General Advice?

[Yochanan]

I am pretty new at the game and have played it these past 3 days. I am thinking of mastering the famous P51D. The only thing that I dont like about the game is....that I cannot kill a darn thing! I fly out and get on someones six, shoot a little, then we dance untill I get shot down. Or they are on my six I manuver out of there and eventually get shot down. The only technique I really use is decreaseing my throttle when the target is in range to get as much time as possible shooting.

So what am I doing wrong, how do I get a kill???

[Lusche]

The best advice I can give are two things:

1) Visit the Trainer Corps website: http://trainers.hitechcreations.com/
Tons of stuff there you will find most useful for improving your success, notably the section called "Gunnery Concepts"

2) Visit the Training Arena. You will often find both trainers and experienced players there, which can give you useful advice. In my opinion, you can learn much faster in the TA than in the Main Arenas. You can practice air-to-air gunery without either you or your target going down.

Besides that: Do not despair! This game takes some time to get "good" in and you can hardly ever say you have "mastered" it, even when playing for years

[The Fugitive]

there could be a number of reasons why your having trouble killing anyone. How close are you getting before you shoot?  200-300 is about the best rang. Farther than that and its hard to hit a moving target, and you loose a lot of the "punch" lobbing you shots out far.

Another thing could be your convergence. In a 51, the guns are mounted in the wings. This means that the guns have to be set to "converge" on a spot in front of the plane, other wise you will be shooting in 6 strait streams, not very effective. The idea is to set your guns to converge all at one spot, the shot so your bullets AND the enemy plane converge ALL at the same spot.

These are just a couple of things, there are many more. The best thing you could do is go to the Training Arena and hook up with one of the great trainers AH2 has. They will getting you shooting down "bad guys" in no time !

[Spatula]

Yup, i'll just reiterate what Lusche said:

 - read! trainers.hitechcreations.com  and http://www.netaces.org are good places to start. Theres more info out there than you can absorb in one go, so take your time and work through it. Also check out: http://gonzoville.com/ahcharts/index.php and http://members.shaw.ca/soda_p/models.htm and learn about the more common aircraft you come up against as well as your chosen ride. Or you could download my comparison app http://www.my2cents.co.nz/AKUAG/Resources_Files/PerfComp.aspx
Learning how your chosen aircraft compares to your rivals aircrafts is absolutely critical to choosing the correct engagement tactics, and thus critical to your success.

 - Hook up with a trainer (like me, or one of the other trainers). Contact list is on the trainers website trainers.hitechcreations.com and so is a calender of training schedules. You will learn lots more in the TA to start with than in the MA.

 - BE PATIENT. Seriously, getting anything like approaching 'good' in this game takes time (lots of time). Remember this. You wont become a virtual uber-ace in a couple of weeks (or months for that matter). Set yourself small but achievable goals for each tour - eg a 1 kill sortie, next tour a 2 kill sortie, next 0.5:1 kill/death ratio - whatever. Its important to set yourself small but achievable goals. This way you can measure your progress and know when you are improving cause at times it all feels far too much and far too hard and you feel like you are making no progress at all.

 - Stick to one aircraft. Theres so many good reasons for this. Firstly you get to learn the flight model of one aircraft. You get to learn the ballistics of one type of gun (very important for deflection shooting). Its one less variable in a huge sea of variables you dont have to cope with. You can learn how it performs compared to the other aircraft which is easier than learning how 3 or 4 aircraft compare to all other aircraft. Stick to one aircraft and you'll make your life mastering the game SO much easier.

[Spikes]

Originally posted by Lusche
even when playing for years

<---Played 4 yrs

<---Noob

[Yochanan]

Thanks for all the advice. I appreciate it and am planning on reading up and going to the TA.

[trotter]

If you like the P51, by all means continue to try to learn it. Just understand that flying the 51 requires a method of flying that you may not be used to. It is certainly not the type of flying that someone who hasn't played this game before would associate with "dogfighting". So, think more about your energy and maintaining it than outmaneuvering your opponent, for now.

[humble]

There are very few natural pilots, sim or otherwise. The vast majority of folks (even the best sticks) were just as bad as you are when they started. The real question is are you learning or just flying. As already stated take advantage of the great resources we have here.

To achieve a basic level of success you need to achieve a basic skill level in three things....

1) gunnery. In the end if you cant hit the other guy then nothing else matters. Good gunnery makes up for alot of other shoertcomings.

2) "SA"...situational awareness. This is simply "seeing" whats happening around you and processing/evaluating it correctly and making good "big picture" decisions. This helps you to avoid "hopeless" situations and create ones where you have a more optimal chance of success. The molre often you put yourself in a good position before the fight the more you'll learn and the faster you'll progress.

