Aces High Bulletin Board
Help and Support Forums => Help and Training => Topic started by: JB73 on March 15, 2005, 07:12:36 PM
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ok i am finally going to ask for help.
it has gotten to the point where i am getting worse the more i fly.
i have attached 3 AHF files of recent sorties...
all three i die a miserable death because i can not evade the con on my 6.
all three i miss what i think or hope should be easy shots all over the place.
4.35 MB zip file of the 3 films (http://www.onpoi.net/ah/pics/users/180_1110935369_films.zip)
please some of you better sticks watch them, and give me time points of what you think i did wrong.
ps. in the dora flight with the la7 on me i was hopind to do a barrel roll overshoot, but couldn't pull it off. that move PIS### me off some days i can do it, especially offline, but in combat i fudge it up every time.
i know im a pathetic excuse for a dogfighter
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Well w/o watching the films, 1 thing I know. If a pilot who has ANY clue and is on your 6, it can be difficult to shake regardless. From the 1st film, it looks like you just flew into a bad situation. You didn't have enough speed and had to fight the spits on their terms.
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mere words alone can't express how badly i fly nowadays.
is it time to give in and give up? i will never be a top rated dogfighter, and setteling for bottom of the barrel is too distasteful for me.
3 more sorties, i wont bother posting the films, all 3 deaths not a single kill.
dora, spent all my cannons (down to 110 left, not a kill or damage to enemy plane).
something in me tells me there is no hope to make me "better". gunnery is a trait, it has been discussed a quadrillion billion zillion times. i DONT have whatever it is to shoot right. i dont get it mentally. to shoot i have to be zoomed in, and take every ounce of my brain to make the shot, and i miss it 95% of the time (hit % less than 5% usually around 3-4%)
it is actually worse than that because i artificalyl "pad" my hit % by going full into a bomber wasting every last round on a hit to pop him even if i die 90% of the bulltes on him hit.... thus im really down around 1-2% hit in fighters VS fighters.
all my convergences are set to 300 all guns. i actually went offline and manually set them for every plane even though i fly LW only in my squad.
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If I were you, I'd visit the TA and DA. Some very good sticks in both those arena that nobodies realizes. I believe gunnery can be improved. When I started (4 months ago:) I couldnt hit anything. Now after constant duels and training I feel very confident when I aim. I'm not sure how long you've been playing and how use you are to the planes you fly. But I've flown the same plane for basically these four months. I know ballistics, speed, how far I can push it till stall and how to fight different aircraft in it. I'd recommend sticking with 1 aircraft, taking it to TA and DA, practice dogfightin, BnZ , everything till you know it inside and out. It really helps. I think anyone can improve if they're willing to put the time and frustration into practicing and failing over and over and over....I did:P
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Originally posted by JB73
all my convergences are set to 300 all guns. i actually went offline and manually set them for every plane even though i fly LW only in my squad.
maybe it's simply that the LW ride(s) aren't for you...
maybe you'd do better in some other plane/style.
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I really didnt see anything really wrong with your flying. The only thing I saw in your films that is different than the best sticks in the game is this..........
You dont control your encounters.
You can take only take some of the blame on yourself, because (and I do this alot myself) you dont think ahead in your moves. After watching some of the better guys fight I've drawn the best analogy I can for myself, and thats to Pool (9 ball actually, but it works with any variation). You have to learn to look not only at your opening move, but where will it leave you if you are successful? How many other guys are right there who's attention will be drawn to you once you come in icon range of them? And I know this sounds cold but, how many of your own countrymen are there to draw their attention away from you while you reposition?
Yes the mechanics of the fight have been gone over ..........and over ...........and over............. But the mechanics of what makes a good fighter pilot sometimes get lost in the mix. You fly german iron, you should remember the basic rules of engagement by Erich Hartmann.
See
Decide
Attack
Coffee Break
They also have been discussed into the ground, but we get so caught up in the discussion of the 1v1 that we just include the other guys up there as a peripheral thing, or an inevitable "fly in the ointment". If you look at them as part of the overall strategy though, you will be much more successfull.
