Of Dweebs and Perks

[Saurdaukar]

----Was looking forward to a night of flying - grabbed my trusty F4U-1 and went hunting... low and behold I find a fight... Ive got alt and I dive in... straight down... N1k points his nose skyward, we ram... myself at about 400 IAS and him at about 75IAS... wonderful start.
----Now, spare me the "avoid" HO discussion here and hear me out... I have finally thought of a solution to the problem in the Main Arena.

The Problem:  Dweeb mentality = Fly around and seek out the destruction of enemy aircraft with no thought of survival.  To destroy the bad guys in red as aggressively as possible in a kamakazi style because who knows when my next chance will be.  Hell, it doesnt even matter if I die, Ill just re-up another N1k and kill more bad guys.

The Question:  Dweebs wasnt to fly perk planes, its one of the first questions most ask upon learning how to use the radio.

The Solution:  Award absolutely ZERO, thats right folks, ZERO perks unless the sortie is landed.  

The Reason:  This will effectively ELIMINATE 95% of the hot mearges, 95% of the suicidal ACM, 95% of the rams, and 95% of the whining.

The Result:  A "combat simulation" not a neverending suicidal furball.  Survival will be the paramount priority, killing enemy aircraft a close second.  More "realistic" aircraft behavoir, real world tactics actually working, and last but certainly not least, an appreciation for an earned kill.

Perhaps Im off my rocker here - thoughts?

[MadBirdCZ]

if you were diving on him and he was hanging in the air in stall... Im just wondering why didnt you blast him out of the sky with those .50 you had... Its so easy to kill those prop hanging dweebs... And yes you could have avoided the colision since he was hanging on prop and so he could not du much else at the moment... So plain and simple - you blew yur chance for very easy kill and you paid for it the highest price...

[Montezuma]

Originally posted by Saurdaukar

The Solution:  Award absolutely ZERO, thats right folks, ZERO perks unless the sortie is landed.  

There are already too many cowards waiting for the perfect advantage before they will attack.

[eskimo2]

Originally posted by Saurdaukar
----Was looking forward to a night of flying - grabbed my trusty F4U-1 and went hunting... low and behold I find a fight... Ive got alt and I dive in... straight down... N1k points his nose skyward, we ram... myself at about 400 IAS and him at about 75IAS... wonderful start.
----Now, spare me the "avoid" HO discussion here and hear me out... I have finally thought of a solution to the problem in the Main Arena.

The Problem:  Dweeb mentality = Fly around and seek out the destruction of enemy aircraft with no thought of survival.  To destroy the bad guys in red as aggressively as possible in a kamakazi style because who knows when my next chance will be.  Hell, it doesnt even matter if I die, Ill just re-up another N1k and kill more bad guys.

The Question:  Dweebs wasnt to fly perk planes, its one of the first questions most ask upon learning how to use the radio.

The Solution:  Award absolutely ZERO, thats right folks, ZERO perks unless the sortie is landed.  

The Reason:  This will effectively ELIMINATE 95% of the hot mearges, 95% of the suicidal ACM, 95% of the rams, and 95% of the whining.

The Result:  A "combat simulation" not a neverending suicidal furball.  Survival will be the paramount priority, killing enemy aircraft a close second.  More "realistic" aircraft behavoir, real world tactics actually working, and last but certainly not least, an appreciation for an earned kill.

Perhaps Im off my rocker here - thoughts?

Saurdaukar,
I am one of those dweebs.  When I am in the mood, I will dive into a mass of enemy, no matter what the odds, in hopes of killing one or two of them.  Often, I don't care if I die.  I love underdog fights.  Dying is part of the game to me.

I have a gazillion perk points.  I fly a lot of different planes, and my only regular perk ride is the CHog.  0 perks at death would not change the way I fly a bit.

I am not saying that your idea is good or bad.  I just don't think that it would be nearly as effective as you may think.  I also wouldn't assume the motives for how/why people fly.

My guess is that no matter what you do with scores or perks, most people are going to fly exactly the same.

eskimo

[Toad]

Originally posted by eskimo2
My guess is that no matter what you do with scores or perks, most people are going to fly exactly the same.

eskimo

Agree. You might even say they're going to fly what they want to fly the way they want to fly it.

[Wilbus]

There are already too many cowards waiting for the perfect advantage before they will attack.

That's a sign of smart flying and good tactics, you don't see a bad pilot or a newbie waiting for a good shot.

Don't complain about people who fly realistic and call them cowerds.

[Animal]

Originally posted by Wilbus


That's a sign of smart flying and good tactics, you don't see a bad pilot or a newbie waiting for a good shot.

Don't complain about people who fly realistic and call them cowerds.

