Changes to the scoring system

[Greebo]

I have made the following suggestion in other posts but subsequent discussion tended to derail the OP's original topic. So I have decided to give it its own post. The idea is for HTC to alter the game's scoring system in a way that encourages players who are interested in score/rank to fly in a more aggressive way to achieve a high score.

Currently the fighter rank is calculated by creating an average rank from the player's individual ranks in these five stats: K/D, K/S, K/T, Hit % and kill points (total damage done). The problem with this as I see it is it tends to make players fly in a fairly conservative manner, only engaging with a plane/energy/numbers advantage and running if things look at all risky. I think that this makes the game less interesting for many players, including me. Also it does not do what a score system should, reward what is difficult and penalise what is easy. The way I propose for this to be improved is for HTC to create one or two new stats to be added to the combined score total.

The first one would be friend/enemy ratio. The game would calculate the numbers of red and green icons in view each time a player makes a kill and add that to the player's F/E stat. So a player with a stat of 2.6 would be someone who tends to seek the safety of numbers, while someone with a stat of 0.6 would be the opposite. The player with the lowest number would be ranked first in that stat and this would be added to the other five stats to calculate the total rank. Anyone who is flying for score/rank would now have an incentive to seek out more even engagements, which should mean more fighting for everyone. A slightly more complex version of this would also tot up the average range of the red and green icons at the same time.

The second stat is ENY/kill. The game records the ENY of the plane you are flying every time you score a kill and creates an average stat for you. Optionally it could also record the ENY of each plane you kill and record the ratio of the two. Your rank in this stat is then also added to the combined score stat. This is an incentive to fly some more challenging higher ENY rides and should create a bigger variety of planes in the MA. If enemy ENY is calculated it is also an incentive to go after the toughest enemy and not the weakest.

[FTJR]

Sounds good mate

+1

[caldera]

The red/green ratio idea could be somewhat circumvented by a 262.  A good 262 pilot could fly into a horde of bombers and get a lot of kills in a short time.
The eny/kill is a very good idea.

Also, I would like to see an assist/death stat.  A pilot that gets killed mostly by one other pilot at a time would be A: probably not be as good as advertised and B: would not be flying into harms way.  Someone who has a lot of assists/death against them would be a pilot that is more difficult to bring down.

[mthrockmor]

I'm in....+1

 

boo

PS We likely need a few ways to incentive some changes. This could be a great start.

[Triton28]

I could dig it, but you're going to have to set a defined limit to the friend/enemy ratio thing.  Just coming into view is a bit long.  I can foresee all types of fussing because some green guy came into view right before a kill was recorded. 

[TWC_Angel]

Absolutely!
This is one of the brightest wishes I've seen in a long time 
+1 
 

[Lusche]

I'm all against the first half,. becasue it's not really an improvement.
I don't need my ENY 5 262 or Tempest to be 'within' a lot of enemy cons without really taking that much risks, it also works fine with a 47M (10), Ta 152(10), 109K(15) or P-51B(20), especially as I'm actively hunting for bomber and Jabo missions. Swooping down on the enemy blob, score a kill or two 'against great odds' and zooming back to alt. Conservative, relatively low risk, and my F/E stat will show and impessively 'brave' pilot

If I now think about it in detail, it would be actually a good boost for my own fighter rank... And I'm certainly not flying the way you had in mind



But I do fully agree with making ENY a part of the score.  


And while we are at it... I'd like to see the object damage score points fixed  

[PFactorDave]

I definitely see Lushce's points...

What if the instant you score a kill, the game assesses your altitude and speed (E state) and provides a modifier based on your energy in relation to any enemy cons within X range (maybe icon range, perhaps less).

So, a high E boom and zoomer who is placing himself at little risk due to his energy advantage may score fewer points per kill, even though he should be able to score more kills than the guy who is down in the weeds with flaps hanging out who may score a kill but leave himself at much greater risk and consequently down fewer planes per death.

So, if properly balanced, the guys down turn fighting are not at such a score disadvantage to the guys who are much more careful in engaging only when having a great E advantage.  Maybe it would encourage more guys to get in and mix it up instead of playing it safe all the time.

It also might encourage pilots to intentionally fight from a disadvantage.  (I remember all of those instructional videos Agent360 did in the 109, illustrating how to entice a higher con to attack, then reversing him for the kill).

I'm sure there is a major flaw in the thought that somebody will come along to point out soon...

Just spitballing here...

