Last night, I had the pleasure of running into one of our newest pilots aboard who demonstrated one of the worst mistakes common among new pilots.
Target fixation. <ack>
One of the key skills that is required in this game (and one which isnt normally exercised in offline sims) is developing your SA (situational awareness). SA requires you to constantly scan your surroundings and take into consideration so many different variables, that it can soon overwhelm many a pilot.
I will suggest some things you can do to maintain your SA. These are the steps I go through from the time I choose where to fly until the time I land. I by no means claim to be a master pilot but do consider myself (normally anyway
) to have decent SA. This allows me to set up the fite to minimize danger to myself and maximize it for my enemies.
The first thing you should do in the tower is look at the map and see where all the action is. Are there alot of enemy dots on the map over one of our airfields with a disproportionate number of friendlies getting vulched on the runway? Probably not a good field to take off from unless you want to add your name to someone else's kill list. Its better to move to an adjacent base and give yourself some time to grab alt and further assess the situation at the target.
You also want to try and determine what the alt of the higher cons are at the target. Head to the F3 view in the tower to see if the majority of the enemy cons are low on the deck racking up vulches or whether they are higher than 15k protecting incomiung buffs. You want to be at least coalt with the higher dots when you approach the target.
While you are looking at the map, try to determine where the enemy cons are coming from. Make sure that your ability to grab isnt hindered by enemy in your path. Once you have figured out where the action is and how high you need to be, head to the hanger and choose your plane and loadout.
Believe it or not, your assessment of SA will depend ALOT on the type of plane you like to fly. If you choose a P-51, you want to bring enough fuel and choose a base to take off from so that you are a few K higher than the highest expected enemy. Its a plane that does well when fast and as such needs alot of E to attack enemies. Addition ally, it climbs relatively slowly and as such may need a bit more time to reach a safe altitude. A Spit or a Niki, on the otherhand, are maneuverable enough to turn the tables on a slightly higher opponent. They both climb faster than a 51 and as such may be able to sneak out of a closer base than a plane like the 51.
Now on to your loadout. I will neglect mention of your armament since this is truly user preference. Your armement simply suits your style. Although heavier armed planes kill quicker, they are usually less maneuverable. If you choose a heavier armament, grab a little more alt so you have more E to work with.
As to fuel, you want to have the optimal amount of fuel onboard to maximize your maneuvarability at the target. Some planes like the F4 do better when SLIGHTLY heavy than they do when lighter since your fuel weight affects your planes center of gravity. Other planes like Spits and Niks do better when lighter. I dont know how much fuel is optimal for each plane so dont bother asking
. Bring enough so that you can safely return to A DIFFERENT base than your target once your ammo is depleted. This way, if your attack on the besieged base fails to kill every enemy there, thus denying you a safe landing there, you can rtb to a different base.
Now go to the runway you have chosen and take off. Pull up the map using ESC again and see if the situation has changed. I am CONSTANTLY checking the map to see if there are enemies in the sector Im in or to see if the situation over the target is changing. If all is well, scan all your views as you climb. You should check these every 30 seconds if not sooner. Woe to the pilot who gets blindsided by an enemy who snuck up on him while he wasnt paying attention
.
As you climb toward the target, use the radio to find out what the enemies alt is at the target and use this as your goal. You want to have AT LEAST this alt (and preferably some maneuving speed to go along with it) by the time you reach the target.
Now, lets think about the ongoing situation. Have things gotten worse at the target site for your contry? You might have better luck bypassing the base under attack and instead try to interdict some of the incomming enemy from the enemy base. Frequently, you can find them in a lessened state of SA since they may not realize enemy are in the area. Since they just took off, they also may be grabbing alt for their attack on your base.
Knowing where the enemy are coming from also prevents you from running into enemy territory if things go wrong for you during the fite (and occasionally they will). When you pull up the map, determine which way you will run if events take a downturn. Make a mental note of your escape route and ALWAYS remember where safety lies.
