Kills per sortie / hour

[Vraciu]

only time I've cared about rank is to steal CV control...

LOOK AT ME, I AM THE CAPTAIN NOW. 

“Give me the missile key, Mr. Hunter...”

I used to be good looking

And used to score all the time

I still score.  Just as expensive but the transactions are different.   

[Puma44]

Score means nothing.

Fun means everything.

And that’s the truth.

[JunkyII]

Revamping the score system 5+ years ago may have done something to bring in competitive gamers but there's no reason to change it in a dead game when they still can't make planes stop flopping like dead fish.

[SPKmes]

On the serious side.  I fly almost every sortie as an attack sortie so I can kill or blow up everything.  I'll shoot a plane, a vehicle, a gun, a bomber, a ship, a bunker, a hangar, well you get the picture.  This insures the earning of perks for the activity.  Not so much worried about the scoring as the perks for the toys when I want to fly them.  I do get what you are saying though on the lower arena numbers vs. kills per sortie.  Makes sense if you are interested in scoring.  Nothing wrong with that pursuit Sir.

I started doing this about 8 years ago...I was trying to game you guys.....I tried to keep my fighter score at a crappy level to instigate a cheat/hack frenzy from you all....All I can say is you guys are mean, horrible people....You not once have played my game and now I'm stuck in this way of playing and it all seems so fruitless....

[DmonSlyr]

I really like the score system. You have to be good in many categories to score high. It changes every month so it gives new people a chance to score high. It helps you become better at the game by judging your stats. It's something that you don't have to try for if you don't want to. It's a great measure of your performance. It gives something for people to strive for. I admit I brag to my non AH friends that I'm #1 at times in something  . I think it adds some competition to the game. It's kind of disappointing that AH doesn't take rank as seriously as Dota, if you know what I'm saying.

There's a lot of misconceptions about score. Flying high and timid is not the best way to score high. You do have to play the game to keep your score because points do matter (note tour 223 atlau lost his #1 fighter spot because of points.) This makes it so a player cannot easily be #1 with some miraculous sortie. That being said, playing too many hours will drag down your overall metrics and if you have a lot of points but lower other metrics, it's very hard to increaese those metrics to rank higher. (Think skyyr, hi points, lots of sorties, lower other metrics. ) Its a lot like gambling. If you play too many sorties, you will lose your other metrics being too complacent.

I kind of do agree with Nrshida that kills/time is impacted by the # of players on the map and the location of the fights. Perhaps this metric could be removed. The best way to increase kills per time is by fighting off of the CV. Kills per time actually makes it so high timir BnZers can't do that if they want a higher rank. If you took away Kills/time. Players who want a higher fighter rank would start flying more timidly. It's very hard to have a high kills per time while also maintaining a high K/d ( think Rapier). It's a tough call but I see where you are coming from. It's one of the reason why I won't roll if there is a tiny dar and the bases are too far. 

[Vraciu]

I really like the score system. You have to be good in many categories to score high.

Which can easily be done in a single sortie.

You can score high in K/H, K/D, K/S, and Hit Percentage on a single mission or a small handful and rocket to the top.  I placed in the top forty by flying one sortie.  That's gamey.

There's a lot of misconceptions about score. Flying high and timid is not the best way to score high. You do have to play the game to keep your score because points do matter (note tour 223 atlau lost his #1 fighter spot because of points.)

As we have shown, beyond 10,000 points score matters very little.

K/H through ditching becomes more valuable than points.

This makes it so a player cannot easily be #1 with some miraculous sortie. That being said, playing too many hours will drag down your overall metrics and if you have a lot of points but lower other metrics, it's very hard to increaese those metrics to rank higher. (Think skyyr, hi points, lots of sorties, lower other metrics. )

Skyyr didn't play for score.  If he had, he would easily be #1 every single tour.   

The guy, like him or not, fought outnumbered all the time because he liked the challenge of it.   He had very high metrics in terms of K/H and hit % at the expense of K/D (again, because he didn't play it safe) and total score.    You would see him at #1 for the majority of a tour this way regardless.

