This is a very interesting thread. I am a late entry into the SINS community, but have no problems getting into Skilled games. Its true that many skilled games get killed by the one noob. Its very frustrating to play with people who don't understand the mechanics of the game and want to play "SIM CITY'. (sidenote) Agent of Karma sounds like someone who refuses to learn from playing, I don't understand that mentality myself but as some of the posted there is a counter for everything, learn it, watch some replays, build your own stategys to defeat spam and then laugh in the faces of the spammers. Period.)
As for the issues of not having enough game time logged to get into skilled games or PUG games, the answere is so simple. You can make any record you want by simply hosting games with ONLY one comp, on your team. INSTANT WIN! LOL or one comp on the other team and SURRENDER. I know, I know. There are people who think, "THATS CHEATING" but I say no, you can build a record that reflects your skill and start from there. ITs UNFORTUNATE BUT TRUE that a good record will keep you in a lobby over a low record.
I say to all the complaints, what else is there than spam. Just because a ship is in the game doesnt mean you need to use it every game or even at all. There are some ships that are useless in my eyes, unless someone builds their own useless ships, and then they force you to build your own."SPam" is just building a non diverse fleet......
Personally my fleets consist of the same units always, Fleet 1 - Capital ships, Fleet 2 - Lrm, Fleet 3 - carriers/flak if needed, FLeet 4 - Guardians Fleets 3 and 4 are interchangable. Micro Management is a must. If you have lots of LRM, focus on Capital ships, if you see large feets of LRM's incoming, keep your own Capital ships back. Use your fighters like units, you can tell them to stay local or hold ground, a large ball of fighters holding ground near a mass of LRM will dominate and are harder to kill by flak, or tell your fighters to hold ground in the middle of your fleet and watch the enemy flak crash into your fleet, lol. Simple logic rules this game, with a little knowledge you can do very well.
Final note: Ponder this. Obviously people enjoy playing this game or there would be no "PROS" or Clans........... so what gives people the right to get online play the game and then say "YOUR NOT PLAYIN LIKE I THINK YOU SHOULD, SO YOUR WRONG" you didn't say it in those words, but thats how it feels. The fact remains that if you can't survive the 1st assault, you should probably rethink how you play. Not get on and complain that every game is the same "crap" LOL, Why do we end up defening the game to every online NOOB. Suck it up and learn how to play online or dont. Its as simple as that. Personally I enjoy 5v5 games and see no reason why the host should not be able to kick "UNKNOWNS FOR KNOWNS' it simply makes the game a much more enjoyable experience and limits smurfing. Consider this, When you join a game and sit in the lobby, unless the HOST invited you personally, you are a GUEST, and not GUARANTEED A SPOT, If you want to GUARANTEE you have a spot HOST YOUR OWN GAME or build you a nice record.