[Lusche]

What if the instant you score a kill, the game assesses your altitude and speed (E state) and provides a modifier based on your energy in relation to any enemy cons within X range (maybe icon range, perhaps less).

(...)

I'm sure there is a major flaw in the thought that somebody will come along to point out soon...

The first 'major flaw' I see is that it's going to be terribly complicated, intransparent and most probably still not 'fair' at all, as it tries to objectively quantify a mostly subjective situation. 

[Greebo]

I'm not too bothered about players taking advantage of the F/E ratio by using a fast aircraft to browse off massed bomber or jabo formations. If the raid didn't bring their own fast and high planes as cover, that's their fault. In that situation what you gain from the F/E stat, you lose from the ENY stat and in the case of buffs probably K/T as well. I can see that the change would be bad for people who habitually escort bombers however, maybe they could exclude friendly bombers from it.

The primary purpose of the F/E change is to encourage people to engage while outnumbered, not to determine how "brave" anyone is. If someone is up high in a fast plane harassing a massed jabo raid, that encourages his team mates to come in and engage the raid as well. Few want to be first in to attack a horde, but if there's one or two green there already they may be keener to do so. If the raid's high cover is busy looking over their shoulders at the fast guy and not down at the furball, it encourages combat to begin at lower alts. Currently some score-obsessed players see a bigger red darbar in one place on the map and a bigger green darbar at another place and up at the green. With the F/E mod in place they might think of the red as an opportunity rather than a risk, up a fast plane there and get the combat ball rolling.

The point about a red or green icon appearing just before the kill is not a big deal I think, these things would average out in the end. Adding the average range of green and red icons to the equation would make it fairer if a little more complex.

[Kazan_HB]

1+  look good Greebo 

[Lusche]

I'm not too bothered about players taking advantage of the F/E ratio by using a fast aircraft to browse off massed bomber or jabo formations. If the raid didn't bring their own fast and high planes as cover, that's their fault. In that situation what you gain from the F/E stat, you lose from the ENY stat and in the case of buffs probably K/T as well. I can see that the change would be bad for people who habitually escort bombers however, maybe they could exclude friendly bombers from it.

I  included some ENY stats with my example to show that I would not lose from it. You don't need to fly 262 to do the thing I described.
And I won't lose more in K/Time as I do now - because I'm already flying the way I described above, hovering at high altitude and looking for bomber and Jabo missions. The F/E stat would just boost my already quite exaggerated rank some more. No need for me to become a 'brave' fighter pilot fighting at unfavorable odds to get a great F/E stat.

That's why I think this won't improve anything. It just makes score more complicated. Even more so when you start to add special cases and exceptions (friendly bombers).

[Greebo]

I don't really care who gets great stats from this, the idea is to give more players a reason to fight more often. The only stat that matters to me personally is fun (i.e fights) per hour.

[Lusche]

I don't really care who gets great stats from this, the idea is to give more players a reason to fight more often.

But it doesn't really, and that's the whole point.   
Who did not care about score before will not care after, and who did care about his score can very easily game your new stat as shown above. And if you add more rules to it, people will just ignore it at all... after all, a great number already doesn't get how the current system works at all (as can be seen in many post about 'protecting K/D for rank')

Making ENY a part of the score (points) would be a far more streamlined, comprehensible and most probably much effective way.



But the chances are slim to see any of it implemented anyway. When I did show the damage point bug, HT himself wrote "but it has always been like this"

[guncrasher]

how would the score work when most of the fights are low on the floor  and there's gv's nearby?

-two guys defending against 4 or 5 not actually hiding behind let's say 4 or 5 werbies?
-two guys "defending" against 4 or 5 while hiding under 7 werbies?  attackers are
-two werbies defending against 10 guys in airplanes attempting to kill the town?
-a massive gv spawn fest camping like at 185?

since most of the fights are not really high alt fights but more low to the ground, using "green/red" counters to determine score will create more confusion and arguments than the collision model.

you can argue that the gv's can be excluded but at the same time you penalize AA gv's who's only purpose is to kill airplanes.  also the scores for airplanes like il2's and some other tank killers would be weird.

while you can argue that it should only be while in "fighter" mode, everybody knows that if you are defending you never up in "fighter" mode as the kills count against you and thus lowers your score.

I dont think changing the "fighter" score, will encourage more people to defend against higher numbers.  getting rid of the "fighter" score and have only attack score while having gv/air/structures categories would encourage more fighting as people wont be so worried about hurting their precious "fighter" score.


semp