My own newbie questions

[STENDEC]

Could someone tell me what the point of ejecting out of planes and landing your plane back at base is?  I haven't seen any benefits of doing that (in my very limited experiences in this game).  It would seem to me that rather than taking the time to go all the way back to base and land, it's more economical to just crash your plane when you run out of ammo and what not.  And ejecting just seems to prolong your time at going back to the tower and getting a new plane (rather than going down with your plane in a final blaze of glory).

Another question - why do people get kills even in some instances where they had no involvement in shooting down a plane?  Example: being the poor pilot that I am, I frequently stall and crash.  Very embarrasing, especially when near an enemy plane and they didn't even get to fire off a shot.  Yet they still get points for killing me.  Why is that?

Also, I can never seem to adjust the throttle.  I use the "-" and "=" keys, but they never seem to have any effect (I haven't changed any of the default controls).  Is auto speed on as default when you start up the plane?  And is the throttle automatically at maximum when you take off?

Is there any way to get out of a spinning dive when you stall?  This seems to happen to me frequently, and I can never do anything about it.

Whilst in a bomber, and I try to climb, I always get the stalling sound.  It always takes a long time for me to climb to any appreciable altitude in a bomber.  Is this normal?  

One final thing that I've noticed as a bug: when I alt-tab out of the game, and then go back into it, some elements of the graphics of the game go awry.  At one point, being in a fighter, I could see through my cockpit - up, down, behind, I could see everything (normally the back of my seat would abstruct my view behind).  The cockpit had turned completely transparent to me.  It seems to me that this is a bug one could easily exploit.  Anyone else noticed this?

Thanks for any help; it's very much appreciated!

[SlapShot]

Crash vs Ditch vs Bail vs Landing all have to do with perk points. If you shoot someone down and land, you will get more perk points than you would if you take the other options. If you are not concerned about perk points then lawn darting is not a bad thing (I always like to bring my plane back home if possible).

Those are called proximity kills. I think that they have to do with the possibilty of actually causing a death by outflying your opponent. Like causing someone chasing you to compress which will result in their death (hard to do, but realistic just the same).

Don't know about the + and - keys. I have the throttle mapped to my stick.

Yes and No. Many variables involved here but some times it can be done and sometimes, no matter what you do, you are going down. Fly the plane within its flight envelope and you wont have to deal with those. I had a fair amount of those when I first started and quickly realized what not to do in the plane the next time I took it up.

Bombers. Remember that all the planes are modeled after the real plane. Bombers loaded with tons of oridinance and fuel will take awhile to gain altitude just like the actual plane that you are flying. 30 or more minutes to get to 20K+ when fully loaded.

I am running XP and found that to be a problem also. It is not a bug, it is your video drivers or your video setup. What I did was switch my video setting on my desktop from 32bit color to 16bit color. The problem went away.

[SKurj]

In bombers the flaps are down 2 notches automatically.  Make sure to raise your flaps or you won't go anywhere fast +)


Flap keys Q and W

Crash Ditch or bail, is all about score, perks and pride what have you.  Sure we could all ditch as soon as we are out of ammo, or bail as soon as an enemy fires at us... but do you not have any pride? +)


SKurj

[Makofan]

Assuming this isn't a troll....

#1) Why land?

In game value: perk points multiplied by 1.25
Stats: if you track kill/death ratio, it helps

Otherwise, be lazs and just crash to get back into the action quicker   Personally, I (and many others) like the satisfaction of landing a plane - I view it as a flight sim as well as a combat sim.

#2) Kill allocation

It's kinda f%^&'d in this game, but it is the same system for all.  You will lose some kills, and gain others.  Basically, the game attempts to assign each death to a cause.  If you auger (like I do all the time) it just awards the credit to the nearest pilot.  Sometimes he(she) deserves it because they suckered you too low, often they don't.  I don't worry about it too much.  

#3) Throttle keys

If you have Auto-takeoff on, then throttle is at 100%.  You may have to use the SHIFT-equals (+) rather than the number pad +

#4) Spinning dives

Recovery is tough.  Practice offline from about 10,000 feet.  If you spin out at under 2000 feet you're dead unless you are VERY good.  It usually takes me about 5000-6000 feet of alt to recover from a spinning plane.  In the F4U I don't recover at all

Theory: spin is caused by one wing stalling, usually a high Angle of Attack at low speed causing you to stall and lose the ability to fly level. That wing dips and there you go...  First thing you need is lift, so point the nose of the plane DOWN (this is counter-intuitive, as that ground comes up fast).  I turn throttle off so I don't rip my wings off as speed increases.  As your speed comes up, you now have enough airflow for lift, if you could only balance the wings.  Turn hard rudder the opposite way of spin.  That is, if you are spinning left, apply hard rudder right.  If you can't figure out which way you are spinning, try both ways and see which gets results.  The aim here is to stop spinning.  As your spin slows, get ready to ease up on rudder input or another one will start   Once the plane has stabilized and is headed straight down, GENTLY (so as not to spin again) pull the plane level.  A cheat at this stage is to hit X and let go; sometimes the auto-level will save your bacon.

The best way, though, is to learn when your plane is about to spin and stop performing the offending maneuver.  Learn the telltale signs of an oncoming spin and stop just before that.  You are probably yanking your plane around too quickly at low speeds.

#5 Bomber climbing

Bombers climb like pigs.  The B-17 climbs like a pregnant pig. This is normal

#6 My screen goes all FUBAR if I ALT-TAB out, so I always quit, do what I want to do, and then log back in.

I am sure others will chime in here

[Puck]

Could someone tell me what the point of ejecting out of planes and landing your plane back at base is?

Score.  If you don't care what your score looks like, augering is the quick way to replane.  Personally I always try to RTB, just on principle.  I particularly always try to land bombers.  That's just how I play the game.

Another question - why do people get kills even in some instances where they had no involvement in shooting down a plane?

That's a proximity kill, and is the subject of much debate both for and against.  If you die and a BadGuy(tm) is close they get credit for it.  

 

Also, I can never seem to adjust the throttle. I use the "-" and "=" keys, but they never seem to have any effect (I haven't changed any of the default controls). Is auto speed on as default when you start up the plane? And is the throttle automatically at maximum when you take off?

Does your stick have a throttle wheel?  It may be set full up.

Is there any way to get out of a spinning dive when you stall? This seems to happen to me frequently, and I can never do anything about it.

Practice, practice, practice.  Typically stick forward, rudder opposite spin, throttle back will help.  Others have other methods; whatever works is good.  Keep your speed up so you don't stall is the best advice  

Whilst in a bomber, and I try to climb, I always get the stalling sound. It always takes a long time for me to climb to any appreciable altitude in a bomber. Is this normal?

Yes.  When I fly bombers I'll get off the ground, then go read a book, make dinner, watch a movie, go shopping, or otherwise amuse myself for the hour or so I spend climbing out.  You get the stall sound because you try to climb too fast and end up going too slow.  You also have to be cautious where you take off; many runways have hills in front of them, and you're not going to get a bomber over them.

The cockpit had turned completely transparent to me. It seems to me that this is a bug one could easily exploit.

Not sure it's exploitable; I'd wager about the only thing you'll accomplish is getting killed.  AH does not seem to work and play well with others, not that anyone really works or plays well with Microsloth.  Personally I just don't alt-tab out.  When I want to mangle the packet stream I use utilities on the router.

Just wondering if anyone was still paying attention      

[STENDEC]

Thanks for the quick replies guys, clears things up for me