Really. Your gunnery is good. There are better, but there always will be. You have a good grasp on lead. You land shots in your lead turns, and many people cant. Your maneuvers are smooth, you dont overdo the G's (except by accident, and we all have lapses sometimes when the adrenaline starts to pump). What I am saying is, yes you have probably plateaued as far as skills goes, now its time to work on your entrance and exit strategies, work on your overall awareness of the battle around you, not just your target. Beyond that, learn the limits of the planes you fly against. If you know how far the guy can push that Hellcat (or whatever), you know when its time to bug out and get some separation.
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film6: bad decisions got you killed. After you killed the F6F, you flew towards a pack of sea planes with only 250mph and 0 alt. All of those planes had the E to catch you - not a good situation against sea planes when in a 109. Your second mistake was continuing to fly towards the gaggle after that first spit in-in'd you. You should have broken into him and forced the fight away from the horde instead of flying straight.
film7: more bad decisions. The first time you flew right towards the cv low and slow with a gaggle coming out of it... inadvisable. You don't need to grab much, 3k is fine if puffy ack bothers you (sure does me..), 4-5k is generally best. When you died the last time, you didn't cut throttle until you were already vertical. By that time, the spit already had a gun solution and it didn't do any good. You should have cut throttle and ruddered a bit before going into the spiral. I would have cut throttle and banked right a little, rudder left the whole time, THEN gone vertical for a bit of a spiral. A spit might kill you anyway, but at least it'll be a bit more difficult of a shot.
I also noticed that you're shooting from too far away, and taking shots that will at best do superficial damage if they hit at all. You were opening up when the range hit 400, which I think can be anything from 500-300.. not sure on that. Regardless, LW guns have piss-poor velocity out that far, particularly on a dead 6 shot, and will only hurt if you hit a LOT (best of luck to you... I'm shooting 18% right now even with thousands of missed bb's used to make people turn, and I can't kill a damn thing with LW cannon from 400 out). 90 degree deflection or maybe a guy on auto-level and you'll do some damage. I usually don't bother shooting unless I can completely take a plane out. Superficial damage (aileron, etc) only makes people run. I'd rather people assume I'm using no tracers and am a lousy shot. Whenever possible, I don't shoot LW guns until the icon hits 200.
film8: Broken record here... bad decisions. You were burning E going for shots that probably won't hit, and definitely won't kill with. By me, the dora isn't worth flying if you're gonna be attacking anything under 450mph. Getting low in a gaggle like that is just silly. Either hope your targets don't break (don't see you) or break too late, or predict which way they'll break. I'd attack in a dora like I do in a 262.. never have someone who's paying attention in my sights when attacking. I guess which way they're going to turn, throttle back a little (stressing little for a dora), and have them offset to the right or left of my canopy for a slow plane, or between my nose and wing for something fast.
As for how you died... you waited until the LA was too close before breaking. For that type of break to work, you either need to be a lot slower, have a plane that turns better, or start it earlier. That's how I generally reverse when I figure the other guy for a noob and don't want to do something fancy, and I try not to start the turn any closer than d800 if the other guy is only a few mph faster. You made the right choice extending that far to avoid being completely ganged, but the good decisions ended there. 190's are hard to keep up with in a flat scissor, so chop your throttle and go nuts, and shoot him up when he overshoots.
edit: I didn't read SOA's post until going over mine, and Hartmann's tactics will work perfectly in a dora. 109's... not so much. With everyone in the MA flying around at full throttle, it isn't practical (or much fun) trying to fly like that - the 109 doesn't fly so well above 450mph ;) You definitely need to pick your fights better, especially since you fly LW. When you're one of the only people on your team in icon range, and there are 20 reds, you probably don't want to make yourself a target for them. If you want to fly 109's against a gaggle, keep E on them. I like to make half-assed attacks through gaggles at full throttle (and wep when it won't lawndart me) and try to hit something while compressed. However, my goal isn't to kill anything in the dive... it's to get some of the idiots to follow me vertical (if you dive on a big gaggle, there's bound to be at least 1 willing idiot) so I can pop them from safety as they dangle. That'll work in a dora as well, just be careful and don't get too aggressive in your dive.. don't wanna bleed your E and let something outzoom you.
OK, sleep time.
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I go through the same periods, when I feel totally helpless in the skies.
My main goal atm is to raise the level of my lowest performance, not to increase the level of my highest performance.
Ive found a few reasons to my slumbs.
