What about a 15-2 in a Rycer with one component changed but no upgrades ?

Does that make him uneligible to the Ace title because of the component swap ? Because of the 2 deaths ?

 

5-0 @ stock ship, isn't enough to judge people.

Actually, trying to judge people with so few numbers and "evidence" won't work very well.

 

Ah, the dreaded low sample size. That's pretty much my entire month of April when covering baseball. XD

 

The kill ratio there's 7.5/1. I don't care about the component swap. I'm even willing to give bonus points for flying a Rycer because of its weird profile (I believe it makes the ship slightly more vulnerable to fire than its Republic counterpart but that's anecdotal).

 

Sounds Ace to me. -bp

I don't care. Everyone understands what an "Ace" is- a top pilot. Anything else is some whining crap added by someone who disapproves of some behaviors and wants to pretend that they aren't good. That's the only reason someone would bother pretending that they have a new definition for "Ace" that is exclusionary based on ANYTHING except skill.

 

 

 

Mastered? Mastered don't mean anything on pilot skill.

 

Now one other thing you hint at here is something that I've seen come up and I'm not really going to throw in on, is "Is a guy an Ace if he's only good at one ship?" I kind of would say yes, but I can see the other side too. More importantly, a guy who spawn camps you doesn't lose his "Ace" status because he's so much better than your team that he's just messing around, and someone who does meanyface things could be great with all the ships.

 

 

This thread is just a few people saying "we should take the word that means "top pilot" in real world and game, and redefine it to mean something different".

 

 

No.

 

 

No none of you get to decide that. Ace had a meaning before these forums opened, and it has nothing to do with being polite.

 

In order:

 

* "Ace" has a different meaning on just about every dogfighting game as well as in meatspace. In meatspace, all you have to do is hit five total kills lifetime. (Of course, there's no respawn in meatspace so the mechanics are quite a bit different.) So... no. It doesn't mean just a "really good pilot". That's what a really good pilot is.

 

* I don't consider one-ship ponies to be Aces any more than I consider one-hit wonders to be legendary bands. The challenge is versatility. I'd call them a specialist, but not an Ace. If this offends you, then it offends you. For what it's worth, I can't play ground PvP at all. We all have limitations. Some of us are just better about accepting and mitigating them than others, I guess.

 

* Politeness aside? There's ZERO skill in farming newbies with a mastered ship (since this seems to be the one hangup you have with the entire thread - yes, spawncampers suck. Deal with it.). Hell, there isn't even much skill in farming newbs with a stock craft, but at least it's a bit more of a challenge.

 

Bottom line?

 

Society defines its peers. You can call yourself whatever you like. If society wants to call you something different, guess what history's going to remember?

 

Not that you care. Personal glory's all that matters, right? At least be honest about it. XD -bp

Society defines its peers. You can call yourself whatever you like. If society wants to call you something different, guess what history's going to remember?

 

Not that you care. Personal glory's all that matters, right? At least be honest about it. XD -bp

 

don't you think you're being a little overdramatic

"history remembers hitler as a horrific monster therefore you are not an ace"

Edited April 21, 2014 by LilSaihah

don't you think you're being a little overdramatic

"history remembers hitler as a horrific monster therefore you are not an ace"

 

...who...brought...that...up...because...uyh...

 

Ohh, never mind. H-bomb's been dropped. Civil discussion is now concluded.

...who...brought...that...up...because...uyh...

 

Ohh, never mind. H-bomb's been dropped. Civil discussion is now concluded.

 

I inadvertently did this in another thread. Forget the name of the law, but seriously, conversations shouldn't end just because some dude was mentioned. Oh well

I inadvertently did this in another thread. Forget the name of the law, but seriously, conversations shouldn't end just because some dude was mentioned. Oh well

 

Godwin's Law.

I dunno about one-ship pilots. They're not very scary outside of their comfort zone for the most part. That's why I don't consider them "true" Aces personally. Suppose the parameters change again and their chosen ship type gets nerfed to the point that they're no longer as effective?

