Pilot experience and skill level

[Lusche]

I would add that the kills\sortie can be skewed via the rearm pad use\abuse.  Perhaps, once someone learns to game this stat it changes therein.

This can be done with most stats, more or less. You could say that this is part of learnng the game and part of the 'skills' as well. But that's almost a different topic

[JunkyII]

Snailman you are a wealth of knowledge when it comes to Aces High.

 

[mthrockmor]

So the top-10% pay roughly 75% of all taxes in America, or something like that.

I use this only because of my political background it is the only example I can think of. How many of total kills are made by top-25%, top-10%, top-5%, top-1%?

If available.

Boo

[Wiley]

I know that feeling quite well: I don't realyl think of me as a very good fighter pilot, because I know there are like 100 players that can consistently kick me around at will. Oh my god, I suck! But then that also means at the same time that there are like 3900 who can't

That's the part that just about all people who consider themselves 'average' miss right there. 

I was thinking about this thread, and realized I've been at the online flight sim thing for over 5 years...  Thinking back, I don't ever recall feeling the level of frustration I'd think I'd be feeling if my stats were as low as the medians here.  I know in the beginning I sucked, everybody does.  For some reason the pain of my suckage just didn't stick in my memory...  Odd.

Wiley.

[Zoney]

The rich should pay more
The fast should run slower
The smart should think less
and all games should end in ties.
We can all be our weakest link.
It's the right thing to do.
           signed       BHO


It seems in reality most pilots don't increase in skill level over time. You would think they would but they don't.

 It seems most get better from where they started but hit their pinnacle of learning 3 months in and can not progress from that point. Reasons for this might be laziness, unwilling to expand on their skill level or born to make the same mistakes over and over looking for a different result....which I think Einstein said was crazy.

Just seen one unmentioned squad with MANY long time players bring a crapload of attack planes to take a base with just one goon and fail. Not so much because it was a bad plan but because most of them can't directly hit a thing. (plane or ground object)

One guy fully loaded should be able to kill any ground object in one pass except a shore bat or HQ that I can think of. Shore bats take me 3 passes in an F4U 1000's, rocks and guns. ... and I'm definitely average.

One guy should be able to kill more than one plane without running out of ammo and calling RTB before the reach the second.

Just an observation.

Looks like I need to work harder on attacking objects that don't have a human playing them and are sitting on the ground if I want to really improve upon killing objects that don't move and don't have a human controlling them.  Or I can carry bombs sometimes with my buds and have fun if I don't hit nothin.

[Oldman731]

I think that pilots increase in skill over time

Agreed.  On a very micro level, I know that my skill is far greater now than it has ever been.  I doubt my stats are much different, however, from what they were years ago.  I really don't fly to maximize the number of my kills (and never did, really).  I generally fly planes that are are more challenging (for me).  I'll often augur if I'm damaged or low on fuel so that I can get back to the fight quicker.  I'll dive (sometimes climb) into bad odds.  I don't believe I'm alone in such things.  Neither AH nor any similar game really offers a means to measuring skill in handling a cartoon plane.  I think of Badboy as a fine example.  He would willingly admit that his stats were unimpressive, yet anyone who met him recognized him as one of the best pilots in the game.

So I think the charts are interesting, but I don't think they support the notion that skill level reaches a fairly rapid plateau.

- oldman

[The Fugitive]

I said I was an average pilot not trying to be a smartarse, i was being realistic in my own sense. Certainly am not an average pilot in the sense of the pie graphs, but compared to the average veteran pilot I suppose I am.

This is where you and Lusche are having a communication issue. Lusche is going by the all around player base and trying to pin point an "average player". You on the other hand are rating only yourself. You consider your self average knowing your better than you use to be but no where near where you think you should be and so don't consider yourself a newb, nor a "hot stick" but someplace in the middle..... average.

Skill level doesn't improve because players aren't incentivized to improve. Why put the effort if the same result can be accomplished simply by having more numbers?

