I had a long discussion on private channel and on private rw last night with a pilot that we will call...
N
N does what I am talking about here. But he couldnt understand what I was talking about when I talked to him. He kept focusing on his overshoot teqnique which is only part of the equation. I asked him how did he survive to force the over shoot when I had a perfectly good shot at him?
This was a very friendly and informative discussion with a fellow FW pilot. We met later by chance in the TA and had lots of chances to see hit avoidance in action.
I learned that the moves that N used to signifigantly lessen his chances of getting hit were almost purly reflex. I would make a run on him and watch it develop into a solution that was going to hurt bad. I could start to expect what he was going to do and when. In discussion it seemed that he could not identify it. He was behaving instictivly to the oncoming attack, Even after me keeping above him for 20-25 minutes and making probably 8 runs on him as he stalled out to reach me, he still performed the action the same way every time, and still did not know for sure what I meant.
I would say that in the abscence of that move I would have killed him 6 times.(I bounced him while he was dispatching another plane) I knew that I could not fly with him. Even though he was in an A8 and I was in an A5. I knew that if I tried to mix it up I was dead.
(This skill is meaningless by itself. In combination with all the things that make a good pilot it is deadly)
Finally I had learned a few things, we where both out of wep and I did what I would typically do, push the envelope to try for a real hard hit. I took an increadably hard hit at him, did next to nothing, we moved into the very high sided scissors that the fw does so well. It took him about 5 tries to get behind me which I thought was pretty good for me.
The first shot he got on me was all he neaded.
Now I will admit that N is a better flyer then I. I am certainly as good a shot as him, My SA is just as good(at least at less then knife fight range, I kept him ropadoped for 30 min.
But the result was almost preordained. I could not hit him no matter the quality of my run.
N did not cheat, but I would estimate that he managed to nullify 85-95 % of the cannon rounds that would have hit him.
For a pilot like me that is not spectacular at ACM, who relies on gaining position, maintaining E and administering a heavy fight ending hit, N is a nightmare.
I learned a few things as well.
N uses a rudder stick combo, I think this kind of controler might have instinctive advantages for this kind of evasion.
Ns teqnique is definatly more effective vs players that hold their fire till a killing range is achieved, he has to nullify fewer rounds, he does not lose E for as long do to his fluctuations and the enemy is liky to be in a more exposed position after overshoot. Someone that starts shooting at 1k is probably way more dangorous to N.
Of course weapons that allow long shots like .50 cal and hispano are more dangorous to him.
N a big salute
If I misrepresented anything in our joint experiace last night correct me or if you like email me and I will post your point of view on it.
I think that this is not very realistic, I will state again that a cone of fire passing through the airspace occupied by an aircraft does not give a crap about the small fluctuations of the target aircraft. It is a side effect of the way the game is or has to be implemented over such diverse locals with so many client computers I guess.
But I think that teqnique is what has replaced eyesight as the thing that really makes some of the pilots more individually deadly then most.
