How do you do it?

[kj714]

First off this is not a bait, flame, disguised anything... it's an honest question!

You guys who get 5, 6, 7 + to 1 k/d ratios, how do ya do it?

I'm pretty thrilled when I get to 1 to 1 or so, and I know I'm on the lower end of the scale of pilotry skills, but dang thats a lot.

Granted I'll have days when I land a bunch and don't die much, but that's usually followed by a day or two of just getting splattered for some reason (it's a real pattern). I don't up capped bases, not hopelessly capped anyway, I'll give it a shot if it's only few and maybe they've wandered a bit from the field, (yes I fall for that everytime!:) )

Speak up, give up some hints, they'd be much appreciated!

[humble]

It all depends on how you want to fly...and what you want to fly. Some guys can rack up great numbers in difficult circumstances...but the majority pick their plane and pick their encounters carefully.

As a general rule you'll find em in D-9's, ponies, 38's or other planes that have both range speed & climb. While they may fly as "lone wolfs" you rarely see them flying against the odd's or from capped fields....

and they vulch alot:D

[Shane]

k/d ratio?  gah!  easy enough to do simply by flying timidly.

I always though k/s, along with k/t, was a better indicator of one's overall effectiveness.

[mars01]

Alot of guys fly high where they are relatively safe, have many outs and all the advantages.  Personally I can do this for one or two runs and then I am bored and need some more excitement.

Others and there are not that many in this category- and most of us know who they are, are just that good.  They are easy to spot too.  If you see one of these guys with the amazing K/D ratio and he is deep in the mud with cons all around them you know he's one of these.

[Howitzer]

KJ, quite a few stay high, attack and run.  You're asking how to stay alive and get kills, and mostly quite a few guys who do that fly in a style some would define as "timid".  Things you also need to look at is kills/hour and kills/sortie.  I used to fly this way a lot, but I have since changed my ways in this area, and will mostly engage anything, unless I'm seriously outnumbered because if its more than a 2 or 3 on 1, I know I can't win at the level I play at currently.

I think it depends what you fly.  I learned a lot from watching films of leviathn in a furball.  Take shots at those planes you know you can hit, and don't commit to chasing someone around who is faster than you, keep your SA up and fly defensively till someone makes a mistake.  If you are in a furball, most newer guys will go for shots they can't hit causing them to overshoot which could give you a good shot.  

Know what your plane can do and what your strengths are.  If you are in a zeke you don't want to be fast, if you are in a tempest you don't want to be slow.  The way I improved was I would fly into areas where our team had numbers, and take on some guys with an advantage on my side.  Then as I got better shooting them down I would move to areas where I didn't have the advantage and see how I did there.  

But if you really want to up your K/D, get a fast plane, stay high, don't come down and BnZ people till they do something stupid and you got um.  You get 3 in the bag, RTB, land, and do it over again.  Once you string a few of those together your K/D will go up.  And don't get into situations where you are outnumbered and low.  

[SkyRock]

Originally posted by Shane
k/d ratio?  gah!  easy enough to do simply by flying timidly.

I always though k/s, along with k/t, was a better indicator of one's overall effectiveness.

Shane is definitely correct.  Look at Kills/time  and Kills/sortie.  As far as getting stats up, learn to dodge bullets, to kill the guy on your 6, and kill as many as you can as fast as you can.  One more simple rule,  if you are in a furball, try not to turn more than 90degrees to kill some one, just take ur best shot and keep your E and be very focused on you SA.  Oh! and by the way, ropes, reversals, vulches, cherries, they all blow up the same.

[Guppy35]

Originally posted by kj714
First off this is not a bait, flame, disguised anything... it's an honest question!

You guys who get 5, 6, 7 + to 1 k/d ratios, how do ya do it?

I'm pretty thrilled when I get to 1 to 1 or so, and I know I'm on the lower end of the scale of pilotry skills, but dang thats a lot.

Granted I'll have days when I land a bunch and don't die much, but that's usually followed by a day or two of just getting splattered for some reason (it's a real pattern). I don't up capped bases, not hopelessly capped anyway, I'll give it a shot if it's only few and maybe they've wandered a bit from the field, (yes I fall for that everytime!:) )

Speak up, give up some hints, they'd be much appreciated!

