Aces High Bulletin Board

General Forums => Aces High General Discussion => Topic started by: Patches1 on November 21, 2008, 01:27:29 PM

Title: How I Use Score
Post by: Patches1 on November 21, 2008, 01:27:29 PM
What is Score?

Score is simply a unit of measure.

What does Score measure?

For me, score measures my ability to read a map, to determine how I can best aid my fellow countrymen at the time I am logged onto Aces High and how I can best utilize my chosen weapon, the F4U Corsair, and it's capabilities, and limitations, in all of its varients, to best support whatever the needs my Countrymen have that I can personnaly fullfill in my very small individual role.





Title: Re: How I Use Score
Post by: ColSuave on November 21, 2008, 01:56:23 PM
Score says nothing. stats are what matter, if they matter at all, but most people are playing to have fun. At least I am
Title: Re: How I Use Score
Post by: SPKmes on November 21, 2008, 02:53:21 PM
At this point in time my use of the of the score card is for two things. I watch my hit% and from this tour I have been trying better my sortie/kill ratio.   As can be seen I'm not going so well at it, due mainly to the fact I look for the biggest dar bar and up. As for my hit% well brrrrr. ah well I'll get there.
Title: Re: How I Use Score
Post by: CAP1 on November 21, 2008, 03:30:11 PM
i go on the score pages to look at my hit %, and sometimes to see my total kills. other than that, not much.
 rank doesn't matter to me, as i could do like some others, and "game the game" to make me feel better 'bout myself.
Title: Re: How I Use Score
Post by: NHawk on November 21, 2008, 03:34:25 PM
I use scores to decorate my otherwise plain charmin bathroom tissue.  :D
Title: Re: How I Use Score
Post by: Grind on November 21, 2008, 04:57:19 PM
I believe a persons score is a fairly close barometer of a persons skill level.  I don't think its definitive.  There are too many variables to make it so.  Lets say a guy makes top fighter in the LW arena.  Does that mean he really is a better fighter pilot than the guy who ended up in the number two spot?   I think a playoff between lets say the top 20 fighter pilots in the DA would answer that question.  You would probably end up with two number ones though.  One for the MA and one a dueler.

I like to keep an eye on my hit % and sometimes if I don't know who it was I was fighting I will look up that persons score.

 :salute

A8Grind
Title: Re: How I Use Score
Post by: Simaril on November 21, 2008, 05:45:02 PM
I believe a persons score is a fairly close barometer of a persons skill level.  I don't think its definitive.  There are too many variables to make it so.  Lets say a guy makes top fighter in the LW arena.  Does that mean he really is a better fighter pilot than the guy who ended up in the number two spot?   I think a playoff between lets say the top 20 fighter pilots in the DA would answer that question.  You would probably end up with two number ones though.  One for the MA and one a dueler.

I like to keep an eye on my hit % and sometimes if I don't know who it was I was fighting I will look up that persons score.

 :salute

A8Grind

Grind--


The month I made a little run at score ranking I ended up somewhere in the low 20s, even though my combat skills were mediocre. Now that I'm going more for pure adrenaline, I'm well in the bottom half of the rankings. Have I lost that much skill? No, in fact I'm better than I was back then.


Now I understand where you're coming from, but I think you'll find that there are just TOO many variables in play for score to mean much of anything. You have to realize that rank is derived by combining your rank in every category you see on the score page, from fighter kills to bomber structure damage.


Now look at the relationship between skill and those score rankings. Start with basic "skill level" Whatever IS that? Is "Skill" being good at one on one? Or is it the ability to pick fights? Knowing when to bug out? Or, being able to hang in and get kills against overwhelming odds -- even if you die in the end? See, you'll get different stats depending on HOW you define skill...

