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What quantifies someone as an Ace?


Ttoilleekul

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For me this is someone who can fly Strike, Scout and GS to equally high standards. Regularly at the top of the board. Regularly does big numbers, works well under pressure, able to counter several opponents a once (obviously not several top tier opponents), and generally speaking is not easy to kill unless outnumbered by enough talent.

 

What are your thoughts on what defines an Ace in GSF?

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In my opinion actual ace is someone who can perform well even in not optimal builds, and most importantly carry the team. Someone who can turn the tide alone.

There are four indicators of being an ace:

Hate mail

Whisper harassment

Queue dodgers

Chat clout

 

Lol, i had first two already.

So, if someone whispers weird lewd things to me after match, they consider me an ace? :)

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Being able to carry a team is definitely important for being an Ace, however I'd also argue that in Domination matches if a player is unwilling to stay on a sat and defend to get those high Kill counts, they are not an Ace.

 

Defending sats is just as important in being an Ace, as getting a massive amount of kills, assists, and damage is. There are times when sacrificing High kill counts makes you a better player if your actively defending a sat that has no other defenders on it.

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It's a nebulous term, but basically an ace is someone of veteran status (aka, the actual players of this game) who is in some fashion above the average. It doesn't need a strict definition, because the moment it gains one it ceases to become a metric and instead becomes a goal. Much like if you decide your ace salesmen are the ones that make a lot of total sales, and publicize this, your team will push hard towards smaller individual sales, and if you instead use total dollars of sales as your metric, your team will push towards that, to the exclusion of a number of smaller clients who may eventually become very important. Like many situations in life, deciding on an absolute metric has the effect of making that metric worthless (or at least worth a much smaller amount) as a metric.
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  • 3 weeks later...

The best "Aces" I have seen are the ones with great micro situational awareness and macro situational awareness. Many pilots can rack up a high kill count, but that doesn't always win games. I have flown with some of the best pilots, but the truly exceptional ones are the ones that check their egos.

 

P.S Yes I am back.

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My measure of an ace is how glad I am to see them on my team, or how worried I am to see them on the opponent team. Though there are always new names (not necessarily new players) who turn out to be real good.

 

That doesn't mean I am always unhappy to see good players on the other team, as long as my team has some good players also. Games with good players on both sides are the most interesting matches, and the most fulfilling if I play well.

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Im pretty sure there are levels of competence.

 

Now, take a veteran GSF'er. Your average pop lovin, strike bearing, murderous protorp wielding masses.

 

Pit them against the current influx of new peoples, and they will seem like an ace to them.

 

Put it this way.

 

If your opposing team, someone on it yells in OPS before the match "Hey, look out for Boo Boo! He is murderous"

 

You made it.

 

Now, that snot saying there isnt anyone better than you. You will always find, someone will always be there waiting to knock you off.

 

I remember one time, on a server no longer with us, someone after a match said "Man, Flux we are glad to have an ace like you in the match"

 

I mean, i dont toot my horn. It is what it is.

 

And some dude spoke up "Flux is many things, but an ace is not one of them"

 

Im thinking to myself, thanks for destroying any pride i had about someone saying im an ace.

 

And the dude that said it originally comes out and says "Well, if he isnt an ace, then he is our hero!"

 

So, ever since then, Im like if i am a hero to the people on my team, thats good enough for me.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Has nothing to do with versatility on each ship. If you can perform well and consistently you can be considered an ace even if it's on a single favorite. Though the Flashfire and similar ships are a bit cheesy so I wouldn't count getting kills in those to be any great accomplishment. I have a video on youtube where I went 20+ to zero. I stopped using them after that.

And if you want something concrete, how about a consistent 7 to 1 kill death ratio in games? 7 kills makes an ace in real life after all.

Edited by ForceValor
wanted to add more.
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And if you want something concrete, how about a consistent 7 to 1 kill death ratio in games? 7 kills makes an ace in real life after all.

 

You can always spot people who care a great deal about their KDR. People who fly to live in sat matches and people who fly to win in sat matches don't always overlap much. I've seen lots of..seemingly unlikely departures from satelites when heroic death after buying team a few extra seconds would have been all it took. Person after that 7:1 ratio sticks to green sat or capital ship in unbalanced games and won't try anything too daring and desperate in situations that a good pilot might turn by being daring and desperate. Real good KDR might make one an ace but chasing it too much often makes one less of an ace;p

 

If one has some sort of a Sunday ship you take out only in 3-0 or 50-3 steamroll matches, then how much weight does some 10:1 ratio have anyway.? There are exceptions..I remember well an insane bomber pilot from Proge who'd throw his ugly cash shop bomber to all the tough matches and all the hairy places and simply refused to die.

