flame away.
I went and looked at Bruv119's stats for the last tour. He had over +1089 kills in attack, fighter, and GV with 90 hours flight time. I am not big on ranking, but those are impressive numbers. 90 hours is about 3 hours a day of game play for a tour if you do the math... My hat is off to a guy that can do that in 90 hours. The facts do not support your post. You are correct about scores getting worse toward the end of the month.. Mine always do..
I watched SHawk the other night defending a base that we were attacking. He was in an F4 and dove into a mess of fighters, flaks, and tanks to drop his bombs. He got shot up and was smoking. He still stayed in the fight until we took the base. He could have bugged out, but he stayed and fought the entire time. At one point, he probably had 10 fighters chasing him through the sky. He dropped a bomb on my tank during all of this.
If this guy was worried about padding his scores, he would have gotten out of that mess quickly. However he stayed and fought with his crippled plane until the end. Very impressive display in my opinion.. I still think he may have made it back and landed..
My point is that many of those high score guys actually get in there and mix it up without worrying about score. They just happen to be very good at the game.. Salute SHAWK by the way..