 

At that point, it's the ship doing the work and not the pilot in my view. And that's no Ace. -bp

 

I hear the Red Baron was no ace - he flew an Albatros almost exclusively. When he switched planes near the end of WWI, he was shot down within a year.

I hear the Red Baron was no ace - he flew an Albatros almost exclusively. When he switched planes near the end of WWI, he was shot down within a year.

 

Snoopy was an ace!!!

 

Godwin's Law.

 

Thank you good sir!

Edited April 21, 2014 by SammyGStatus

eh like the thread man really got me thinking (josortorins) I am a republic commando that gsf a lot u probably shot me down a few times lol. I am not giving what I think an ace I or is not cause there a lot better players then me out there that have way more knowledge on this game then me and that's ok with me I like to go up agents aces though and see how I fair. don't know if I loose more then win depend one how many ace there are and how many i got on me at a time. think that if your a good player or an ace you will know it cause most the time some one going to notice you and come after you and tell the team hey watch out for this guy. i run a lot of ships like the new sf with repair and own with the skybolt with blaster overcharge though think that's my best ship don't play it much as i like to try to get good with other ships and of course i get folks on me when i go gunship though i think i am a terrible one i do love ions with the grief factor. so what is an ace? how do you know? well i say play gsf *** much as i do and you will know they guys to watch out for. there a few imps that get on my nerves and frustrate me to no end but hey at the end of the day its a game. i think that aces come and go i see a lot of folks come, and leave gsf (to many gs, bombers and battle, scouts) but to respected by other well i think that should tell you all u need to know. and that's all i am shooting for ace or not some one on the other side going to respect me or they will die from lack of cause shoot me down 30 times i am still gana come and give you my best win or lose i am playing till the counter ends the game over.

This thread reeks of "the definition of a ace is whatever will qualify me as an ace while disqualifying my peers"

This thread reeks of "the definition of a ace is whatever will qualify me as an ace while disqualifying my peers"

 

Every time this discussion comes up this is exactly what the discussion devolves into. Its like a bad dream that won't go away and apparently everyone just wants to keep talking about it.

My definition of an Ace is anyone who can shoot me down twice in a match when I know they're there.

 

In all seriousness, though, I totally disagree with this idea that an ace must be good with multiple ships. Here's my reasoning. A few of the GS pilots on JC can really, REALLY carry a team. Levvix is just one example, but a few others (Jaheesh, Kutsenia... I know I'm missing at least 4-5 other names...) are perfectly capable of doing it. I'm going with Levvix in this one, though, because I know for a fact the GS is the ONLY ship he flies. He can hop into a brand new, naked GS and perform well enough to win games on his own. Either by sheer numbers, or drawing enough heat that the rest of the team has a relatively cake match. And it's stupid to disqualify him by virtue of "he can only fly the one ship!"

 

Here's my major issue with this logic. Playstyle across most of the ships is drastically different. Strikes and Scouts are essentially blood relatives, and if you get good/comfortable in one of them, you can translate a LOT of that knowledge and skill to the other one in a relatively seamless manner. So I guess for scout/strike pilots, theoretically, they've got a huge leg up over their bomber and gunship counterparts in the "Ace Race" because get good at 1, and you can get to be pretty good at the other with minimal commitment. So there's your 2 ship requirement, although in a lot of very real ways, they're very similar ships.

 

But a bomber and a gunship are completely different animals. They're not similar to each other, and they're not similar to anything else in the game. They require a very different skill set, either way. Now I don't disagree that it's somewhat impressive when someone can fly a T1 Strike as well as they fly a GS/Bomber, but I don't think that that alone makes them an ace pilot.

 

And here's the catch. I guess I already would meet the multiple ship requirement because I fly the dogfighting brother ships (strike/scout) almost exclusively, but if you decided that they're too similar to qualify as being separate ships, I'm suddenly not. My skills haven't gone down overnight or anything like that, but some arbitrary requirement set by you (under the guise of the "community") is no longer met. A requirement that has little to do with anything.

 

And my loss of status is likely to stay that way, because...

