Here's a film - what can I do better?

[allegro]

See: http://www.pacifier.com/~eleet/011504_2v1.zip [868K zip]

This is from an engagement earlier today.. I spot a C205 while at high alt (unusual for me, but there was a nice juicy cloud layer up there) and start spiraling down towards him, but he maneuvers around me. Later along the way I pick up a mosquito and now I've got two on me. Through no small amount of sheer luck I manage to get the mosquito out in front and down him, but my E-less Spit9 is quick work for the dogged C205.

This is the first decent film of me actually fighting someone - I would appreciate it if the vets in here could spare a quick 5:43 and give it a run through and see what they think, and perhaps suggest what I should've done differently.

Much obliged!

[Delirium]

I'm by no means an expert and I only fly the P38 but I looked at your film. I don't mean to offend you in anyway but here is my opinion of the fight;

You made some critical mistakes, most notably diving on a La7 that was much lower than the 205. This 205 easily converted to your 6 because your E states were much more similar. The La7 did what alot of La7s do- ran and left his buddy. At this point the La7 was out of the fight.

However, you countered this by turning horizontal keeping the 205 just out of range. As he got within 900 you did a beautiful 'rope' (he followed you up), the 205 stalled out and at this point you should of put your nose down and killed him. What I mean, is you should of rolled the plane to where you were inverted and pulled down to him, rather than pulling a horizontal turn where he was at your 9 o'clock. It was a beautiful rope, it was a shame you didn't take advantage of it.

Then, you moved almost 3k away from the 205 and instead of making him climb to you, you went right for his nose throwing away your altitude advantage and gave him a head on pass opportunity. If you had gone vertical, you may of roped him again or at least would of have defeated his face shot.

Now the Mossie joins the fight, you defeat the head on shot by the Mossie but it places you away from converting to the 205's 6 o'clock because you extended it long after the Mossie went by. You further place yourself at a disadvantage with the 205 by concentrating on the Mossie.  

I would of stayed with the 205, because the Mossie would of been unlikely to have gotten a good shot in a turn fight, while the 205 was far more likely. Not to mention, you had a slight angle on the 205 as he did a vertical manuver that invited a lead turn (turning slightly early) because he could not get his nose on you and the Mossie was already past.

After this, the 205 is easily able to stay behind you (more so after a vertical manuver that closes the distance between you) and the Mossie is having difficulty even staying behind with the evasives.

I know there are gents alot more knowledgeable than I, but thats my take on the situation.

It takes alot of time to learn ACM (more so if this is your first flight sim) but keep in mind its not something that stays fresh unless you work at it. The fact that you're looking at films and accepting criticism is a good way to start to really improve. Keep your spririts up!

[Hap]

hi allegro, i think we fly for the same country.  next time you see me online, give a holler.  we'll fly a sortie.



hap1

[Delirium]

One more thing, ask nicely to have someone teach you things in the training arena. The Main arena is a bad place to learn- people are going to kill you as fast as they can without regard to your skill level. You'll get (maybe) 15-20 seconds of pure classroom per death, where as you can get much more out of a 1v1 for general BFM/ACM.

The only thing you can't master is Situational Awareness in a duel environment, tracking 1 plane is cake compared to the Main Arena's hordes.

[Dead Man Flying]

Thanks for the film, allegro.  Here are some general comments where I've noticed you can improve.

(1)  Situational Awareness.  Always try to keep those enemies in your sight and in your mind.  I noticed many times where you were staring straight ahead rather than scanning around you for their positions.  This really does require some practice since new players have difficulty keeping their bearings while staying focused on enemy planes.  A good way to practice this is to go offline and do loops and various other manuevers while trying to keep your views on one object such as a hangar or fuel bunker.  Learn to switch views all the way around in a circle as you follow the object through your manuever.

Situational awareness was particularly important in this fight.  It seemed that you accidentally picked up the Mossie as he flew in front of you and completely lost sight of the 205 while he was behind you.  You also kept using the back/up view to look behind you for the 205 instead of the straight back view which probably would have been more helpful.

(2)  Anticipate enemy manuevers.  I noticed a lot of lagged reactions to enemy manuevers.  For instance, the 205 would roll to the right and turn to the right, and after a delay of a second or two you would do the same.  Rather than respond to enemy manuevers in a delayed fashion like this (which always guarantees that the enemy will be a step ahead of you), instead anticipate his moves and beat him to the spot where you think he'll go.  Again, this is much easier said than done, and experience helps quite a bit in determining what sort of move someone's probably going to pull.  Something to work on right now is to react much more quickly to changes in the enemy's flight path.  Try to roll as quickly as possible in response to the enemy rolling.  Try to reverse just as quickly.  Reduce that lag time.

