Avoid the HO or How to fly like a champ

[humble]

The issue here is the assumption of control of circumstances. Most of the time this type of discussion almost seems predicated on having the upper hand. Not letting the other guy shoot at you is a bit of a no-brainer if you're in an advantageous position. I always felt my primary job (back when I was a trainer here) was to help players move beyond circumstance and reach a point where they could be competitive (within reason) regardless of plane type or initial positioning. It is not possible to entirely deny your opponent a shot window when maneuvering from a position of inferiority so the key concept is in manipulating that shot window to the degree possible to facilitate a more favorable outcome. Under those circumstances you need to give a little to hopefully gain a lot. Once you reach a certain comfort level initial positioning (or plane match up) isn't as big a factor as the relative skill level of the other guy.

[Dawger]

In online flying games there is immediate reinforcement of bad behaviors and habits.

From the first sortie the guns are available.

In the real world a pilot goes through an extended period before he ever gets anywhere near pulling a trigger.

Starting from primary flight training the military pilot is building skills that have nothing to do with shooting but everything to do with winning the fight.

Formation flying is the basic laboratory for building an understanding of the geometry of the fight.

Every fight is an exercise in trying to join into formation on the target or prevent the enemy from joining in formation on you.

In the real world, the neophyte is given a target that is not maneuvering to deny him. He learns spatial relationships and techniques on a target that is actively helping him solve his distance and closure problems. Later the target is not actively helping or hurting. Only after the student has mastered formation joins from every angle on a friendly is he thrown into the pit with a target seeking to deny him his solution.

In online gaming a training structure that recognizes this fact greatly aids the student. Since we don't have friendly collision we don't have to get very deep into formation technique but a student that cannot effectively join on a non maneuvering target needs to hone those skills before embarking on an attempt to do the same against a maneuvering bandit.

It is a solid base to build on and should be the first step in evaluating a new trainee.

[humble]

Then how come so many of your "students" fall back into bad habits so quickly?

The real issues here are simple...

1) Pilots with minimal plane handling skills need to evolve those skills (most of Primary and basic IRL). This can be handled in conjunction with step 2 most of the time.

2) Pilots need to gain a fundamental understanding of prosecuting a +E attack conceptually. This is best established by simply having the student grab his favorite ride and a suitable altitude advantage and having at it. As a general rule it takes all of 5 to 10 minutes to gain an initial evaluation and begin to make positive adjustments. Some players have very basic issues and others are very adept at managing all aspects of the attack, most fall somewhere under the middle of the bell shaped curve. Most students I work with make a quantum leap within 45 minutes or so and have a much better grasp conceptually of what they want to accomplish and how.

3) Learning how to "attack" gives a significant overview of how to defend. While it is much much easier to learn the 1st I usually see significant gains in the 2nd. Normally the single biggest conceptual challenge is vertical out of plane maneuvering combined with E management. Getting a student to shed E quickly and limit extensions by working more aggressively in the verticals often involves a "show and tell" at some point where we switch roles. Once they see a properly flown +E attack within there new frame of reference quite often the light bulb goes on and they then make a quantum leap offensively.

I have no clue why you feel a drawn out and formal structure would be beneficial to anyone with more then a month or two in the game.

[danny76]

Oh the fun times of chasing things around with no ammo.  Gets really interesting once they figure it out.  I think I chased a 190 A5 for 5 minutes after he figured out I was of ammo in my A20.  I didn't dare try to escape or go anywhere except on his 6, or I was dead.  Eventually a friendly came down and killed him but it was a lot of fun.  Then there was the FSO where I chased around an Ki84 with my LA-5 with no ammo to save a squaddie's B25's, till I finally got a clean escape, and he gave up just before I ran out of gas.  Agreed that this will force you to get some good ACM time in but, it's probably easier to spend time with a trainer for a bit

 
BigRat

Has happened more than a few times, i've run dry of ammo because I am the worlds worst shot, and usually i also decide, that the only way to stay alive is to stick on the guys 6 and hope he augers trying to get you off. But in doing this I have repeated perfect firing solutions, over and over, where had i saved 10 cannon rounds I could shoot the guy down easily.