Moral of your story. Stop expecting the impossible out of a chaotic environment.
^This^
Look, case in point: Yesterday we were fighting Bish and The Few were over there, Bish side. You had BETTER expect that they're gonna use squad tactics and clear each other's 6, no matter how much the guy wants to kill one of them without interferance, it just isn't gonna happen that often. I latched onto a Typhoon with my 190A5 and furiously fought to get on his six, and he didn't make it easy on me, some of the best flying I've ever seen someone do in a Typhoon, flaps out and moving around more like a Harrier jump jet than a big 'ol Tyffie. I managed to work him into my sights, and raked him with cannon fire. I saw hit sprites starting at his tail and working all the way up the fuselage to the nose. I should mention I felt particularly good seeing those hits because I never fly German iron, and particularly stink in a turnfight in a 190 of any flavor.
I never got a kill message in the text buffer, not for him. Instead, it read "Bruv119 has shot you down. You have been killed" as I stared out the tower window in disbelief, all I could do was laugh. DAMM! He did it again! Sneaky Bastage!!
DrBone came over 200 and told me he was the Typhoon and he was dead, I got him I guess but I never lived to enjoy it.
Was there any whining on 200 about a pick? No, 'cause that's what happens when you're 1) in the MA, and 2) trying to kill a guy who has squaddies around. They're not gonna let it happen, unless he tells them "No, stay out!" and even then sometimes they're not gonna ask him, they're just gonna do it, because that's what squaddies do. Otherwise what's the point of being in a squad?
to Bruv119, DrBone, and The Few. Fun fights yesterday.
That being said, yeh, I ain't no angel, I've pizzed and whined on 200 about being ganged, but 99% of the time I try to phrase it in a manner that is either mocking or funny, not "angry." Because hey, I chose to engage a plane with the knowledge that if the fight didn't end very quickly in my favor there was an almost certain chance more "baddies" would try to come to the aid of my would-be prey. I do not hold them in contempt for doing so, it is just the nature of cartoon combat in the MA.
Moral: The only behavior in the MA that I can affect is my own, and I personally make it a point to never jump into a 1v1 in progress unless I ask the green icon involved if he needs/wants help. If he doesn't answer or says "no" I
stay out . If the odds are stacked more heavily on the bad guy, 2v1 or more, I keep flying. The lone exception is if the bad guy is a runner and it's obvious they aren't gona catch him, then I'll join the chase if it looks like I can catch and turn the guy. If I dive in and kill the bad guy, he might get mad about being ganged. But in the end, my loyalties are to my squaddies and countrymen, not the red icons. I don't gang because I don't like kill stealing, not because I feel compassion for the enemy pilot's "struggle."