It's not an exploit, although FD might 'rebalance' (nerf) the values to get the new multiple option reward system working the way they initially intended.
Congratulations on the promotion! I'm glad you're still enjoying the game and hopefully the unlocks that come with that Fed rank will help you add the ships you want to your fleet.
On why some people feel aggrieved? I think it's a sign of the times. A lot of people, especially wealthy, well educated, very middle class ones, seem to have a terrific sense of entitlement these days. They assume that their world view is the only possible 'correct' one and take a very dim view of wrongthink. In this game setting of ours the exploits they used were totally legitimate, because reasons, but anything that deviates from their one true and righteous path to glory is just low down cheating and needs nerfed yesterday!
Personally I couldn't care less if every player in the game had an Anaconda and ten billion in the bank. If they're enjoying themselves and a reasonable number of them buy enough stuff from the store to make FD think it's worth keeping the servers up and the developers working on new content, I'd be delighted with the situation.
Adhock me old- who took the jam from your doughnut, mate?
You seem very grumpy about this whole thing...Firstly, the OP stated he(or she) was here from the start and notes that rank was difficult to grind out. That point was addressed before you replied. No-one mentioned credits or gold rushes- maybe the OP agrees with you on that; OJ's at a billion and a half after over three years, not the sort of tally a gold miner has lying around. I don't know if you realise you're doing it, but you're strawmanning pretty hard there.
Onto the Zero. Sorry mate, I know this is a sci-fi board, but I'm not letting that go.
The little Mitsubishi was nowhere near as capable as you're painting it. Wikipedia is full of crud like '12 to 1 kill ratio', but if you put all those ratios together you'd need more planes than were in the conflict to balance the books. Nine Zeros were shot down over Pearl Harbour, one by a pilot still in his pyjamas with a defective MG! No special tactics required, even the P-36 could knock down Zeros, on the first day of the war!
Most Allied aircraft could out dive it, many could out turn it at fighting speeds. It used fabric ailerons, meaning that contemporary Allied fighters like P-40s, Spitfires/Seafires, Wildcats, Hellcats, P51s and even P-47s could out turn it above 200mph. At lower speeds it was very agile, thanks to it's low weight and sleek aerodynamics, but few dogfights ever got that far in the real world. We hang around a lot longer in our modern flight sims than young men fighting for their lives ever did- or should have.
The manoeuvre you're describing (I think) is the 'Thatch Weave'. It was a defensive measure that relied on the Wildcat's superior roll and more powerful engine. Useful if you get bounced, but it was a measured response to an attack, not some 'I win' button American pilots could push. It didn't make the Zero helpless, it gave the Grumman pilots a better chance to survive an attack. It's worth noting that slower rolling Allied aircraft had to come up with different moves- Spitfires tended to dive away, P-40s became adept at the high Yo-Yo, for example.
The myth of the Zero was useful for the Allies propaganda to fall back on- a super plane employed by the enemy is a lot easier for the public to accept than realising that supposedly well trained and led forces were hopelessly unprepared for actually fighting a war. 1942 was a complete shambles all over the Pacific on the Allied side, but it wasn't down to one rather good 'plane employed by the Japanese, any more than the utter pummelling the Japanese took afterwards was down to any one factor or aircraft on the Allied side. Newer aircraft made the Japanese kit obsolete, better training countered the ever shrinking pool of experienced Japanese pilots, Allied logistics were slick and efficient, where Japanese outposts were struck down with appalling shortages and suffered terribly from tropical diseases that they lacked the medicines or facilities to treat.
None of which has anything much to do with Elite Dangerous. I've yet to see anyone, in video, or in game, practice anything I recognise as a Basic Fighter Manouevre. We just roll into a vertical turn and gun down bots, or flip around Starbuck style and shoot backwards. There's not much scope for WW2 style flying or mutual support from your mates. Il 2 or DCS is where that's at!
I take your point mate- a gradual progression makes you a better pilot. Well done you. But the OP was about earning federal rank- your rant missed the mark entirely!