 

I do not like flying in either a Gunship or a Bomber. I find them both incredibly boring. And as such, I'm not going to hop into the cockpit of either very often. They don't even qualify as the ships I can take out against a team of n00bs because Gunships and Bombers already have a pretty serious stigma attached to them by that crowd. They're already considered the bogeymen of the ship types, so regardless of my terribad flying in either, if the point is to "not rub it in their faces", those ships fail for me not because of my skill, but because of the perception of those ships among the kiddos who have the T1 Strike and T1 Scout as their only options. So while I'm actually trading way down, it's not likely to be perceived that way if we're up 30-5 in a TDM and I swap to a GS and start ion railing enemies to get assists.

 

I take issue when people say that the GS (I can't really comment on the bomber, because I've quite literally flown 2 missions in them) takes no skill. I do believe they've been overpowered in the past (don't think so much anymore, although they can still be quite strong), but having been in the cockpit in at least 30-40 matches with 1, and also seeing how people react when you get the drop on them with a scout/strike... I can tell you there's a HUGE difference between the masses and the people like Levvix or Jaheesh who will make you work HARD for a kill on them. And if you make any mistakes, you're going to lose, even if you get the drop on them.

 

You can tell me that Levvix isn't an Ace because of some arbitrary definition you've concocted of an "Ace" pilot, but anyone who's flown either with him or against him would most likely tell you it's stupid to disqualify him from the discussion because he only flies in a GS. I mean, if it helps you sleep at night to tell yourself he's not an Ace, then by all means. But that won't change his kill counts, his damage amounts, and his utter domination of some matches. If you explode 4-5-6 times having no idea where the shot(s) came from, only that "X was destroyed by Levvix" emote popped up... You can dismiss his performance all you want, but it won't change his domination of the match or his turning of you and your allies into space dust. Someone like that's an ace in my book. Regardless of whether or not they've met some arbitrary binary metric dictated by you. One that only passingly even has relevance to performance.

 

Anyway, that's just my 2¢. I play GSF for the open flight aspect of it. I enjoy winning, and have a competitive streak, but if we're already winning big, I'd rather take a scout and go run the canyons in Kuat, or the asteroid fields/scaffoldings in Shipyards than go pad my numbers on the hapless other side trying to get 30 kills or 3-cap to win 1000-5. I've been there. I've done that. It ends the match more quickly, but I get no satisfaction out of rubbing the other team's nose in it. And I'm sure as hell not going to hop into the cockpit of a GS or Bomber so that I can match that binary criteria, because I don't enjoy flying those ships. There's no zoom-zoom.

 

Anyway, feel free to totally dismiss this argument like you have the others that say it's wrong to have the whole "must be good in multiple ships" criteria as part of the definition (because things.). Levvix will still kill you just as dead. I gather that someone like SammyG would as well.

My definition of an Ace is anyone who can shoot me down twice in a match when I know they're there.

 

In all seriousness, though, I totally disagree with this idea that an ace must be good with multiple ships. Here's my reasoning. A few of the GS pilots on JC can really, REALLY carry a team. Levvix is just one example, but a few others (Jaheesh, Kutsenia... I know I'm missing at least 4-5 other names...) are perfectly capable of doing it. I'm going with Levvix in this one, though, because I know for a fact the GS is the ONLY ship he flies. He can hop into a brand new, naked GS and perform well enough to win games on his own. Either by sheer numbers, or drawing enough heat that the rest of the team has a relatively cake match. And it's stupid to disqualify him by virtue of "he can only fly the one ship!"

 

Here's my major issue with this logic. Playstyle across most of the ships is drastically different. Strikes and Scouts are essentially blood relatives, and if you get good/comfortable in one of them, you can translate a LOT of that knowledge and skill to the other one in a relatively seamless manner. So I guess for scout/strike pilots, theoretically, they've got a huge leg up over their bomber and gunship counterparts in the "Ace Race" because get good at 1, and you can get to be pretty good at the other with minimal commitment. So there's your 2 ship requirement, although in a lot of very real ways, they're very similar ships.

