Rookie humbly requests

[VermGhost]

you criticisms, observations, and advice on my flight performance.  I have been playing for about 2 days so far and am just trying to start with dogfighting.  As far as picking a plane I am split between the SpitV and the SpitXVI.  I think I have some of the basics down except for using SA more, using my throttle better (still haven't got that one yet) merging (very tough to judge keyholes when at high speed but I use the immelmann a lot) and I am a horrible shot.    Also at the moment I am just trying to concentrate on getting on an enemy's tail and stay there.  Ther eis also this expectation of my performance that I shoul dbe able to close to 200-400 yards and stay there, but upon my second day I think that is unrealistic? I am not sure what I am doing what I am doing wrong but I hope you, my fellows can help me identify some of my errors.

I apologize if anyone gets popups from the site hosting my files.

http://putstuff.putfile.com/18832/7728291

http://putstuff.putfile.com/18833/1801723

http://putstuff.putfile.com/18826/7687666

http://putstuff.putfile.com/18827/4305240

I think that is it, I have more, but I need to edit it and upload it.

Sorry for my ranting, thank you for your help also!

[Simaril]

Welcome!

You sound like you have more ACM knowledge than I did when i started playing, but I'll give you one bit of advice immediately -- take the time to set up a training session sooner rather than later! Email the training corps at trainers@flyaceshigh.com...they can cut literally months off the "I can do this myself" learning time. I can't recommend this enough...and I wish I had done it sooner than I did!


I dont have tim eto review all the films, but I'm watching the first one (film5) and commenting as we go.

1. Big thing to think about here As you merge with the Bostons, you're showing signs of a very common problem -- you're flying toward where the targets ARE instead of WHERE THEY'RE GOING TO BE. If you turn on "trails" in the film, click on "fixed position" view, and use the sliders by the view window to look from ABOVE the fight, you'll see that you are making a gentle curve onto the target's rear (or 6 o'closk position).

Instead, think about flying to where the target IS GOING TO BE. Imagine a straight line that intersects his path, and cuts across the curve you actually drew. From your cockpit view, you would see the planes off to the rightgradually moving toward the center of the windscreen -- dont try to keep them centered while you fly!

This principle is vital in learning to fight well. You need to imagine where they will be when you maneuver, when you merge, and when you shoot.

By the way -- the path you flew is called "lag pursuit" (because you lag behind them) and the one I'm suggesting is "lead pursuit".

Also by the way...you dont really EVER want to park on a bomber's 6. You will die there. A lot.

[Simaril]

2. Think about energy -- which is speed times speed times altitude -- when merging. You slowed way down to reach the boston's original altitude. If you notice that you're doing that, realise that you dont really have the energy to make that merge. With experience, you'll be able to tell what merges you should do, and what ones you shouldnt.

Good players will use a move called the "rope", where they'll try to sucker someone into chasing them up more than they should. Once the target is slow and pretty helpless, the hunter will flip over and kill them fast. So, "just say NOPE to the ROPE"! If you cant get there, dont try...keep your energy.

SO with the bostons, think about how it might have gone if you climbed gently, stayed faster, and manuevered so you were under them and even with them. When the guy dove down, YOU would have been the one in postion to rip them up!

[Damionte]

Went through your films.

Only 2,4,& 5 downloaded.

5 The others already commented on 5.

2 has some usable footage though. Give you a quick critique in a moment.

4 seems to be a 40 minute video of you sitting on the tarmac doing nothing. Thanks for that one.

Best critique I can ive you right now is that you're not really ready to fly around in the main arenas. My suggestion is to spend another week in the training arenas practicing. You have the flight basics down but need SA, "Situational Awareness".

First skills I suggest you work on is picking a target out of the crowd and engaging. Training room is good for that. There's usually a group of guys just flying around in circles playing tag.

The tag game is good training for both Turn fighters "which you'll be in those spits" or BnZ "Boom & Zoom" fighters. For practicing turn mode fighting latch on the end of the train of fighters and try to keep up.

For BnZ practice get a bit of altitude over the train. Pick someone out of the train and zoom in on them. Take your shots then get out of there without getting shot back.

In your Video #2 we have an example of this. You dove down on an LA5 who may or may not have seen you coming. You dove on him with a pretty good angle but gave up on it too soon, probably to keep from hitting the ground. After you blew past him you just flew straight and level for a bit. This gave him time to come in behind you. There are a number of mistakes there. Most of which though we can fix with time in the training room.

I'd suggest trying to make an appointment with a trainer. This will give you 1 on 1 time with an experienced trainer who can take you through all of the basics in an organised manner.

Even when not working with a trainer though hit the training room. There are a number of experienced players who spend a lot of time in the training room just flying around and answering questions. Pick somehting in particular you want to learn in a session and ask around to see if someone can teach you. Ask around the room to see if anyone would like to fight. Take film of those fights and take a look at them. Also helps to ask the other guy what he or you did right or wrong in that fight.

[Simaril]

3. Nice use of the loop and  (a turn where you go vertical some, then back down) when merging with the 190 at about 3 minutes.

