Everybody has an opinion.
(puts on body armor, hunkers down in the bunker)
I think of it like this:
You're playing Doom II. Doom II is fun. Does it require skill to play Doom II? Hell, yes! In Doom II, though, you are always the same player, fighting the same monsters. The only thing that can change is the difficulty level. Once you hit "nightmare", it can't get any tougher.
ACM is a well-defined dance. SA is required, for sure. You can get books that explain the moves, and the big variable is what the other guy decides to do under a given set of circumstances. There are limits to what he can do, and survive. Those that do nothing but dance can get pretty good at it. You guys are pretty good.
I'm playing chess. Chess is fun. Does it require skill to play chess? Hell, yes! In chess, there are 6 different types of player pieces on two sides. Each type of piece moves in its own way. Admittedly, there are limits to the number of permutations that a chess game can take, but I haven't learned all of them yet. Sometimes I concentrate on my knight, sometimes on the rook, sometimes on a lowly pawn. Although I do know what the ultimate goal of my opponent is, I don't have any idea how he plans to get there.
In the furball, everybody has the same goal, and the same strategy--shoot down the other plane and land the kill. The furballers seem to seek each other out, in order to facilitate this. In the strat game, you put in a mixture of a little bit of furball, a little bit of misdirection, a little bit of sneakiness, and (if you have the numbers) a little bit of excessive force. On the defensive side, there is the need to try to successfully anticipate the moves the other sides make--upping a fighter with the enemy raid already in your sector is suicide, and doesn't defend the field worth a darn. You gotta hit 'em BEFORE they deliver the ordnance, not hang around the field picking them off on the way out (small nod, wink-wink, knowing glance to you field defenders).
It's not always the front-line fields that are attacked.
I like my game better than I like yours. I don't like that you think my way is nothing more than an irritant. I think we can both play our game and have fun. This is a multi-mode game. My big question is "why don't you guys go to the duelling arena?" Seriously. Answer that question, and not with "Because I don't want to." If the strat game is so tedious and bothersome, get rid of it. Oh, wait--they already allowed for that. In the duelling arena.
Nopoop, have fun. I will, too. But quit the kvetching about how my game is somehow inferior to yours, and gets in your way. I am bored by it. It sounds like children quarreling over the rules while playing Monopoly. Get over yourself.
