Your Best Tip on Getting Better

[Randy1]

I post this not because I do it well but because I need to do it better.

Often, after the first merge, my mind loses focus on setting up the next merge as if there would only be one merge. 

Get your mind working to set up the first merge then focus on the setup for the second merge and so on.

[-ammo-]

I post this not because I do it well but because I need to do it better.

Often, after the first merge, my mind loses focus on setting up the next merge as if there would only be one merge. 

Get your mind working to set up the first merge then focus on the setup for the second merge and so on.

It's a game of chess - trying to stay at least one move ahead of your opponent.  And I make the same mistake you do

[DmonSlyr]

look behind you and above you constantly!!!! Work that hat switch all day.

Typically 30 seconds is all it takes to get picked off if you aren't constantly looking around you. 

[Someguy63]

look behind you and above you constantly!!!! Work that hat switch all day.

Typically 30 seconds is all it takes to get picked off if you aren't constantly looking around you. 

This, even 5 seconds, maybe 3 is enough to get you killed if you're not looking in that time.

[WEZEL]

Never trust a weasel...... 



And learn basic acm....

[DREDIOCK]

It's a game of chess - trying to stay at least one move ahead of your opponent.  And I make the same mistake you do

Your chess analogy is perfect
This wont teach you ACM but it will aid you in learning how to think differently.

There is a book called Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess I read a long long time ago.
He takes you from the basics and step by step brings you up until you are able to think 4-5 moves in advance. My father for all his faults was a really good chess player. It wasnt until after I read that book as a teen that I finally was able to beat him.

The point is the book teaches you how to anticipate the moves of your opponent and think of counters to those moves in advance. If you are only thinking of the current move and havent yet thought about the next. You are already at a disadvantage because your opponent often has already considered your next move.

Remember. The idea isnt so much where your opponent currently is. But where he is going and getting your guns pointed and bullets there when he gets there

[DREDIOCK]

This, even 5 seconds, maybe 3 is enough to get you killed if you're not looking in that time.

Yup. The more and more frequently you look around you the better. and the moment you loose track of the second guy. Is the time to worry because they usually arent in a place you would prefer  them to be

[mikev]

Your chess analogy is perfect
This wont teach you ACM but it will aid you in learning how to think differently.

There is a book called Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess I read a long long time ago.
He takes you from the basics and step by step brings you up until you are able to think 4-5 moves in advance. My father for all his faults was a really good chess player. It wasnt until after I read that book as a teen that I finally was able to beat him.

The point is the book teaches you how to anticipate the moves of your opponent and think of counters to those moves in advance. If you are only thinking of the current move and havent yet thought about the next. You are already at a disadvantage because your opponent often has already considered your next move.

Remember. The idea isnt so much where your opponent currently is. But where he is going and getting your guns pointed and bullets there when he gets there

Loved that book . a true master thinker

[DREDIOCK]

Loved that book . a true master thinker

Then you know what I mean.
The book doesnt really teach you grand tactics or advanced strategies as much as it does teach you how to think

[Puma44]

look behind you and above you constantly!!!! Work that hat switch all day.

Typically 30 seconds is all it takes to get picked off if you aren't constantly looking around you. 

Good advice but, if you aren't frequently belly checking deep six, you will get taken from there also.

[FBKampfer]

Keep in mind at all times that the goal during the fight is not to shoot down your opponent, nor to acquire a guns solution. Your goals are to maximize your advantages, and equally important, minimize his. These include both E and positional advantages.

[DmonSlyr]

Keep in mind at all times that the goal during the fight is not to shoot down your opponent, nor to acquire a guns solution. Your goals are to maximize your advantages, and equally important, minimize his. These include both E and positional advantages.

I know that you are just trying to help but this really doesn't explain anything as to help someone become better. How do you "maximize your advantages" or "minimize the other players advantages, more importantly during a fight? Positional advantages are important but how do you recognize what position you need to be in? How do you percieve E and how do you gain a positional E advantage over a plane that has more than you? You are mearly expressing what to do in very general terms but not how to do it in specific terms, so it doesn't really help that much.

[Skyyr]

I know that you are just trying to help but this really doesn't explain anything as to help someone become better. How do you "maximize your advantages" or "minimize the other players advantages, more importantly during a fight? Positional advantages are important but how do you recognize what position you need to be in? How do you percieve E and how do you gain a positional E advantage over a plane that has more than you? You are mearly expressing what to do in very general terms but not how to do it in specific terms, so it doesn't really help that much.

This. Also, ACM is many times restrained by outside objectives. You can't always wait for an advantageous position (e.g. flying bomber escort) or gain an advantage (e.g. flying an aircraft inferior to your opponents from a disadvantage).

ACM isn't about gaining an advantage (not that an advantage can't be gained), rather it's about how to respond to specific events to maximize potential and effectiveness. Quite the opposite of Kmpfer's initial quote, really.

[Randy1]

I know that you are just trying to help but this really doesn't explain anything as to help someone become better. How do you "maximize your advantages" or "minimize the other players advantages, more importantly during a fight?

There is no doubt going into a fight with a good mind set leads to better decisions.  Maybe FBKampfer was focusing on the mental side of the fight? 

[FBKampfer]

There is no doubt going into a fight with a good mind set leads to better decisions.  Maybe FBKampfer was focusing on the mental side of the fight?

Exactly. You need to think your way through the fight as much as you need to actually maneuver your aircraft.

Keeping what you really are trying to directly accomplish in mind will help. A guns solution, the actual shot, the kill, those all result from leveraging your advantages against your opponent's. The more one sided you can make that equation, the better your odds, and that's what you seek to do; stack the odds of position,  energy, and speed itself in your favor.

Too many people maneuver with intent for a kill right off the bat, when they simply don't have the wherewithal to make it happen. Usually they dig themselves a hole when they do, because they blow E, or end up in a bad position,.

'm not the best pilot, and I'm lacking in full understand of the fundamentals of BFM, and the theory. But understanding  that the fight is a process helps me compensate for my personal deficiencies, which takes me back to my original point; maximize your advantages, minimize your disadvantages, apply the converse to your opponent, and more importantly, do so with purpose and intent.