Edited by Stradlin
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I don't know if I qualify as an Ace or not, that would probably fall on a player like Rhea Hawk to decide. But I do try and maintain a positive K/D every game and contribute in some way (defending satellites/callouts, attacking when I know I have a reasonable chance of being able to take it or at least cause enough ruckus to make taking another satellite easier, constantly deroosting Gunships, etc).

 

I'm almost to 2.0 K/D and 4.0 average kills per game. But I know there's a lot more to being a good pilot.

 

Also, since I literally fly nothing but Scouts (Lights/Pods T1, Bursts/Clusters T2, switching depending on whether I'm dogfighting, jousting, popping gunships or assaulting satellites), I'm inexperienced with all other ships, so I'm definitely not an "Ace" in that regard.

Edited by Loadsamonie
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  • 3 weeks later...

I would say if you have to ask, you're probably not there yet - but if you've never questioned it you're probably overestimating your ability.

 

Ace is the simplest terms is just a more effective player than a "vet" like how a veteran is generally more effective than a fresh pilot just starting out.

 

Being able to top boards is part of it, but really its having the potential to influence a match's outcome through your actions. Kills and damage are easy to focus on but a high kill count under optimal conditions doesn't carry a lot of weight.

 

Just today I was in a match where I was fairly sure the opposing team was a lot stronger than my own. Instead of trying to race kills in a likely loss I focused my efforts on the strongest on the enemy team - it led to 1 kill and 7 deaths but also meant people spending their time on me were spending a lot less time attacking the much easier targets and led to a much closer match.

 

There are tricks to netting a pretty kdr and playing it safe is far from a new thing. Like one tactic is to fly in a group and debuff stack a target with remote slicing and the like and hit them with multiple locks so they've got no escape. It may be effective, but relying heavily on group tactics and nerfing your target so hard they can no longer evade is like killing new pilots in a gunship. If you were never under serious threat then those kills aren't particularly meaningful - the whole quality vs quantity type deal.

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Has nothing to do with versatility on each ship. If you can perform well and consistently you can be considered an ace even if it's on a single favorite. Though the Flashfire and similar ships are a bit cheesy so I wouldn't count getting kills in those to be any great accomplishment. I have a video on youtube where I went 20+ to zero. I stopped using them after that.

And if you want something concrete, how about a consistent 7 to 1 kill death ratio in games? 7 kills makes an ace in real life after all.

 

I especially wanted to address this while I have forum access.

 

Flashfire is hardly cheesy these days - before the strike buff they were the dominant force because of their burst damage output and mobility. Now you have to worry about missle locks from multiple players from long ranges and different angles so they're hardly the power house they used to be.

 

It used to be that new pilots in their bone stock strikes basically had paper thin survivability and would explode with just a few hits.

 

FF w/ burst is still pretty decent for sats, but since the protorp took over its not nearly as threatening as it used to be. Even gunships aren't quite as dangerous as they once were - but that's mainly because the ships no longer die so easily and most that fly regularly are at least decently upgraded.

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What's all this about it being difficult or nebulous about how to decide who is an ace? The game TELLS you who is an ace.

 

Go to legacy titles and scroll through, you're checking for:

 

<Space Ace>

 

;)

 

 

I eagerly await the eventual rant thread from new players on how the matchmaker should check for this title.

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What's all this about it being difficult or nebulous about how to decide who is an ace? The game TELLS you who is an ace.

 

Go to legacy titles and scroll through, you're checking for:

 

<Space Ace>

 

;)

 

 

I eagerly await the eventual rant thread from new players on how the matchmaker should check for this title.

 

With the lack of pops, I finally earned my Republic Ace and Imperial Ace from the Space Missions - it only took what 5 years.

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Well, for me - why bother if someone can be called 'Ace' or not? :)

 

Won vs lost matches? Should be different for solo / premade mostly pilot.

K/D ratio? Unfortunately the stats aren't differentiating between domination and TDM matches, in Dom, sometimes tactical selfie or kamikaze attack is needed.

Matches played? Know some people that have 1k+ matches and still are making a newbie errors (myself included :D).

 

Just play and have fun :)

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  • 1 month later...
Well, for me - why bother if someone can be called 'Ace' or not? :)

 

Won vs lost matches? Should be different for solo / premade mostly pilot.

K/D ratio? Unfortunately the stats aren't differentiating between domination and TDM matches, in Dom, sometimes tactical selfie or kamikaze attack is needed.

Matches played? Know some people that have 1k+ matches and still are making a newbie errors (myself included :D).

 

Just play and have fun :)

 

I have approximately 24 thousand matches played.

 

I still make mistakes, and miscalculations.

 

There are no mistake free players.

 

Always something to work on, if you want to improve.

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  • 2 weeks later...
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