 

But a bomber and a gunship are completely different animals. They're not similar to each other, and they're not similar to anything else in the game. They require a very different skill set, either way. Now I don't disagree that it's somewhat impressive when someone can fly a T1 Strike as well as they fly a GS/Bomber, but I don't think that that alone makes them an ace pilot.

 

And here's the catch. I guess I already would meet the multiple ship requirement because I fly the dogfighting brother ships (strike/scout) almost exclusively, but if you decided that they're too similar to qualify as being separate ships, I'm suddenly not. My skills haven't gone down overnight or anything like that, but some arbitrary requirement set by you (under the guise of the "community") is no longer met. A requirement that has little to do with anything.

 

And my loss of status is likely to stay that way, because...

 

I do not like flying in either a Gunship or a Bomber. I find them both incredibly boring. And as such, I'm not going to hop into the cockpit of either very often. They don't even qualify as the ships I can take out against a team of n00bs because Gunships and Bombers already have a pretty serious stigma attached to them by that crowd. They're already considered the bogeymen of the ship types, so regardless of my terribad flying in either, if the point is to "not rub it in their faces", those ships fail for me not because of my skill, but because of the perception of those ships among the kiddos who have the T1 Strike and T1 Scout as their only options. So while I'm actually trading way down, it's not likely to be perceived that way if we're up 30-5 in a TDM and I swap to a GS and start ion railing enemies to get assists.

 

I take issue when people say that the GS (I can't really comment on the bomber, because I've quite literally flown 2 missions in them) takes no skill. I do believe they've been overpowered in the past (don't think so much anymore, although they can still be quite strong), but having been in the cockpit in at least 30-40 matches with 1, and also seeing how people react when you get the drop on them with a scout/strike... I can tell you there's a HUGE difference between the masses and the people like Levvix or Jaheesh who will make you work HARD for a kill on them. And if you make any mistakes, you're going to lose, even if you get the drop on them.

 

You can tell me that Levvix isn't an Ace because of some arbitrary definition you've concocted of an "Ace" pilot, but anyone who's flown either with him or against him would most likely tell you it's stupid to disqualify him from the discussion because he only flies in a GS. I mean, if it helps you sleep at night to tell yourself he's not an Ace, then by all means. But that won't change his kill counts, his damage amounts, and his utter domination of some matches. If you explode 4-5-6 times having no idea where the shot(s) came from, only that "X was destroyed by Levvix" emote popped up... You can dismiss his performance all you want, but it won't change his domination of the match or his turning of you and your allies into space dust. Someone like that's an ace in my book. Regardless of whether or not they've met some arbitrary binary metric dictated by you. One that only passingly even has relevance to performance.

 

Anyway, that's just my 2¢. I play GSF for the open flight aspect of it. I enjoy winning, and have a competitive streak, but if we're already winning big, I'd rather take a scout and go run the canyons in Kuat, or the asteroid fields/scaffoldings in Shipyards than go pad my numbers on the hapless other side trying to get 30 kills or 3-cap to win 1000-5. I've been there. I've done that. It ends the match more quickly, but I get no satisfaction out of rubbing the other team's nose in it. And I'm sure as hell not going to hop into the cockpit of a GS or Bomber so that I can match that binary criteria, because I don't enjoy flying those ships. There's no zoom-zoom.

 

Anyway, feel free to totally dismiss this argument like you have the others that say it's wrong to have the whole "must be good in multiple ships" criteria as part of the definition (because things.). Levvix will still kill you just as dead. I gather that someone like SammyG would as well.

 

You're an Ace, then. Congrats! -bp

You're an Ace, then. Congrats! -bp

I already knew that, but thanks for noticing (wry smile). I was talking about those like Levvix who are disqualified under the "multiple ships" criteria...

Edited April 22, 2014 by nyghtrunner

So...I just went 12/11/2 and 83k damage in a stock starguard[/url] in a 12v12 round of TDM on Harbinger during primetime. 3 solo kills and longest kill streak was 8. I guess that makes me an ace according to the 5-0 standard. Though to me it just meant I'm an experienced pilot flying with a bunch of two ship newbies. No offence to the newbies.

