In another thread, Mussie asked me a bunch of questions that I was going to answer privately, but others requested that I respond in public instead. So here's a thread dedicated to responding to Mussie's questions one by one.
Mussie asked:
How you improved your skills:
- Gunnery[/I]
I don't believe that people are just born with good gunnery skills unachievable by others. When I started flying air combat sims, my aim sucked just as much as everyone else's. The difference between great aim and poor aim is not genetic; it's philosophical and practical. First, try turning off tracers. I find that tracers clutter my forward view and lead to "walking" the tracers to the target rather than actually aiming at the target. While hit percentage goes down initially, after a couple of weeks it should creep back up again and possibly improve over the previous average. Second, bring the convergence way in rather than out. I set my convergence to 225 for all guns on almost all planes. Why? Because third, get in close to make your kills. It's not that I have great aim so much as I get so close that I can't miss, and at that range my guns converge for an enormously lethal barrage.
Also, you must practice. Good gunnery comes from predicting the flight path of the enemy, of "knowing" when he's going to pop up in front of you, of knowing instinctively how far in front to aim. That's not inbred, but rather that's something you learn from repetition. Make a point of learning which kind of lead works for which kind of situation. Make a map in your head of aim points based on distance and bearing. That sounds difficult, but with practice it becomes intuitive and effortless. If you do not commit to fundamentally improving your aim, then the chances are very good that you won't.
- SA[/I]
I believe it was Morpheus who said it best in another thread: you should only look forward in a furball when you're ready to fire your guns. At all other times, you should force yourself to look around and scan what's going on around you. A good way to practice acquiring enemies is to fly offline and pull various maneuvers around your base while keeping an eye on the AI planes flying above you. See if you can complete a complex set of moves without once losing sight of one plane you've singled out. The key is keeping your bearings while not actually looking forward.
Also, with practice you'll create kind of an intuitive 3D map in your head of what's going on around you in a furball. You will pick out dots from far away and see which must be the fast BnZers, which must be the low and slow ones, and which ones are coming or going. You can tell in the middle of a fight who's likely to be in on you within a minute and who is not an immediate threat. That kind of mental map only comes from furballing repeatedly and making a point of noting the locations of all friendlies and enemies. Try to predict what's going to happen. Try to predict who's going to shoot you down. Try to predict who you are going to shoot down.
- Know you ACM's
- Know when to use and ACM's[/I]
I learned ACM like most people -- through trial and error, through dueling, and through training courses like the old Air Warrior Training Academy. Books like Bob Shaw's may also provide a wealth of information on ACMs, though I don't consider it essential; I've never read Shaw, but others who have do extremely well. The journey here is less important than the destination, because at some point you're going to know an enormous number of ACMs for just about any situation, but you have to commit to learning them and envisioning them in your head and in the game. Over the years, I've found it enormously useful to turn the film recorder on, fly a sortie, and then go back and see what the other guy saw of me flying. That way I know what a maneuver at my end looked like at the other end, and I could learn how effectively it worked, where it might have been countered, and whether to use it again in that situation.
I find air combat in this game like a complex game of rock/paper/scissors. For every move there is a countermove. For every countermove, there is a counter-countermove. No one ACM wins every fight, and predictability is the key to defeat.
- Know your Plane
- Know your NME[/I]
Learning the strengths and weaknesses of the planes from websites like Netaces helps a lot. However, nothing beats flying a wide variety of planes to learn their strengths and weaknesses. And while I prefer to specialize in one plane at a time, I'm always familiar with the performance of other planes so I can use their weaknesses against them. A Zeke can easily outturn a Spit V, for example, but it becomes a brick past 300mph. Thus the Spit V's best bet against a higher Zeke is to dive, force it to become a flyiing 300+mph brick, and then reverse while the Zeke lacks maneuverability. In that example, I understand that the Zeke does not handle well when fast, and I also understand that the Spit V handles better than the Zeke when fast. These two facts combine to provide an appropriate response to a higher Zeke threat.
And as before, this is a matter of practice. You cannot know every plane immediately. You cannot know your own plane immediately. You must do it through trial and error, through dueling, through determination and possessing a desire to learn it.
On a related note, I also find it useful to learn the strengths and weaknesses of individuals as well as planes. If I know that Morpheus or Drex or ManeTMP or whomever flies a certain way, prefers a certain merge, rolls a certain direction, turns a certain way, or whatever in any given situation, that gives me a competitive advantage. If I know they're going to pull out a rock every time, then I can always pull out some paper.
Did you
- Watch films of your fights
- Practice with squadies
- Trial and error[/I]
All of the above... constantly. Even in Air Warrior I was a voracious film watcher. I studied not just how I flew, but also how my opponents flew. What move beat me? In what plane? And who was it? I always found these sorts of things useful.
I cannot overstate the importance of a dueling partner. I've been blessed with two exceptional dueling partners over the years -- +JASE in Air Warrior and NathBDP in Aces High -- who were quick learners, amazing sticks, and innovative players. They were never predictable, and they forced me to make quick decisions to counter unexpected moves. More importantly, these players were both of equal skill to me, so the duels were challenging and the results never clear. We experimented with new moves together, learned things together, won many, lost many, and never worried about ego or records. It was about the fight and the fun. Thus while many may think that dueling an exceptional pilot will make them better, I say instead that dueling someone who is of roughly equal skill yields better dividends by reducing frustration, increasing enjoyment, and rewarding innovation.
Trial and error, of course, is always an essential path to flying better. I die just about every flight, and I learn something new just about every flight. That's the kind of thing that keeps me going without burning out.
Anyway, sorry for the long-winded response. I hope Mussie, Goth, and gollum find this information useful. Enjoy!
-- Todd/Leviathn
