Thank you Violator, (and the rest) for the discussion.
It does get boring at times. Running a Pony with 100% gas and rearming 4 times... that takes awhile. That said, I started the stay-alive thing mostly because for years every fight I got in, the inevitable Spit/Lala/Yak came along and ended it for me (the same ones that whine about getting picked, funny enough). I don't see (any more) turny burny skill as the ultimate challenge, I just don't... and since I try to keep it "somewhat" realistic (read: try not to engage in silly unrealistic maneuvers), I will never compete at the highest level as a so-called dogfighter. Actively engaging in something (whatever, a mix of Fighter/Attack) that is beneficial to the Rookland AND landing kills is where I get the most fun. At the moment, I try and do a little bomb****ing of GV's, then switch to full fighter mode (and land'em), it's definitely a challenge. Someone earlier said, "this will fall into the old game vs sim argument", which was not my intent, however accurate. I TREAT this (fully realized) game as a Sim... because there's no game/sim out there that offers anything better. Really, DCS is fun as hell but the multiplayer aspect is terrible at the moment. I guess I'm easily bored by the same old thing, and given the time I have in AH, picking as opposed to getting picked has my attention.
Yeah tumor, it is fun to fly to stay alive if you are into it. What many of us correlate staying alive to " flying timid" is wrong, although in lesser turning planes you cannot afford to get slow in a turn fight or pull a rope with a lot of cons around. There are certain circumstances in which you should be aggressive, pull quick emmils on the first merge, zoom through furballs hopping on people's 6 unexpectedly and then extending out. You have to be quick and create good merges on your opponents to get snap shops. It's best to be unexpected in your actions.
One of the best things I read when trying to figure out ACM is that getting merges right (as in putting your nose where you think they will be to gain the quickest distance point to the foe) will make you 10Xs more deadly and unexpected.
The second best thing you can learn is defense. How to drag opponents out into 1V1 odds to better your chances in a reversal. How to dip and dodge to force an overshoot. How to avoid planes jumping on your 6 while you are shooting someone down. When to split-S. Why 5-8 point rolls are actually important. When you can pull a counterpunch in a nose down dive while using your E to escape the fight zone.
The last thing that's important is to know the plane you are flying's strengths and weaknesses against the planes you are fighting agaisnt. If you are in a mid-early war plane than you have to stay fast and high to avoid getting ganged. You have to win the 1v1 fights because you will be dragging cons out. The mid-early war planes generally turn better but you have to be much more aware of the cons around you. It's difficult in the MA, because all it takes is a La7 to catch you for the gang to finish you off.
In the late war planes, you have to judge when and where to turn, you have to judge the planes you fight 1v1 agaisnt so you can get away if they turn inside you. You have to be quick in any plane you fly as well as know the ACM nesseccary to perform manuevers and merges to really actually get kills.
The two tours I tried to stay alive were last Jan 15 in a Temp with 229kills -8 deaths and Dec15 in a P-40N for 105-38 which was pretty damn hard lol.