Ok, so you've spent time climbing to your attack altitude and you have found out from the map and radio the expected number of enemies as well as their current altitude. You also know which way to escape to once things go south. Is your SA complete? No, especially since your environment is always changing. Perhaps the number of enemies have dropped to the deck (good), have decreased in number (good), or your rtb base has been captured by the enemy (bad). Reassess your situation and continue on. Maybe you need more alt or its safe for you to stop climbing prematurely.
Now you are approaching the target and you begin to see coalt or lower dots in your views. What are they doing? Do they seem to be maneuvering or just trolling along? If they are maneuvering, odds are they are engaged in a furball. File this little tidbit into your SA machine knowing that by the time you approach them, they will probably be even lower since all furballs typically degrade into downward spiraling fites. If they are just trolling along, however, they may not yet realize they are in danger or they may have spotted you and have begun their stalk of you!
Now you begin to see enemy icons pop up over those dots. Did you remember to check all your views? Good. Since you are in a relatively close E state with the highest ones, its time to choose a target. The top ranking pilots typically fite along the fringes. Its safer to fite one at a time than it is to fite 3 or more at once. I say typically since there are some very good pilots who just dive in willy nilly, guns ablazing. What they lack in common sense, they make up for in pure skill. Since we are not all Erick Hartmann's and cant expect to survive such encounters for very long, we attack SMARTER. This means stalking the loners out on the fringes with hit and run tactics.
You have spotted your target and begin the attack. As the distance closes, assess his E state relative to yours. Is distance closing quickly? Perhaps he has alot more speed than you anticipated in which case its best to disengage and reassess the situation. Is he diving toward the deck where a bunch of his countrymen are located? Maybe its best to disengage and reassess. You may notice that I repeat the word reassess over and over. Thats because your environment is constantly changing and as such, maintaining your SA is a process of reassessing your environment. Once the attack begins, this is where SA typically breaks down.
Ok back to the fite. Even while you are attacking you MUST periodically check your rear view. Perhaps your SA broke down somewhere and you now have an enemy on your six. If your SA was good, this shouldnt have happened since only you could have put yourself into this situation. Time to reassess the situation and figure a way out of the situation. How does your plane stack up against the one tailing you? Are you faster? Roll better? Are there friendlies nearby you can drag to? Ack? Can you disengage or do you need to go guns defensive? Your SA requires your to know all this at once. Use this information to plot your escape route or if its safe, to turn the tables on your attacker.
Now, lets assume your attack is successful. Check your views and reassess the situation. Are you still in a superior E state to your enemy? Find another target and begin again. Are there higher enemy incoming? Check your ammo and fuel states. If you can afford the time for another set-up and attack, egress along your escape route while climbing to put yourself at an advantage again for any dots which may reappear at the target alt. If you are near critical states for fuel or ammo, assess whether it is safe to land at the formerly besieged base or head along your escape route to the safety base (you still have enough fuel to make it dont ya? If not, your initial SA assessment broke down
).
If you follow this advice (and turn your brain into a multisensory Cray supercomputer) you should find yourself able to survive many more encounters. The majority of SA breakdowns occur during combat when one target becomes fixated on another unaware that an enemy is encroaching on his six. Get in the habit of checking your six and high six consistently even during combat. If the situation suddenly gets bad, dont feel bad about running like a scared kid. Its not gonna do you any good getting shot down without a kill when you could disengage and work for another position of advantage. If you can clear a friendlies six without putting yourself into danger great but if its undoubtedly gonna get yourself killed in addition to your countryman, let that sucker fend for himself. Its his SA that was poor...not yours
.
Maintaining good SA gives you the ability to dictate the fite rather than allowing the enemy to dictate it. Use all the tools that HTC has been fortunate enough to include for us to constantly assess the situation. Use the map, your views, your radio and common sense and you can very soon rack up kills with relative safety to yourself.
Feel free to fly low and slow as well and make it easier for me to kill you too!
Good luck and I hope this was useful to someone!
-Ding
[This message has been edited by Dingy (edited 05-23-2000).]
