Tides of War

Ok.. first off lets get this straight .. I'm no ACE PILOT. So what I say, you have to give it a try and see what works for you .. and just maybe .. I'm all wrong

Erich is learning to turn fight. He's getting his butt wiped! Actually the dude does OK for a NOOB at Air Attack, but his frustations can be heard LOUD and clear on Team Speak.

"What the.. .. how do they .... crap .. they turn so fast I don't have a chance!"

If it was just a simple matter of sneaking up on the back of the enemy and pulling the trigger . no problem. But that is not usually the case. If you manage to 'sneak' up on him.. he won't know what hit him. However normally he knows your coming, and will adjust the nose of his aircraft to put guns on you.

If the attack is head to head .. the guy that can turn and get on your six first is the winner. Plain and simple.

If the attack is from the side .. same thing.. he who can turn and get on the six first is the winner.

Obviously for Air to Air combat you have to know how to "turn fight" .. this is NOT something that will come natural in this game .. its arcade like to start with and the physics are not "real life". The game is designed so you can jump in and play without months of pilot training. With that said ... you should think about some basics and in real life anyway and try to apply.

Nascar.. oval racing. When that car heads into the corner .. a left turn .. the car wants to PUSH out and UP. The only way the driver can keep his line and car under control is DECREASE throttle into the turn .. oh about 1/2 to 3/4 thru, and then INCREASE the throttle coming out of the turn.

The Airplane for a tight turn is the same. These planes have 'air breaks".. ie button B.

The Airplane has flaps. Each model is a little different so how much and what level flaps you apply depends on the aircraft you are flying. Practice.

The Aircraft has throttle. Each model can get on and off the throttle at different levels (torque), but basically for this conversation we can treat them all the same.

So.. you need to turn fast? Decrease throttle, apply flaps, blip the break on and off, ... into the turn. Coming out of the turn .. jame the throttle full power, slam the flaps off and get the nose of the aircraft TURNED in the direction of the enemy .. you need to get the guns lined up.

Quick turns either up and down or left or right.. or any angle for that matter, depend on :

Energy

Air Resistance - Drag.

Prop Pull

Making a full speed turn 'scrubs' speed. If you want to maintain speed then make a large and wide turn. This however will probably put the enemy on your six! Bullets can travel faster .. and catch you. You might have more speed but you can't outrun the bullets.

If you want to make a very tight turn .. then you want to 'scrub' speed .. scrub speed 'quickly' and then regain speed as quickly as possible. YOu need to decrease the power of that prop pull by decreasing speed, putting your flaps on, break, and then Hard Stick. Soon as possible full throttle and off the break and flaps.

If you in a loop.. the process varies a little depending on the top of the loop .. heading down .. or at the bottom of the loop heading up. Gravity makes a big difference wiht speed and turn ability in a loop. When you at the bottom of the loop and need to go up .. decrease speed slightly so the prop does not "pull" you in a direction you don't want to go .. "blip" the flaps.. pulll the stick back hard .. then full throttle again. Reverse process at the top of the loop .. but.. now you have gravity working with you .. so you may not need to decrease speed or blip the flaps as much.

Practice.. Practice.. Practice. You have to die a lot to get good

Fine job T-Bar sir very nice info for the new guys

Practice is key

=S=

so my bang flaps on full, yank joystick back, shout get round you piece of s**t isn't the best way to go? and I was sure me shouting obsenitys helped turn faster, also does blipping the gear up and down have any effect (same as the brake maybe) will try this slowing down for a turn next time I fly so USHA best watch out

Any answer is dependent on the craft you are flying.. BUT.. in general ..

Yes.. 'blipping" the gear does help .. as well as break on/off on/off you will get a feel for "how long" and "how much" as you go and the plane you are in.

When flying in FFA, most pilots fly the spitfire which is a good all round plane. It turns well, has decent guns, armor and speed.

If the fight starts off as a head to head (h2h) try to shoot the enemy on the way in. Once you have passed each other, pick a direction to turn and hit F4 view to padlock the enemy. Try not to adjust the stick too often until your enemy starts to appear in your view. If you start moving the stick around too much in F4 view, it's easy to get lost in it.

When turning in F4 you have to remember what direction you plane is flying and anticipate where you think the enemy will be once you've turned enough to see him. It's generally not a good idea to change the direction of your turn until you see the enemy again and work out what he is doing.

One tip to turn faster is to pull up and turn at the same time. Not a full loop but a loop at an angle. This will sacrifice some speed for a little altitude during your turn and it means you don't have to throttle down.

Make sure you use flaps and FULL rudder when turning in a fight.

Imagine the following:-------

I'm in a 1v1 dogfight with someone of similar experience. It starts off as a h2h and we both try to shoot each other and miss. After the first PASS I turn left, full throttle, full flaps, full left rudder and pull up 45 degrees from the horizon. My enemy does the exact same thing so now we are making a figure of 8 shape in the sky.

As we turn towards each other we start shooting but miss (;)) As we are about to make the second pass, I anticipate that he is going to continue turning left. This time at the pass I turn right as he keeps turning to his left. I've now entered into a scissor fight with him and we are making an imaginary elliptical shape in the sky. I'm cutting across the enemy's turning circle now.

In the scissor fight, in order to get a shot into the side of my enemy I cut my throttle to kill my speed. I do this quicker than my opponent and he cuts across in front of my sights allowing me to get a good shot into him. We now pass each other again as I turn right and him to his left.

Hoping that I will continue turning to my right, my enemy continues turning to his left, keeping his speed up and trying to get into a circle fight. I see what he is doing and quickly turn to my left too and enter into his turning circle.

We are now both turning in the same direction and I'm gaining on his 6. The damage I inflicted is taking it's toll and I out turn and kill him. We passed each other 3 times before I got onto his 6.

Anyways, that is a lot of typing for me, I hope it makes sense.

Hey guys

Great tricks of the trade guys

Hey Fru you better look out...Ive been practicing with my new JS (not going back to KB anymore m8. Did need a little anger managment at times though lol)

mate your gonna be in trouble in the ffa when i see you next...lol Good to chat with you on TS too bloke CHEERS

NUDGE

Bloody helps if i log in hey guys...

Somebody slap me...... How about a bang on the head /Tbar

I dont belive you Fru! but I have figured out how u turn so fast :!?:

ok if and I mean IF! you get close enough to Fru to see his plane before he kills you, you will notice it has 2 front ends and a swivel seat what he is doing is swinging round in the seat and flying backwards watching as you pittifully try to turn the conventional way honest I seen it with my own ears

how much of a help in turning is using flaps, as this is 1 thing I never do, the only time I currently use flaps is on the runway just find I dont have enough digits to press everthing at once. And before some1 states the obvious I already use a joystick

Hehe Picken

If you are not using flaps when turning you are at a disadvantage as everyone else is.

If you struggle to hit all the buttons, maybe you should try the zoom and boom kinda flying.

tryed zoom and boom but i can even miss the ground in the 109 I am getting better though! Started using flaps which I must say has helped me ten fold so thanks! So Fru even using flaps you would out turn me, any more tips we (I) can steal from you?

And everyone please note I have not poked fun at our C/O in this post even once, I can be serious and respectful

can some1 post the range of each plane in feet for me please and also the best general tactic for flying each, either here or in another post

i.e Spit.v.109 Spit: dont h2h

dont chase them up (hell thats all I know)

109: Zoom and Boom

Dont turn fight

If you dont get kil dont turn back gain alt away from nme's turn

I have no knolage of SU and from what Grim said fly US the same as GE

I am learning but at the minute fly basically the same in all planes which I know puts me at a disadvantage just I dont know any better!