to hell with the score!

[funked]

Oooooooooh "accomplishment".

As in "I accomplished the feat of climbing really really high and running like a pansy at the first sign of an attack."  

[easymo]

 Just curious. What do you do different when you ARE trying for score.

 I have never been a careful flyer. I fly into multibule cons all the time. Im not in a squad, and my views posted here, make getting gang banged something i expect every time I take off. I had several sorti,s last night, where I got wacked befor I got off the ground.

 My interest in score only go,s as for as what rules "keep the ball in play". The captured rule for example encourages ack hugging. This discourages combat, and IMHO is a bad rule. This effects you, weather you personally watch scores or not.

[Kieren]

I don't see that it necessarily follows that I don't try to land because I don't care about score.   I simply don't look at scores.

I try to live, if possible. I just don't care about living if it serves the greater cause to lose the life. You win more friends clearing someone's butt and dying than if you go circling over his head and watching him bite it.  

[Dead Man Flying]

People who fly solely for score tend to fly  conservatively.  Flying conservatively means engaging ONLY with an advantage, or at least without a disadvantage.  Since score accumulates faster through living, generally it is in the best interest of a score-seeker to avoid any hairy situations and engage enemies only at his or her discretion.  Back in Air Warrior, there was a fellow who took this creed to extremes, even to the point where he would run from a 1v1 if he had a 10k alt advantage... he would either drag or run until the lower enemy engaged another plane, at which point he would swoop down for the "skillful" kill.  Clearly, not all score-interested players take it to this extreme, but some degree of conservative flying is essential for score accumulation.

That said, I'm not entirely clear how the current state of captures counting as deaths encourages ack hugging.  I think the current system that credits ack kills TO ack huggers encourages this.  However, players do not receive credit for ditched or captured enemy planes -- as far as enemy planes are concerned, there is no point incentive for captures vs. ditches.  If you mean that counting captures as deaths *discourages* planes from leaving friendly territory, I frankly haven't seen it.  I honestly don't think most players care enough about points to where this becomes a serious problem, and enemies who don't push an advantage by hanging in ack invite disaster.

Those are my thoughts anyway.  

-- Todd/DMF

[This message has been edited by Dead Man Flying (edited 04-19-2000).]

[easymo]

 As near as i can tell you get more points if you can get one kill and ditch in friendly territory. Than if you get 4 kills and ditch in enemy territory. I gotta belive that causes some ack hugging.

[-towd_]

acctualy checked score last night , and was not in tip 100 lol , looked at personal ranking and was overall number 101 lol have no idea how. but cit is right in score i suc. but who feels safe in a equal 1 on 1 with me ? not alot definatly not 100 of yall. scores are arbatrary ( i like the hit percentage) read roadkill.

[Granger]

Scores in no way shape or form reflect the pilots skill.
High scores are attained by fighting from alt, always with the upper hand, and running like a little girl when the odds get even, or worse.
Personally I fly til im dead, and land very few kills, My kill/death ratio is somewhere around .50..not a very good pilot by this games scoreing system.
What it should count is the 50 odd times ive been vulched before i even get off the runway, or the times ive dropped bombs on a target and augered in, to quickly get more bombs to the target, or the 3 or 4 kill sorties ive flown far away from friendly bases, fighting to the last sputter of my dying aircraft, helping my teamates rather than circling like a buzzard above the furball watching them die.
Scores will never reflect this, thus they are total roadkill in rating a particular pilots skills.

My .02..maybe a nickels worth

[By-Tor]

 My experience is that I started flying(WB)online as a newbie and marveled at the incredible scores I would see many pilots attain and thought to myself "WOW-these guys are REALLY good".Well after 4 yrs of flying virtual WW2 fighters Ive come to see things more acurately.Often,the score-minders are really not at all proficient in the fine handling of thier AC as thier style has never required them to learn the steep curve of ACM and extracting to absolute most performance out of thier mounts.Then they get locked into flying that 'safe'BnZ style(only attacking with a clear and decisive adv)because to fly otherwise is to get whooped in a fair(co-e/co-alt) fight by a pilot they see as inferior because his score
doesnt measure up to thiers.This is a blow to the ego that most of us will admit to owning   and so to build that ego back up they continue to attack from the untouchable perch only.I say the real BEST pilots are those that excell in the dueling arena-score be damned-live or die-black and white.
 Understand, I dont claim to be one of these true pros,you all know who you are!For me its better to lose against the BEST and hopefully learn from them in the process,than to try to convince myself Im elite by flying for score.
 As Im sure Ill ruffle some feathers with these opinions,Ill humbly accept the beating that some of you will doubtless lay upon me in the soon to be implemented dueling ladder.
 Just the opinion of this admittedly less than 'experten' dweeb  
 C'yall soon on the ladder!  out-----

[Pongo]

Its there use it or not...It does not mean you are the hotest stick in the world to be in the top 10, but you gotta be pretty good.
You gota achieve success in dogfighting, gunnery, bombing, and gooning.
Lots of people in the top 10 help there squadmates and call sixes...
You guys are like insulting them or something.
Smells almost like jealosy.

