Rookie Pilot Seeking Help

[Hoff]

Hey everyone, I just started playing yesterday and I'm looking for some help in getting better.

Let me just start off by saying that this is my first true flight sim. I have flown planes and helicopters in the battlefield series, but that really doesn't compare to this. I did my research on A2A maneuvers and watched videos and stuff in order to prepare myself. I'm highly competitive and don't like finishing in second place. I have an extensive background in FPS and tank warfare, so I'm a decent field gunner, AA gunner, and tank driver, but I also wanna be a good pilot. I am seeking help from anyone willing to share. Currently I am using a Saitek X52 and I like to fly the P38 (because it's my favorite plane of all time and I love the way it looks).

I practiced for about 10 minutes offline then jumped into the fray. I started off pretty rough and occasionally got a kill or two, but never really got to land (most of my kills are in big furballs where I catch someone off guard). Then I managed to land my first two kill mission (which I really didn't get the kills, but whatever).

I was hoping that someone would be willing to watch the film and tell me what I did right and what I did wrong so that I can get better. I know I did a few things wrong and my gunnery is bad, but I was hoping that I at least did something right. Also, if anyone is willing to spectate me (I think you can do that, right?) or analyze more of my films, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Clicky

[FLS]

Welcome Hoff. 

The first thing I'd recommend is to be sure your views are setup properly. Practice flying aerobatic maneuvers to learn aircraft handling at different speeds and attitudes and practice keeping the airfield tower or offline drones in view while flying maneuvers. You need to be able to fly a max turn while keeping the bandit in view as well as flying at the edge of a stall and flying at the edge of compression in the P-38.

If our schedules mesh I'll look for you in the Training Arena.

[The Fugitive]

You didn't do too badly. You kept your "E", (energy) up and didn't get too slow. Your aim is pretty good, but don't make a habit of shooting that far out. When you see the counter change to 200, the target is 300 out and thats about where you want to shoot. Many people can hit farther out, but you loose some of the hitting power the farther you shoot. The only other thing is upping from a capped base isn't always the best either. It gets you into the fight quicker, but almost ALWAYS at a disadvantage.

oh and Soulyss, the guy you were flying with is one of the top guys in a 38, you should have talked with him!  

Welcome to Aces High!

[fuzeman]

Link to Delirium's P-38 clinic information: http://www.fw190.org/P38Clinic.htm

[Soulyss]

Fugi's being too generous in his appraisal of my piloting skills, but I have been around for awhile and picked up a trick or two over the years.

I think the other posters in this thread have hit upon the first things to focus on.  Get comfortable with the controls, get everything mapped to your liking which includes getting your views customized and saved (looks like you may have done this already).  Then start exploring the flight envelope a bit.  Practice low speed handling, and work on maintaining control while looking in a different direction.  I like to go offline and fly barrel rolls and loops around the drone aircraft while keeping them in view, in a fight you want your eyes on your opponent or looking around for threats. 

It can also help to realize that there is A LOT to learn here, some of the guys you're going to run into in the arenas have years of experience under their belts.  Development and progress can take weeks/months rather than hours or even days.  The good news there are a lot of resources to and a wealth of knowledge on these forums to help ease the sting of learning a bit.

Glad you found us, <S>.

[morfiend]

Hoff,

  I dont have too much to add except that you should turn the stall limiter off ASAP if you dont have it turned off already.

  Look at the clipboard map,goto options,preferences,flight and uncheck the box that says "Stall limiter".You can also enable auto takeoff from there incase your lazy like me and have other things to do during takeoff and climbout.

 I'm often in the training arena,thursday and friday afternoons I'm there between 2pm and 4 pm est. but I'm also in there alot in the evenings so if you see me shout out and I'll assist you the best I can,I'm not in Delirium or Soulyss league in the 38 but IMHO a planes a plane they all have 2 wings and a prop!!


       

[Getback]

I saw you up yesterday Hoff. First day! wow, you did great. I think it took me 3 weeks to get my first kill in AW. Of course it really helped when I quit using a mouse. LOL.

I would suggest seeing a trainer or working with a squaddie if you're in a squad. I often go to the Training arena just to experiment. That is to understand stalling, trim, flaps, and throttle control.

