I dunno about the pilot-set priority rating. For one thing, I don't see anyone saying "You know, I'd like this fighter off my ass, but eh, it can wait. I'll give it a 3." For another, I have enough problems dealing with the whole comms interface dealie in the heat of battle, anyway- it often comes down to a choice between getting someone to cover me and getting a rocket up my tailpipe in the process or being able to defend myself but being on my own. A third level of stuff to mess with, hit the wrong keys for, etc. sounds like bad mojo. But mostly, most players when they want someone to do something, they want it done NOW, so having the option to say it's not all that important sounds like it'd be kinda useless- as it is, you'd have to set it up so that only mission-critical type stuff would outrank the player's orders, as having your wingmen not listen would be more than a little frustrating. But that's just me, I dunno.
In an ideal world, I'd say we needed a one-button comm setup (again, like I-War's), where if you're... "preoccupied" you can just randomly mash keys until the right response comes up, but that'd just be a frill at this point. THAT would be a "3".
