Aces High Etiquette
by Hammer

Aces High has its own unique set of rules and etiquette by which the players live and fight. Not all would agree on what constitutes these rules, but I will try to give you an overview of what some of them are.

TAKING OFF/GREETINGS: Whenever you take off, you should announce on channel 2 (country channel) where you are upping from, what plane you are in, and maybe where you are going. Example: "up (or ^) A51 otw A54 fiter". This lets everybody know what is in the sector or if help is on the way. This seems kind of nice, but it also serves a useful purpose in that it lets everyone know who is in the area and assists players in their situation awareness (SA). It will help you get together with a wingman if you want to, and let you know that there are people in the arena you can call on.

CALLING BINGO: When you run out of fuel or ammo, you should call Bingo Ammo or Bingo Fuel on Range Vox to let people in your area know you are out of the fight. This is necessary so someone won't be counting on you to enter the fray when you are really trying to leave. If a countryman calls bingo on channel 2, try to protect him until he is safely away from the fight.

PORKING AIRFIELDS: One of the great debates of Aces High! Porking an airfield means bombing it for no reason other than keeping fighters from taking off (or making them less effective if they do take off!). Sometimes this is necessary if you are trying to capture a nearby base, and sometimes it is not. If you are facing overwhelming numbers, or trying to capture a base, then porking is not a problem. If the numbers are even, and a good fighter battle is going on between 2 close bases, you will piss off a lot of people (maybe even from your own side) if you pork one of the bases.

“FIGHTER-TOWN” and “TANK-TOWN”: Another topic which gets people heated up. Some maps have a ring of either airfields or vehicle bases, one from each country, in the middle of the map surrounded by high mountains. These bases are referred to as either Fighter-Town (airbases) or Tank-Town (vehicle bases). These bases, like all bases on the map, are capturable and can contribute to the overall count of bases needed to “win” the war. Having said that, it is important to note these bases are not needed to win the war. The debate arises from the question of whether or not it is alright to bomb and/or capture the bases in Fighter-Town or Tank-Town. We could devote pages to the discussion but the bottom line is leave fighter-town for fighters and tank-town for tanks. Don’t bomb / capture / pork / vultch in those locations. You will find your own countrymen helping the enemy kill you.

VULCHING: Vulching is the act of killing someone as they are taking off or just after they take off. Some people (usually the ones who die over and over) will complain about vulching. Most people feel that if they are silly enough to try and take off from an airfield that is covered by enemy, they deserve to die!

ALT MONKEY: An alt monkey is the guy who climbs to 25 or 30 k when all the engagements are at 5k. He comes screaming into the furball at 1000 mph, kills someone, and is gone before anyone even knows he is there. The people who complain about this are the people who are low!!! Altitude is life, and you can't blame a guy (or gal) for grabbin all they can before they engage. Use good situation awareness, learn how to deal with them, and you can live through an alt monkey's attack. The down side of the alt-monkeys are that it gets taken to extremes and soon, everybody is flying at 25k or higher. I prefer to stay lower and let them come down to me.

TAUNTING: A lot of traffic goes on on channel 200. People calling "Run Mustang Run" when a P51 heads away from their 2 Spitfires. They are trying to taunt the 51 into engaging them at their game, the turn-fight. The 51 should be keeping his speed advantage and playing his own game, which is energy fighting. Don't let this taunting bother you in the least. If you choose to get involved in it, keep it fun. If someone is getting abusive, don't fall for the bait. Silence will frustrate them more than anything you can say!

CALLING ENEMY: If you see an enemy on radar or as a dot in the sky, type out a message on channel 2 (country) or 3 ("room" or local) letting everyone know what you see, where it is, and how high. This is vital to other player's situation awareness. Example: Bish 109 SW A53 15k. What did I just say? I told everybody from my country that there is a Bishop Bf 109 southwest of airfield A53 at an alt of 15k.You can also give map coordinates, which is discussed in "Understanding the Map and Radar". If you are close enough to see enemy diving on friendlies, give a call on the vox range channel. Don't always count on other people doing this, though. They may be too busy, not see the enemy, or not even know how. Your own situation awareness is your best defense.