1. Mental tiredness.
Somedays your not as fresh in the head as other days. For dogfighting one really needs to be very fresh mentally. When I feel a bit tired in the head but still feel like playing AH I wana play I focus on JABOs.
I play to have fun and flying when doing tons of mental mistakes aint much fun.
Still some days I do wana dogfight or I get into situations where I have to dogfight even though Im mentally tired. What I do then is I go back to basics and fly more conservative then normally.
Its important to not become passive just because you fly more conservativly.
What I do when I fly more conservativly is that I always go for a little bit extra altitude. My biggest problem especially when not focused or when frustrated from bad performance (usually these go hand in hand) is I get sloppy with E management. I dont bring enough to the fight and I waste it. So I do get a bit extra alt.
I only engage high targets and dont follow low.
2. Fighting big furballs.
When one isnt doing too well one tends to get with the hoard. This is really bad because with the hoard there is sooo much planes in the air putting a much higher demand on your positioning and SA.
When I get into a slumb I do break away from the bigger furballs and go for small dar bars.
Most of the time I even go for unattacked bases. I basicly grab a cup of coffe and hang in the radar of the unattacked base. This usually results in 1 or 2 enemies upping and after a while another few countrymen showing up creating nice small fights.
The good thing about smaller fights is that they are soo much more forgiving on the SA and in fight positioning, hence allowing you to focus more on your ACMs and gunnery. You get more time to make the shot and if you get out of position its not such a big deal as there arnt 10 other enemies there waiting to chew you up.
Tex
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I agree with wetrat that the core of it is just making some poor decisions.
Where I think that comes from is a bit of weak SA. You went quite a while without checking your 6 in those films. It didn't seem to do you much harm in the fights I saw, but it would have helped all the same. The sooner you see someone turn toward your 6 the longer you're going to have to figure out what evasive you want to do, and the more you're going to know about their E state.
If you're lookin for new moves I recommend you start practicing your lag roll. You'll find a nice lag roll in one of yucca's recent p47 films. You seem to set up most of your reversals with a hard break turn, and by the time you cut back in the guy was already well out of a suitable position for getting a shot. You have the better roll rate, so use it to keep his aot close to yours for a quicker kill after the overshoot.
-pellik
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Gunnery is learned, gunnery can also go to heck in a hurry if you forget where you came from or what works.
Get back to the basics.
If your not flying & shooting every day you might be rusty. In which case 5 min offline shooting at drones before you head for the main makes a huge diff.
Are you jumping around from this plane to that? Never really remembering what it takes to make any one of them work?
Flying LW birds will make you crazy. Its a proven scientific fact, accept it.
Seriously the German guns are probably the hardest in the game to master. With the RAF Hispano's the easiest.
Quit worrying about how much ammo its taking. It takes what it takes.
After all, if you end up dead it doesn't really matter does it? And if holding that burst for another quarter of a second makes the difference between him dieing, and you dieing, isn't it better to live?
Worry about ammo AFTER he's dead. Till he's gone he's your # 1 problem, he can have it ALL if thats what it takes.
Once your back on top ammo conservation can come back. But its one of my own biggest problems. Don't let that monkey get a grip. He'll ride you like a bronc rider.
Don't get buck fever! Relax, be confident, you can DO this. Just take the time to set it up and do it right.
Slumps, we've all had em, some are little hiccups, some are the grand canyon. To get around these your going to have to back track a bit.
You may find that jumping to a new plane will help. As it forces you to rethink everything you do. Forces you to relearn how to get positions, then shoot & win.
If you need help the Trainers Corp is here to do just that. You may have to wait a bit but eventually one of us will pop into the TA and can help you work this thing out.
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73,
you either have not been playing as much as you have in the past, you hit a "qualified slump" or have reached a plataeu in your experience level.
I sum it up as a Qualified slump!
I have seen and fought you in the past. And you did quiet well, and I myself as well as everyone else that flys flight sims get in slumps, that includes Shane, Leviathn, Drex or any other one of them Top of the Apple Tree Dog Fightin players.
I do not think your skills have reached their limit. This slump will pass, just as they have before. sometimes though a true qualified slump will make you feel like you have peaked and if you let the frustration get to you, it will play with your mind and take twice as long to get back in the right state of mind.
wetrat had good observations and feedback for your films, pellik as well. Ghosth pointed out a very good thing to remember, when ever you feel like you are at a stumbling point, go back to the basics and retrace your steps til you figure out what is blocking you, most times it is something so simple you'll laugh at yourself when you figure it out.