But watch carefully as you close on him the second time, and you do the Yoyo while he breaks hard under you. Your speed starts above his, but after the turn finished he's FASTER than you. That means you burned up too much energy by turning more tightly that you should have in this situation. Since you had the advantage, you need to think about keeping the advantage right up to the time that you have the shot opportunity. (I mean, when you have the CHANCE to kill, you do what it takes to GET the kill...but if the chance isnt there yet, dont give up your advantage too easily.)

It would have worked better if you had gone a little higher on your yoyo turn above him, so that when you came down to his level you would have been able to close on him and get the shot. When you go high, your turns get tighter since your flying slower, but you dont lose any where near as much energy as it takes to turn tight at the same altitude.


I have to go ....hope I've been helpful.




PS. Damionte's right in saying that the training room can be helpful, but that doesnt mean you cant fly in the main arenas -- as long as you dont mind getting shot up! Practicing isnt nearly as fun, after all. Personally, I used the TA mostly for training sessions, since I get bored way too easily to just zip around.  

[Damionte]

Yeah the training room doesn't give you the full on rush of being in the MA, but you'll honestly learn things faster.

In the MA right now you're just a target drone. When you die it will seem all of a sudden to you. You'll just be dead and there won't be anyone around to tell you right away why you're dead.

In the Training Arena, you get shot but won't go down. So the person you're working with can tell you right asway what ou're doing wrong and re-set the situation immediatly to help you fix it.

A lot of guys just go in the training room and fly through the hangers. That's just killing time. Make the most of your tie in there. Pick something you want to learn. Grab a partner and work on it.

[The Fugitive]

Originally posted by VermGhost
......  There is also this expectation of my performance that I shoul dbe able to close to 200-400 yards and stay there, but upon my second day I think that is unrealistic? ......
 

I havn't watched the films, but both of these guys posting here ussually know what they are talking about  I want to talk about the above quote I snipped out of your post.

A good pilot can set-up 200-400 off the 6 of an enemy, and can stay there indeffinately. It takes a good "eye" to see what the enemy is doing and reacting to it very quickly.... ie: chopping throttle, side slipping and so on. However.... theres alway a "however ain't there?    going for the "6 shot" isn't the best idea. Against bombers, they have a ton of guns to shoot back with, and against fighters, its the smallest target a fighter can present making hitting it very hard.

Getting into the "6 o'clock" position, or "saddled up" a 1000-1200 out is a better position. Seeing the enemy break one way or another, and pointing your nose to where they are going to pass ( see Simaril post of flying to where the target is GOING to be) will give you a bigger target as the plane will be in a turn and rolled up on its side more.  Firing a burst to where it should pass, then climbing into a high yo-yo will bring you back in on anything that is left of the enemy plane with "e" to continue the fight.

Set up your "guns pass" where it will give you the biggest target to hit. Of course the better pilots will time a roll to try and give you the smallest target as you pass anyway. Think ahead, make a plan and try to force the enemy to give you that shot. Thats where the trill of this game is, well for me it is. Out thinking your opponate is a blast !

[VermGhost]

Originally posted by Simaril
Welcome!

You sound like you have more ACM knowledge than I did when i started playing, but I'll give you one bit of advice immediately -- take the time to set up a training session sooner rather than later! Email the training corps at trainers@flyaceshigh.com...they can cut literally months off the "I can do this myself" learning time. I can't recommend this enough...and I wish I had done it sooner than I did!


I dont have tim eto review all the films, but I'm watching the first one (film5) and commenting as we go.

1. Big thing to think about here As you merge with the Bostons, you're showing signs of a very common problem -- you're flying toward where the targets ARE instead of WHERE THEY'RE GOING TO BE. If you turn on "trails" in the film, click on "fixed position" view, and use the sliders by the view window to look from ABOVE the fight, you'll see that you are making a gentle curve onto the target's rear (or 6 o'closk position).

Instead, think about flying to where the target IS GOING TO BE. Imagine a straight line that intersects his path, and cuts across the curve you actually drew. From your cockpit view, you would see the planes off to the rightgradually moving toward the center of the windscreen -- dont try to keep them centered while you fly!

This principle is vital in learning to fight well. You need to imagine where they will be when you maneuver, when you merge, and when you shoot.

By the way -- the path you flew is called "lag pursuit" (because you lag behind them) and the one I'm suggesting is "lead pursuit".

Also by the way...you dont really EVER want to park on a bomber's 6. You will die there. A lot.

Holy cow, thank you for the great advice Silmaril, Damionte, and The Fugitive!  I also did not know I could set up a training session as well but I just set them a message so hopefully I can get working on this soon.

I apologize for the goofed film, it was early in the morning when I posted and forgot to edit the first one, but alas I cannot edit my post anymore

Things I am going to concentrate on are:

-Don't engage bombers on their 6's, think about where I will intiate contact with the birds.
-pick a target out of a group of bogies (preferably closest or an unengaged one) and stick to that target.
-setup engagements further out since I think I begin to want to engage once I get closer to an enemy.  This should give me more time to be sly and gain some energy or set up for a better merge if possible.

