Inigo Montoya

Arlene Machiavelli has never played a custom mission. So actually A. Machiavelli has the highest kills per mission.

You can speak with Brian about this. It is true I complained about the custom missions providing too much experience. I was worried it would throw off the delicate experience balance established in the game thus far if people could get 300 experience/mission max instead of 150. Brian wrote me back that the custom missions had been adjusted to only provide 1/2 the experience. I created a pilot, Customs Only, to test the best possible experience per mission I could get with the 1/2 experience penalty. I saw that I could achieve 300 experience per mission and I wrote to Brian that it needed to be adjusted even more. He wrote back that it will be adjusted, but hasn't been given the 1/2 penalty yet. Since I hadn't played any prior custom missions I didn't know that. When I realized that I had been getting full experience, I immediately asked Brian to lower Custom Only's experience by half. I will email you copies of my correspondence with Brian verifying all this. You paint a picture of me as a person abusing the custom mission experience problem. I see myself as a person who identified the problem, then tried to verify it was fixed. When I found out I was contributing to the problem, I asked that my pilot be penalized.

I guess we have a fundamental disagreement about what is considered the greater achievement. You are interested in being first, and I respect that. I'm interested in being the best. Let's say you were the first person to run a 5 minute mile. That's a great accomplishment. If later I run a 3 minute mile, I feel that's even more impressive. Sure, there are other people who may have had all 18 leaderboard records in the distant past. But I accomplished that feat when it was the most difficult and now I'm not sure it will ever be repeated. If it *is* repeated, that person deserves all our proper respect! It seems capturing all 18 leaderboard records will require an order of magnitude more effort than getting 2000 kills or 100 highest medals. If I were to set the hardest goals for myself they would be to bust my 801 kills/damages in one month record, or to break my all 18 leaderboard simultaneously record. Trying to best those two records would really require planning and dedication, much more so than 1000 kills or 100 medals, don't you think?

All your accomplishments are amazing, Sixx. I treasure my ultimate achievement of simultaneously holding all 18 leaderboard records. http://www.battlefront.com/cgi-bin/bbs/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=35;t=000622 I'm not sure it will ever be repeated.

The brilliant folks who developed this game are way ahead of you, my friend. The leaderboard can already be sorted by living vs dead pilots.

What is this about flying intercept missions? I thought you could only fly intercept missions in solo (nononline) play.

You are much more normal than I am! But is normal all that sexy?

Just to post obsessively on this topic: 1) I'd be open to losing experience or a skill too. 2) Even though I proposed the gentlemen's agreement with Paul, note that Black Mamba has survived as long as she has because she has never fought a human opponent. Sixx was after me forever to do it, but I'm too cautious. Since I've never been in a human vs human match, there was no "gaming" of the system to avoid death. I had to sweat bullets everytime I was flying without my ED. I will only do dogfights when I've lost my ED and my goal in those missions isn't to shoot anyone down - it's to survive and hope I get the 20% respawn for my ED. To verify I've never fought a human with Black Mamba, you can sort the games by AI or human. 8 ) 3) Brian was exactly right when he said in order to achieve the longevity of a pilot like Black Mamba (whose current experience is 70,000+ and is worth over 1000 points just as a pilot), you have to fly in such a way that it detracts from the fun. The leaderboard represents the most conservative/cautious player instead of the most courageous player.

Oh, and I'm game for restarting the ladder with the expansion. I hope to get to 2000 kills first though! 8 )

I'm totally in favor of that system! I think I would quit the game if I lost Black Mamba. How about just giving 100 fatigue or something like that? 8 )

Paul, There is a very simple solution for you and your son to continue enjoying the game. Did you know you have a 20% chance of respawning an Escape Death for every mission you survive? You and your son could have a gentlemen's agreement to fly against one another, but not shoot each other down, until you both have respawned your ED's. Then the gloves come off again! I hope this helps! 8 ) -Inigo, a.k.a. "The Bride"

LOL! Hey, Sixx - read my signature lines. I would have picked Inigo Montoya for my player name, but it was too many letters. Thus, I settled for The Bride. But I don't think I'm an upstart - I really do think I'll be the first person to break the 2000 record for kills and 1000 for missions.

Challenge accepted!

Challenge accepted!