;)
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Originally posted by TexMurphy
I play to have fun and flying when doing tons of mental mistakes aint much fun.
What I do when I fly more conservativly is that I always go for a little bit extra altitude. My biggest problem especially when not focused or when frustrated from bad performance (usually these go hand in hand) is I get sloppy with E management. I dont bring enough to the fight and I waste it. So I do get a bit extra alt.
Had one of those nights myself just a couple nights ago. Everything going wrong, hard time focusing during climb-out and in between fights ............... led me to not noticing enemy fighters until it was too late to make the decision to engage or not. Also led me to being very frustrated, and making really bad decisions when I did engage. Finally Morpheus and his wingie handed me my butt 3 times in a row due to really REALLY avoidable situations (not that they wouldnt have anyway, but its embarassing when you dont even make a fight of it), and I called it quits and went to bed.
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I am by no means a good fighter pilot so I am in no position to critique your films. However I have been playing online games long enough and have been on earth long enough to understand what happens in a slump.
You start out with not seeing what you are used to seeing (Winning). So you try harder and stretch and press your luck because you want that winning feeling back. As the others have said you begin to make poor decisions because you are frustrated.
If you let this go on too long then you may be fooling yourself into thinking that you need to change everything. Maybe Im aiming too high, maybe too low. Maybe the plane is no good, maybe I got something wrong with my computer.
Your confidence is shattered, failure feeds on your emotions and therefore you slump continues. One good piece of advice came from the guy that said that maybe you should step back a little, have a cup of coffee and just try to relax and get into smaller skirmishes. This is what I do when I start to feel that I am in a slump.
The longer you let this continue the harder it is to get back out of it. The key in my opinion is to know thyself. The sooner you recognize that you are in a slump and take a breather the easier it is to get back.
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Originally posted by TWA500
I am by no means a good fighter pilot so I am in no position to critique your films. However I have been playing online games long enough and have been on earth long enough to understand what happens in a slump.
You start out with not seeing what you are used to seeing (Winning). So you try harder and stretch and press your luck because you want that winning feeling back. As the others have said you begin to make poor decisions because you are frustrated.
If you let this go on too long then you may be fooling yourself into thinking that you need to change everything. Maybe Im aiming too high, maybe too low. Maybe the plane is no good, maybe I got something wrong with my computer.
Your confidence is shattered, failure feeds on your emotions and therefore you slump continues. One good piece of advice came from the guy that said that maybe you should step back a little, have a cup of coffee and just try to relax and get into smaller skirmishes. This is what I do when I start to feel that I am in a slump.
The longer you let this continue the harder it is to get back out of it. The key in my opinion is to know thyself. The sooner you recognize that you are in a slump and take a breather the easier it is to get back.
I've always found that I can use my slumps to learn new ways to enjoy the game. Every few months my flying will pretty much go to ****, and all my tricks seem to get countered before I start em. Sometimes it's just me, but sometimes it's the MA adapting to me. Why it makes the game fun again is that it gives you the opportunity to find new ways to fly your plane. I've gone through at least a half dozen completely different styles of fighting in the 38, each suited to different trends in the MA. For example, when I first started fighting in the 38 I learned how to fight well nose down. This allowed me to jump into the p47 and have some good fights. People started bringing better E burners then spits, and I found I couldn't kill anymore. From there I went into the reversal fights, and eventually people learned how to cut throttle and/or break off early to avoid burning E for the shot. I got bored with watching people break off every attack so I switched to aggressive verticle knife fighting. People started packing more E in the fights so I switched into verticle overshoots. People stopped pressing in the verticle so I switched to rolling evasives, which allowed me to win a decent % of my 1 v manys. I could keep going, but the more recent I get the harder I find it is to express my moves.
So to recap, use the slumps as an opportunity to try something different. If nothing that you do works anymore you've got nothing to lose by mixing it all up and doing something new and crazy.
-pellik
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thanks for the comments...