I kind of do agree with Nrshida that kills/time is impacted by the # of players on the map and the location of the fights. Perhaps this metric could be removed. The best way to increase kills per time is by fighting off of the CV. Kills per time actually makes it so high timir BnZers can't do that if they want a higher rank. If you took away Kills/time. Players who want a higher fighter rank would start flying more timidly. It's very hard to have a high kills per time while also maintaining a high K/d ( think Rapier). It's a tough call but I see where you are coming from. It's one of the reason why I won't roll if there is a tiny dar and the bases are too far.

Best way to help K/H is to ditch rather than land.   The time spent flying home to land kills is better spent flying outbound to get more.

[Lusche]

Which can easily be done in a single sortie.

You can score high in K/H, K/D, K/S, and Hit Percentage on a single mission or a small handful and rocket to the top.  I placed in the top forty by flying one sortie.  That's gamey.

Which tour did that happen? I'd be very surprised to see that happen - yet. Still too many pilots doing way too many sorties in the MA (unlike the EW and MW of old).
I guess the best would currently in the 70s.

Example calculated for last tour: One pilot has the run of his life, does a single sortie and quickly kills 6 n00b NOE bombers in 5 minutes,
K/D 6 = #17
K/S 6 = #1
K/H 78 = #1
hit % let's assume 20% = #3
Kill points - if he actually hit all of them (instead of getting proxies), ~1200 = #619

Total rank sum of 753 would have gotten him a fighter rank #51 at the end of the tour.

That still might considered 'gamey' - but then show me a ranking/score system that ain't
Besides, the good thing is that it doesn't even matter. Basically no one but yourself will know / care if some other guy was #72, #156, or #245 in tour 223. Even the tour winners don't show up on the frontpage anymore. You don't get anything for score except for TG control.
Not even bragging rights - Or do you see anyone impressed when a guy plays the rank card in a discussion? Heck, I've been #1 in fighters thirteen fluff'n times and still did not get laid  (But I made Mom mighty proud  )


And if someone would eliminate k/h, or just substantially emphasize kill points - that would greatly benefit all those who always engage when there's no risk at all.

[Vraciu]

Happened in the last year or so.  I had a top 40 tour with two sorties, a top 50 with three, etc.  I literally did almost exactly what you showed.   Jumped a bunch of bombers, wiped out two sets and part of a third.  Landed.  Done.  Switched to Attack for the rest of the tour. 

(I flew one mission and was ranked number one.   Took me about 20 days to fall out of the top 30...)

It needs to be like baseball or football or basketball with a minimum number of games played to qualify.   

I agree K/H hurts people unfairly.   Keep it as a reference but for score ranking?   I think it skews everything. 

[Lusche]

I agree K/H hurts people unfairly.   Keep it as a reference but for score ranking?   I think it skews everything.

Not using it would skew the ranks as well.
Someone flying so cautiously that he would get only like 2 kills per hour (because he'd never engage when there's even the slightest risk) could then be #1.
Would that be better? I don't think so 

[Vraciu]

Not using it would skew the ranks as well.
Someone flying so cautiously that he would get only like 2 kills per hour (because he'd never engage when there's even the slightest risk) could then be #1.
Would that be better? I don't think so 

Sure beats punishing people who fly around looking for bad guys off hours...

I don’t have the answer.   I just know the system is badly flawed.   The problem is I don’t have a better one.

 

[Lusche]

Sure beats punishing people who fly around looking for bad guys off hours...

Minority problem, hardly anyone is left during off hours... 


 

[Vraciu]

Minority problem, hardly anyone is left during off hours... 


 

Well, guys like Fess get hurt by it.  (I know I do...but I never come close to being #1 so in my case I don’t care.)

[DmonSlyr]

Which can easily be done in a single sortie.

You can score high in K/H, K/D, K/S, and Hit Percentage on a single mission or a small handful and rocket to the top.  I placed in the top forty by flying one sortie.  That's gamey.



As we have shown, beyond 10,000 points score matters very little.

K/H through ditching becomes more valuable than points.



Skyyr didn't play for score.  If he had, he would easily be #1 every single tour.   