I suffer from the same fate.  The key, from my point of view, is don't even look at the stats.  

If you are having fun, that's all that matters.  The second I start looking at K/D, it makes me think about flying more timid and not diving into the pile with my 38G.

While I die ALOT in that big target on the deck in the mob, it's much more fun then waiting for the perfect opportunity to get a kill.

So I live by my F/D ratio.  That being fun to death ratio

Dan/CorkyJr

[Elfie]

A lot of the guys just vulch, some wont engage at all w/o holding all the aces.

Yesterday some guy in a 190 dove out to cv acks w/o ever trying to fight my P-47. Granted I had alt+speed advantage, but this guy didnt even try. Then when a 5 inch gunner killed me he claimed he *won*.

How do you *win* if you didnt even try to fight in the first place?

[Slurpee]

high K/D is really easy, as its been said pretty much all you gotta do is be careful. Choose your fights, never up vulched fields, stay at 15K or above dont go below 10k. As far as plane choice, i think you can do it in just about ANY place with foward firing guns, at least any fighter if you follow the above. Some of it comes with expierence.

I.E, i was at a field last tour or so in an A-8, completely controlled by the enemy. Came in at 15k or so, used my advantage to pick off the few cons up in my alt. Then the rest is just playin it out. Even though they outnumberd me 5-1, they were all more then eager to give up their E and try to climb up to me at 10k. I ended up knockin down 4-5 and returnin home without any damage.

So overall yea its flying cautiously/smartly and alittle expierece helps too. Just depends how you wana spend ur 15$.

[Dead Man Flying]

Alternatively, if you want a high K/D just fly a Tempest.

I think before I started getting bored and flying into bad odds in one last tour, my max K/D ratio in the Tempest was 50:1 (and K/S of 9:1).  That wasn't any kind of amazing or special flying; I have no doubt anybody else could put up the same numbers in the plane if they put their mind to it.  It really is that good.

-- Todd/Leviathn

[dedalos]

Originally posted by Dead Man Flying
Alternatively, if you want a high K/D just fly a Tempest.

I think before I started getting bored and flying into bad odds in one last tour, my max K/D ratio in the Tempest was 50:1 (and K/S of 9:1).  That wasn't any kind of amazing or special flying; I have no doubt anybody else could put up the same numbers in the plane if they put their mind to it.  It really is that good.

-- Todd/Leviathn

Yep, I can get atlist 1 or 2 kills in it before I lose it

Although, thats not a reflecsion of the planes abilities, lol

[Guppy35]

Just thinking on it a little more and a couple things came to mind from the last couple days flying.

It still comes down to what's fun.  There was a stretch the other night where I knew that the guys I was going up against were far better then I'll ever be.  Lev and some of his buddies were up and raising cain.

I kept going back in and kept dying, but if I'm going to get better, taking a chance against the best has to help a little.  If my K/D was that important, I'd have wandered off to another part of the map where the odds were in my favor.

The other thing that came to mind involved three seperate flights where I was away and clear from the fight, but heard guys call they were rtb damaged.

If my K/D mattered that much I could have kept driving for home.  It was much more gratifying to roll back towards the damaged rtb guy and dive in on the 5-6 Spits, Nikis and LAs following him out.  Each time I got the mob off them and they were able to land their kills successfully.  Each time I got the chop while doing so.  And it felt great seeing them get their hard earned kills down even though I died.

Again, it's just my approach and not a criticism of anyone elses.  As long as it's fun, that's all that matters

Dan/CorkyJr

[iKo]

I say do whats fun for you. You will set a goal like K/D and after you get bored with that you will try something else. All the old Vet's have been there. Bottom line is what is fun to you and who cares what anyone else thinks opps sorry back to your ? I always found for me that jumping in all the time for a knife fight what ever the odds are and in different planes has always been my fun. So I cant give you any help on the K/D sorry:(

[Vipermann]

I agree that the tempest is a great plane. I fly it much more now just cause I can't stand waiting to get back to a flight and it's about the fastest thing to get me back there.

[kj714]

All good thoughts, I never really thought that much about k/t and k/s will start looking.

I don't really live for my stats, but once in awhile when I look and then look at some of the leaders I'm just amazed.