Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Aces High General Discussion => Topic started by: Nomak on September 03, 2004, 07:44:04 PM
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Its strange how life runs in its own cycles. Its seems that no matter what the indevor everything has a begining a middle and an end.....
The start of my AH career was a magical time. I had never experenced anything like it before. AH was the first and ultimatly the last online flight sim I took part in.
The initial realization of being able to online dog fight was overwhelming. It was all I wanted to do. I spent hundreds of hours online. Learning the different aircraft, making new friends, finding mentors to emulate. Always keeping an eye on the all important K/D ratio. I remember at first it took so much of my brain power to fly the aircraft that I couldnt possibly try to read the text let alone try to type anything :lol
I find myself at a loss for words trying to describe the feeling I had playing this game for the first six months but then I realize that all of you had the same feeling I did and there is no need to try to put it into words.
Then one night I run into Leviathn :eek: My AH world has now forever changed. I begin to realize the huge, gaping, collasal difference in skill that some players exibit. My hunger begins to grow. I wana be as good as that guy I thought. For a while I think that I can achive this by simply playing alot of hours and it will all come in time. In time though I realize that it doesnt just come after alot of time in game, tactics and training will be required. Not really sure how to get either I just keep enjoying the game.
My time in game runs from months into years. I begin to think of myself as a seasond vet. I have bounced to and from a few squads at this point. Im always looking for a reason to point out to people that my K/D is over 1. I have taken a real liking to the 109G10 and have got a good understanding on E fighting and Boom and Zoom at this point. The funny part is that at this point I cant seem to get what I really want..... Recognition from the AH community that I am a bad arse pilot. :lol I still think that skill level is tied to stats at this point.
A year or two goes by.....
Then I discover the Dueling arena. This is another life altering event. Stats? We dont need no stinking stats! Mano e Mano. The real fighting and learning begins. I get to know the real powerhouse players in AH. WldThing, Shane, BigMax, Leviathn, Fester, Urchin and many others.
It becomes like starting the game all over again. Playing until 2am on a work night is more the norm than the exception. I learn the merge, I learn stall tactics, I begin to learn what would ultimitly be the asset that carries me to the top of my ability.....I learn to react to other players actions instead of trying to impose my "moves" on them. (Thx Levi)
As soon as I realize that stats are not a real indicator of skill and I start to ignore them......... my stats triple. LOL life is ironic.
After learning in leaps and bounds for 6 or so months in the DA I am able to put up a heck of a fight with just about any opponet in the DA. However while I can put up a good fight I cant seem to really beat any of the top players with any regularity. Frustrated I look for something new.
Always looking for new people to duel I get in the habbit of doing some taunting on ch1 to get people to go to the DA. This is really just an excersise in ego building at this point. What I was really trying to do was get someone/anyone in the DA so they could tell me how great I was. It was a welcome change from losing to the big boys though and it was fun.
Through this type of behavior I meet my best bud in the game. "Jeffer" now "Morpheus" I train Morph for a long time. We duel and duel and duel and duel. In the process we become real good friends. I elevate his game and he elevates mine. We are always pushing each other, always competitive, always improvong. We are certified DA junkies :lol I look back on this time in the game as the best of all the years I played.
WldThing takes time with me in the DA and shows me some things that change everything. (thx Wld)
I start dueling the best again. Only now im beating them. Yeah, really. Im starting to give the big boys major problems now. Not just 1 or two of them either but all of them.
I start winning 2 and 3 and even 4 on 1s in the MA.
I start getting the community wide Recognition I had been striving for all along.
The pinicle of my AH career comes one night really not that long ago. Im in the MA and I private Leviathn and ask him to go DA with me. Its tough to get Levi in the DA sometimes but when you can get him in there its always a blast.
I had never beat him before.
I was ready. Hands were sweating, heart was pounding. Never mind the fact that I was half cocked on Capn' n Coke. WldThing was riding with Levi on the duels. We went for about 10 or so fights. Levi won 2 and I took the rest.
I had done it. For that one moment I was the best. Nobody could have beaten me right then. No one will ever take that away from me. I was on the top of the mountian. The once impossible was now possible.
Strangley soon after I lost the drive for the game. I quit for a month or two and then tried a comeback. I was back all of 2 days and I stupidly jumped on the dueling ladder and got a good butt whoppin by Shane. Frustrated, discouraged, and mad I put the game down and havnt really ever returned. Not to take anything away from Shane ... he is a great great stick. I was more mad at myself for jumping into something that I really wasnt ready for.
