At a Critical Stage in the Game

[Torvald]

Well, my confidence as a pilot has deteriorated seriosly over the last few days. I seem to be spending a lot more time as a lawn dart than as an effective air combat warrior and it is begining to make think that this game is not for me.

So, I have come here for help, to find out what I am doing wrong. I should give you a little hardware/sopftware background first. Currently I am using a P3, 866 with 584mb of mem, my grafhics card is a TNT2 with 32 mb. I currnetly use a MS Sidewinder and my keyboard for my flying. I have a MS gamevoice but am having trouble getting it to work. I have been playing flight-sims since Lucasfilms Battlehawks and have always prefered the combat flightsims. AH is the first multi-player flight sim that I have tried. I am also well read in ACM and know all about keeping the energy of the aircraft up to stay alive.

When I have bought it in AH, sometimes its because I have to take my eyes off the monitor to look for certain keys to hit on my keyboard. Others its when my daughter or wife are trying to get my attention and lose track of my altitude or of the other pilot trying to shoot me down.  The reason that I die in these situations is because I leave the cockpit, even if for only a split second. There is nothing I can do about my family, but is my setup optimal, do I need to get something other than my current joystick and keyboard? Are trim tabs important in ACM, or is leaving it at combat trim fine?

I haven't found a plane that I really like yet, other than a P-51D and P-51B. Thoough I like the diving capabilities of the P-47.

Oh and I have earned about 300 perk points since I started a week and a half ago. Is this a lot or am I way under the curve?

Any input or help would be greatly apprecitated.

[Shane]

you seem to be doing fairly well if you managed 300 perkies already.

nothing you can do about family-ack.

how many buttons on the sidewinder?  my SW FFB2 has 7 buttons (8, if u include trigger) and an 8-way hat i use for views, with one button being mapped as a set-shifter, giving me an extra 8 views (i leave all other functions the  same in set 2).  it's a twisty stick, plus it has a throttle slider on the base.


that leaves me 6 mappable buttons. 3 on the top/back of j/s and 3 (4th is 2nd set toggle) on the base.

the top 3 buttons are, gunsight zoom toggle and raise/lower flaps.

the 3 base buttons are, clipboard, select secondary weapon (or cycling thru ord) and view detail f3 toggle (i fly in high detail mode while cruising and then go into close in detail (shift-f3) when engaged - due to having a lower end machine and fps issues).


i moved a several other functions (remapped keyboard) over to the number pad...  / is dive flaps (for those planes that can use them) * and -  are for rpm control + is for wep is for check 6 . (del) is for damage report.

reason i moved them over is because they're the most commonly used by me under combat situations and my keyboard is to the left of my joystick, so i simply use my left hand to hit those numpad keys for whatever i need. i left the actual numpad views 0-9 as they are, but i imagine they could be remapped as well.

as for a plane of choice, there are 2 ways to go about it.

first is to fly 'em all (or the ones that interest you the most) then settle down to learning 1 or 2 real well before adapting to other planes later on.

second is to pick 1 or 2 planes and learn them (and the AH fm/gunnery) real well and then start flying 'em all.

in any case at some point you want a little stick time in every plane if only to at least get an idea of their performance so you know to to defeat them.

just stick at it and things will fall into place and before you know it, you'll be a rook (if not already one) and tearing up lemmings left and right.

[Eagler]

300 perks in a week and a half?

didn't have perks when I started but it was a good 2 weeks before I hit anything, let alone shot it down

your fine, keep practing - avoid the furballs to die less - go where the numbers are in your favor

gl

[Kweassa]

I use a old version of Microsoft Precision Pro 1. It's got 4 buttons on the left side, slider throttle, one large button in the middle, two triggers and 1 hat, two small thumb switches next to thumb trigger button.

 I mapped my flaps, WEP and Zoom key on the left four buttons, mapped "look up" to the large middle button("shift" button as some may call it..), two trigger buttons are for machine guns and cannons, and hat is for looking, and transmission keys to the small thumb buttons.

 With this config, all I ever need with the key board is "G" gears and "E" for engine. AH view system is excellent, and I can look freely with my hands on the throttle and stick. Only rare, occasional keys are needed to use something like dive flaps or landing hooks.

