BS? Just lot lot of luck? No, Sir... it's called thinking!

[Latrobe]

Isn't it amazing what you can accomplish with just a little thinking?

[Wiley]

Just imagine if everybody started doing it.  Might be easier for those "i cant find a fight" guys.   

Well for myself, I'd say that's not quite right, because my general issue is 'I can't find the kind of fight I'm looking for as often as I'd like.' which is two opposing hordes clashing.  All too often I see a big enemy bar dar and a big friendly one with it, and by the time I get there it's petered out to a few from one side getting ganged by the other.

Hunting the singleton like Lusche talks about here can be fun though, for sure.

Wiley.

[Zoney]

Occams Razor.  If you elliminate the impossible, you are left with the possible.  It takes some intelligence, a bit of work, good timing, a bit of patience and you can figure out where he is NOT.  That leaves you with "where he could possibly be.  I love this part of the game.  Be at the right place, at the right time and voile', the game's afoot.


Nice job.

[Jayhawk]

Great post.

A good bomber pilot will take this into consideration as well.  Always assume someone is just tracking your dar moving across a map.  You can use it to your advantage to try and throw someone off and buy yourself some time.  Someone else mentioned this but it's very true; when you cross near a quadripoint (oh yeah, had to look that one up) of the four sectors, you might as well be a dot on radar, your location is that obvious.

]

See in the above picture, the dar would move from [18,18] to [19,18] for a short period of time then to [19,17].  Anyone watching would know exactly where you are and be able to guess your heading pretty accurately. 

[Lusche]

See in the above picture, the dar would move from [18,18] to [19,18] for a short period of time then to [19,17].  Anyone watching would know exactly where you are and be able to guess your heading pretty accurately.  

  Exactly. You might as well broadcast your location & vector on CH200

And that's not all. The intercepting player can also look for additional information. MA activity seems to be random and chaotic, but to a large degree it is not. Players have motives, they have a reason to be at a specific point, they do have a plan, a target.

Ask yourself: Where might he had taken off? Bomber pilots prefer high altitude bases. In Jayhawks example, you would trace the rout back to see if there is such a base where he might have taken off from. From that altitude and the distance/time he already base covered, you can make a educated guess about his cruising altitude (keeping in mind there are some "customary" flight levels players tend to follow). Watch the map where he might be going: Is there any big battle in the direction of his general heading? Is he going to the strats? Or will he try for that CV of yours (very unlikely if he took off more than 2 sectors to the rear). Or is he simply flying for score and will drop half a dozen town centers for points?

Also quite a number of buff players do dodge the dar circles, but ignore the fact the base town's have a alarm range all of their own. You might not show on the base radar, but you make the town flash. Combined with darbar you are giving your enemy a very good hit on your exact location.


Of course you don't have to play that way. It's probably pretty boring for most folks. But then, don't be surprised when somebody shows up to kill your bombers, or (on the other side of the coin), don't exclaim "where did all the bombers suddenly came from?" when you find your furballin base obliterated by a 20k bomber raid


Anecdote: Once I was accused for using a spy account when I "magically found" a 10+ formations bomber raid about 30 minutes after takeoff at 20k. I almost fell of my chair. 

[oneway]

Flying diagonal tracks near quadrant intersections is suicidal when enemy know how to read and watch a map...

Flying diagonal tracks from grid side midpoint to side midpoint is how anyone who cares about living does it...and the interesting thing is that when you fly a diagonal from mid side to mid side that is basically 1/Cos(45) x 12.5 or 17+ miles to cross each grid...so it is as good as it gets short of running a stepped leg flip flopping 60 degree offset courses..

Further any Lanc at 21K behind enemy lines is asking to have his headed handed to him...

The best bomber blood hounds are bomber pilots themsleves who know how to use the grid, sector warning range, bomber warning range (base, town, strat)  to their own advantage in avoiding enemy fighters...

Good post Snail

Edit:

There is one more thing...Sector Warning Range, aka Dar Bar is not a Grid based animal...it is a radius range element predicated upon the Sector Warning Range settings in the Arena Setup...I am not sure what the main arena sector range is, but default is 12.5 miles or a 25 mile circle consistent with dot dar...

Also the game seems to be set up to wash out a sector counter if he is actually not in the sector...in other words if the sector counter range is breached by an element, and the the element is not in the grid containing the station, it won't register as marker in that sector, but rather is displaced to the elements actual sector....even if no other radar stations are in that elements sector...

[grizz441]

I salute my fellow thinkers out there. 

[druski85]

I learned something important from this post. 

Lusche is not only the master of pie charts and bar graphs, (well known) but also quite adept at map manipulation and presentation.    Perhaps the Fugitive should update his cartoon accordingly... 

[Roadblck]

Great post and info, snailman.  

More anecdotal evidence of his treachery (or cleverness):

Snail is still responsible for the only time I've been startled enough to nearly jump out of my chair, thinking "holy crap! WTH just happened!" (He had crept up on my low 6 in his 262).  There was a loud bang, then the tower!  He was kind enough to explain what he'd done, and I think we both had a good laugh about it.    

[HawkerMKII]

Just yesterday, saw dar bar upping from field, upped K-4 and stayed in sector till dar moved into it. Found lancs at 17k shot him down. He pm'ed me "How did you get to 17k so fast?" Told him I was waiting for him and that he took a direct line form point A to point B. You have to think like a fighter jock to fly buffs sometimes.   Lusche

[oneway]

Just yesterday, saw dar bar upping from field, upped K-4 and stayed in sector till dar moved into it. Found lancs at 17k shot him down. He pm'ed me "How did you get to 17k so fast?" Told him I was waiting for him and that he took a direct line form point A to point B. You have to think like a fighter jock to fly buffs sometimes.   Lusche

I think it goes both ways....the best interceptors are also highly skilled bomber pilots...

[Shuffler]

I usually don't see those type negative posts. He was up a long time and probably mad because someone took the time and inclination to find him.

Pretty common sense operation it seems.

Well done!

[oneway]

Check this out....you can actually manipulate the mind of the interceptors...with proper planning...

Leverage the grid and bend their minds...

 

Out

Oneway

[dev41]

Wow - I am like a total noob and I had this figured out two months after joining the game. Now I can usually find the bombers by reading the map - my problem is finishing the job. I usually get one in my K-4/G-14/190D and then get oiled pretty good, then I lose my enginge and then if I am lucky I am able to coast back to base. Finding them, however, is not the problem.

Ubben

[LLogann]

Newb, not Noob..... Although I'm only speculating you're not a Noob also.   

Wow - I am like a total noob and I had this figured out two months after joining the game. Now I can usually find the bombers by reading the map - my problem is finishing the job. I usually get one in my K-4/G-14/190D and then get oiled pretty good, then I lose my enginge and then if I am lucky I am able to coast back to base. Finding them, however, is not the problem.

Ubben