Flying LW birds will make you crazy. Its a proven scientific fact, accept it
no truer words spoken LOL
i wil say when trying for a shot, if i look to the side i lose all line of the lead, and usualy can't overcome. i just can't mentally work through it, and that is what probably makes me not look 6 as much as others. i gnerally have a mental picture of what the planes i can not see are doing, you can tell what some planes in general are going to do after a few years in the MA.
cc on breaking earlier when the LA was chasing, i just wanted to be far enough from that f6f (IIRC that's what it was chasing about 3k back). if i got slow fast, and made the LA overshoot the f6f would cherry me i thought. i was hoping to do a fast manuever just to get 1.5K seperation from the LA and run home. i had the reserve WEP to make him chase em a long while, and with trimming properly the dora can go a wee bit faster in a flat run (not faster than the LA but faster than on normal auto-pilot)
shooting:
i find it very diffucult to get much closer than D400 without overshooting, or running into the other plane. if im in a dora (which is my 80% usual ride) i can zoom closer, and wip past, in that 109E speed was not there to zoom up to a plane. i only fly the Emil at capped bases, because it can really suprise seafires, and turn inside them.
the 205 i flew is my other "main" ride for a twisty fight.
i will try to get in closer to shoot, but if i start running into plane parts like i usually do i'll have to back off again LOL when shooting i try and "feel" when the icon is going to change from 400-200 and shoot then (which should be 299 yards if i understand the icon system properly) thats right at convergence, and should maximize the shot theroitically.
tequila, yes i have not been playing AH much lately. i used to log 70 hours easy in a tour, now im down to 30-40.
this has got to be a slump, but it sure seems like the worst and longest i have ever been in. heck a few months ago i held a k/d above 2.9 IIRC for a tour. the best i have ever done. now i am lucky to be 1.5
oh well off to fly and try
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If you're going a lot faster than whatever you're attacking, don't even worry about overshooting. Get in close, take your shot, zoom climb and try again. You can't complain about lousy gunnery if you're shooting from too far away and refuse to learn how to do it properly :p Unless I'm flying with hispanos or 50cals, I don't even bother shooting as soon as the icon switches to 200 unless it's deflection. I like to get in a little closer so my victims don't have time to panic and fret over pings and superficial damage. I want them dead ;)
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Originally posted by JB73
i wil say when trying for a shot, if i look to the side i lose all line of the lead, and usualy can't overcome. i just can't mentally work through it, and that is what probably makes me not look 6 as much as others. i gnerally have a mental picture of what the planes i can not see are doing, you can tell what some planes in general are going to do after a few years in the MA.
I disagree. As you mentioned after years of flying in the MA you should be able to determine "exactly" which planes are the threats and which are not. "In general" doesn't quite cut it anymore. The last thing you should do before taking a shot is a check 6 in heavy traffic. A full scan during the saddle up is also pretty much mandatory when lotsa of enemy planes are about. To do less invites disaster.
shooting:
i find it very diffucult to get much closer than D400 without overshooting, or running into the other plane. if im in a dora (which is my 80% usual ride) i can zoom closer, and wip past, in that 109E speed was not there to zoom up to a plane. i only fly the Emil at capped bases, because it can really suprise seafires, and turn inside them.
Do you have rudders? Or twist stick? Rudders can stick the fuselage into the slipstream and act like a huge airbrake.
the 205 i flew is my other "main" ride for a twisty fight.
i will try to get in closer to shoot, but if i start running into plane parts like i usually do i'll have to back off again LOL when shooting i try and "feel" when the icon is going to change from 400-200 and shoot then (which should be 299 yards if i understand the icon system properly) thats right at convergence, and should maximize the shot theoretically.
You can actually shoot all the way into 100 yard range if you:
unload
fire a 1 second burst
break hard away cause she's gonna blow!
I prefer 200-300 yds. If you don't know what 200 or 300 yards looks like make a sight with a 200 and 300 ring for the plane wingspan average. When they guys wings fill the circle you will know yer distance without a doubt and can blast away.
oh well off to fly and try
Feel free to join me in the TA anytime. :)
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Ren... i use a CH fighterstick, CH pro pedals, and an x45 throttle.
i know what you mean about looking back in a horde, but it is really hard for me to explain.... when on the 6 of a spit, im trying ot get the lead, and head where he is going, looking to the side / back, then forward again, i lose all orientation of where i was trying to get, and have to break off the attack.
