How I Use Score

[Grind]

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.

<S>

A8Grind

[NHawk]

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.

[pluck]

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.

[BaldEagl]

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.

[LilMak]

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.

[Tom5572]

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. 

[Bucky73]

Score is nothing but a guage internet gamers use to prove to other gamers that they have elite "skills" 

Get a life


play for fun

[Motherland]

  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.

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.