Aces High Bulletin Board
Help and Support Forums => Help and Training => Topic started by: Ego on October 21, 2002, 08:43:08 AM
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ok,,,, I can take off and land,,,,know how to do most manuvers however this does not seem to correlate to much success ..missing something?......and please no more web sites been to a million already.......lol......seems as if i'm always low or out numbered,,,if i'm high the enemy is low with lots of company,,,
out of my mind on a monday moaning
Ego
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In a word,
SA
OK thats 2, Situational Awareness.
Going into a fight do you see that "30 secs from now I've got to check that the spit over there isn't on my 6."
"There is a high tiffy but he's going the other way so I don't have to worry about him for 15 secs or so.
Many people have talked about SA in terms of "shells" or "Threat assesment"
I like to break it down to 3 possibles.
Those in or almost in guns range. Deal with them or die in 10 seconds kind of situations.
Those who will be in range in 15 to 30 seconds.
These are not an immediate threat, depending where they fly they may or may not become one. But they have to be watched ever so often.
Those cons well out there, or closer cons who are engaged already, Low cons who can't possibly get up to you in less than a minute.
These guys you only have to check once every 30 seconds or so.
So, break down all the possible threats, priortise which have to be dealt withh immediatly.
IE "If I don't turn 90 degrees & go HO with this spit he's going to be on my 6 and shooting soon"
Then remember to ALWAYS check 6 every 15 sec's or so. While your doing it look around a sec, update your last SA.
If your tight behind some guy and he's twisting & turning its tough. But it can be done.
Fly smart, think ahead, anytime you see more than
1 con best be thinking about an exit strategy.
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Ghosth Pretty much covered it mate,
As far as I can see your SA is the problem. The only advice I can give to you us don't be afraid to disengage if the situation alows it.
Something else you should think about is the aircraft you are fighting against and the aircraft you are flying. It all ties in with SA really.
For example:
If Ghosth is flying his LA7 at about 10k and see's Betown at his 12 Oclock in his good old Spit 9 going for a HO (head on)what should he do?
1st) He should assess exactly what each aircraft can do. The Spit 9 has 20mm Hispano's that are deadly. Subsiquently he has 2 of his own 20mm that is equaly deadly. The Spit 9 can out turn the LA7 on any day of the week. But the LA7 can outclimb it in a sustained climb. The Spit 9 is much more manouverable and both the Spit & La7 have a fair ammount of ammo.
2nd) Decide whether to go for the HO, go High , go Low or do a high G turn
3rd) Make an escape plan if it all goes tits up
4th) Finalise his plan and exicute it.
That's prety much it. If you have any other questions or want some 1 on 1 training then give me a mail on
Betown (betown@ecomm-net.co.uk)
Good Luck
BT
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Ghosth is exactly correct. He's one of AH's "old sages" and has forgotten more about this game than most of us will ever know.
It’s all about situational awareness. You absolutely MUST know where every potential threat is at all times. Moreover, you need to determine their E state as well. Nothing, I repeat, NOTHING is more important in this game than SA. Good SA will keep you out of trouble your skills cannot extract you from. That's how it works for me. I don’t care if you are flying an F-16, if your SA is miserable, eventually, you will be shot down. Not only should you be constantly looking around accessing threats, but you should check the radar every two or three minutes to determine future threats as well.
I have three basic rules I fly by. Speed, Altitude and Stealth. Whenever possible, I will enter a fight with all three to my credit, regardless of what I am flying.
Consequently, I have shot down well over 200 enemy fighters and bombers this tour, yet I have not lost a single fighter to enemy fighters, and only one or two to enemy bombers.
I am anything but an exceptional pilot. Therefore, if I can do this, anyone can. It really is about situational awareness and developing tactics that work for the type of aircraft you are flying at the moment. We read all the discussions about who has the greatest dogfighting skills. However, if you develop top-notch SA skills and tactics, and fly to the strengths of your aircraft, those highly skilled furballers become far less of a threat. Think of it this way, let them worry about you, rather than you worry about them. I'm seriously considering flying the P-40B exclusively next tour, just to prove this point: While the aircraft is a big factor, SA and tactics are the keys to success.
Another point: I can’t emphasize this enough, FLY CONSERVATIVELY, ATTACK AGGRESSIVELY. Seek and acquire every possible advantage, then use your advantage to attack with maximum aggression. Any hesitation once committed can be deadly to you. However, do not confuse aggression with recklessness. They are very different.
