Ways of reading skill

[ACE]

Whatever you do, do NOT get a twisty stick. Having worked with people in the TA, I can instantly tell if a twisty stick is used due to additional energy loss.

I use a twist and have all my career. I’d bet my house with it.

[8thJinx]

Sorry to say but the latest TM pedals are garbage, I give it a month before you're over them... Mine broke in less time.

No joke, mine were broken inside of 6 months.

[The Fugitive]

I got rid of nose bounce by scaling the first few bars of my elevator scaling down to almost nothing, same with my rudders.  What I discovered when I tweaked it was if you need to do that, ramp up your scaling to full as soon as possible, otherwise you get bad behavior at the other end.  I had my scaling badly messed up for years which explained why I had so much trouble riding the edge of stall at low speed.  Since I changed it it's gotten much better for me, but I haven't put in the time to get really smooth with it yet.

As far as plane choice, for me it makes it a lot easier to understand other planes' capabilities by flying them versus flying against them.  YMMV.

Wiley.

Could you post a screen shot of how you have your stick and rudders scaled? Id be interested in giving it a shot, as I tend to spray a lot over correcting while shooting.

[Max]

I'd like to see that screenie as well. Are you using CH gear Wiley?

[Wiley]

Here you go.  My rig is an unmodified X52 from before they were bought by Madcatz with Saitek pedals from the same time.



The drawn in line is more or less how it was set up before.  Bluntly put I don't think I could have messed it up more if I'd tried.  With the old setup, the last half inch or so of movement on the stick moved the elevator about half its deflection.  The low end worked fine for getting rid of nose bounce though.

With the new setting, it got rid of the nose bounce and allows me to pull as finely as I like for gunnery.  One caveat I'll give is I have a lot of dead zone because the spring's so weak on the x52 it doesn't sit exactly in the center, but sags just slightly forward at rest.

The logic is, it's fairly insensitive at the low end to allow for gunnery adjustment but ramps up more quickly than I had it before so I can ride the blackout tunnel much better than on the old setting.  I haven't played with it too much I believe there's likely room to ramp it up more quickly, but the one crack I took at ramping up sooner added in nose bounce again and I haven't gotten around to fine tuning it.  My rudders look very similar to this curve for the same reason.

edit: Your hardware may not react the same as mine so you might have to adjust the curve a bit, but the logic should still apply.  I upped the damping from previously as well, which might've helped too.

Wiley.

[DmonSlyr]

There were also different philosophies regarding air combat. More so at the start of WW2.

Regarding defensive / offensive plane choice - to generalize there's really three large circles on the Venn diagram: TnB, BnZ and energy fighting. Some aircraft sit firmly in one only and others more in the intersections of one or more of those sets. The position therein of your and your opponent's plane and the starting point of the fight makes for an interesting and suggestive line graph. Some of those relationships make for a much easier fight than others.

Some people also fly stupid for fun or the challenge. 

I agree with your statements. What I was trying to get to was the 3 main situations that the 3 main fighter categories of planes fit in. Energy fighters against the odds(big hoard) , BnZ/TnB/mid alt fighters for base attack and furballs that are long distance, and TnB for defensive fighting to defend your base. Using planes in their strength situation typically leads to a more successful sortie.

[Wiley]

I agree with your statements. What I was trying to get to was the 3 main situations that the 3 main fighter categories of planes fit in. Energy fighters against the odds(big hoard) , BnZ/TnB/mid alt fighters for base attack and furballs that are long distance, and TnB for defensive fighting to defend your base. Using planes in their strength situation typically leads to a more successful sortie.

I think different pilots can get different results though.  For me, using something that accelerates/climbs well and has good top speed can give me better results than a more TnB style plane.  The faster the plane accelerates/climbs, the less time I need to spend trying to survive the vulch and the sooner I can start pressing them.

Wiley.

[Kingpin]

Could you post a screen shot of how you have your stick and rudders scaled? Id be interested in giving it a shot, as I tend to spray a lot over correcting while shooting.