GANG-BANGING: Alright, everybody that got excited by this topic should leave the room! Gang banging refers to 1 poor schlep being jumped by 3, 4, 5 or more enemy. Ya, a lot of it is the schlep's fault for flying into the situation, but anything over 2 to 1 should be overkill. Nobody will usually complain too loud about 3 to 1, but 4 or 5 to one is way too many. If you see your fellow countrymen gang-banging a bad guy, stay out of it. You probably won't get the kill, and will blow your altitude going down to join the fight. Chances are the enemy will be dead by the time you get there!

ARMCHAIR GENERALS: Often, someone in the arena will decide that they are in charge. I'm not talking about the normal "need help at A55". I'm talking about the guys who, if they were alive in WWII, would have (in their own humble opinion) made Patton look like a military idiot. They start sending messages over the radio such as "ALL KNIGHTS COME TO A54 NOW!!" If they don't get a response, they will send "WE ARE GOING TO LOSE A54 IF KNIGHTS DON'T COME HERE NOW", then "KNIGHTS DON'T KNOW HOW TO WORK TOGETHER" then "WHINE, NOBODY LISTENS TO ME, WHAA!!" Don't worry about whether or not someone else's agenda fits with what you want to do in the arena. You are there to have fun!

SHOOTING PARACHUTES: There is quite a bit of debate on whether or not it is "honorable" to shoot someone who bails. Personally, I think it is a waste of ammo since someone got the kill when the guy bailed. There is one exception that I apply. If I spend a lot of time chasing a guy down, or grabbing alt to get a high buff, and he bails before he has even been pinged, I might shoot the parachute. This is not the same as shooting paratroopers. If they have been dropped over your airfield, shoot them!

HEAD-ON SHOTS: A "head-on" is a shot when you are nose to nose with the enemy. It is considered bad form and the mark of a dweeb to take a head-on shot, especially on the merge but many people take them anyway. I guess the best line of reasoning I have heard on this is "It takes two to head-on"! For me personally, and for many others, it isn't much of a game if everybody goes straight at each other with guns blazing and whoever got the best roll of the dice from the computer (as far as hits, misses, and damage caused) wins. Do your best to avoid having to receive or give head-on shots.

KILL STEALING: In Aces High, a damaged plane can spin helplessly to the ground after having its wing shot off in a good fight. The victor of this fight, assuming he is any good, is probably already looking for the next fight, and maybe even anticipating seeing who he killed. A kill stealer is someone who chases the tumbling, burning wreckage that was once a plane down to the ground, pumping it full of bullets, and gets a kill because he gets more hits into it before it hits the ground. This is the mark of a true dweeb who cares only for his score, not whether he is any good or not. While accidents do happen, don't shoot into planes that are already going down.

"CHECK 6" CALLS: The "Check 6" call is a valuable tool for helping your countrymen. Even those who don't speak English understand what it means when a "Check 6" comes to them. If you see a bogie on someone's tail, give them a "Check 6" and then follow it up with a call on the range radio. Don't use the other guy for bait by not giving him a "Check 6"! Don't count on receiving a "check 6" every time there's a bandit on your tail, though. As you will find out, it is sometimes difficult to get the correct plane selected in time if there are lots of friendlies around. By the time someone gets you selected, you may already be dead.

FAKE "CHECK 6" CALLS: It seems that some people want a kill so badly that they will send a "Check 6" call to someone who is on a bogie that they want to get to. Their hope is that the person about to get the kill will pull off the bogie, allowing them to move in and get a kill that someone else set up. If this is the only way someone can get a kill, they need to go somewhere else. The "Check 6" call is a valuable tool. Abusing it lessens its values as people start ignoring it. If you accidentally "Check 6" someone, send them an apology. If you suspect someone of using the "Check 6" to clear you off a bandit, call them on it.