 

And anyone who doesn't think match making is working should roll a new toon on a busy server like Harbinger. Almost every match I've flown in on my new toon has been against primarily two ship pilots. I'd say matchmaking is working on Harbinger. When I fly my toon with all my mastered ships in a group of similarly outfitted pilots we usually get paired with even or better pilots on the opposite side.

Edited April 23, 2014 by -Streven-

anyone who doesn't think match making is working should roll a new toon on a busy server like Harbinger. Almost every match I've flown in on my new toon has been against primarily two ship pilots. I'd say matchmaking is working on Harbinger. When I fly my toon with all my mastered ships in a group of similarly outfitted pilots we usually get paired with even or better pilots on the opposite side.

 

Define matchmaking 'working'. All you can say for sure is that you've had lucky experiences lately.

 

Now, let me tell you how I know that matchmaking is 'not working'.

 

There are several occasions where I've been matched up in same-faction games (Imp vs Imp, Pub vs Pub). In these situations, even when nobody on either team is in a group, there have been several situations where one team is totally stacked, and one team is not.

 

It makes sense to have uneven matches in Imp vs Pub matches, the game just selects whoever is available most of the time. In same-faction matches, there is no excuse to have lopsided teams (if nobody is in a group). Based on my experiences, it is incredibly clear that there is no algorithm that matches up teams fairly based on some criteria such as time played, total requisition earned, total ships, anything (all of these are tracked for each player, btw).

Edited April 23, 2014 by Kalphitis

Every time this discussion comes up this is exactly what the discussion devolves into. Its like a bad dream that won't go away and apparently everyone just wants to keep talking about it.

 

This begs the question why you were necroing month/s old threads on the topic earlier in the week then...

§A prelude: let me, at first, iterate that my opinion presented hereafter effects GSF, and not piloting of aeroplanes, or, for that matter, any other game, as the former requires entirely different physics, and the latter I am not familiar with. Also, this post is lengthy (626 words), so be warned!

 

Secondly, I wish to state that it is virtually impossible to judge a pilot’s “skill level” given how one’s effectiveness in GSF is more defined by the mastery of one’s ship, rather than any real ability to utilize it, as can be seen in the following two examples:

 

• a stock NovaDrive, no matter how skilled it’s pilot, cannot do anything to a gunship, because of the relative effective range differences, shield/hull strength, and power-per-shot.

• a dronecarrier bomber, especially one flying with raildrones or missiledrones, requires very little skill, and yet deals very significant damage to the opposition due to the computer-operated nature of the railgun and missile sentry drones. In fact, you can set up your bomber killbox, and AFK the rest of the game.

 

§The fundamental difference: As I see it, there is a fundamental difference between a good pilot, and an ace. While a good pilot is a person who knows how to utilize his ship most effectively, and how to exploit many of the game’s wacky physics *cough* Damage Overcharge *cough*, an ace is not necessarily a person with stellar stats, but with great merit as a person.

The difference, as I see it, is like between a good General, and a good person.

 

§A good pilot is:

 

• Someone who can solo another pilot in equally geared ships.

• Someone who can perform competently in:

 

○ a dogfight

○ defence of an objective

○ capture of an objective

○ support of the larger team

 

• someone who does his part in achieving a victory, not just chasing kills in a Domination match, or sitting at the team’s spawn point in a TDM, but actively contributes.

 

§An ace is a person who:

 

• does not have more than 1 premium ship, having earned his ships by flying

• has not spent a single Cartel Coin in furtherance of his GSF effectiveness

• does not farm kills in Domination Matches – if someone has more than 10, then he is not doing what he is supposed to.

• does not farm Damage Overcharge – or any other powerup – in TDM

• has an overall K/D (kill/death) ratio less than 1, meaning that he is willing to put himself in harm’s way rather than maintaining a ‘perfect score’

• on this note, is willing to forego a high kill count to provide support for his team, for instance, softening up targets with a protorp and leaving them to be finished by his teammates rather than focussing on killing the target when there are others capable of doing so.