it sounds stupid i know, but i cant really explain it better. kinda like vertigo, or something. look around, then go back to looking at something and it doesn not make sence anymore. like looking at a page of text, reading... get in the middle of a long paragraph, look up and around for a second, then find your place right away.
i can't do that, i usually have to start re-reading the paragraph.
as far as a burst then they are going to blow, i almost never blow planes up. the LW guns just dont have that punch, and i am nowhere good enough to hit the cockpit. heck hitting just the plane is hard enough i can not for the life of me figure out you guys that aim for the cockpit.
i will add, last night before the MA dumped, i ahd 2 good sorties winging up with a squaddie, made some shots, and got some kills. maybe the slump is over, maybe not. i did still have 5+ really bad sorties where i hit nothing and got killed easily.
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heres a tip no one suggested.
try taking up a P40E, a Hurricane mk1 or even a POS like the F4F.
you might suprise yourself.
seriously.
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P40E isn't a POS!!! FEAR THE 40!#@!@#@#:D
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Originally posted by mechanic
heres a tip no one suggested.
try taking up a P40E, a Hurricane mk1 or even a POS like the F4F.
you might suprise yourself.
seriously.
squad does not allow non LW planes.
(except dweeb week last week of each quarter last week of march, june, september, december )
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Originally posted by JB73
Ren... i use a CH fighterstick, CH pro pedals, and an x45 throttle.
I use CH F-16 fighterstick, Pro Throttle and 12 year old TM pedals.
i know what you mean about looking back in a horde, but it is really hard for me to explain.... when on the 6 of a spit, im trying ot get the lead, and head where he is going, looking to the side / back, then forward again, i lose all orientation of where i was trying to get, and have to break off the attack.
I understand as we all have those kinds of concerns. I know you'll remember that lead, pure and lag pursuit doesn't mean you have to pull too hard in lead or ease off too much in lag. Sometimes just putting your sight on his nose is enuff to close the gap quickly yet not too quickly if ya know what I mean. What I'd suggest for now is before you really commit in on the guy confirm no inbound threats then only take a glance or two strait back just before you shoot. That, or as you said, a wingy will give you a heads up yer not gonna lose yer tail yet allow you a look without the vertigo. Don't look left or right for now, just strait back..no planes there, finish your kill.
it sounds stupid i know, but i cant really explain it better. kinda like vertigo, or something. look around, then go back to looking at something and it doesn not make sence anymore. like looking at a page of text, reading... get in the middle of a long paragraph, look up and around for a second, then find your place right away.
i can't do that, i usually have to start re-reading the paragraph.
LOL, the easist way I ever heard of getting vertigo (in RL) is to shoot an approach to landing when over water, at 1000 ft, pitch black outside, on 20 mile final. I guarantee if you glance out the window into the darkness vertigo can hit you square between the eyes. In order to minimize it always do a threat assessment before you get in. You will know where the closest possible threat is coming from. This limits yer required scan to just that view. You can do that and still get the job done.
as far as a burst then they are going to blow, i almost never blow planes up. the LW guns just dont have that punch, and i am nowhere good enough to hit the cockpit. heck hitting just the plane is hard enough i can not for the life of me figure out you guys that aim for the cockpit.
Do you use your lift vector to align yer view? If you're roll in hot on some guy and fire a one second burst just pitch up, chop throttle for a split second, roll to put yer lift vector on him and pull right back in. If the first bust didn't pop his bubble you are right back in with a second shot. No wasted views, time or energy.
i will add, last night before the MA dumped, i ahd 2 good sorties winging up with a squaddie, made some shots, and got some kills. maybe the slump is over, maybe not. i did still have 5+ really bad sorties where i hit nothing and got killed easily.
There's the value of a good wingman. However, since we're all human don't get too carried away expecting a wingman to clear your 6 everytime. You still need SA. But he can still call inbound bogies if he is a dedicated wingman. He's the guy that has been following the fight so he also sees the same threats you see, unlike some other guy 2k away who doesn;t even know if the bad guy is behnd you or you;re behind the bad guy. Hmmmm remember this also...a drag you set up is not a drag if you die doing it.:)
Hope this helps
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Originally posted by JB73
squad does not allow non LW planes.