If you find yourself lower and slower than the enemy, you have not adequately assessed the situation prior to engaging, or you have accepted the tactical disadvantage intentionally. If the latter is the case, you will have to rely upon your ACM skills to be successful, or just simply to survive. If you don’t have that level of skill, then avoid those circumstances. However, if it is a situation that you suddenly find yourself in, you need to work on your SA a bit. But that's ok, this is the baseline you start from.
Ultimately, surviving in the MA, if indeed this is important to you, boils down to SA and tactics.
You are welcome to fly with the =Ghosts= in the MA (we fly with the Rooks) anytime you wish. Or, you can join any number of outstanding squadrons who take pride in training new pilots. Remember, today's newby is often tomorrow's hot stick.
My regards,
Widewing
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hmm after SA you should also know how to properly use those manouvers in a way in wich you can gain the upper hand...in other words know your planes limits and the other planes limits then exploit what it cant do...like getting a pony into a turn fight with a hurr 1...if the opponent is stupid enough to do it you will win.
or HOing a hurricane 2 with a zeke...you wont last long so dont do what you will loose
im sure someone will resay that in a better way
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I'm curious...taken from the "fly smart" perspective you can't say it any better than ghosth and wildwing (both of whom fly much smarter than I do). since you brought up websites etc...do you have a copy of Shaws book. Once you know the bad guy is there...you still need to know what your options are...clint said it best in that regard..." a mans got to know his limitiations" or something to that effect. Are you fighting your SA...or are you making bad choices?
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Make an escape plan if it all goes tits up
Why escape when tits goes up ? :)
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Because when I see tits I usualy have to escape to grope them.
;)
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Fly Paranoid
Fight the most inmediate threat.
Thats SA in a sound byte.
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The guys are right-on about SA.
SA Link (http://soe.wwiionline.com/12511.html)
It boils down to accurately assessing your changing threat environment and making good decisions in split seconds proactively or reactively to these threats.
My suggestion is to develop a decision making process. As you apply it and modify it overtime you'll be able to assess and process your threat environment more accurately and quickly speeding up your decision loop as well as improving the quality of your decisions.
A good starting point is to know how your plane matches up against the planes you're up against relative to the specific energy states of your a/c vs. all the a/c in your threat environment.
Essentially if you don't have an evolving offensive/defensive plan you are working off of then you'll likely get picked off, run down, or swarmed by your enemy.
Tango, XO
412th FS Braunco Mustangs
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Thank you for all your responses,,,,I have given some thought to the situation and think Ghosth may be the most on target. I have re-looked at some websites for SA(groan.....hate looking this stuff up......lol) I have purchased Robert Shaws book,,,,,10-14 days before delivery. However, I have decided that it may all be for naught, have a 14 inch monitor, 850 pentium p3........frame rates may (mine about mid thirties on take-off) make this a moot point. When I engage with more than 4 planes showing on screen my fr drops to high teens low tweenties ,,,,,at best!! Almost impossible to compete,,,,,my subscription is up soon,,,looking in on possible upgrades but don't know if I can afford it at this time. Thanks again for your kindly and timely responses!!!
Ego
AcesEgo@juno.com
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Ego:
I had a p3 450 with a GF2 GTS card for a long time. FPS finally got down to between 15-20 with later releases of AH. I upgraded to a GF3 Ti200 64MB about a year ago. On the P3 450, my FPS was a solid 30 FPS and very playable. I do have a 17 in monitor however. You can find a GF3 Ti200 for about $70 I think.
Of course I got the P3 3 years ago and I'm on an refresh cycle to replace my PC every 3 years or so and got a new system in the last 2 months. Currently P4 2.0 Ghz with the same GF3 card :D. 60 FPS solid.
Tango, XO
412th FS Braunco Mustangs
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SA is tough to teach Ego but if you stick around give me a yell.
The only thing I can addto all the good advice above is that the first step to mastering SA is mastering your views.