You are just a coward trying to justify your cowardice

[Oldman731]

Originally posted by Wilbus


That's a sign of smart flying and good tactics, you don't see a bad pilot or a newbie waiting for a good shot.

Don't complain about people who fly realistic and call them cowerds.

Heh heh.  How about if we call them wussies, instead?

I'm with Eskimo and Toad.  There are probably some people who fly so that they can build up enough perk points to fly their perk planes, but I'll bet they're quite a minority, and that most of us fly a non-perked plane as a matter of choice.  

And, while an arena composed of conservative B&Z types might be more realistic, it wouldn't be more fun.

- Oldman

[Taiaha]

I like this idea.  I might modify it to no points except for lands bails or ditches over friendly territory, but I could live with it your way also.

But those who say it wouldn't change anything are probably right--unless you perked all the late war planes.  I personally wouldn't have a problem with this, at all.  N1Ks, p51Ds, etc., etc., all perked (although not very much, about the level of the 152 now).  However, that aint gonna happen.  No way, no how.  Not that I think it would lead to a huge exodus of people, but the powers that be seem to believe that it would, and that's what counts.

I guess when it comes down to a choice between sticks and carrots, much as I derive enormous satisfaction from wielding the big stick on occasion, I think carrots are generally a better idea.  So one alternative to this proposal is actually to substantially increase the rewards for landing a mission, since the difference between dying with kills and landing with kills is pretty miniscule at the moment.

I'm sure that suicide dweebs are a real problem for some, but if you fly with a good squad, they're just, well, lunch.

And those who say that picking fights to your advantage is cowardice--well, obviously their advice counts for considerably more than that of every WWII fighter Ace.  Galland, Bader. . .all cowards obviously.

[Wilbus]

Wussies? To fly a plane in the way it was ment to fly and was flown in real life? To use every advantage you have? To say those are cowerds, wussies or whatever is nothing but a sign of bad confidence in your own flying ability.

For the Arena with Pure B&Z planes, if it would be more fun or not, that's a matter of taste. Also, if all planes were in fact B&Z, that would give us alot of turn fights, even more then now pherhaps.

Don' fly around in a slow good turning plane then call people who don't turn with you for cowerds or wussies.

[AKDejaVu]

Translating this whine:

"A 300 mph closure rate seemed like a good idea at the time"

I can't even begin to count how many times I've seen someone with an obvious energy advantage point his nose at the enemy and then complain that the enemy attempted to do the same thing.

If you have a distinct advantage and fail to capitalize... its not because the other guy was a dweeb.

AKDejaVu

[SKurj]

Sard....  you are driving down the road at 50mph, granny pulls out in her shopping cart... do you not alter your course at all??


You did exactly what it is you accuse others of doing...


no points if ya don't land will encourage the run wuss...   Though I imagine most of the arena doesn't care for perks.


SKurj

[MadBirdCZ]

I thing guys that its called evolution.... Everyone starts in TnB'ners but after some time they realize that flying the planes as they should be is actually much bigger challenge and fun than just low furballing so they move slowly to the other side... It has 2 effects - it forces the players to learn to fly better and it teaches them (mostly the hard way) that tactics and successful advantage employment is essential in every type of combat... Well but I admit that some people never reach this stage... But lets not publish their names...

When Im checking my stats for the period of time I am flying AH I can clearly see the development process... It takes a lot of learning and a lot of diing... But you can just click on tower and reup again here and that is the advantage you have over any RL fighter ace no matter from which time period. They had only 1 life and thats why they needed to think before engaging, they needed to think during the fight as well. And you can be sure that they used every advantage they could gain over their enemy because it was their own and only life what were they fighting for.

Maybe Im just completely wrong but could not help myself... $0.02

[Dead Man Flying]

Originally posted by Wilbus
Don't complain about people who fly realistic and call them cowerds.

Engaging when you only have an advantage is no more realistic than furballing.  Stop trying to rationalize the "superiority" of your stye of flying through such blatant nonsense.

Think about what you said.  If engaging with an advantage is "realistic," indeed even historically accurate... then wouldn't someone by definition have been at a disadvantage?  Far more often than in Aces High, pilots didn't have a choice in whether they engaged with or without an advantage.

-- Todd/Leviathn

[MadBirdCZ]

Originally posted by Dead Man Flying

  If engaging with an advantage is "realistic," indeed even historically accurate... then wouldn't someone by definition have been at a disadvantage?  Far more often than in Aces High, pilots didn't have a choice in whether they engaged with or without an advantage.

But then the tactics and thinking becomes even more important especially if the disadvantaged pilot is yourself. You need to employ the right tactics to even the chances or better to gain an advantage -> and get the kill (not killed)