• does not spawncamp.

• does not kill-steal. Period.

• does not fly an aimbot-equipped bomber in a TDM

• is capable of winning a match through strategy

• is willing to assist other players with questions they might have outside of a match.

• and the usual: does not brag, gloat, demean, and otherwise act as a self-important bigot with illusions of grandeur and entitlement.

 

Most importantly though, I believe an ace is a person who you would:

• not mind sharing a drink/lunch with.

• would like to meet in real life.

• would prefer to fly with over pilots with higher stats.

• would listen to, in terms of orders, without question.

 

 

And finally, a person who, when asked: “Are you an ace?” would answer: “My ego tells me to say ‘yes’, but, honestly, I don’t know, so why don’t you tell me?”

 

Those, I believe, are the traits of an ace, and I look forward to hearing your opinions, either in-game (see alts list below) or here, in this forum.

 

And, keep flying!

I already knew that, but thanks for noticing (wry smile). I was talking about those like Levvix who are disqualified under the "multiple ships" criteria...

 

One-ship ponies are one-ship ponies. If one pilots just one ship type exceptionally well and is markedly poorer in the other types, then it's hard to say the PILOT is the Ace in that scenario.

§A prelude: let me, at first, iterate that my opinion presented hereafter effects GSF, and not piloting of aeroplanes, or, for that matter, any other game, as the former requires entirely different physics, and the latter I am not familiar with. Also, this post is lengthy (626 words), so be warned!

 

Secondly, I wish to state that it is virtually impossible to judge a pilot’s “skill level” given how one’s effectiveness in GSF is more defined by the mastery of one’s ship, rather than any real ability to utilize it, as can be seen in the following two examples:

 

• a stock NovaDrive, no matter how skilled it’s pilot, cannot do anything to a gunship, because of the relative effective range differences, shield/hull strength, and power-per-shot.

• a dronecarrier bomber, especially one flying with raildrones or missiledrones, requires very little skill, and yet deals very significant damage to the opposition due to the computer-operated nature of the railgun and missile sentry drones. In fact, you can set up your bomber killbox, and AFK the rest of the game.

 

§The fundamental difference: As I see it, there is a fundamental difference between a good pilot, and an ace. While a good pilot is a person who knows how to utilize his ship most effectively, and how to exploit many of the game’s wacky physics *cough* Damage Overcharge *cough*, an ace is not necessarily a person with stellar stats, but with great merit as a person.

The difference, as I see it, is like between a good General, and a good person.

 

§A good pilot is:

 

• Someone who can solo another pilot in equally geared ships.

• Someone who can perform competently in:

 

○ a dogfight

○ defence of an objective

○ capture of an objective

○ support of the larger team

 

• someone who does his part in achieving a victory, not just chasing kills in a Domination match, or sitting at the team’s spawn point in a TDM, but actively contributes.

 

§An ace is a person who:

 

• does not have more than 1 premium ship, having earned his ships by flying

• has not spent a single Cartel Coin in furtherance of his GSF effectiveness

• does not farm kills in Domination Matches – if someone has more than 10, then he is not doing what he is supposed to.

• does not farm Damage Overcharge – or any other powerup – in TDM

• has an overall K/D (kill/death) ratio less than 1, meaning that he is willing to put himself in harm’s way rather than maintaining a ‘perfect score’

• on this note, is willing to forego a high kill count to provide support for his team, for instance, softening up targets with a protorp and leaving them to be finished by his teammates rather than focussing on killing the target when there are others capable of doing so.

• does not spawncamp.

• does not kill-steal. Period.

• does not fly an aimbot-equipped bomber in a TDM

• is capable of winning a match through strategy

• is willing to assist other players with questions they might have outside of a match.

• and the usual: does not brag, gloat, demean, and otherwise act as a self-important bigot with illusions of grandeur and entitlement.

 

Most importantly though, I believe an ace is a person who you would:

• not mind sharing a drink/lunch with.

• would like to meet in real life.

• would prefer to fly with over pilots with higher stats.