(except dweeb week last week of each quarter last week of march, june, september, december )
I fought a few who broke the rules last night :D
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Originally posted by JB73
mere words alone can't express how badly i fly nowadays.
is it time to give in and give up? i will never be a top rated dogfighter, and setteling for bottom of the barrel is too distasteful for me.
3 more sorties, i wont bother posting the films, all 3 deaths not a single kill.
dora, spent all my cannons (down to 110 left, not a kill or damage to enemy plane).
something in me tells me there is no hope to make me "better". gunnery is a trait, it has been discussed a quadrillion billion zillion times. i DONT have whatever it is to shoot right. i dont get it mentally. to shoot i have to be zoomed in, and take every ounce of my brain to make the shot, and i miss it 95% of the time (hit % less than 5% usually around 3-4%)
it is actually worse than that because i artificalyl "pad" my hit % by going full into a bomber wasting every last round on a hit to pop him even if i die 90% of the bulltes on him hit.... thus im really down around 1-2% hit in fighters VS fighters.
all my convergences are set to 300 all guns. i actually went offline and manually set them for every plane even though i fly LW only in my squad.
NO WAY, never give up. Ive been playing for a while now and im still not, in any shape or form, a good fighter pilot.. heck not even remotely decent.. I have my times where i have shot down a top ace (god was in my corner). Heck wing up with me and we can die in style. ha ha :aok
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A few things, JB73.
First, you can learn aim. Don't believe anyone who tells you otherwise, and don't convince yourself that you can't improve on what you already do. First, try something different for a change. Turn your tracers off and bring your convergence settings way in. Try that for a month and see how you do. You could do worse, but then you already feel you're as bad as you can get. What's the harm?
Second, your main problem seems to be situational awareness. You have guys pulling lead turns on you as you fly past them, and you aren't even snapping your views to follow them or adjusting your flight path. I found that I was working the views in the film almost completely differently than you did. You weren't marking people as threats who were, in fact, the biggest threats. You were also diving into impossible situations where no player would succeed in that plane.
As for slumps, we all go through them. Just play through it and don't let it get to you. Find the humor in it rather than the frustration. All slumps come to an end eventually.
-- Todd/Leviathn
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Call me anytime...I'll play target for you in the TA. That's what works for me when working out gunnery, practicing reversals etc.
The TA is low stress enviroment where you can focus on gunnery or whatever it is your working on in a controlled enviroment until it becomes more second nature to you.
You might also try riding with another LW flyer and see what they are doing.
Zaphod
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Best way to break a slump is to try something new. My Ki84/109G2 flying was getting sloppy, so I decided to master taters in the G6/10. When that starts getting sloppy, I fly spit14's for a bit, then go back. Best way to kill your lousy flying is to change things up.
And for god's sake, pay attention to what's going on around you :D
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Feel free to hook up for a flight anytime, I fly rook, mostly D9 or G10...with a little Tiffie and P51 sometimes....I have 260 odd kills this tour, fighter ranking for what it's worth in the 20's.
After 6 years of online sims my strengths are good SA and good gunnery, acm is slightly better than most but not in anyway good.
I agree with what others have said but would add that perhaps think about looking at the MA in a slightly different way.
Instead of trying to simply outfly or outfight yr opponents rather think of trying to create situations, using speed and energy where you force them to either to make a mistake or to lose sight of you for that 3 seconds you need to kill them.
You also need to practice both range and defelection shooting, I set my guns at 600 and can kill a stable target out to 800, a climbing or turning target at 400 and a manouvering target at 200 to 300.....it is a critical skill that enables you to swat down 3 or 4 opponents in a furball while everyone else is flopping around and looping their little hearts out.
The trick is of course not even to have to worry about actually flying and shooting, just let that happen, watch and wait for the chance to kill and get away with it and then reposition yourself for the next chance.
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Originally posted by Schaden
Instead of trying to simply outfly or outfight yr opponents rather think of trying to create situations,
If you're flying LW and you're trying to outfly people in the middle of a gaggle, you haven't planned your sortie right :D Outflying people is for 1v1/2/3's away from the big hordes.
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Some days the best decision to make is to stay in the O'club and have a pint or two.
If you're getting frustrated at your flying it will only make it worse.
Take a week off, catch up with some reading or some TV watching, talk to the wife/girlfriend and let them know that you are indeed still alive and still living in the same house.