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Hya Ego:
1 of the best and fast ways to learn SA is (In my opinion) to join once or twice in a cockpit of a pilot who uses SA as main tool in arena. "Propably" you can find this sort of guys watching high K/D ratios on stats. I assume that (as a general rule) the higher the K/D the higher the better SA of the pilot. Just as a guide, you may suggest that a pilot with K/D over 2.0 has some SA to teach you. Also, If the pilot is glad to tell you the story of whats going on and how he is READING his flight, you will have a lesson you will never forget.
Other thing to have in your mind is that you must substract the kind of plane the skill pilot is using. I mean, maybe you can have a ride with a good stick in his P-51...dont try to do exactily the same in a NIKI or you will be even more frustrated. After the ride you need to pick just the guidelines of how to READ the enviroment...then switch it to your plane.
There are a loooot of people with better SA than mine, but if you want to have a ride on my 190 D9...I will be glad to help you. The backs are that I am spanish and my spoken english will not let us get the best of the ride at 100% level.
Good luck...and dont forget very good tips in the other posts above.
ZAMO
P.S. : Whoever you choose to join... ASK HIM ALWAYS FIRST!!!! Dont just push the JOIN botton first.
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Originally posted by ZAMO
Hya Ego:
1 of the best and fast ways to learn SA is (In my opinion) to join once or twice in a cockpit of a pilot who uses SA as main tool in arena. "Propably" you can find this sort of guys watching high K/D ratios on stats. I assume that (as a general rule) the higher the K/D the higher the better SA of the pilot. Just as a guide, you may suggest that a pilot with K/D over 2.0 has some SA to teach you. Also, If the pilot is glad to tell you the story of whats going on and how he is READING his flight, you will have a lesson you will never forget.
ZAMO
P.S. : Whoever you choose to join... ASK HIM ALWAYS FIRST!!!! Dont just push the JOIN botton first.
I've been playing Aces High for about two years now, and I still like to .join someone every so often, just to get a differant perspective for a while.
Every time I do it, I learn something new.
Definately a most under rated learning tool in my opinion.
As ZAMO says, it is just plain common courtesy to ask before you send a join request, there is nothing more annoying than being in the middle of a fight and having a popup join request window block your view. (though it is simple to turn this off so that you recieve a radio bar message instead, it's still the done thing to ask first).
Allso, turn on your 'guncam' ( alt R turns camera on, view films with ahfilm.exe found in your Aces High folder ) and review your fights later, win or lose, turn on trails and watch from an external view, watch from opponent's cockpit views etc, it will soon become clear what you did right, and what you did wrong, then simply concentrate on bettering your weaknesses.
I'm not sure combining these two ( .join xxxxx and record with alt R) will work, I've never tried.
And Ghosth is bang on the money, knowing where any and all threats to your aircraft are located at all times is absolutely essential if you hope to survive the encounter, and I would say the single most important 'skill' to master in AH, or any air combat sim/game.............lose sight, lose the fight.
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Ghosth and WW have summed it up very well.
A couple of points worth mentioning. Knowing your a/c's capabilities vs. the other planes that you encounter is very important. It takes study but is essential.
SA is a learned science. Everyones SA "comfort" zone is different dependent on their skill and experience. As you get better at this road you travel your "comfort" zone will change..
Where one persons comfort zone maybe clear skys with all the cons lower than him. Anothers may be one con inbound at co-alt..
And in rare cares ( believe me there are pilots here ) where there are 4 or 5 cons ABOVE them...
Good article on SA from another sim:
http://www.fourthfightergroup.com/squadron/sops/StruggleToSurvive1.htm
Regardless, developing SA in the Main arena is not something accomplished overnight, or in a week, a month, a year..
You can ALWAYS do better.
That's what keeps me here :)
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Find a VERY good pilot, & shadow him or her. You'll watch them make decisions & see their SA at work. At first, it won't make much sense, as in "why don't they go over there & nail that guy?"
After a bit, you'll begin seeing things (on dar & around you) that weren't apparant before.
Seeing/Awareness is half the battle. The hard part is the discipline to do as the situation dictates.
Hap
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WideWing.....well said and glad you are on our side!:D
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ego something that hasn't been mentioned yet,
SA is very important, so you need to implement it properly, by this I mean Hardware setup.
If you have a decent joystick with a hat switch make sure you set it up properly, most people can get at least 18 different views without touching the keyboard, this will help alot.
Also make sure you set up your head views in each plane to give maximum viewable area and save with the F10 key as its obviously not good if all you see is the head rest when you look back.