I realized after a while that what Todd told me was true. There is no "Best" pilot in AH. Just a bunch of fellas that can whip on each other on any given night.
So that became the end of my AH career. It ended on a down swing however the only regret I have is deleting those thousands of DA films I had along with the htc file. And also that I miss my friend Jeff.
Months go by now and I dont touch the game. The same game that a few years earlier I couldnt stand to be at work all day because I wanted to go home and play it for 10 hour blocks. I think my motives tward the end of my career were flawed anyway. After a while it stopped being fun and started being all about "Im better than you"
I spend more time with my children now. I dont need to tell you that is a good thing.
I started racing my sportbike at a roadtrack on the west side of the state recently. Something I would have never done while immersed in AH. (Ill post a pic or 2 soon)
The victories and losses are all in the past now and I look back on the highs with a big smile and the lows dont seem to sting nearly as much as they used to.
So that was my AH career in a nutshell. By the end it was all about ego and competition, but I guess so is life. I think ill jump in the game again sometime to see whats up but probably not anytime soon.
Im not sure why the AH chapter of my life is over but it just is. Im not even sure why im writing this except to share my story and get some finality to the end of AH for me.
And I guess to say good bye to all the friends and enemys I made in AH over the years. Especially you Jeff. Mail me bud. dwisok@yahoo.com
I know that I cant spell...... Sorry
Later......Dave A.K.A ...... Nomak
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An excellent story..... Brought tears to my eyes.
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Great story Nomak
I know I learned a bunch from you the couple of times we went to the DA--thx pal.
cyas up:)
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Good story Nomak.
Everyone is different. Everyone moves through the flightsim thing at a different speed.
Everyone has a different reason that it keeps them locked into the drug, which in some ways it is.
The quote that meant the most to me is something that I "almost" bit into along time ago, but didn't.
"By the end it was all about ego and competition"
Here, I play. It's fun to play, you don't have to prove anything.
Everyone breaking out the rulers to measure this or measure that is something that to me personally is something I leave in the real world. I play "army" as I did when my day to day life revolved around "playing" something, and then going home to dinner.
It's more fun that way.
You take care, you be good people.
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Great read Nomak.
If it hadnt been for the DA and several guys (WT, estes...:D) helping me out, I wouldve left a long time ago as well.
I wish you luck in the future!
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And thanks for helping others out in the DA, bud. Enjoy life; someday maybe we'll see you back.
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I don't get it. I quit before I got good.
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Good Luck Nomak ... hope you'll still stop in time to time to let us toss the lead around .
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Great read Nomak.
hope to see you back some day.
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I'll bet I can kick Nomak's butt in AH2.
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So glad to see your still around Dave. I haven't been playing nearly as much as I used to. No idea why. The drive is just gone, and I needed a nice break. I still get that "itch" to play every not and then.
Through this type of behavior I meet my best bud in the game. "Jeffer" now "Morpheus" I train Morph for a long time. We duel and duel and duel and duel. In the process we become real good friends. I elevate his game and he elevates mine. We are always pushing each other, always competitive, always improvong. We are certified DA junkies I look back on this time in the game as the best of all the years I played.
I couldnt sum up the pinncle of my AH life any better than that. I look back on that time, which was an every night affair, two or more hours a night for several months on end as the best of the best for me in AH. I remember after a few months I started getting a little better. Then I'd get ya in a duel... "Time to break out the long bow." lol I know you remember that. haha. I thought I was the best when I would get you in a long drawn out fight, then you'd come back with this imposible merge or move and I'd be set on my feet again :lol
Those were the best times of AH for me and I will never forget them.
I hope that someday you'll come back so we can get back in the DA again. Winter is coming up ya know. ;) Besides I need a DA partner again.
It was good to hear from you Dave. I'll shoot you an email, maybe before the summer is up we can get together like we had planned.
Talk to you soon friend.
Jeff/Morph
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Great story Dave...Would like to say it was my pleasure to have meet you and be trained by you and Morph. I only wish it would have been much longer.
Good luck at normal life bud I think I am headed that way. I guess the game has just gotten stail.
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Sniff Sniff
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Sounds like and old bull/ young bull story Nomak - you were in too much of a rush ;)
Most of us take years and years to get 1/2 good , so we've still got something to aim at. You young bucks charge in and get fully good too quickly ;)
On serious note , you will probably find a yearn to do it again in a year or so - or whatever time frame. I had a many year break, other stuff got too busy , but I'm enjoying gettting back in to it, don't know how long I'll last before the next break.
