Newbie questions

[Yankee67]

Are there any areas in the practice arena where the drones go after you, or do they all basically fly in a circle?   I'm at the point where I can taxi, take off, land, and mow down the circle of drones, but I have no defensive experience, and no experience with going after an opponent that does anything other than turn left.  I'd like some experience with that before I go live.  Thanks.

[Rob52240]

Go live, engage P-51s and Spitfires at first because they are likely new guys too.

[ImADot]

There are offline missions that you can download and run.

There's a forum just for Staged Missions.
http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/board,410.0.html

[mthrockmor]

There is not. You can download "offline missions", which gives you a bit of that though mostly it is moving targets.

The trick is to go into either the dueling arena or main arena and get after it. Keep in mind, all planes have strengths and weaknesses. Keep your speed in the prime zone for that plane, keep your head on a swivel (situational awareness) and basic move is to get the other guy to overshoot.

Example: The Fw-190 is horrible below 200knts or so. The P-51 is bad but better at that speed. The Zero is in heaven though somewhere north of 280knts the Zero flies like a bus, while the P-51 thrives. The Fw-190 is awesome above 400knts, actually above 500knts.

Don't fly random planes and get frustrated by different experiences. Most learn with the Spit 16 or P-51D. Both safe training wheels planes. I would tag along on some missions to see how other sticks do it.

Boo

PS Be patient and get some alt. All things being equal if the other guy has a few thousand feet of altitude on you, its not an equal fight.

[Blooz]

And nobody mentions the Training Arena to the new guy?

Yeah! Hey! We have different arenas to fly in! One of them is called the Training Arena. You can go there and spar with others without any effect to score or perk points. Heck, you can't even be shot down by someone else in there because the damage is turned off (oh, you'll know you've been hit because you'll hear it and see the bullet holes but it won't have any effect on your plane.)

Come on in! The air is fine!

When you feel you're ready you can progress to the Duelling Arena. It's like the training arena except the damage takes it's full effect in there. Again, no score or perk points lost. Just pride!

[ImADot]

I'd like some experience with that before I go live.  Thanks.

Am I the only one who saw this? Hence my answer that did not include "go to the TA, go to the DA, just go to LW and find other spitfires, etc., etc."??

[mthrockmor]

Training Area is great though difficult at times to find a trainer. They are great when you have them scheduled. I remember my first few weeks trying to find this with no luck. It's good Yankee found the boards to ask for help. If you find a trainer not only ask about the practical things but most of them are ace level in dogfights.

If you go to the DA you'll be rapidly introduced to be horded. If you go to the MA and ask for help the standard answer is "Alt-F4." In case you don't know it, that will crash the game so don't do it. If you come right out and ask for help most will be very helpful. Something else you can do is join another plane in flight. You get to sit in the cockpit as if you are flying it and see how they engage. I would do that on many occassions. If you see me in the MA and want a ride just ask. I go by...

Boo

PS Don't worry about your score at first. You'll go insane. Give that some time and regardless of what some say it is perfectly OK to measure yourself via your score.

[Yankee67]

I didn't realize there was a live training area, and a live dueling area.  That's good.  I'm going to play around a little more in the offline area, work on some maneuvers, then look for a training area or dueling area.  Thanks for the tips. 

[ImADot]

Yankee,

You are going about this in a good way. If you have never gone online for your free two-week trial period, learn all you can offline. Practice take offs, landings, taxiing, shooting, etc. Once you go online, your two weeks begins and you don't want to waste that time by learning to start your plane and take off.

 

[Yankee67]

I think I'm going to stay offline and nail down some maneuvers first.  I've been reading Shaw's book and working on trying to repeat his sequences.  I'll stick with that for a bit, and then give it a go.

[AAJagerX]

The best way to learn is to fight live.  You can practice maneuvers all day long, but until you get used to putting them into practice you really won't get the feel for the timing or how to truly implement what you're practicing by yourself.  

As others have mentioned, the Training Arena is a great place to learn.  

I'm available most nights between 8-11pm Central time.  If you'd like to give it a go, I'd be happy to meet you in there.  Just let me know.

Also, visit http://trainers.hitechcreations.com for a TON of extremely valuable information on tactics and gameplay.

 

[morfiend]

 I think you can make good use of the offline missions if you're more comfortable flying offline.

   They will give you targets much more difficult than the drones the "just turn left".


  When you feel comfortable enough to go "live",check out the training arena during the week in the evenings,there's usually a train around at that time.Check the clipboard map "roster" section that will show you who is logged in the arena of your choice.



   

[Traveler]

I didn't realize there was a live training area, and a live dueling area.  That's good.  I'm going to play around a little more in the offline area, work on some maneuvers, then look for a training area or dueling area.  Thanks for the tips. 

Once you feel ready come fly high cover for the 113th Lucky Strikes, a Knight, dedicated P38 Squad.   You can fly what you like, wing up for a few flights or an entire evening of missions.  We fly as Knights on Saturday evenings starting around 7:00PM EST.  Vox 113.  We fly wing tactics and always encourage new  players to wing up .  check out our Wiki page. 

[Vudu15]

Some videos Ive put together should help as well.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL54E5CE4C59347B00&feature=view_all