3) "BFM" Basic flight manuevers, these are the building blocks of "ACM" Air combat manuevering...before you can fight your plane you need to be able to fly your plane efficiently. Once you can successfully string sequences of BFM's together your ready to rumble....

Once you get those three down you need to develope a style. Work with a trainer and have him explain and show you basic "B&Z" (Boom and Zoom), "E-fighting" (energy fighting) and "T&B" (turn and burn or angles fighting). Based on his thoughts on your proficiency and your own intersts you can pick and learn one. In the end the very good sticks are proficent at all three and blend elements of each into a somewhat unique style of their own.

Remember that many folks here have YEARS of experience. Dont get to frustrated early, just work on your skill level and have fun...it only takes a few months to reach a reasonable level of proficiency IF you seek out knowledge and apply it...

[Latrobe]

Fly all the planes in the game. That way when you encounter them in your P51 you know whats their strengths are and what their weakness's are. This will give you an advantage at the start of a fight. Also, read up on some ACM's (Air Combat Maneuvers). I did and it helped me a whole lot! It takes a little bit to learn this game, but in a while you'll learn it. I've been here over a year now and I'm still learning stuff. Possibly the best advice you can get is from a trainer, so go to the TA and look for one and ask for some help. When you're not busy ask anyone if they'd like to have a dogfight. It's the TA so you won't be shot down, no matter how much ammo hits you, so you can always look at what you did wrong and reset the fight.

[Yarbles]

Originally posted by Yochanan
I am pretty new at the game and have played it these past 3 days.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm You sound like someone I would like to meet on the MA:t

Seriously its all quite frustrating at times but as soon as you make any progress

Definatly get a trainer and read. I tried not too and wish I had now sooner

[Yochanan]

Well thanks again for all of the advice. What plane do you think is most Rookie friendly?

[Lusche]

Originally posted by Yochanan
Well thanks again for all of the advice. What plane do you think is most Rookie friendly?

Well you may get as many answers as there are planes in game  

It's also depends on what style you want to fly... If you already have thought about such things.

But a plane quite often recommended (and also my choice) is the Spitfire VIII

A true allround plane. Excellent acceleration, a good turner, yet stable and not difficult to control. Good view, sufficient firepower (two 20mm hispano cannons - forget the .303 machineguns for now ). Enough speed to be competitive in the main arena. In my eyes a peferct balance between performance & handling for a beginner.

BTW, for a nice interactive plane performance comparison between fighters in this game, go to http://gonzoville.com/ahcharts/index.php

You may want to give a few more planes a try. But (and this is my own subjective opinion) do not switch constantly from plane to plane. Try a few in the TA, and once you have found one you feel comfortable with -stick with it.
I have seen many new players constantly changeing planes hoping for the "magic" one that will prevent them from getting shot down. Sadly, there isn't such a thing.
Sticking to one plane helps you alot learning both the basics of that game as well as the basics of air combat maneuvres without having to get used to new plane after new plane first.

[evenhaim]

wow yoch you remind me of myself, i started out messing with the pony forgot about it for some time and came back to it, been flying it for some time now and i too started with 0 knowledge till i got taken in by a great squad trained by them and sent to the ta.Then comes the dueling to learn stage but thats later. for starters go to taand learn some then try to join a pony squad if you are reallly interested in mustang they should help you along with the trainers.  Good luck in your endavors!

Freezman

[odin3]

Dont be so hard on yourself I've been playing for about 1 1/2 months and i think i average maybe 1 kill aday, and that compaired to about 100 deaths aday... lol i'm a good target.. Go the the TA alot, if you have time, spend like and hour in there a day or even just 30 mins.. thats helped me alot, the trainers in there help out alot too.  When you're in there turn on the lead help thing.. its **** Tab or ctrl tab to turn on the freindly lock and tab to sycle through them and you'll find a box around the person with crosshairs infront of them.. Thats where you want to shoot.. Train your mind to shoot where the plane is going to be and not where it is.. Merlin tought me that.. Also if there are some moves that you see in the game when trying to shoot someone down or someone flying the same plane you are and they look really good at them. Ask them to show you what they just did or give you some pointers 7 out of 10 people in here will have no problem.. I'm learning to fight with the P-47 (and if you read up on that, its a really hard to fight with) and i asked this guy to show me some things, he spend about 2 ours away from fighting diff manuvers with it and about another our as a wingman against fights against cons... And i am finaly getting kills with is.. Just remember it takes time like any game to get good and practice.. You'll be an ace before you know it.. Good luck..

[odin3]

hey spat, that program with the comparison... with the sustained turn, what do the numbers at the bottom mean. and is sustained turn like turning with very light rudder and more alaron right?