[dtango]

Torvald:

By the looks of it you are doing just fine!  There is a pretty steep learning curve.  To keep things in perspective there is a heck of a lot to learn regarding air-to-air combat.  It's not good enough just to know theory however and there's a learning curve involved in learning to apply the knowledge correctly.  Getting used to the flight models from sim to sim is another factor which is significant.  You are also flying against some of the best sim pilots out there who have been doing this for a long long time.

Here are two good articles on trim:
http://www.netaces.org/ahtraining/lephturn/trim.html
http://www.simhq.com/simhq3/sims/air_combat/trim/

I find that using trim is a finer point of BFM.  Personally I don't worry about trim during engaged maneuvering and leave combat-trim on in AH.

Both those websites by the way are good sources of information to browse and digest.

There are other fundamental topics to work on in my opinion.  Here is a short but not a comprehensive list in no particular order:

1. Situational Awareness
2. Gunnery
3. Characteristics of a/c (check out Soda's page: http://www.telusplanet.net/~dsoder/models)
4. Angles Tactics
5. Energy Tactics

Again simhq and netaces are good places to go and browse information.

Tango, XO
412th FS Braunco Mustangs

[Mooja]

Torvald, I started about a month ago and share alot of your frustrations.  I've read all the web pages and though I appreciate the effort they put into them for the most part i've found them near worthless.  They all contain the same language like "gain angles" and "maintain E" but tell you nothing about how to do it.  They tell you to bleed energy from your opponent by making him turn and then tell you how you do that is by turning yourself.  Doesn't make much sense when you think about it.  Anyway i've recently begun making some progress and have found my biggest problem wasn't ACM but that I simply lost track of my opponent.  In every case recently where i've lost a 1vs1 it's been because during various evasions and maneuvers i'd lost sight of my opponent and/or which direction they were heading.  One thing that helped me solve this is upgrading my video card.

I have almost your identical PC setup.  First I can tell you an upgrade will help.  I ordered a GEForce4 4600 and a new 2.6Mhz comp to replace it but have only recieved the vid card so far so I stuck that in my old PC to see if it would help.  It does.  With the new resolution I can actually see which direction my opponent is heading while engaged.  I can see flak and ground targets much easier too.

I still have problems during sissors type fighting where eventually the bog gets above or below me and hence out of sight.  Shanes post is helpful about mapping your joystick to keys.  I think I have the same joystick as him except my four left buttons aren't being recognized by AH.  If they would work I could more views (top views especially) and flaps which would help immensley.

Another thing i've found from my experience that seems contrary to common advice is plane selection.  All the advice I was getting before was that I should learn ACM is a turning plane like a NIK or spit.  I tried that and I was continually getting shot down before getting a chance to learn a thing.  Instead i've been driving an LA7 and have been having much better luck.  In this plane you can still try turn/sissor fighting with other fast planes (la7's, 51's, tiffies, etc) and at least last long enough to learn what you're doing wrong and then against the slower planes you can learn BnZ stuff and still have enough speed to get away when you screw up.

Good luck and hang in there.

[Innominate]

Originally posted by Mooja
Torvald, I started about a month ago and share alot of your frustrations.  I've read all the web pages and though I appreciate the effort they put into them for the most part i've found them near worthless.  They all contain the same language like "gain angles" and "maintain E" but tell you nothing about how to do it.  They tell you to bleed energy from your opponent by making him turn and then tell you how you do that is by turning yourself.  Doesn't make much sense when you think about it.  

Grab a copy of Fighter Combat, by Robert Shaw.  It DOES explain a lot of how to do it.  At http://www.bookfinder.com you can find cheap used copies.

For the most part ACM maneuvers are common sense, simply what you want to do in a certain situation, but doing them in an ideal manner isn't.  The diagrams and explanations give you an idea of what to look for.  It's hard to understand a scissors fight, without actually flying it, but once that does happen, it becomes clear what's going on.

As for forcing your opponent to bleed energy, it makes a lot of sense.  You make a slow sustained high-speed turn, while your opponent pulls maximum G's, slowing way down.  Doing this for a few turns, your opponent will gain angles(or come around on you) and kill you.  But thats where your trump card is.  While he IS behind you now, you're going a lot faster.  Pull up slowly into the vertical, he follows you, he stalls before you, you reverse and blast him while he is trying to recover control.