Now look at the MANY variables that affect how your skill (again, whatever THAT is) shows up in the numbers. How many hours do you play? That affects total kills and points. Do you hate GVs? Automatically you're going to lose lots of ranking from that alone! Do you have the time and patience to up bombers for time consuming high alt strat runs? If not, your score drops. Are you willing to fly in a horde so the numbers increase your safety? Do you fly solo, or are you part of a squad that will give you cover and bail you out of trouble? Do you like to take territory, because if you do you'll have fewer kills per hour (on average). That means another category you'll drop lower in.

Now about the bizarre little quirks of the score system. Do you care enough to make a PT boat run that ends with a rocket attack on buildings? That's the only way to score points in one of those rank categories. Score chasers do that to get top rankings. Just about nobody else will, so they don't look as "good" even though that run has absolutely NOTHING to do with game ability.

Big picture: if all you care about is the furball then you'll have more deaths, and you won't have the base captures, ground target damage, bomber points, and PT runs it takes to get a good score. If you don't care about dying, your KPD will look worse than your "skills" could generate in other conditions.


Bottom line is this: Score rankings tell us how good you are at score rankings. It takes some skill to be at the top, but while there are definitely some great players with good rankings there are also guys who are middling at best - but play the score game very well.
Title: Re: How I Use Score
Post by: PFactorDave on November 21, 2008, 05:56:46 PM



Bottom line is this: Score rankings tell us how good you are at score rankings. It takes some skill to be at the top, but while there are definitely some great players with good rankings there are also guys who are middling at best - but play the score game very well.

I wholeheartedly agree.  I am a good example.  My overall ranking is far far better then it would be if the system actually measured skill.  I tend to rank better then I should simply because I participate in all aspects of the game to some degree.  Plus, I am a member of a squad that likes taking bases, so each tour usually gives me several opportunities to get base captures in C47s and M3s.  It is shocking how much a couple base captures in each of those can dramatically affect your overall ranking.

Personally, I only watch one stat.  Fighter Kills/Deaths...  Graphing my K/D over  all of my career tours (only about 8 months) in Spatulas stats program shows me that while my basic play style hasn't changed (mostly TnB), I am getting a little better over time.  I still have a long row to hoe to get on the level of a lot of the guys around here, but I am happy to be getting better and not stagnating.
Title: Re: How I Use Score
Post by: CAP1 on November 21, 2008, 06:37:12 PM
I believe a persons score is a fairly close barometer of a persons skill level.  I don't think its definitive.  There are too many variables to make it so.  Lets say a guy makes top fighter in the LW arena.  Does that mean he really is a better fighter pilot than the guy who ended up in the number two spot?   I think a playoff between lets say the top 20 fighter pilots in the DA would answer that question.  You would probably end up with two number ones though.  One for the MA and one a dueler.

I like to keep an eye on my hit % and sometimes if I don't know who it was I was fighting I will look up that persons score.

 :salute

A8Grind

hi grind,

not to become argumentative or anything, but score does truel mean nothing.

i see lots of guys tha i KNOW are top notch pilots in here. but look at their scores, and they're generally pretty poor.

 on the other hand, i'm on the lower side of average, and i also know i can "work" the scores to make me look much better than i am.

just my 2 cents.....
Title: Re: How I Use Score
Post by: WMLute on November 21, 2008, 06:54:37 PM
There are apsects of a players score that will "hint" at their ability, but it is far from accurate.

Some players appear to be "Good" and in all reality are only good at gaming their score.

Use score as a rough guidline, nothing more.

I spent close to a year ish top 20-30 ish (think my 'best" was 2nd or 3rd overall) and it taught me much about how little "score" has to do with pilot ability.

During that time I sought out players that were almost always in the top 10-20 and got many of them to duel me in the DA.

Needless to say I was very underwhelmed by what I found in a straight up 1 on 1.

Again, aspects of score will hint at a players ability, but untill you get them 1 on 1 you really never know.