Come back refreshed and ready for a clean start. Practise offline or in H2H to get your shooting skills honed then hit the MA with only one intention: good fights.
Don't try for kills, try to have a good fight.
Enjoy the sortie for what it is, not what the score board says.
After all, isn't a sortie where you get killed after a closely fought battle much more satisfying than a sortie where you mindlessly vulch baby seals? (although the seal option can be fun too!)
Just try to have fun and it will get better again, you'll stop rushing engagements and flying into hordes without a good situation merely to chase kills that won't appear...
My 2 cents, YMMV.
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Originally posted by JB73
squad does not allow non LW planes.
(except dweeb week last week of each quarter last week of march, june, september, december )
You fellows seriously might want to consider amending this, maybe to something on a percentage scale or something. I can't see how it doesn't hurt you immensly and put you at a distinct disadvantage in the MA...
Sure, on the one hand, you're going to learn what your plane can do inside and out - I'll give you that. But OTOH, you aren't learning what the other planes can do, inside and out.
I dunno. I've skimmed your website and read why you fly what you fly and I have to respect that, its pretty cool to see that sort of dedication. But, MAN, are you guys missing out!
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Originally posted by Vudak
You fellows seriously might want to consider amending this, maybe to something on a percentage scale or something. I can't see how it doesn't hurt you immensly and put you at a distinct disadvantage in the MA...
I dunno. I've skimmed your website and read why you fly what you fly and I have to respect that, its pretty cool to see that sort of dedication. But, MAN, are you guys missing out!
I think this is one of the reasons there are so many squads out there. If you like a squad dedicated to one thing you can prolly find it somewhere in the MA. If you want a squad that only bombs, then same thing. If you want a squad that just likes to dogfight or take fields, they're out there too. You can pick and chose. Some are even regimented with rank and stuff. Others know they're rank and like it that way, too!
If you like what the squad yer in does and like whatever rules they have then have fun doing it!
But, you really need to spend time with yer squad, in the TA or DA and learn all about the planes you will be fighting. Otherwise, how do you plane to fly your planes strengths against another planes weaknesses? On hearsay? You gotta experience it firsthand to really understand it.
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73 - My advice to you would be to put yourself in situations where you *HAVE* to hit the shot, or you die. That seemed to work for me... and once you "learn" how to shoot you never really forget. You might have to retrain yourself once in a while, but it never completely goes away.
There are certain shots that I very rarely miss... and it is just because I've practiced them so often that I can do it blindfolded (practically.. I don't think I've ever actually tried).
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Originally posted by SuperDud
Well w/o watching the films, 1 thing I know. If a pilot who has ANY clue and is on your 6, it can be difficult to shake regardless. From the 1st film, it looks like you just flew into a bad situation. You didn't have enough speed and had to fight the spits on their terms.
I couldnt disagree with this statement any more....your not always going to win but you CAN almost always make it a fight...
http://www.azhacker.com/images/Relic38.ahf
I just happened to film this a couple hours ago...nothing super fancy...but a good reverse on a 1000 yd con...he got me in the end but he worked for it. To me thats the key, eliminate being an "easy kill" as much as possible...you'll win more than a few you wouldnt think you have a chance at....
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JB....
Obviously there's a lot of good advice already....
Personally I'd suggest either the A5 or the G2 (since you need to stick with the luftwabble iron). The D-9 is very very limiting (to me). Basically it has to be flown "properly" to be successful...the G-2 and A5 allow alot more "pilot creativity". Dropping the hardware restriction I'd strongly suggest a tour in the Ki-61. It's a wonderful bird with great vis handling and guns...it also can be flown any way you want successfully.
The D9 requires patience over valour and from what I saw you tend to "ride to the sound of the guns"....truthfully with your "style" you should be flying a 109F (or spitV,Ki-84,hurricane)...the D9 just isnt a plane you go and "wade in" with. Either ditch the tool or change your style to fit what you fly a bit more. If your going to fly the D9 I'd suggest the following drill...1 Kill per sortie till you land 100 in a row...
In the end the D9 is simply a very very limited plane with regard to tactics...you need to engage with the advantage...set up the best shot(s) you can and then leave as your advantage disappears.
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I think everyone missed the most obvious fault here
Location, location, location
He lives in Wisconsin
nuff said
:lol
NwBie