[Hoff]

People keep saying that the p38 is a good bnz but I don't see how, it has no boom since it compresses so fast. Anyone willing to set up a time to help me out? Oh and here's another film, obviously my gunnery sucks, but I wanna know how I could've survived at the end.

Clicky

[EskimoJoe]

I'd like to suggest, as I myself came from FPS's years ago, to relax a little bit.
This sim has a huuuge learning curve, and the 'if I'm not first, I'm last!' mind-set
won't be of much use to you. Have patience, try not to get frustrated if you get
shot down too much.

With this sim/game, you just might get shot down a thousand times before things
start clicking.

With that being said, good luck! Keep your cool, have a sense of humor for Alt-F4
jokes, and welcome to the addiction!

[Getback]

I rarely fly a 38. I don't think they are bnz planes at all. They are good stall fighters in my opinion because of their climb rate. A 38 in the right hands is annoyingly awesome. There's probably a trick to preventing compression. They do have dive breaks for that.

[clerick]

I rarely fly a 38. I don't think they are bnz planes at all. They are good stall fighters in my opinion because of their climb rate. A 38 in the right hands is annoyingly awesome. There's probably a trick to preventing compression. They do have dive breaks for that.

Yep! Depending on the model of 38 they can be a darn good TnB plane too, when light (for a 38).  A few simple things. The 38 is a heavy bird when empty, add the wrong fuel load and it's pushing 20k pounds, almost 2+ mustangs! Depending on what I plan on doing I'll take as little as 25% on-board and a drop or two. 25% internal isn't much flight time but if I get into trouble I ditch the drop and pray that it's enough to save my butt and i have plenty of fuel to get home (if i live).  This is something I suggest you play with.  Also, don't be afraid to play with convergence.  The 38 has its guns in the nose so there is a lot of concentrated fire power there. Personally, I have mine set way out.

As for compression. Throttle back and get familiar with manually trimming your elevators up.  I will often follow a better diving plane into a dive, well into compression, and throttle back, trim the elevators up and am able to pull out, much to their surprise. I've even managed to rip the wings off pulling out of a dive.  If you see me I'd be happy to offer any advice I can.  Though I'm not the best example of how to fly a 38 smart nor fly it well

[Hoff]

I've noticed two things already that are ticking me off. First off, it seems certain planes or players can pull 7-8gs and not black out because there are times when people will get on my 6 during a boom and I will break and black out and they will still cut inside my turn and hit me. Secondly, it seems that in order to be successful you have to play in the most annoying boring way ever and only fight when you have E advantage. Every time I fight I'm at an E disadvantage because climbing to 10-15k before every dogfight is the most boring way to play ever. I'm starting to get frustrated because I can land 2-4 kills then go 3-4 sorties where I die because it's 3v1 or they have E advantage or both. Plus because I'm flying the p38 I always get targeted first. If there was a stat for number of drag and bags or rope a dopes that get your teammates a kill, I'd be #1. Everyone and their mom goes out of their way to bleed all of their E in order to come after a p38 in a furball.

[Guppy35]

I was taking to you on country last night Hoff, and you were clearly frustrated.  I suggested you find Soulyss or Del.  It appears you found Soulyss

The one thing you kept saying last night was you expected to be good at it fast.  Isn't going to happen in any bird.  Also understand that 38s are big targets and they do tend to get shot at first often as most times there is a halfway decent stick in them.  The rest of us get shot down because we're also in 38s.

The 38 does a lot of things well.  I don't know that it does any one thing best.  I'd suggest you give a holler next time you see a SAPP driver in the arena and wing up.  Just don't expect it's going to come fast and easy.  If it's your favorite plane, the effort will be worth it

[Guppy35]

the dreaded double post!

As for dying in a furball in the 38.  I've been doing it for fifteen years or so between Airwarrior and Aces High.  You've got a long way to go to be number 1 in that category in the 38

[FLS]

Hoff you can be sure that everyone has a 6G limit. As to the gameplay issues in the main arenas everybody has them. You can fly with some of the experienced 38 stick to see how they deal with it. If it gets frustrating you might want to do some 1v1 duels in the dueling arena for a change of pace.