BagsX too...haven't seen Efe or Disgruntled Worker or Jezeus/Fallen One in ages though (well, relatively speaking).

Updated.  I decided to just give up on descriptions and just rank everyone.  Please comment and give me more names as you think of them.

I (PlayerSlayer), but I probably won't be able to play till Xmas as am at uni

Goldlist should be updated maybe every 3 months or so, to allow players skill to be tracked

Does EadTaes play under a smurf. I've only seen this person play shortly after release.

Also, 

dumdeedumdum

RedRuby and other gemstones

BrainDead (me)

Higgy definitely needs to be on the list...

Hate to point out such a glaring inconsistency, BUT...Gunny don't go there.  Nothing personal, but if I can beat him on a consistent basis now...

Updated again.  The reason I deleted the descriptions is so that I can make changes.  The simpler it is, the higher the chance I'll take the time to update the list.

Howthe's ranking are probably more accurate, especially 1v1 as he states is the criterion used for the list, but I also think about team play in 5v5. This requires the individual efforts but also the global assessment of play, including some team spirit. I'd move a few players around on his list for that. As a result, my captain's guide list agrees with Howthe's list for most players but with a few differences.

*A Captain's Guide*

My guide to "who I choose if I am captain" rated by "who I would like on my team the best," which of course can be quite different from the skill levels of individual play. Some of these players  play less often than others, and for these cases I do not have a great calibration. In the case of a confident calibration, I haved used "*". Finally, this list is also fluid given that some players improve constantly, notably Aeonx and Camaro most recently.

When these people are on my team, I feel a victory will soon be added to my statistics, regardless of who is on the other team:
Auqia*, HowThe*, Ooloo* (quar)

We really should have a victory but sometimes things can go wrong, especially if one of the aforementioned players is on the opposing team:
Krath, Tyr, Doci, DieHard* (greg), Efejao*, Hiroge, Mecha-Lenin, Multiz*

Superior contributors to the team:
jbaum*, RedRuby(BlueSaphire)(GreenEmerald)*, Ekko-Tek*, Dumdeedum*, Fallen_One*, DeceptivePanda (StarKiller), Nayru*, Eros(Specter)*, Higgy, jamex, Traxsin, Slavinari, Faernel*, CarpetBomb*, BagsX*, BrainDead

Good solid contributors to the team:
Aeonx*, BooPoo*, SerakWarriors, Camaro*, Archa-A*, JakeMac, kbroke*, Ginisfurd, maxy, USNC, gondie, unname, Seleuceia, Dwish, ColdFront(Universe)*, Mavarik, Knewgui, Teun-a-Roonius, KFear, BoomUrDead

Well, it's a teammate:
rabidturnip*

Very volatile players; often though not always I wish I had an AI teammate instead:
HuyMac*, RadioActive (StarPlayer), Kok*

I avoided rating myself; I'll leave that to others. One thing on How's list is that he's being modest. In his Tier #1 list, there is some differentiation. There's a group of Tier#1+, including How, Quar, and probably PlayerSlayer. Auqia is KingOfTheHill, as mentioned. I was also surprised to see RadioActive in that Tier #1; I haven't seen him play at that level in any game.

Candido you are a superior contributor to the team for sure - especially when you alert everyone: "Bad Guy Titan Coming Back!!!!"

I still play, just not nearly as I used too. I think the titans are breaking them game with their super fleet wiping powers. It's almost as if everything in the frigate factory becomes useless after lvl 6 titans are out normally. So it kinda make the game boring in my opinion.

Would altering the game so that titans take much longer to come into play convince you to play more online ead?

No, what would convince me is if titans were tonned down, so that when they enter the field they don't obsolete the frigate factory section of the game. The AOE on the titans are simply too powerful. The Ankylon is probably the general area titans should be in in terms of power. The Ankylon won't wipe fleets but it will increase it's survivability, it supports the fleet doesn't do it's job. I have a bunch of ideas of what could be done, some abilities just get nerfed, some keep the same power but gets it's functionality modified so it doesn't become as OPed, some like overload on the Ragnarok might need to be changed from boosting it's abilities to boosting all of it weapons instead. But i'll keep the details for a titan wine/nerf/balance thread.

Lol, he puts me at tier 2...

Oh well, I'll have to beat Howthe again as a lowly tier 2 the next time we play.

I wish I was tier 3. Perhaps then pple would stop picking me firs all the time 

How is full of surprises...and people he doesn't like...

Its a good thing you didn't rate yourself because this is a list for skilled players.  If you want someone to rate you, I guess i'll put you in a category, "below average contributors to the team due to inferior mental facilities"

Also hate to tell you but How, and ooloo, cannot be put on the same tier as Auqia.

Again, I really do not think How belongs anywhere above Krath, Tyr, PlayerSlayer, and select other members of your so called tier 2 list.

Finally, I think you could probably bump me up to the same category as rabidturnip but i'm not quite as good as seasoned veterans like kbroke or SerakWarriors.

Judging by several people's reactions to this list, both on the forums and on ICO, I feel there is only one conclusion:

HowThe =

I don't see anything on the list that is intentional trolling - but at the end of the day, it's still just one guy's list based on his experiences of playing with people. Personally I'd list it slightly differently in a few cases but not that many - and again, that would only be based on my limited experience of what I've seen. For example, Doci and Multiz are not even on the list and should be at least tier2. Red Ruby should be tier2. JBaum and Hiroge should probably be tier2 instead of 1. Serak Warriors I'd put at tier3 and Camaro, as improved as he has been, probably isn't at a tier3 level like the others are. But this is not my list - it's a list based on How's impressions, since we have no real stat tracking/ranking system at all to go by other than the pointless games played W/L stat.

Ekko, you are just like Goa...always too serious...

You're just mad that no one takes pudding seriously.

Though it is kind of odd we joined the forum at roughly the same time. I mean it's not like he's my MP clone or anything.

Lol - someone has to stand before the tide of rampaging Brony posts, OP illuminators terrorizing noobs, and various self appointed troll kings casting their spells of confusion and anarchy...otherwise, well...this.

That's not my list.  Nice trolling though.

Thank you for the positive feedback.