I watched deathstar earned legitimately by another. I earned ace of spades a long ways back as well. It does not take a disconnect match, nor does it take a coordinated sync drop, or drop against your own clan/group. More often it is really a matter of actual serendipity, making it to the right places at the right time, joining fights in progress where your teammates are in life or death fights with the enemy, holding focus while you can see the opportunities, the open CT, the 6 cored enemy mechs back to back but ready to focus fire any comer, except your light mech high above with an artillery strike... things like that.
My memory of my buddy's deathstar would not be complete without mentioning he and I were in spider 5d's, ecming with 2 er large. We scouted, popped uavs over targets in open ground and expected mediocre scores as our teams lrms went to work. The lrms seemed to be scoring damage, opening a few fatties that my bud and I sawed apart with laser fire. He secured both, while our other light kept spotting and narcing enemies who were heavies, allowing nice holes to appear in their armor too. Unfortunately the enemy lights found a few of our fatties and made mincemeat of them, but were legged and/or cored in the process. Our heavies and mediums were trading with their heavies and mediums and they all were getting very hurt, our guys .
Since our assaults had unfortunately been a lot of our LRM platform, their loss to those lights meant no more lrm suppression, which was unfortunate because the enemy mediums, heavies and an assault were now deathballing and looking to roll through our team, who in turn were trying to counter flank around a mountainous formation and catch the tail of the death ball. Several times thevdeathball was in open terrain where lrms could have scattered them and taken a toll but since our assaults had been LRM... meh.
As spiders we were now giving ECM cover to our team and bemoaning that everyone of the enemy was hurt, but no one could get any more than glancing laser burns on them... also that our lone remaining assault, an atlas -k (?) was packing a gauss, an xl and streaks, not able to use any of it effectively. With Nascar continuing, our atlas -k decided to root, turn around and commit suicide by meeting the deathball. The rest of our group coninued to chase, but my buddy and I cut across center and found ourselves directly above the deathball as they rounded on the suicide atlas. I dropped arty behind them, legging a few and opening rear armor - no kills though. Responding to action behind them, the enemy deathball wheeled around and delayed long enough for our own beatup mediums and heavies to catch up, running right into enemy fire. The suicide atlas, realizing he was still alive pushed his luck and rushed the backs of the enemy who were wrecking our teamates. We two spiders were pecking at backs, dropping two then three of them from above, but all the heavies and mediums on our team fell to an enemy artillery strike and they turned around to see what killed three of them, seeing the charging atlas-k, rather than the ecm spiders above. Melting Atlas-k.
Meanwhile, the partially legged light trio of the enemy had got our narcer, our remaining light who refused to coordinate with us. My buddy dropped down around behind the remains of the enemy ball and dropped his own arty, killing three more as they were finishing off the suicide atlas. I think that just left legged lights and a stormcrow who were now up in the rock formation this all had been going on around. So we drew away under cover to play a range game, finishing legged lights and the stormcrow who kept trying to close for streak kills. I never got a kill, in part because my buddy was chain firing while I had both my Er Large in same arm on same weapon group. Most all his kills were sawing legs off legged mechs or hitting things with his arty strike. A few were also just the usual backshot from when the enemy doesnt know you are above and exposes open back panel when twisting away from fire that is threatening him from expected directions.
I got 11 assist that game, believe that I failed to get any damage on one of the legged lights before he took the other leg. Obviously, no kills. While I have had games I shined in a light, I never yet have beat 9 kills in a match and I doubt I ever will, I am an aging mech warrior and my strengths lie in other chassis ... still, it can happen in the darnedest of times, like when you come in fresh to a vicious brawl, unexpected - or in the aftermath of a particularly well placed arty strike. Even the ammo explosion furies can play a role, as they did one day when I was mastering the spider K, managing 6k, 4 assist. All the kills were opened heavies and assaults, using mg on red legs and side torsos until glorious ammo explosion cascades ensued.
Edited by Mad Porthos, 09 October 2015 - 07:32 PM.