Just to weigh in that I do Sam's method of no cards at all and saving XP to buy Quick Reflexes, then Redline, then Marksman, then Power Dive. Once I have Power Dive (saving to High Peformance), I start purchasing cards just as Stalin's O does (only my limit is 12 instead of 16 for my leader). I always get an Ace at this point too. Important caveat to the above, if I have lost my Escape Death, I play *ultra* conservatively. What I do is select 1v1 dogfight and start at Very High altitude. Even if I'm saving for expensive skills and haven't officially started buying cards, I get Ace Pilot and 2 Draw Extras and 2 Redraws. On my first turn I discard damage cards and draw hoping for defensive cards. I don't worry at all about trying to kill - all I want to do is live because you get a 20% chance of respawning your ED if you simply survive. More importantly, if you live you don't have a chance to permanently die. The Germans are very hard to level in that middle area. I remember it well. There's a time when you are facing hurricane II's or worse and all you have is the cruddy Karl. But once you are in the Fw-190 life couldn't be sweeter. It's all about delayed gratification!

If you have McAfee software, I had similar problems which were eventually corrected. Good luck and don't lose hope!

Hi Cyrano! The answer to your first question is "Yes." The number was erroneously kept at a 3 after the switch to the new damage system (with bursts and + to damage). Note that right now (pre-expansion) the Spitfire XIV used to be the only plane with turbo, + 1 to damage, AND a wingman offense of 3. It was overpowered. The error has been corrected. To answer your follow up question, note that the Spitfire XIV has a +1 damage rating and the P51D does not. Now as to the Bf-109G, the difference is turbo. None of the turbo planes has a wingman offense of more than 2 (pre-expansion). To make use of your turbo, fight at altitudes. A wingman offense of 3 and turbo was just too wicked a combo at very high altitude. Just wait for the expansion! You'll have multiple choices of planes that fly even better than the prenerfed Spit XIV. Inigo, a.k.a. The Bride [ July 25, 2006, 06:03 PM: Message edited by: Inigo Montoya ]

It's true. One of the best moments in my DiF experience was that Sunday night when you and I were neck in neck for the week. You finished an escort mission for 4 kills and right after I finished a dogfight with only 2 kills. You won for the week and I remember thinking - What a great game that after 7 days of play it came down to a photo finish! I can't wait for the expansion and for you to start playing again, Sixx. Some people were complimenting me for the All-Time records, but I told them that you have a 100% undefeated record against me in 1v1 play. You are the master!

Bumped so Sturmer could read.

The Bride currently holds all 18 of the Leader Board records! [ July 10, 2006, 11:58 AM: Message edited by: Inigo Montoya ]

You guys rock, Dan and Brian!!!

Yeah, Misty - I agree. If you are gonna spend 100 points for this skill, it needs to be worth more than just have a small chance of starting advantaged.

Welcome back, Mistura! Note that the stat for kills/mission is now a minimum of 15 missions rather than 3. You were always the master of that record.

Does everyone agree that this skill sucks for the cost? You pay a base rate of 100 for the chance (10%?) that you will start advantaged if it just so happens an opposing plane starts off at the same altitude you do. I don't think this skill is very cost effective and I'd bet it's rarely purchased. Does anyone use Eagle Eyes right now or think it's worth it? I propose Eagle Eyes be changed to function more like an expendable card. You would purchase an Eagle Eyes card for say 20 experience and get a 10% chance of starting advantaged if opponents were at the same altitude. For each 20 you spent, you could increase the chance by 10%. However, after the battle you have to repurchase Eagle Eyes because it would have been expended in the battle (like purchasing an Ace Pilot card). One problem with my proposal is all the poor souls who have paid the high cost for Eagle Eyes so far. Is there anyone who has paid the high cost for Eagle Eyes and wants to see it remain as is? If my new system were adopted, perhaps all the "old" Eagle Eyes could be converted to Eagle Eyes x 5 (100/20 =5) so at least for one battle people got some prior benefit from their expensive prior purchase of Eagle Eyes. Thoughts? -Inigo, a.k.a. The Bride

Check out this thread for an introduction: http://www.battlefront.com/discuss/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=35;t=000602 If the British couldn't fly vs the Japanese in 1939 then you could only fight the Germans (pretty boring). Welcome to DiF!!!