Apache, my reaction is just the same as you assume beet1e's would be. Drop ord and fight, or continue on mission? Hard decision. Will interference from defenders cause me to make a mistake? Maybe yes, maybe no. I'm still learning, and make mistakes. I have never said I do (and never have done) an intentional suicide run. I do high risk runs, and sometimes lose. The result is the same, sometimes. Face full of dirt, message from system about who got the real--or prox--kill. I wish they would separate the prox kills out, so I could get a stat about how many times my own inexperience has "killed" me. Not as often as the robo-ack, but often enough, especially in the early days.
Here's a reality check:
The allies lost 20% of the planes that went on the Schweinfurt (sp?) raids. Even before the kamikaze attacks, many brave Japanese pilots flew off their carrier decks knowing that their chances of returning were not good. Look at the movie "Memphis Belle". It was a really big deal that they were the first crew to survive 25 missions, since most crews lasted only about 10 on average.
Have you ever been to that website on ACM tactics? In it the author explains that real-life trainee pilots do ACM work before a-g work, since a-g work is very unforgiving. A mistake usually means a destroyed plane and a dead pilot. That's one of the reasons the modern air force likes precision guided weapons so much--no dipping down into the flak where so many aircraft get destroyed. Tell a WW2 or Vietnam pilot how "no skill" air to ground work is, and that not surviving is a reflection of the pilot's inability. They will laugh at you. They saw the world's finest pilots get picked off like ducks by the ground fire. They went back in, day after day, because that was their mission.
It takes no courage at all for me to try to emulate their actions, since I am safe here at home in front of my computer. I don't have to worry about really dying. I also don't have the support structure they had, with escorts, intelligence, and a planned strategy. I take risks they would not, to achieve my game goal.
Again, my original post's purpose was to illustrate the absurdity of your position. You make assumptions about the motivations of other players that may or may not be correct. You assume that your playing style is the only "good" or "correct" way to play the game, and ignore any argument to the contrary. I wonder what the "original" suicide dweeb (your term, not mine) thinks of your play style?
I'll bet he doesn't even know you exist. He probably stays away from the furball, feeling that it is unproductive. As Less said, it's all just a big hamster wheel. You spin it clockwise, I spin it counterclockwise. (anticlockwise for you british guys). Which is more valid? Neither. They are just different.