• would listen to, in terms of orders, without question.

 

 

And finally, a person who, when asked: “Are you an ace?” would answer: “My ego tells me to say ‘yes’, but, honestly, I don’t know, so why don’t you tell me?”

 

Those, I believe, are the traits of an ace, and I look forward to hearing your opinions, either in-game (see alts list below) or here, in this forum.

 

And, keep flying!

 

Howsabout I just hire you to write my next rant? What's your rates?

One-ship ponies are one-ship ponies. If one pilots just one ship type exceptionally well and is markedly poorer in the other types, then it's hard to say the PILOT is the Ace in that scenario.

 

Oh, right, because the ships fly themselves, and aim themselves, etc. And gunships require no skill. And Levvix isn't an Ace because you said so. Got it.

 

Whatever man. We're just not going to agree on this.

I've been trying to ignore this thread, as it's about trying to slice and dice definitions to exclude people a poster doesn't like, but this post takes the cake for accumulated nonsense.

 

• a stock NovaDrive, no matter how skilled it’s pilot, cannot do anything to a gunship, because of the relative effective range differences, shield/hull strength, and power-per-shot.

• a dronecarrier bomber, especially one flying with raildrones or missiledrones, requires very little skill, and yet deals very significant damage to the opposition due to the computer-operated nature of the railgun and missile sentry drones. In fact, you can set up your bomber killbox, and AFK the rest of the game.

 

Both of these are absolutely false and clearly born of inexperience. I've taken a stock T1 scout on a new character and effectively suppressed excellent gunship pilots, occasionally getting a kill on them with rocket pod spam and dying sometimes too. The point isn't the kills or deaths, the point is keeping the gunship from sniping in peace. Any new character can do this with an un-upgraded scout if they know how to not approach the GS head-on, lean on the afterburners, keep power to engines, and hit booster recharge occasionally. As for bomber killboxes, that's written like the worst stereotype of bomber pilots - I go hunting bombers on general principles, just because it's so easy to land missiles on them and because so many bomber pilots AREN'T good pilots and have that false sense of security. You try that in a game with me or anyone like me, you'll get a lot of deaths and not much else.

 

§The fundamental difference: As I see it, there is a fundamental difference between a good pilot, and an ace. While a good pilot is a person who knows how to utilize his ship most effectively, and how to exploit many of the game’s wacky physics *cough* Damage Overcharge *cough*, an ace is not necessarily a person with stellar stats, but with great merit as a person.

 

This right here is the thread's weakness: trying to redefine the terms by which people can earn respect. You, individually, are not allowed to do that, because you don't control who everybody else respects.

 

§An ace is a person who:

• does not have more than 1 premium ship, having earned his ships by flying

 

Bullcrap. Grind does not make an ace. Skill does.

 

• has not spent a single Cartel Coin in furtherance of his GSF effectiveness

 

Bullcrap. Grind does not make an ace. Skill does.

 

• does not farm kills in Domination Matches – if someone has more than 10, then he is not doing what he is supposed to.

 

Bullcrap. I've regularly gotten 15-20 kills defending a sat in a bomber or gunship, and 10-15 kills doing the same in a strike. Sometimes they just keep coming and you have to just keep stopping them.

 

• does not farm Damage Overcharge – or any other powerup – in TDM

 

Bullcrap. The point of TDM is kills. Damage overcharge and powerups in general is the best way to get kills. You're trying to win the match, not dance a hippie dance.

 

• has an overall K/D (kill/death) ratio less than 1, meaning that he is willing to put himself in harm’s way rather than maintaining a ‘perfect score’

 

Bullcrap. This is the craziest thing I have seen in a crazy thread. I'd have to actively try to die, a lot, to make this happen. The other points I can almost sorta see why someone could think them justified; this is written by someone who hardly plays the game.

 

• on this note, is willing to forego a high kill count to provide support for his team, for instance, softening up targets with a protorp and leaving them to be finished by his teammates rather than focussing on killing the target when there are others capable of doing so.