It's the textbook e-fight.

For more information on the basics of acm check out http://www.simhq.com/simhq3/sims/air_combat/f3manual/bfm1.shtml

Also, ACM is not all that important in the MA where it's more important to make your plane look like a hard kill, and to go after the easy kills.  But when you end up 1 on 1 against someone, it will make all the difference.

[Ack-Ack]

Originally posted by Innominate
Grab a copy of Fighter Combat, by Robert Shaw.  It DOES explain a lot of how to do it.  At http://www.bookfinder.com you can find cheap used copies.

Or try John Boyd's Aerial Attack Study, if you can find it that is.  If Shaw's book is the fighter pilot's bible, Boyd's book is the Holy Grail and extremely hard to find.


Ack-Ack

[Mooja]

Thanks for the book suggestion.  I'll have to check that out.

Originally posted by Innominate

...snip..

As for forcing your opponent to bleed energy, it makes a lot of sense.  You make a slow sustained high-speed turn, while your opponent pulls maximum G's, slowing way down.  Doing this for a few turns, your opponent will gain angles(or come around on you) and kill you.  But thats where your trump card is.  While he IS behind you now, you're going a lot faster.  Pull up slowly into the vertical, he follows you, he stalls before you, you reverse and blast him while he is trying to recover control.

...snip...

This is the part I don't understand.  You're turning, he's turning... you're both turning.  If he's turning to follow your turn how is it possible he has to pull more G's to do that assuming equilivant plane types.  This is the kind of stuff I read over and over but I have found no use for it in practice.  I'm sure i'm missing something.

From what i've found in order to go vertical in front of someone to force them to stall you have to have *alot* more momentum than they do because 1) It's certain they're going to be shooting at you as you go up.  2) The reverse has to be a loop or yo-yo of some sort otherwise they'll be recovered before you reverse.  So you have to have enough momentum to be able to start your loop/yo-yo at the height at which your opponent has already stalled.  3) If you stall *just* after they stall then you're both trying to recover only he's still pointing at you while you're still trying to turn around.

I don't think i've ever been in a position where i've had that much momentum and still worried about a slow guy on my 6.

[popeye]

SA is crucial to success.  Learning to judge relative E states is crucial to SA.  That will only come with practice, but it is something that you should be constantly aware of.  Knowing how the other guy's E state (and plane type) compares to yours, tells you a lot about your options -- and his.

[Mooja]

popeye, i've read that exact same thing many times now.  It still means nothing to me and I have a feeling it applies more to R/L than it does to Aces High.  Warping and lags make that kind of judgement spotty at best and many times is more of a distraction than anything else.

As i've been reading more and more in the ACM arena I find that it's filled with statements that you've just posted.  No offense to you popeye and I understand and appreciate that you're offering help but you've written a whole paragraph and managed to tell me nothing about what to do in order to not get shot down.  This kind of communication is so prevalient in the literature I come across in this genre that it baffles me.  I've come to the conclusion that this sort of generic articulation stems from the military origins of ACM.  Pick up any military book and you'll find the same things.  Alot of words with special jargon and connotations but no useful information.

Take for example the term "E-state".  I understand this is short for energy state.  This means so many things that the term is essentially useless when using it in a sentence.  For instance there is enough energy contained in the mass of one C47 to blow apart the entire Earth if you apply Einsteins equations to it.  This information helps me zero when determining which way to turn when a spit IX is on my 6.

I think it just boils down to the fact that you have to get out there and fly around while staying alive long enough to learn something.  There's only so much you can get from reading.

[Innominate]

Originally posted by Mooja
Thanks for the book suggestion.  I'll have to check that out.




This is the part I don't understand.  You're turning, he's turning... you're both turning.  If he's turning to follow your turn how is it possible he has to pull more G's to do that assuming equilivant plane types.  This is the kind of stuff I read over and over but I have found no use for it in practice.  I'm sure i'm missing something.
...
 3) If you stall *just* after they stall then you're both trying to recover only he's still pointing at you while you're still trying to turn around.

