I have been playing for about a year love the game, but really these arena caps, been trying to get in to orange for 1/2 hour! it was 247/100 when i first tried now 202/200 for last fifteen min blue is 130/250 now people will say go play in blue for awhile, well i dont want to play in blue! the kids are taking a nap i have got a hour to play and i want to play now this is not the first time just the last straw!!!
Hi Captdan,
I understand if you are trying to hook up with squad mates or a buddy, but if you are just looking for some late war action, the other late war arena offers a very similar gaming experience. It can be disappointing if you can't fly where you want, but I can offer some suggestions that may help the next time this happens. It won't help you to get into the arena you want to fly in, but it may help you spend that spare 30 minutes in a more enjoyable fashion.
Have you ever had the feeling that you are hungry, but you aren't quite sure what you want to eat, so you ask someone to make some suggestions for you? Well here is the "I want to fly, but I'm not quite sure what I want to do" list of things to try when you only have 30 minutes and all your squad mates are in a full arena.
1) Go to the Dueling Arena pick a maneuverable fighter, fly out to the middle of Furball lake staying below 5k, and wait for higher bandits to swoop down on you. Fly defensive BFM, concentrate on keeping your SA high, and see how long you can survive. The enemy aircraft will be coming in fast, so practice a simple break turn and reverse for a shot on the extending bandit, or the more sophisticated barrel roll defense. You will get some much opportunity to practice that in a short space of time that you will soon have your timing to perfection. With multiple bandits, this will sharpen your SA and reflexes and help you to avoid target fixation.
2) Similar deal, but this time try it with one of the faster fighters such as the La7 or P-51D for example. Now you won't be able to depend on maneuverability as much, and can experiment with staying fast, or working at ultra low speeds Try the Fw190 and experiment with the high roll rates, and rapid deceleration, see if you can make Boyd's OODA loop work for you. Experiment with the fw190s fast transients, and achieving that first shot opportunity.
3) Same again, but now, allow bandits to fly into the control zone, but now practice your guns defense. After a while you will develop an instinctive feel for when the bandit has a shot and your reflexes will eventually be tuned so that they work on a subconscious level. It doesn't matter how good you are at this game, time spent honing your defensive skills is never wasted.
4) Not in the mood for defense because you want to kill something... You only have 30 minutes, so once again go to the DA, but this time ask someone to duel and do some 1v1 engagements with similar aircraft and starting conditions. This may not be representative of arena flying, but it is a very good way to learn, and diagnose your weaknesses, particularly if you are fortunate enough to hook up with someone who can beat you.
5) Ok, the DA simply isn't your thing, just quickly check into the TA, see if there is a trainer there, and ask those questions you always wanted to ask but never had the time. Even if there isn't a trainer present, there are often several people there willing to help. No luck? Okay, why not stick around for 30 minutes and see if you can help someone else? But you aren't in the mood for the TA, you only have 30 minutes and you still want to kill something.
6) Check into Early/Mid war, check out the map, see where the bases are flashing, then a quick check of the numbers will give you an indication of what's happening, which bases are under attack, and how many are doing it. Are people attacking undefended bases? If so change to the appropriate county and see if you can save the base. Up in a plane or GV, whichever is most appropriate and spoil their plans.
7) If you are in an arena you don't normally fly in, try something different. Don't just try different aircraft, try different flying styles. You normally don't care about score? Then see what score you can get in 30 minutes, next time this happens, try to beat that. You don't normally don't care about K/D ratio, then try to see how many kills you can get without getting killed. You already fly to live? Then throw caution to the wind, buy a one way ticket to furball city and pop until you drop.
8) Numbers are low? Perfect! Here is a chance to try out one of the low ENY attack aircraft you haven't spent much time with, practice your dive bombing technique. 30 minutes is enough for 3 or 4 sorties on the smaller maps, you might even have time to pull off a single handed V base capture.
9) Scout new friends or squad members... Go to the other LW arena, grab your favorite ride or your squad aircraft and look out for other people flying the same aircraft. Fly in the same general area, see how they do in your aircraft, help them out when you can, see how they respond to threat warnings and chk six calls, note their general behavior. Even if they don't make potential squad mates, it will help you in a fight if you know what the people around you are capable of and what support you are likely to receive. If nothing else, it will help raise your SA and give you something to discuss with your squad mates in the officers club.
10) Nothing there for you? Ok, with 30 minutes you have just enough time to learn something valuable about your favorite aircraft. Download my bootstrap calculator
Download Badboy's BootStrap Calculator and do some offline flight tests in your favorite aircraft and find out what it is really capable of. Run the tests clean and with various flap settings and/or various weapon loads. Then compare it with some of the adversary aircraft you find most difficult to beat, the reason why will be revealed. The odd 30 minutes here and there will soon build you a very valuable resource and lead to an in depth understanding of your aircraft that will make you even harder to beat than you already are.
Hope that helps...
Badboy