The scaling pattern that Wiley showed is the same one I use for my rudder scaling (although I use no damping -- see below).  It is also good for elevator on the X52, as I had the same issues: the X52 felt very "tall and loose" and does flop around more than some others and makes centering more difficult.   

With the "tighter" sticks I have used, like a CH or newer Logitech Xtreme 3D (a cheap but effective stick until it wears out), I recommend elevator scaling a little closer to default to keep the input a little more "linear", since stiffer sticks are easier to control and center.

As far as damping goes, remember that damping slows your input, it doesn't "scale" it.  As you increase damping, you are effectively creating a delay between when you move the stick and when the game responds.  This is why you don't want any scaling or damping on your X-axis (roll) because that just slows your roll rate.  Unless you are really throwing your stick around too much and getting the "do not move your controls so rapidly" pop-up, my recommendation is to use little to NO damping -- the lowest possible setting you can get away with.  Instead, rely on scaling for smoothness.

As far as rudder sway is concerned, when adjusting aim with your rudder ("shooting with your feet" as I call it), you will usually get some yaw sway back and forth when you release or recenter your rudder.  When using rudder to aim, it is best to rudder into your shot, hold there while you shoot and THEN release rudder.  If you try to rudder into the shot and release it before or during firing, you will get the yaw wobble and your shot will spray left and right.

You can try practicing this and getting a feel for it by firing at the outer rings of the .target practice target.  The .target will give you visual feedback via your bullet dispersion pattern and allow you to see if it varies most horizontally ("yaw sway") or vertically ("nose bounce").

My two cents...

<S>

[The Fugitive]

Thanks Wiley. Mine is set along the line that is drawn on that picture. I'll try adjusting it to look more like the sliders are set, moving the curve back in the picture.

I use a t16000 right now, but hoping to fix my X55 (replacing the plastic post on the hat switch with a steel one). While the T16000 works well the X55 is a taller stick and seemed to fit my big old meat hooks better.

[Vraciu]

Good stuff.   Thanks everyone.   

[SPKmes]

I scale mine with the first slider up about 1/5 of the way up and then a progressive curve from there...I do however only have 1 bar height adjustments for the first four sliders . I have done this for both the x and y axis of the stick... for me this eliminates my heavy hand issue as I have to make a pronounced movement (so to speak...it is just a little joystick afterall) and this also helped my nose bounce....I set my deadband to just below the first slidea. .and dampening I between  that..... I also use the T16000...best cheap stick ever....I actually like it better than the X52 stick  when it was working.

[Ack-Ack]

The stick scale I use which I made to help eliminate the nose bounce used to be available on the trainer's site for download.  Not sure if it still is.

[zack1234]

I was just recollecting fights I have had and I saw some indicators of potential skill of my opponents based on the way they move and figured it would be an interesting topic. 

- From my view I noticed that the better pilots were more intense and gave of a sort of wavelength or pattern of reflexes that revealed their level of focus and I could measure it against my own capability and then come to a general conclusion how the fight will unravel before it has started.

Has anyone noticed any other behaviours that reveal the potential of opponents in here? 

If you rage quit and pm angry messages after you have been owned usual indicates your skill .

If your in a Spit 14 you are 9 times out of 10 to know nothing about the rides to pick.

If your in the Brewster your 9 times out of 10 to be from Finland.

[Biggamer]

i flew with twisty stick for 6 years and peddles for 3 years. to me peddles was a waste of money wont buy another set and here is why. The only thing i gained with rudder peddles was holding energy slightly better not alot maybe 3 knots on a good day. with the twisty stick i had much more control over my plane and my aim was way better.   i did try scaling in every way i could with rudders to try and get to where i was with a twisty and i could not do it.  I started with a twisty stick and used it for to long to switch over to rudder peddles thats what i chalk it up to.  each person is different obviously so my opinion is useless to most and i respect that. <<S>>

[JunkyII]

I had better aim with twisty stick(X52)....I can't hit crap flying now. (Think it also has something to do with the FOV and looking over the top of the cowling which I did non stop for shooting in AH2 but now its off.)