I think the hardest part for me is maintaining SA without crashing while engaged and keeping an eye on where my opponent is at so I can go back on his tail.  In addition I remapped the controls to my joystick hat, but I still find myself using the numberpad the majority of the time.

Once again thanks for the advice, I am going to take these pointers and start using them so I can be a better pilot!

[The Fugitive]

Originally posted by VermGhost
-Don't engage bombers on their 6's, think about where I will intiate contact with the birds.
-pick a target out of a group of bogies (preferably closest or an unengaged one) and stick to that target.
-setup engagements further out since I think I begin to want to engage once I get closer to an enemy.  This should give me more time to be sly and gain some energy or set up for a better merge if possible.

These are great things to keep in mind, however, don't carve them in stone!

Learn to be flexable. Don't make a plan then go thru with it only because "thats the plan". When diving in on a buff group, take one more look around  before you hit guns range, you may want to roll out of that run due to another friendly making a pass at the same time in the same area (kill shooter).

or when diving in on a fighter, ya pick a target, but if he turns the wrong way, don't follow him just because he's the target. Pick another, or go around again. Don't force a bad situation.

SA is about as important as learning to keep a plane in the air. Train yourself to scan the area every few seconds..... even while in a fight! Try to keep a mental picture of where all the bad guys are in relationship to you and your fight, you may have to take evasive moves to avoid getting cherry picked. Learn to let go of the bogie your on to save your bacon as it is    Don't get fixated on the guy your chasing, thats when you'll die most often.

Good luck, and keep at it. It takes time to get good. Heck I've been flying for years and I still stink..... but I have fun  

[Messiah]

My advice is this, fly into the biggest swarm of red enemys as you can and try and survive as long as you can, seriously.  This improved my SA faster than anything else.  While your getting ganged by how many ever enemies try and get them to overshoot you and try and take some with you. Do not care about scores or ranks or any of that nonsense because in this game it's poorley implemented and pointless(*IMO*).  Learn to control your throttle and flaps, and just get a feel for the planes.  Oh, and fly the 109 ftw.

[trotter]

Originally posted by VermGhost
I think the hardest part for me is maintaining SA without crashing while engaged and keeping an eye on where my opponent is at so I can go back on his tail.  In addition I remapped the controls to my joystick hat, but I still find myself using the numberpad the majority of the time.

Hi,
Sounds like you have the right attitude to learn, and I have no doubt you'll get the hang of the game if you just give it some patience and effort.

Don't consider it a fault that you are using your numpad for views. The Aces High view system is great for the numpad, I use it myself, as do many other pilots. If it feels more comfortable to you, simply ditch the joystick hat or remap it to other controls.

About the views- I have found it useful to keep my views on the pan mode rather than the switch mode. So, for example, when I check six (numpad 2) my "head" pans briefly all the way around my horizontol field of vision until it reaches the back. Then, when I release it, my "head" pans briefly back to the forward position. It does this when I look in any direction. This is useful because the pan is not terribly time consuming, but say if a bogey is at your 3 or 9 o'clock that you didnt know about, you will see him during the course of a check six.

I'm not sure if "pan" and "switch" are the exact terminology for these settings (I haven't changed my settings in a while) but I but I believe that the pan mode is default.

My experience is, don't ever bother with padlock. It works in some other sims, but in Aces High, in the Main Arenas, you will simply lose all situational awareness and become target fixated.

Best of luck.

[Basco2]

"Also at the moment I am just trying to concentrate on getting on an enemy's tail and stay there."




I think i help you with your problem of staying on the enemy's tail. Do you kno what lagging is? Well, it's where to do a half-barrel roll while doing a loop. After you get out of the loop, you should be behind the enemy. This should probably be used when you're in a horizontal left/right turn. Once out of your lag, then you have a clear shot at the enemy. If it fails, repeat.

[BaldEagl]

Originally posted by trotter
Don't consider it a fault that you are using your numpad for views. The Aces High view system is great for the numpad, I use it myself, as do many other pilots. If it feels more comfortable to you, simply ditch the joystick hat or remap it to other controls.

About the views- I have found it useful to keep my views on the pan mode rather than the switch mode. So, for example, when I check six (numpad 2) my "head" pans briefly all the way around my horizontol field of vision until it reaches the back. Then, when I release it, my "head" pans briefly back to the forward position. It does this when I look in any direction. This is useful because the pan is not terribly time consuming, but say if a bogey is at your 3 or 9 o'clock that you didnt know about, you will see him during the course of a check six.

I use the num pad exclusively.  I've re-mapped my hat switch to other functions.  I do however use snap mode rather than pan but I look around A LOT.

As to saddling up on someones 6 yes and no.  If he's faster eventually he'll outrun you.  If he turns better eventually he'll end up behind you.  Given equal planes then yes, you should be able to stay there indefinitely but you really need to know how to "read" the other plane and react quickly.

Good luck and most of all have fun.