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Pongo
The Wrecking Crew

[Hangtime]

Like anything else.. there's more than one side to this story. Rude asked a good question..

"I dont understand how furballin and dyin is fun....would'nt it be better to dive thru the furballs, pickin off the evil enemy at 450ias, and then landin those kills?"

Well; I find furballin is fun.. it's one of the 'big attractions' here at AH. It's the dyin part is the objectionable bit. I try to avoid that.

Hard to classify a pilot that enjoys dyin. Certainly the score system frowns on this guy. He wouldn't make much of a wingman or teamate.. how can you count on him to help you, or further your country's objective if he's buzy hoppin on his sword all night?? Shades of grey here.. but for the most part, entering an engagement with the objective being to LIVE and KILL ANOTHER is better than 'I got into a 8 v 2 furball and got three of em before I got capped!" Fun?? You bet. Realistic?? Nope.

Darwin at work.  

Scores are the last thing to worry about here in AH if you wanna have fun... but you can have fun and have a good score too.

I do it by assigining myself a 'Mission'. I try to have a gameplan before I pull the wheels up... and I guage the mission successful based on results against the original objective. One of my favorite 'missions' is furball; but one sometimes important parameter is to put them wheels back down on a friendly runway when I'm done.

Anyhow.. an interesting topic. We all come here to fly, kill and die, virtually; and the sim gives us an opportunity to add in some 'realism'. If there was a 'for-real' death attached to a system message; then I'd bet ALL yah bums would be B&Z next time up.

It's all perspective; and immersion. Gettin capped 20 times outta 20 sorties may be fun fer some... but not my cuppa tea.

FWIW..

Hang

 

[Citabria]

I dinae mean fly like a crazed maniac with guns blazing into bandits 10k above  


I just meant I found the style of flying I enjoy the most at that particular miliesecond in time was much more enjoyable when I could subconciously not even be bothered to think about what some dang spreadsheet says of the results, be it good or bad.  


Live for the moment, then try to survive the moment you just lived through i say.

hey thats kinda catchy  



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"There are no born fighter pilots. Some are a little better than others, thats about it. But I would say time, training, training, training and more training are the key... to any success."  -Francis Gabreski

Citabria
=357th Pony Express=

[Kieren]

I think all we are accomplishing here is to state what is important to us individually. Thankfully the system we have in place attempts to accommodate both styles. We should be careful not to take a superior stance, belittling the other viewpoint as foolish. Both sides definitely have their unique attractions.

Fortunately a guy flying to kill can kill a guy flying to live just as easily as a guy flying to live can kill a guy flying to kill.

Hey! That's kinda catchy!  

[Hangtime]

LOL!

That's the spirit!

Definition of success here in AH is "Well; didja have fun?? Wanna do it again??"

If the answer is yes; then yah flew a good mission.

Hang

[Hristo]

My name is Hristo and I care about my score  

When I see enemy dots, first thing I go for is to get an advantage. G-10 is no plane to fight from disadvantage. It is just against its nature.

The way I work for my advantage varies. Will this be in form of climbing before the merge, or letting the enemy lead turn me aggressively and waste his E, I decide in last moment.

Still, deck turning Spits called me alt monkey when I attacked them from 5k alt.

However, safe BnZ flying has its drawbacks. You get rusty in ACM. That's why I go to TA. There I will always fight from disadvantage, in heavy G-10 against 25% fuel loaded planes with E advantage. When I get enough gangbanging there, I return to MA and never give the guy a chance  

[Minotaur]

I use score not to rank myself against others, but a way to mark my progress.  Mostly to see what I have been doing lately and how well I have been doing it.  This gives me an idea of things to practice on.

One stat I always look at and consider important is "Hit Percentage".  This stat seems to be the one I try to improve on the most.

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Mino
The Wrecking Crew