This month I turned over a new leaf... I stopped playing for score. I've been working on the historical achievements, which has forcing me to branch out into different aircraft. Accomplishments like having to get a certain number of kills in the P40E, F6F, 109F4 and 190F8, P47N, and others... I've been able to accomplish these, including many of the tougher ones that require some big numbers to be laid down in one sortie.
So far this is my experience:
1. There is a rewarding feeling that comes with getting big kill streaks in substandard aircraft vs the late war powerhouses. I can get a lot of kills in these type of aircraft as long as I keep an eye on my 6 to maneuver against the red diving in every 5-10 seconds while engaging the poor slob that doesn't know any better.
2. 90% of my time has been spent low on the deck trying to engage aircraft that only want to BnZ me for 10 minutes until I begin to run out of fuel... or me continuously shaking my head at 109K4s, Ki-84s, P-38s that immediately go into a climb to try to rope me, over and over and over again. Eventually some make a mistake and I get their kill, others just turn tail and run away after many failed attempts. I can see how many of my long standing opponents are frustrated fighting against this behavior, as
I have been more irritated this tour than ever. I've caught myself calling out on 200, "
Picker," "
You just gonna run or are you gonna turn around and Fight," or even "
[Insert Plane type here], you're such a coward." Some of these taunts even worked to convince a pilot to come back and get killed. I've been a
REAL Rook for 10+ years, and this tour, I have even swapped countries to Bish and Knit because I "
Couldn't find any good fights," and became irritated at the 12 hour country swap limit that was keeping me from playing the way I wanted.
3. This month, by taking score out of the mix, if I died I didn't care and just chalked up to getting picked by a better plane or pilot. By not caring about staying alive and getting kills back to base, it has taken quite a bit of flair out of the game, which has unfortunately for me, made the game less desirable to play.
These experiences have me pondering the question: Why be pissed off circling around complaining that I can't catch any of these runners, when I can hop in a plane that can catch them and send them to the tower for their offense? As many of you know, my aircraft preference is the P-51B over the P-51D. I enjoy the additional challenge of killing with only 4x50s instead of 6x50s, forcing those hits at convergence, and having to work around the reduced speed of the mid-war Bravo compared to the Delta at most MA altitudes, while still being competitive vs many of the late war aircraft.
The bottom line for me is that I want to fly, wing up, get kills, and enjoy the game with my friends... not screaming at my monitor because some faster aircraft won't engage the way I want them to. Many of those long standing opponents from above that would
never pick or gang, have killed me this tour, doing exactly that.
All in all, I believe this tour will provide me with a greater overall experience of the game; however, I'm fairly confident I'll be back in my Bravo next month striving for those 10+ kills in a single clip and successfully returning to base.
and Good Hunting!
