I can Help.

[Tails80]

This is a message for some of the people that may want help...learning the ropes... maybe a couple of good dogfighting tactics..just to stay alive without being shot down every 56 seconds, (happened to me). So PM me, email me at segtailwing@yahoo.com or repost..Thanks

       -Seaman Apprentice Tails80

[Lusche]

I really don't want to sound disrespectful. I mean, it's great when people are trying to help other people in this game, that's what community is about. And everybody can do his little share...
But I have to say it raises my eyebrow a bit when I see someone posting "learning the ropes... maybe a couple of good dogfighting tactics..just to stay alive without being shot down every 56 seconds" that himself is only able to squeeze 39 kills and 19 assists out of 166 fighter sorties. Hit % 2.28. As reluctant as I usually am when interpreting Scores & Stats - but this is really abysmal, especuially when taking into account you're flying P-51D & Spit XVI most of the time.
No offense, but it seems to me that you can use a bit more training yourself before trying to teach others on such advanced topics. Again, that doesn't mean you should stop helping people... just putting some perspective to it.

[Tails80]

Well, i never said advance. Im not the best player in the game yes i understand that. But that doesn't mean i can't help someone get off the ground and be able to get someone off their six. Plus i don't care about my score. So if i do get kills, i don't just stop to land them, if i am still flying and have ammo, i keep going. Usually that leads to me dieing.but... yeah so there.

[Lusche]

Originally posted by Tails80
Plus i don't care about my score. So if i do get kills, i don't just stop to land them, if i am still flying and have ammo, i keep going. Usually that leads to me dieing.but... yeah so there.

K/D 0.30 doesn't mean you are not bothering about landing and fight till the death - it means that you do not get any kills in the first place. For every enemy plane you shoot down, you are shot down more than 3 times yourself. Thus most of the time you get shot down without having any kill yourself. This is not only not advanced - it's well below average, actually really bad.
You really have to work on those skills first before actively trying to teach them other people. But again, that doesn't mean you can't give advice & help in other areas (settign up views, how to read a map, how to equip a plane ect.) or you should drop a helping attitude at all. I really appreciate that you are trying to help, and surely most of the AH community does too.
But when teaching it's important to have a realistic, objective assesment of one own's knowledge, skills and, most important, their limitations.

[Tails80]

Alright, i respect your advice, thank you for that, but i'm still saying, just cause i die a lot does not mean i am bad. But thanks for the advice again.

[bergy]

I believe that what Lusche is saying is more along the lines of "we have very experienced trainers already established and availlable, please learn from them." Most people are going to tulips your abuility by your score, as that is all we really have to go by, so do not be offended, by Lusches post. If you want to help, then by all means do so, just remember to also recommend the new guys go to the TA seek an established and experienced TEACHER.

[captain1ma]

tails, when are you available, im Eastern time. if you and i can hook up ill give it a shot. i need all the help i can get and i get killed every 22.3 seconds

[Tails80]

Lol alright captain im on eastern too, usually on every week day and weekend so ill see you sometime.

[humble]

Originally posted by Tails80
Alright, i respect your advice, thank you for that, but i'm still saying, just cause i die a lot does not mean i am bad. But thanks for the advice again.

I think you misunderstand the question as well as the point of lusches inquiry. As a former trainer here I understand both the dersire to help and the importance of laying a sound foundation. It's much harder to unlearn and then relearn then to start with a clean slate....while your desire to help is to be commended the quality of your help with regard to ACM is in question (again as Lusche said you can certainly help alot in other area's).

K/D ratio is not dependent on landing kills, simply a reflection of how you do in varied enviornments. It's fairly easy to manipulate "up" to a degree based on flying style and choosing where/when to fly but it is a good fundemental benchmark.

A "good" stick can maintain a 1/1 ratio even in inferior planes or against superior numbers. Simply based on the fact that he's gonna normally kill the 1st guy unlucky enough to "find" him...even if he's ganged in the process. The pony and spitXVI offer certain inherent capabilities that would enhance survivability and also allow a more "plane dependent" style of ACM. Your poor K/D ratio and gunnery stats indicate fundemental flaws in ACM. You appear to be a situationally dependent pilot...

As your true ACM skills mature then your ability to kill is less dependent on both what plane your in and the circumstances you find yourself in. While plane type will always be a factor it rarely is the deciding one in a fight. Using my own numbers this tour you'll find that they are similiar regardless of plane type.

I'm 63-15 in an A-20 and 42-8 in a 1a hog. It really doesnt matter (most of the time) what I'm in. My fundemental ACM is sound (but far from uber) so I do well vs the "Average" player and those that hand me my lunch in the A-20 normally (but not always) can beat me in the hog (or other fighter) too.

I've seen you in the TA a few times and would be happy to fly a few anytime, if in fact your truely capable of lending a hand ACM wise I'll be the 1st to give you a thumbs up...

[The Fugitive]

Originally posted by Tails80
Alright, i respect your advice, thank you for that, but i'm still saying, just cause i die a lot does not mean i am bad. But thanks for the advice again.

Another way to look at this is you may be dieing a lot because you don't have very good fighting skills YET . Teaching people poor skills isn't really helping them.

I'm sure your working with captian1ma will teach you as much as he may learn from you. Remember that the "trainers" have close to 10 years of flying this and other games like this one. Don't rush yourself, there is a lot of things to learn and practice before you can even become "average".

Keep at it !

[BaldEagl]

Can I help?