The guy, like him or not, fought outnumbered all the time because he liked the challenge of it.   He had very high metrics in terms of K/H and hit % at the expense of K/D (again, because he didn't play it safe) and total score.    You would see him at #1 for the majority of a tour this way regardless.

Best way to help K/H is to ditch rather than land.   The time spent flying home to land kills is better spent flying outbound to get more.

I pretty much have to disagree with everything you wrote. Scoring high off one sortie early in the tour is not rare. There are less people who have played and a low # of players makes scoring higher easier.

I'm pretty sure that ditching doesn't give you as many points as landing. Points are harder to get than any other rank category unless you fly a ton of sorties. If you fly a ton of sorties though,  this normally hurts the rest of your stats.

Happened in the last year or so.  I had a top 40 tour with two sorties, a top 50 with three, etc.  I literally did almost exactly what you showed.   Jumped a bunch of bombers, wiped out two sets and part of a third.  Landed.  Done.  Switched to Attack for the rest of the tour. 

(I flew one mission and was ranked number one.   Took me about 20 days to fall out of the top 30...)

It needs to be like baseball or football or basketball with a minimum number of games played to qualify.   

I agree K/H hurts people unfairly.   Keep it as a reference but for score ranking?   I think it skews everything. 

This is literally why points matter. Atlau got his great stats last tour by flying a 262. He should have flown a couple of more sorties to get his points up. He had great metrics but low points and it cost him.

The only reason why a few sorties can bring you to the top with low points is because of the amount of players, especially at the beginning of the tour.

I dont really think skyyr could have been #1 every tour. His K/D and kills per sortie suffered and he was really only successful in the MA when he flew top speed/performance planes.

That's why I like the rank in AH because you have to find ways to score high in all of the metrics so your scores per each category are low enough to score higher.

The better you get, the easier it is to score higher without even realizing it.

[Vraciu]

I pretty much have to disagree with everything you wrote.

Doesn’t make you right.

Scoring high off one sortie early in the tour is not rare. There are less people who have played and a low # of players makes scoring higher easier.

And yet I can do it and still be in the Top 50 at the end.   That makes zero sense.

I'm pretty sure that ditching doesn't give you as many points as landing.

Yeah, we know that.  I think you get half.   Don’t quote me on it though. 

Points are harder to get than any other rank category unless you fly a ton of sorties. If you fly a ton of sorties though,  this normally hurts the rest of your stats.

Points are easy to get.  I can rank #1 in points all day long if I want.   The thing we’ve demonstrated is the return on investment is not worth it starting around 10,000.   After that you should ditch to maintain K/D and bump up your K/H. 

This is literally why points matter. Atlau got his great stats last tour by flying a 262. He should have flown a couple of more sorties to get his points up. He had great metrics but low points and it cost him.

I did not see his numbers, but generally speaking this is not a factor.  Had he bumped up his K/H or hit % he would have ranked higher I’m almost certain.   You cannot win a tour based on gross numbers.  (Edit In: In his case he was already high on other metrics and his kill points were low, thus the effort to go from 82 in kill points to enough to win wasn’t much.  Had he been #1 in points or #60 he would have won.  You would have won by more if you had scored fewer points and had a higher K/H via ditching.)

The effort required to go from #5 (or #50)  to #1 in points is best used for K/H.   

The only reason why a few sorties can bring you to the top with low points is because of the amount of players, especially at the beginning of the tour.

One sortie.  Top 40. 

I dont really think skyyr could have been #1 every tour. His K/D and kills per sortie suffered and he was really only successful in the MA when he flew top speed/performance planes.

That's why I like the rank in AH because you have to find ways to score high in all of the metrics so your scores per each category are low enough score higher.

The better you get, the easier it is to score hgiher without even realizing it.

Let me say it again since you missed it.   Skyyr never played for rank.  He played for the fight.  Had he focused on score he would have easily been #1.   He was already in the top 10 regularly when he was NOT focused on score. 

There are others who did similarly. 

He flew speed/performance planes because he was always wading into a horde alone down lowusually alone.    He was capable of success in any plane. 

[1stpar3]

Loved the Ki-61....didnt fly it as much for that very reason...no speed to stay effective in a 4 v 1 Scary in that bird, he was