Here's a link to a film that you might find helpful in regard to both of these points.  Enjoy, and I hope this information helped.

-- Todd/Leviathn

[TweetyBird]

Thanks for posting that film, Leviathn.

I like watching other films as I try to figure what I would be concerned about at that time and what I would be doing.
This film is just full of decisions to be made.

There is something I'm missing, because there are numerous times where I would percieve a threat and yet in the film, you seem unconcerned about them, in fact not even looking at them.

I'll give one example. The first attack you make is against a 110. Now as you are going over the 110 there is an LA-7 to your 2 -3 o'clock obviously eyeing you. He's about 4k away and closing. You dive on the 110 and after your shot, you look back at the 110 flying off. Not once do is see where you even check the position of the  LA-7. At this point (42 seconds into the film) there is the LA-7 1.2 out and a spit 994 out diving on you from your high 12. Yet you have them in no view and have not once peeked at them ( as far as I can tell). In fact the LA-7 passes 90 yards off your canopy!

How did you dismiss the LA-7? Is there something there that shows its no threat? Luck? A suicide situation where you would try to take down as many as possible before getting shot? Are you using sound to tell the position of the planes above you?
If I was in your position, I'd have dismissed the 110 and been concerned about the LA-7. I'd be thinking that diving on the 110 is going to put a fast LA-7 above and behind me. Obviously I can learn something here, if you could explain a little of the reasoning of the choices in the first attack and what you were thinking about after the first shot on the 110. Again, in that position after shooting the 110, I'd have been looking all over for that LA-7.

Thanks!

[Dead Man Flying]

Originally posted by TweetyBird
How did you dismiss the LA-7? Is there something there that shows its no threat? Luck?

[/B]

If you watch before I engage the 110, I believe I check out the Spit and La7 as they're closing (the Spit co-alt 12 o'clock and the La7 off at 2 o'clock).  I made a judgment call that I could engage and destroy the 110 before they reached me.  Once engaged with the 110, I was more concerned about eliminating him as a threat as quickly as possible rather than scanning all over for the enemies who I knew were closing rapidly.  Basically, I knew they were there and knew they were close, but my time was better spent going after the 110 than keeping my eyes out for them.  Once the 110 bugged out, I was able to reacquire and go after the others.

Luck surely plays some part in that since an excellent player in either the Spit or the La7 would have made me pay for hedging my bets.  Decisions in AH often account for perceived skill however; had I known it was Shane in the La7, I would have never taken my eyes off of him.

A suicide situation where you would try to take down as many as possible before getting shot? Are you using sound to tell the position of the planes above you?

[/B]

I think at the the time I honestly considered this a suicide situation even if my banter on the private channel suggested otherwise.  Let me put it this way... I go into these sorts of engagements expecting to win, but if I die it doesn't upset me.  As far as sound goes, I don't really use it as any sort of combat aid.  More often I keep a little 3-D map in my head of what's going on around me.  It's not entirely accurate, but even if guys are out of my sight I can usually guess where they are or what they're doing based on where I saw them last time.  This helps a little bit in situations like the one in the film.

If I was in your position, I'd have dismissed the 110 and been concerned about the LA-7. Obviously I can learn something here, if you could explain a little of the reasoning of the choices in the first attack and what you were thinking about after the first shot on the 110. Again, in that position after shooting the 110, I'd have been looking all over for that LA-7.

[/B]

I don't really remember what was going through my head at the time.  I must have either fought that La7 earlier and considered him a tertiary target, or I just kind of forgot about him.  I look at the film and see several mistakes in situational awareness, some which I manage to correct (like when I dodge the one Spit and notice another one climbing up at me 500 out who I hadn't seen before), and others that don't hurt me.

I do know that there are spots later in the film where I don't check my six very much, but that stems more from the fact that I know I have to kill the guy in front of me or I won't survive anyway.  So what's behind me matters less than what's in front of me.  I also probably had a good sense at those times of where the other badguys were in relation to my plane.

Hope this helps!

-- Todd/Leviathn

[TweetyBird]

It helps a lot. Thanks for taking the time to explain.
Oh and great flying btw!

[Nomak]

Here is a couple that may help ya.  Not as good as Levis though.  I forgot to zip the first one, its not to big though.



http://www.wideopenwest.com/~Nomak/p47D11.ahf

http://www.wideopenwest.com/~Nomak/3on1.zip