No... really... not qualified.


Tails80, Don't take what's been written above as an insult at all.  I've been doing this almost 12 years and I wouldn't be qualified as a trainer.

The statement that it's harder to un-learn bad habits and re-learn good ones than to learn good ones in the first place is true.  Take it from a 12 year self-taught vet.  I learned some very bad habits along the way that held me up for years (and maybe still do to some extent).  On the other hand, I have progressed to the point that I feel comfortable in almost any plane in almost any situation.  

As an example, last night I dueled a P-38 and a 110-G2 in a Stuka for almost 5 minutes before a couple of countrymen came along to save my skin.  Combined, they managed to land 1 ping on me and had the fight progressed I have no doubt I'd have scored at least one kill.  Later, I flew a Spit XVI solo to an enemy field.  I fought 2-3 on one the whole time I was there, then exited safely (with 3 vengeful cons on my six) and landed 4 kills (gotta love those XVI's).

When someone talks about not caring about their score, it's situations like those above that normally come to mind; flying a clearly outclassed plane or flying into a clearly outnumbered situation.  If you can teach (another topic altogether) someone to do that and live to tell about it then you may be qualified, but first you have to prove you can do it yourself.

[Coshy]

Now that everyone has mentioned things you cant, or shouldnt do, here is something you can do that will help in an area where most people need help:

Be a target. Let the new guy chase you around a bit and shoot at you. This helps them learn what a good sight picture is. You can tell them about the lead computing gunsight in the TA, that will also help.

[humble]

Originally posted by Coshy
Now that everyone has mentioned things you cant, or shouldnt do, here is something you can do that will help in an area where most people need help:

Be a target. Let the new guy chase you around a bit and shoot at you. This helps them learn what a good sight picture is. You can tell them about the lead computing gunsight in the TA, that will also help.

I dont think anyone is saying he cant help, simply questioning which aspects he might be qualified to actually offer constructive help in. I get alot of requests for help, 90% of the time its with in my capabilities....but when its not I'm the 1st one to say your at a level of understanding that requires more then I can offer and I point em to WW, murdr, TC or someone else I know can actually do them some good. His initial post is specific to ACM/"dogfighting" and I think lusche was right in question his capability to lay a good foundation for a new player....that does not however mean he cant help in alot of ways.

[Coshy]

Sometimes I forsake clarity for brevity, this is a perfect example, so I'll clarify.

Listing of the things he 'shouldn't do' :

"No offense, but it seems to me that you can use a bit more training yourself before trying to teach others on such advanced topics. Again, that doesn't mean you should stop helping people... just putting some perspective to it." - lusche

"You really have to work on those skills first before actively trying to teach them other people." - Lusche

"...the quality of your help with regard to ACM is in question..." - humble

"Teaching people poor skills isn't really helping them." -  Thefugitive

Super Short Summary:
You shouldn't be teaching other people poor/incomplete skills.

Listing of the things he 'can't' do :

"39 kills and 19 assists out of 166 fighter sorties. Hit % 2.28. As reluctant as I usually am when interpreting Scores & Stats - but this is really abysmal, especuially when taking into account you're flying P-51D & Spit XVI most of the time." - Lusche

"K/D 0.30 doesn't mean you are not bothering about landing and fight till the death - it means that you do not get any kills in the first place. For every enemy plane you shoot down, you are shot down more than 3 times yourself. Thus most of the time you get shot down without having any kill yourself. This is not only not advanced - it's well below average, actually really bad." - Lusche

"K/D ratio is not dependent on landing kills, simply a reflection of how you do in varied enviornments. It's fairly easy to manipulate "up" to a degree based on flying style and choosing where/when to fly but it is a good fundemental benchmark." - humble

Super Short Summary:
You can't fly very well.

However nearly all replies have mentioned there are things he can do, but only Lusche and myself actually gave examples of what he could do with the knowledge he has.

The guy wants to help, and thats commendable, but telling him he can't or shouldn't help in one area while giving him no specific direction to areas he can help speaks poorly on those replying. Granted he didn't ask what areas he might be qualified to help with, but thats not an excuse not to put the information out there. Of the 8 replies to his thread only 2 had specific examples of things he could do that were within his area of knowledge. 2. And one of those 2 was mine.

Therefore I mentioned something specific he could do that will help. I don't think anyone here can deny the need for good gunnery skills, and a living, breathing, jinking, stick-stirring target can't be beat for improving gunnery skills.

Lusche questioning his ACM skills was the right thing to do. Suggesting he allow his ACM skills to mature before he tries imparting his knowledge on others is also spot on. Coincidentally these are the same reasons I tend to avoid unofficial trainers, you never know what you are really going to get.

To Tails:

Seems like you really want to help, thats great. As others have pointed out (and I agree with) teaching ACM right now might be a touch premature. However there are numerous things you can do that will help new people immensely.

Here is a short list:
settign up views
how to read a map
how to equip a plane
how to use the radio/chat feature
how to shift gears/start engines
how to move from one airfield to another (.move command)
how to raise gear/deploy flaps
Tell them about the great info at http://www.netaces.org
Tell them about the trainers, and how to contact them
Tell them about the BBS and the Help and Training section
Be a target for them
Explain the differences in the various arenas

Hope this helps, and if you see me in the TA, go ahead and use my spit for a target .... if ya can

[Blooz]

I want to help too!

Tails80, your "location" under your avatar is spelled United States.


I'm good.