 

Bullcrap. This amounts to giving the enemy spare chances to get away. There's been a multitude of times when I've been in red hull and yet somehow managed escape / outmaneuver my pursuers and continue fighting for another couple of minutes, sometimes regenning my hull back to full or nearly so. If someone is nearly dead, finish them. It's your responsibility to your team.

 

• does not spawncamp.

 

You finally say something I agree with. Stopped clock and all that.

 

• does not kill-steal. Period.

 

And it's back to crazytown. There is no such thing as kill-stealing in GSF. It is a team game. Whoever gets the kill helps their team. Anyone forgoing a kill is voluntarily handicapping their team. That's what you should not be doing, because it's wrong of you.

 

• does not fly an aimbot-equipped bomber in a TDM

 

First, I haven't seen any evidence of actual aimbots in this game; I've gone up against scarily accurate gunships and managed to dodge their shots. Second, I have no idea what you mean by aimbots on bombers. The rail drones? That's again voluntarily handicapping yourself for no good reason. Those things are NECESSARY for the bomber to be able to oppose T2 scouts, and they're not hard to shoot down. I have trouble believing you are seriously suggesting that an entire class of weapon should simply not be used - that smacks, again, of someone who just doesn't have much experience playing the game and doesn't know how to handle certain situations.

 

• is capable of winning a match through strategy

• is willing to assist other players with questions they might have outside of a match.

• and the usual: does not brag, gloat, demean, and otherwise act as a self-important bigot with illusions of grandeur and entitlement.

 

And these last three are vague and non-objectionable enough that there's nothing to say about them.

 

Who you want to fly with and who you respect does not control who everybody else is afraid of and who, when present on a team, can turn the tide of the battle. Friends and aces are not the same thing, and you should not be mangling the English language in this manner. Just come right out and say it: some aces are mean and nasty people. Yes. They are. So what?

 

You may even, with time, discover that some of those mean and nasty people aren't quite as mean and nasty as you thought.

 

Rhodogast / Kelril, The Ebon Hawk

Edited April 23, 2014 by Rollory

This thread reeks of "the definition of a ace is whatever will qualify me as an ace while disqualifying my peers"

 

That does seem to be the case... though I think an earlier poster may be closer to the truth when suggesting that the thread should rather be renamed "How I think GSF pilots should behave", rather than trying to define what "Ace" means (which, as Verain states, already has a meaning).

 

But for my 2 cents, an Ace is anyone that makes me put my game face on when I see them on the other team. Anyone who gets that kind of recognition is worthy of the title.

 

Beyond that, it'd be nice if they were good honourable players who try to improve the gaming atmosphere, but its not necessary. Still, kudos to those players who consistently live up to that standard, as it's not always easy. For example, I'm afraid I've found myself crushing spawn points sometimes. Mind you, that's usually because a Gunship is spawn sniping and needs to be taken out, at which point I'm naturally right on top of the spawn point (of course, that's why the devs give us 3 spawn points, so it is a rather minor concern). But still, being a good sport is something to strive for, at the very least.

 

Nevertheless, all those social niceties are irrelevant: if someone on the other team makes you put your game face on, he's an ace in my book. Adolf Galland was a complete egotistical jerk who got wingmen killed to inflate his kill score, but he was still a bloody Ace by any real standard.

 

Thank you.

 

Itkovian

Edited April 23, 2014 by Itkovian

This begs the question why you were necroing month/s old threads on the topic earlier in the week then...

 

I thought my point was kind of obvious.

That does seem to be the case... though I think an earlier poster may be closer to the truth when suggesting that the thread should rather be renamed "How I think GSF pilots should behave", rather than trying to define what "Ace" means (which, as Verain states, already has a meaning).

Actually I think that was one of my comments as well.

 

Personally I think an ace should be defined as anyone who has a 5 or above K/D in their battlerecord.

Why? Because its something that is measurable by everyone, it is also something that is achievable by every ship while still being beyond the capabilities of the average pilot.

 

None of this wishy-washy, "well if you are <insert non-measurable and highly-subjective stat>" bullcrap.