I've been saying this for years. Why learn to maneuver for a kill when HOin works half the time and you can be happy with that.

I think that pilots increase in skill over time, and the data provided by Lusche support that conclusion.  Every metric improves over time.

True, but in this game it seems like for every one guy that pushes to excel there is a horde of players that are ok with doing the same tried and true thing over and over again (horde and HO) to slow that "improvement curve" down.

Looks like I need to work harder on attacking objects that don't have a human playing them and are sitting on the ground if I want to really improve upon killing objects that don't move and don't have a human controlling them.  Or I can carry bombs sometimes with my buds and have fun if I don't hit nothin.

I don't think any ones saying you have to improve on a part of game play that you don't do. Heck you don't fight as far as I'm concerned, but that's the way you play the game. I ran into you Saturday. You were high in a P47M and tried to get my P47-40. After a few passed that netted you a few pings you dove away through your ack and "extended" deeper into friendly territory. I followed to be sure it was just the 2 of us but you wouldn't turn back even after a 4k advantage with alt and speed. I turned back toward the base and had a great turn fight with Snuggies in a P40c that ended on the deck with him colliding with me. But it how YOU want to play.

The point is if a player is on a base taking run often, don't you think he might want to figure out how to hit a target consistently? This is where the game is failing. As Atool says, there are so many that just don't know. Like Lusche said, there have to be other options/requirements for the "win" to get players to become more skilled. More skilled players mean better play for everyone. Sure I may be in the top 25% that feed on the other 75%, but I'd be happy if I ran into a "skilled" player more than 1 out of 4 on an average, wouldn't you?

[FLS]

Nice chart Lusche. It's interesting to see the steady improvement.

It makes me wonder about a correlation between new player retention and their skills development as well as the percentage of players on either side of the median who have had training.

[katanaso]

Just think that if there weren't perks to be earned, a bunch of us would constantly auger once the fight was over.   No faster way to get into a new plane quicker and get back to fighting.

[morfiend]

  Lusche,

 what would be the average hit% excluding 2 weekers.

 I'm often asked this or it comes up when players ask about help with shooting.

  A player will say my hit% is X is that good or bad?   I assume the average to be between 2% and 3% so I'd like to know the actual numbers involved,if you dont mind?


  

[Lusche]

How many of total kills are made by top-25%, top-10%, top-5%, top-1%?

If available.

Boo

Not the exact answer to your question, but going in the general direction:


Data has been take from the score cards and includes deaths from non-combat reasons and excludes kills in the 'wrong mode'. I would have preferred to take it from the pilot stats, but that would be too complex and time consuming at the moment,

There are 7 players actually outside the scale of the chart: 3 with a kill-death balance greater than 1000 (all tankers), and 4 with one smaller than -1000

[The Fugitive]

 Lusche,

 what would be the average hit% excluding 2 weekers.

 I'm often asked this or it comes up when players ask about help with shooting.

  A player will say my hit% is X is that good or bad?   I assume the average to be between 2% and 3% so I'd like to know the actual numbers involved,if you dont mind?


  

Going by the chart that started this thread (the green lines) the hit% is under 3 until they get over 6 months, then hitting 4 after the first year.

[Plawranc]

Stats aren't everything in terms of skill though.

I have a generally crap score, yet I consider myself (and a few others do) an above average stick.. Im not Grizz, but I can scare the crap out of him in the right plane (attempted metaphor).

Its all about attitude.

Redbull for example, I trained him initially, until he was picked up by a few DA sticks and then DrBone. In just under a year he can match both of us in 1v1 and is a consistently high scoring Ace in the MA.

[SEseph]

There are 7 players actually outside the scale of the chart: 3 with a kill-death balance greater than 1000 (all tankers), and 4 with one smaller than -1000

  Really? I mean... really?  wow............ Gotta give it them for the tenacity though. 

[JTs]

Ive been helping to improve everyones k/d ratio since AW2