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The Stalker prefers to use aircraft with speed and BIG guns, like the FW190. They tend to have pretty high kill per sortie ratios, and land a good percentage of their hops. To be a successful Stalker, you need patience, since your prey may evade several passes before you nail them. Turning to stay with the prey is out of the question for a true Stalker, even if that means that his ally will be shot down before he can patiently set up another pass. Once all his allies or other distractions have been killed off, he'll just fly away and look for a more promising set up. Stalkers tend to fly alone, but have been known to join packs. Stalkers will teach you situational awareness the hard way. Speaking of packs, the FLOCKER tends to only fly in a group. They depend on the group not just for protection, but for their very identity. A true Flocker will check for his flockmates when logging on, and will wait in the Officer's Club until their numbers are sufficient to attempt flight. They will take off from the same field and travel together to make a concerted attack on an enemy field or any enemy planes unfortunate enough to be between them and their goal. Often among the flock there is org . . . organ . . . orga . . . umm, structure, yeah, structure! (As a Musketeer, I have a lot of trouble with the 'o' word). They will have Generals, Colonels, Wingleaders, Flightleaders, Sergeants, Waiters, Waitresses, and all sorts of ranks and things. They have special macros that apparently take the place of secret handshakes and such. Oddly enough, Flockers don't actually land a lot of their hops. As they get shot down they tend to wait for others to get shot down too so they can form another flock before taking off again. This leaves the surviving Flockers with a smaller and smaller flock, allowing enemies to gain numerical superiority and destroy the remaining flock. Some flocks are truly great fun to fly against and add a lot of excitement to the game. The VULCHER is a variation on the Stalker, but is a lot less patient. Once a flock has been decimated far from home, and they attempt to take off again, they may find the Vulcher lurking about their home field. The Vulcher will knock out the ack and then pick off helpless planes trying to get off the ground. A flock is a Vulcher's dream come true, since he can just keep looping around and racking up a score for that mission that is higher than his top altitude. Vulchers don't tend to land a high percentage of their hops, since eventually someone comes up from another field, or in a flak panzer and shoots him down. Vulchers provide an education. They teach patience. The DESTROYER comes to mind when ground vehicles are mentioned, as they like to drive tanks over to an enemy field and destroy it beyond use. Sometimes they just sit and vulch planes from the ground as they try to take off, but mostly they are in it for the joy of annoying as many people as possible. Patience is again important to be a Destroyer, since driving a tank to even a 'nearby' field is going to take time. Destroyers almost never make it back to their base, and either get killed or end their hop at the enemy field. They provide good sport for dive-bombers to find and kill, preferably right before they get to their target after a long drive. When discussing damage to fields, you can't help but consider the PORKER. The Porker will fly rather than drive to his targeted field, but his ambition is the same. He wants to blow up stuff and cripple or kill enemy fields. For some it is simply the joy of destruction and basking in the glow of fiery epithets, while others do it in order to give their side an advantage over their enemies. Porkers tend to fly either true bombers, or use Mustangs so they can drop their bombs and get away fast. For all non-Porkers, the result is simply that they have to fly farther to find a fight. Some Porkers fly alone, while others band together in Porker flocks. Some Porkers go in, drop their bombs, and then bail out or ditch to avoid giving anyone the satisfaction of shooting them. This apparently gives them joy. Shooting them down before they can drop their eggs provides great joy to everyone else, so they certainly serve a purpose. POINTERS are scoreboard fanatics. They will spend twenty-six hours a day trying to garner more points than anyone else so they can claim fame as the top fighter or bomber pilot for the campaign period. Generally gaining position via points is a matter of time spent, rather than actual talent, although that much flying time does tend to improve one's skill. A careful and patient Stalker will keep more kill points per sortie, but unless they are willing to spend every waking hour online, the Pointer will place higher on the scoreboard and revel in their glory for their entire fifteen minutes of fame. RATIO pilots watch their scores carefully as well, but ignore the totals or position on the boards. They want kills per sortie or kills per death ratios higher than 1:1. A careful Stalker type can get a 6:1 kill per death ratio, while a Vulcher can rack up a 6:1 kill per sortie score if conditions are right. Another variation of the Per-Ratio pilot is the landing percentage flyer, who wants to land more than he is shot down or crashes. In the hostile skies of AirWarrior, landing more than half of your missions is a feat in itself. Watch those who do any of these things consistently, and you'll see that there is a situational awareness and skill factor involved. If you can do all three types well, you are ready to leave the monastery, grasshopper. The SPORT is AirWarrior's Knight of the Air, and will fly around looking for a 'fair' fight. They will generally refrain from vulching, or gang-banging, and will ask permission before engaging. They also, unfortunately, tend to insist everyone else do the same. This is where the Sport finds his biggest frustration, as anyone who has read this far can see there are plenty of despicable characters flying around looking for a sucker to shoot down. In times of low numbers, sports are good to have around. A variation on the Sport is the PSUEDO-SPORT, who insists that others provide him with a fair fight, yet can be found occasionally vulching, stalking, taunting, gang-banging, and even spinfighting. These don't care for having this pointed out, either. Speaking of SPINFITERS, there is a breed of AirWarrior that relies on such tactics to gain their kills. They practice spinning their planes to evade enemies and put themselves in firing position. Other pilots complain that Spinfiters are 'cheating' by using flaws in the game's flight model to their advantage, but Spinfiters respond by telling them they can learn to do the same if they want a 'fair' fight. As annoying as some find them, spinfiters probably spend a LOT of time learning their craft, and provide great satisfaction when you shoot one down. The VIRTUAL KAMIKAZE flies into combat without a thought of landing. They have pretty high kill ratios, but they rarely - if ever - land. They just take off, find a fight, and shoot till they run out of ammo, gas, or luck. Then they just assume subzero altitude and get a fresh plane to do it all over again. This flying style is for folks in a hurry, like those paying hourly fees to play. These folks are usually a lot of fun to be around, and often demonstrate some excellent maneuvers. The HISTORIANS are those who try to simulate actual combat from WWII. They fly with full art, and disdain using radar. They are happiest in scenarios, but often complain about planes that don't fly just like the real ones, or about pilots who don't fly like the real ones. They also provide some cultural enrichment for those who, through the game, have become interested in what the men and women endured and achieved so many years ago. The ALLOUTWARRIOR is the type that will do whatever it takes to get what they want. They will spin on purpose to achieve position, lure enemies into their ack or waiting stalkers, damage fields just enough to lure impatient pilots up from them in poorly performing planes, or anything else they can think of to win. In many ways, this is exactly what the real fighter pilots did. After all, it wasn't just a game to them. Winning meant living to fly again. Then, there's me. I'm a little of all these types. I've been known to let an enemy fly away when they run out of ammo. I've been known to mercilessly vulch. I've stalked and landed. I have dived into hopeless odds for the thrill of it. I've taken off from impossibly capped fields to try to shoot the vulchers. I've whined with the best of dweebs, and congratulated those who've felled me. I fly alone when I must, but wing with my squaddies when they're up. Mostly, I just try to have some fun. cya up!
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