Title: Re: How I Use Score
Post by: Soulyss on November 21, 2008, 07:35:14 PM
I think score can give you clues about how someone plays, but not how WELL they play.
Title: Re: How I Use Score
Post by: FiLtH on November 22, 2008, 12:10:34 AM
  When I check score its to see how many hours Ive wasted.
Title: Re: How I Use Score
Post by: Delirium on November 22, 2008, 12:13:40 AM
I believe a persons score is a fairly close barometer of a persons skill level. 

Really?

Amsoil ranked #1 in the Latewar arenas, as was announced on November 1 and I'll bet he couldn't kill time with a sledgehammer and a stopwatch.

Rank and score is nothing.
Title: Re: How I Use Score
Post by: Yippee38 on November 22, 2008, 01:29:45 AM
This game has scores and stats?  WTFGAS?
Title: Re: How I Use Score
Post by: SuperDud on November 22, 2008, 02:48:49 AM
I believe a persons score is a fairly close barometer of a persons skill level.  I don't think its definitive.  There are too many variables to make it so.  Lets say a guy makes top fighter in the LW arena.  Does that mean he really is a better fighter pilot than the guy who ended up in the number two spot?   I think a playoff between lets say the top 20 fighter pilots in the DA would answer that question.  You would probably end up with two number ones though.  One for the MA and one a dueler.

I like to keep an eye on my hit % and sometimes if I don't know who it was I was fighting I will look up that persons score.

 :salute

A8Grind
Spot on! There is no better way to tell how good someoneis than by checking his score. I've been angst several times by pilots, thought about challenging them to the DA but decided against it after seeing the high rank they have. No use making a bigger fool of myself.
Title: Re: How I Use Score
Post by: Grind on November 22, 2008, 04:02:15 AM
I believe a persons score is a fairly close barometer of a persons skill level. 

Oh yeah, unless the person is cheating..... To some people score does matter.  I once got an overall score of 29.  Had to play a certain way to get there, not that 29 is so great but considering my overall knowledge of the game and my skill level I thought I did ok.  Have you ever tried to get a low score just for sake of doing it?  Try it, it is a different game.  Thats one of the cool things about this game.  You can play it in different ways.  Anymore I just play at my skill level and let the chips fall where they may.  I would still like to see the top dogs go at it just for grins and try to get the winner into the DA for hours on end to try to learn something. :D

<S>

A8Grind
Title: Re: How I Use Score
Post by: NHawk on November 22, 2008, 06:36:33 AM
Under no circumstances is score an indication of a person's skill level. It is entirely an indication of how they play and how much they play.

During the first week of the last tour I had someone look at my score in GVs and claim I was cheating. He claimed there was no way I could 1 shot kill him from a distance because my score wasn't good enough. So, I decided to prove to him that score is nothing more than the way you play and the amount of time you play. I ended up at 19th. Not as good as I could have done, but I'm interrupted many times while I'm playing because I'm usually at work. :)

There is one other variable that nobody has mentioned. That's time of day. The time of day you fly has a direct impact on your score. Simply because an average stick can rack up big scores if he flies at a time of day that mostly equal or lesser sticks are flying.

So, it boils down to this. Play a ton, and be a decent stick and you'll get a high score. But, don't let that go to your head because someone ranked at say 1234 can be, and many times is, in reality a better stick than you. Simply because he doesn't play for score.

Edit: All of the above is why I use scores to decorate my otherwise plain charmin bathroom tissue.
Title: Re: How I Use Score
Post by: pluck on November 22, 2008, 08:18:28 AM
score has nothing to do with skill.  You can have a good score, but be a bad cartoon airplane driver.  You can be a good pixelated warrior but have bad score.  It does hint at some things but nothing for sure.  Take for example hit %.  If I look at this stat and see a very good one for a pilot, I can't assume that he is a good shot.  He might be, but he might also be shooting at many bombers, and strafing many planes on the ground.  K/T might be ok, but I know of a few guys who will fly long distances in hopes of running across a small fight or spotting a mission.  If they don't find it, they fly home with no kills, but time spent.  K/D might be ok, but then again, maybe the guy is very timid, runs from everything in sight.  Some people try to up from vulched fields or auger because they are bored.  Then you can start to combine...well maybe you are a good shot, but don't know much about fighting.  You hope in a fast plane, bnz everything in sight, run from any real fight, and primarily target bombers and look only for targets to pick and vulch.  My bet is that being only a decent shot in this situation could net you a good fighter score...and *some* guys who score well indeed fly very similar.  These are the guys when you catch up to them and force them to fight, they are average, but certainly not top tier pilots.