I don't think i've ever been in a position where i've had that much momentum and still worried about a slow guy on my 6.

He doesnt HAVE to pull more G's, in fact, he can pull less in an attempt to get you to slow down.  But in the MA, virtually all pilots will go for a maximum g turn.  If both planes are coming in at equal speeds, and pulling the same number of g's you'll just go in circles, and nobody will gain any kind of position.  In the above, you sacrifice your neutral position for extra speed, while your opponent converts some of his energy into angles.

As for going up, it depends entirely on the planes involved.  Some of them(like the n1k2 for instance, or the spit) are extremely dangerous much of the time, without a big advantage, since they'll hover and spray.  

As for stalling out, that is probably the best wayt to turn around when roping someone.  Learning to control the plane as it stalls, and bring the nose down quickly onto the target takes some practice, but is much faster than trying to loop.

[Shane]

Originally posted by Mooja
I think I have the same joystick as him except my four left buttons aren't being recognized by AH.  If they would work I could more views (top views especially) and flaps which would help immensley.

try reinstalling DX, after you do, all teh buttons shoul dbe recognized.  sometimes i'd remove my calibration info and reinstall the stick, or d/l a patch for AH and then my buttons wouldn't get recognized - buttons 7 and 8... and teh stick would be recognized as a precison pro, not forcefeedback.  

reinstalling dx solved that problem everytime.

also double check the sw mapping proggie and make sure those 4 buttons haven't been set up as something else.  i only use the sw software for the ffb return to center tension and ffb effects. all the stick mapping is done via the AH stickmapping.

[Pei]

Originally posted by Mooja
Thanks for the book suggestion.  I'll have to check that out.


This is the part I don't understand.  You're turning, he's turning... you're both turning.  If he's turning to follow your turn how is it possible he has to pull more G's to do that assuming equilivant plane types.  This is the kind of stuff I read over and over but I have found no use for it in practice.  I'm sure i'm missing something.

The idea is that he is pulling more G (i.e. turning harder) than you. This happening because you are deliberately not turning as hard as he is: i.e. you are letting him gain an angular advantage at the expense of his energy while you use best sustained turning speed. If you are doing it right you should see the bogey stop (or at least slow a lot) gaining angles as his air speed bleeds off below corner velocity (while you should not be slowing as much becuase you are conserving energy). At that stage you pull into a vertical manuever and initiate a rolling scissors (series of loops essentially) where your energy advantage should give you a good shot possibility. Obvioulsy this a difficult set of tactics to judge accurately (i.e. if you bleed too mcuh speed or the bogey is faster than you think or conserves energy then you end up with a bogey locked on your six). It may well provide the bogey with snap shot opportunites when you reverse your turns even if you are doing it right so you may still have to jink a bit at the reverse. This hole set of tactics is based on the fact that if you show a bit of your six to a guy even an experienced stick will find it hard to resist the temptation to yank the nose round as hard as possible to grab the offered angles advantage.
(Note that all I'm doing here is paraphrasing Shaw's book which goes into a more detail and explains it better).

Energy fighting in this manner is more difficult to understand and do correctly than angles fighting so you probably want to stick to angles tactics and pure zoom & boom until you get a good handle on your aircraft and judging a bogeys energy.


With regards to all the notes, website and books I can say that they are worth reading even from the start but it will take you a while to appreciate the situations they are really talking about and get a feel for the manuevers involved. Watching other guys filsm can accelerate this process.

[Innominate]

Originally posted by Mooja

Take for example the term "E-state".  I understand this is short for energy state.  This means so many things that the term is essentially useless when using it in a sentence.  For instance there is enough energy contained in the mass of one C47 to blow apart the entire Earth if you apply Einsteins equations to it.  This information helps me zero when determining which way to turn when a spit IX is on my 6.

A plane in flight has two types of energy, kinetic(it's speed) and potential(it's altitude).  You can convert speed into altitude by climbing, altitude into speed by diving.  Energy state is the combonation of a plane's speed and altitude.

A co-alt plane going faster than you has more energy.  A plane higher but going the same speed as you has more energy.  Two planes at the same speed and altitude can be said to be co-energy(or co-e).