Once upon a time...I used to actually play this game a lot and I had a lot more fun with it. This was before kids and working at my current place of employment. Now, I don't get to play much and when I do, I'm usually so tired and beaten down by RL that my ability to loosen up and have fun like I did in the good ole days is somewhat degraded.
I appreciate Gwarlock's comments....they remided me of these times. They come fewer and further between, now. About the last time I can remember having a good time and cracking everyone up on voice comms was during the last weekend of GW1. Since then, when I have been able to play, I'm usually flying alone and not on voicecomms (as dictated by RL constraints). I don't feel as "connected" to my friends in this game as I used to.
I remember a time when Coalition/Klingon voice comms were well known to be the most fun....but I think most of the characters that made that the case have moved on to other things (Squiggy, Sockfoot, myself....and others, of course). I think Klingon chat is a lot more business-like now....not quite a fun as it used to be. This doesn't mean we're quiet...no..it can be tough to get a word in edgewise! heheh...
Some of my favorite wingmen...(most of whom I rarely get to fly with anymore, but I have logged a LOT of time with)
Mog - Comes immediately to mind. We fly well together. I think our styles mesh pretty well and he's always teaching me something. Thatr one server where he (G-CDD) and I (K-D5L) flew together terrorizing the famed Blue Plague in their big ships (our side's econ sucked so bad we couldn't even build BCHs) was a time I'll never forget.
KBF-Standarte - The countless hours we have flown together are some of the most fun I've ever had playing this game. It was great chatting with him in German and since our opponents generally didn't speak it, we could converse openly and the other guy didn't seem to be the wiser...heheh.
Sockfoot - I used to fly with him a great deal. When he came to the Klingon Empire, he told me he didn't really know squat about flying Klingon and would probably be more a liability than a help and he said that if I didn't want to accept him into the ranks of the Klingons, he'd understand. He said he liked how we did things and he wanted to be a part of it. I told him I didn't care how poorly he flew, he was welcome on my wing anytime. I helped him learn the ropes and by the time he stopped playing, I think he was one of our better pilots. He was a good friend and helped my leadership efforts back in the day go even better than that might have. There was no defeating this guy...great spirit.
Squiggy - Squiggy was just a riot to fly with. Always there with a loving t-bomb. Our partnering on the old Red Alert server against some of the jerkiest people I've ever met online was a blast...beating up on poorly piloted F-BBs with droners, no less...good stuff. Sadly, the herculean effort some of us had to put forth during CW6 (and Squiggy was one who did a LOT) killed the game for Squiggy. I think that was pretty much the last we saw of him when he dropped that campaign towards the end. I couldn't blame him at the time...when it was all over, I stopped playing for a little over a month...heheh.
KBF-Gow - As far back as CW3, this guy was a rock. He could put in ther nutter hours and he'd always be flying those small ships (i'm talking the Klingon E-ships) that no one else liked. He was always experimenting. He was an old-school, cantankerous Klingon who advidly disliked most "smurfs." He was murder in an E4D.
KBF-Kor - This guy always felt like a "brother" to me. I was actually happy that, at one time, he was seriously making plans to move to Phoenix. RL hit him pretty hard and those plans were scrapped. It was also about that time that he drifted away from the game, but not before I had accumulated many fond memories of flying with (and
against) him. On RT3, we got to fly a whole bunch together as Syndicate Pirates. Frankly, that fact was the only reason I had anyone fun flying Syndicate at
all (damn, pirate boats suck!). I'll always remember Kor and Gow, the workhorses of the southern Fed front on CW3. I'd always be like, "Well, you guys...I can't promise you any help, but I'm going to need your squadron to not only hold the line, but drive deeper into Fred territory." They had the fewest number of captains on that front but always managed to keep advancing. When I decided to step down from leadership the first time, Kor was my personal choice to succeed me and he did a great job in a fairly thankless position.
Corbomite - I didn't start getting to know Corbomite until Dizzy's SG2 server. We were flying ISC together and I flew a lot with him there and then a lot more on SS2 as we again flew ISC. I guess that's why I think of him as an ISC player, even though I know he flies everything well (haven't seen him fly Klingon yet, though!
). Corbo knows this game as well as anyone and I always felt like I learned something new from him all the time (like the way you can make it so your PPDs
never fail to gain a lock
). I probably aggravated him a lot with my sloppy team flying. I was still trying to get use to flying with him and didn't always feel in synch. However, winging with him was always cool an every co-op PvP I had with him was decided in our favor, I think...well, except one against Chuut where I inexplicably dropped and Corbo lost his cover at a
very bad time...hehe.
Kortez (KOTH. XC) - Kortez is always a blast to fly with. He always has the "best" luck. His luck is so good, you never know what's going to happen next.
I mean...when he drops his Caveat-IIIs, you almost expect them to open up on HIM or YOU, rather than the enemy. Wierd stuff always happens and I've lost track of the number of times we actually go into uphill battles against the AI on SG2 and SS2. Still, there's no mistaking his skill as either a Kzin or an ISC captain. He's a smart guy that always fun to have on voice comms.
Blade_XC - I think I like flying with him about as much as I hate flying against him. It's been ages since I flew Klingon with him, but I got to fly a lot of ISC with him last year and those were good times.
DieHard - For pretty much the same reasons everyone else has mentioned...he's a warrior. I only flew with him on SS2, but it was a very good time and I hope I get the chance to do it again. In the mean time, I'll just have to face off against him, which is always fun, too.
These days, I seem to fly a lot of solo, so I don't get to fly that much with the current crop of my KBF Brothers, but when I do it's always a good time. In the GW series, I've managed to fly a lot with WillWeasel, MuadDib, Lord Krueg and a bit with my old friend WarSears. MadElf is a hoot to fly with, as well. Was it GW1 that we were having the tob-bomb fest and I dropped you down to about 60 or 70% hull with a t-bomb shower in that convoy raid?
That was fun
and funny. I think the first time, you got the better of me because I wasn't expecting it. You cured me of that mistake quickly enough!
Some of my favorite foes (who still play)?
Any of the KOTH and KAT guys...especially Chuut, Matsukasi, Fluf and Gook. It rare that I get to fly
with you guys and I wish that weren't the case. In the absence of that, the battles are always good ones.
In the Fred camp, the guys I like to fly against the most are DH, FatherTed, Capt. Jeff and Hooch. Come to think ot it, it's been a VERY long time since I faced off against ole Jeffy...and almost as long since I had FatherTed in my sights. Maybe I'll get to play some in GW3 and change that.
Of the current crop of Hydrans, I have the best time flying against guys like Max Power, t00l (762_XC), Deadman6 and Dopler. Back in the day, I had soem great matches against JD when he flew Hydran. Now he's a Klingon player and I'm glad of it...heheh.
The Gorn....can't think of a single one of them that isn't as much fun to fly against as they are with. I have some very good memories of matches against S'Cipio, Agave, and Gwarlock and Doc. I've faced Kroma a few times going back as far as IDSL and those have been fun, too. The last time I fought him was me (flying incognito) as a Hydran and him flying Klingon. Fun match. Gwarlock is the biggest hoot, though. They guy is always talking smack..even as he crosses the map boundary in full flight.
As for the races that I usually fly allied with, I can't say I really like fighting against any of them...it never feels right...heheh. However, I had some fun matches vs. Saxon, Krueg and WarSears on SS2...and the SoulHunter's battle vs. MadElf and Nail on RDSL was a blast. I just should have stuck to MadElf's tail and either killed him or run him off. Turning back on Nail was a mistake....grrr...heheh.
Anyway...clearly...I love these threads.