There are just so many factors and ways in which score can be influenced, many of them not actually showing any type of skill at all.  You can mix and match the stats as you like but you will end up with average (wide range) and skilled players mixed in through all of the rankings.  Scoring should be left to the realm as part of the game, not an indication of skill.  If you want to find out how you rank up, fight guys who you feel are good pilots.  Stats and such might be helpful on a personal basis, as you know how you fly...maybe pick a stat to work on or something like that.  But really not that useful when trying to compare it do how good you are.  The only way to know that is the old fashion way, go out and get some scalps.
Title: Re: How I Use Score
Post by: BaldEagl on November 22, 2008, 08:37:51 AM
Spot on! There is no better way to tell how good someoneis than by checking his score. I've been angst several times by pilots, thought about challenging them to the DA but decided against it after seeing the high rank they have. No use making a bigger fool of myself.

I posted this in another thread but I ran into a top 25 ranked fighter pilot a week or two ago.  As soon as he saw me coming he quit BnZing friendlies over a vb and took off running.  We were both in 109K-4's and I had a few K alt advantage.  As I closed in on him he was stick stirring like a n00b.  I closed the throttle and he eventually made a break move at which time I took off his wing with my 30mm.

No actual top 25 fighter pilot would have flown like that.  It was probably the second worst case of stick stirring I've seen in all my years here.

Score can give you an indication of how good someone is but it's by no means the final answer.  If I were you, I'd go DA those guys anyway.  You might just be surprised.
Title: Re: How I Use Score
Post by: LilMak on November 22, 2008, 11:02:43 AM
I use score/stats to see where I might need to improve (which is just about everything) and nothing more. I don't care where I sit in the rankings because I fly for the challenge. The challenge is the main reason you'll find me in a Jug about 75% of the time. I find it just competitive enough as a fighter to get myself in trouble but not so outclassed that I get murdered in every encounter. The fight is what makes me enjoy the game the most. The <S>'s I give and receive for a well flown encounter mean more than any stat or # on a page ever will. The best fight I had in the last week or so was trying to bail out a countryman who was being chased down my two P38s and a P51. I got 0 kills but managed to put holes in both 38s before I took a hit to the main tank in my Jug. I was able to egress and land after a twisty fight to the deck. I was lucky I got the wheels down but it was a tremendously fun fight for me and that's the true measure of a fun game.
Title: Re: How I Use Score
Post by: Tom5572 on November 22, 2008, 11:48:26 AM
The only real stat I care about is kill to death.  I have been playing for almost two years now and have yet to end a tour over 1.0 kill to death. That is my goal for now, of course as time progresses I am sure I will want 2.0 and so on.  My overall score is fairly high only because I did two bombing missions over strat targets.  I am only an average stick and nowhere near my reflective score.  1v1 I will give anyone a decent fight but usually end up dying in the end. 
Title: Re: How I Use Score
Post by: Bucky73 on November 22, 2008, 03:38:29 PM
Score is nothing but a guage internet gamers use to prove to other gamers that they have elite "skills"  :rofl

Get a life :aok


play for fun :salute
Title: Re: How I Use Score
Post by: Motherland on November 22, 2008, 03:41:55 PM
  I would still like to see the top dogs go at it just for grins and try to get the winner into the DA for hours on end to try to learn something. :D
Getting the 'top dogs', as far as score go's, to go 'at it' in the DA would be a contest to see who could stay in the air the longest as they all run from each other.