For me it's like golf , when I get too intense about it , I lose some of the enjoyment and burn out on it, better to keep it fun and not be looking for perfection.
See ya when you come back maybe :)
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great read!
feel like im about half way there.
great just another couple years of waisteing my life and i'll finnaly be able to end this addiction;) :lol
gota get into that da more often though, feel like ive taken myself as far as i can in the ma, need some more tactic's. anyone care to help?
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Good read, it's a great story of progression that I wish more people would take. Glad to see you got where you wanted in th e game- sometimes after accomplishing a truly difficult goal, anything related to it afterwards seems to pale. I'm going thru a period of disinterest in AH2 right now, but I know I'll be back sooner or later, if even at a reduced amount of time.
Glad to see you've given those other areas of life the attention they deserve, each is on par, if not exceeding, the recreational activity AH was for you.
Take care, g'luck and hope to see you back occasionally.
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By the end it was all about ego and competition, but I guess so is life
You got that right.
Get faster (always), don't crash.
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He'll be back, no one that ever plays for that long can stay away for good. [SIZE=8]>8o)[/SIZE]
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Thx everyone for all the kind words. Just hearing from you guys makes me wanna get back in the MA. However if I was gonna fly again I need to make sure its gonna be "play time" like poop says. Nope.....im not ready yet.
I put up a couple of pics of a recent track day I did at Grattan raceway (Grand Rapids MI). Im sorry they are so big but I dunno how to make them smaller ;-)
(http://www.wideopenwest.com/~Nomak/trackday3.jpg)
(http://www.wideopenwest.com/~Nomak/trackday1.jpg)
(http://www.wideopenwest.com/~Nomak/trackday2.jpg)
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Man do i miss the days we used to battle it out in the DA. Especially in F6Fs. I learned a lot from deuling you. You were one of the people i would get on to DA with for a little bit evey night. I still have the F6F deul where we ran out of gas. I have kind of slunk away from AH. But i did join the BK's and enjoy flying with them a lot when i get a chance.
>S< Shane/Wadke
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Excellent read.
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I find myself at a loss for words trying to describe the feeling I had playing this game for the first six months but then I realize that all of you had the same feeling I did and there is no need to try to put it into words.
So true
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Nomakian!
I forgot what your bike looked like bro. Getting nice man!
Here is a pit of my bike. gixer 750 Ofcourse ;) Altho I only had her for a few months I was able to push it to the limits. More like the ragged edge. Doing 130 and feeling like you were going slow wasnt a good feeling when you realized just how fast you were going! lol.
I sold the 750 to make room for a 1000 and the deal is still in the works sorta kinda... Its a tubo bike, garratt T3. Once I can get a price from the guy and get him to part with it I will finnaly have it and be able to come out and go riding with you. I've taken it for rides on more than one occation and it is fast. REAL fast. Alto my car pretty much takes up all my AH play time I try to find time to get out on someones bike now that I dont have one. Sooner than later I will have it and we'll be cruizin ;)
I wanted to do a rear euro tail light setup like you have but never did. I like it. ;) Looks sick man.
Here are somes pics of my bike on the last day I had her. :(
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v156/ststang2/bc_1.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v156/ststang2/95_1.jpg)
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it's all Shanes fault ..
if he'd lost, nomak wouldn't end up as a skid on some track and his kid's friends wouldn't call him hamburger head
hope you're happy Shane :)
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Got bored when the challenge ended. Story of life. We all need new challenges.
Don't even have to win all the time to get bored. Once something is figured out, our pioneering nature leads us to new mysteries.
Better for the soul (and often the wallet) to keep learning new skills rather than just rack up scores with old ones.
The difference between learning and earning is one l.
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Great to hear from you again, Nomak. I'm glad everything is going well with you in the "real" world.
Seeya up soon. :)
-- Todd/Leviathn
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Thx Todd. I always have and still do hold you in the highest regard. I hope you dont mind me throwing you in my story.
Dave
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Not at all! I'm honored, and I'm glad to see that things are going well for you now in other endeavors.
-- Todd/Leviathn
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Wow, nice read there Nancy!
You forgot to mention who it was that got you away from the kiddie shoot em up games....... you're welcome!
:D
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Yeah, Shane ruined it for me too.:)
Here's my only bike picture at work, my beautiful R6.
That's Duchess sitting on top of her.
(http://www.onpoi.net/ah/pics/users/512_1084733477_duchessr6.jpg)[/IMG]:)
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theres a motercycle in that pic ??? were ?? :D