Learning a plane

[Bruv119]

I am not talking about taking a plane up and landing some kills (anyone can do that), I am talking about knowing what the plane can and cant do... becoming a master at the plane if  you will.

Easy                                                                                                                     Hard
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Spit                                                                                                                      ????

Sorry about the typing I had hand surgery and it is hard for me to type.

<S>
Jebus

I wouldn't put spit as easy to master.  Flight model forgiving yes but seeing as you've said MASTER there are very few MASTER spit pilots that would kill you in an instant.

How many Really good spitfire pilots have you fought and beat recently in their ride?   I'm telling you now it would be FAR from easy.

You don't learn a plane you become comfortable with it, knowing its strengths and weaknesses etc you improve as a virtual pilot, no planes are easy to master,  only stick time, practice, patience and effort on the pilots side will make things easier.

[dedalos]

I was thinking about this for a couple of days now.

On a scale what plane is the easiest to learn and which one is the hardest to learn.  I am talking about being good at the plane and not just taking it up and landing kills.

On the easy side I would put the spit series of aircraft ther.

I am having trouble figuring out the hardest one to learn.  Is it the P-38 because of its size, the jug because of its weight, or the 190 because it cant turn.

I am not talking about taking a plane up and landing some kills (anyone can do that), I am talking about knowing what the plane can and cant do... becoming a master at the plane if  you will.

Easy                                                                                                                     Hard
<---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->
Spit                                                                                                                      ????

Sorry about the typing I had hand surgery and it is hard for me to type.

<S>
Jebus

I am confused.  What do you mean easy to learn?  They all will fly them selves in this game.  ACM is ACM and not really related to the type of plane.  Some will perform a move better than others but you cannot change that.  So, what does it mean easy or hard to learn?  What is easy about the spit?  Easy to turn?  Same in every other plane.  You pull the stick back and they turn.  Try to follow a 109 or P51 that started faster than you in a Spit and see how easy the spit is then.

So, easy to learn what?

[bongaroo]

Go to any fat, red, darbar, and you will see the same planes ad infinitum:  P51D, LA7, Spit 16, KI-84, P51D, LA7, Spit 16, KI-84,P51D, LA7, Spit 16, KI-84, P51D, LA7, Spit 16, KI-84....yadi-yadi-yadi....


ROX

Do you really see that many Ki-84's?  I only start to see them pop up when either ENY is in effect or after I've been chewing up spixtweenies and they wonder how an ENY 15 plane could do it so easily.

I'd say in any full darbar that wasn't misshun based you'll see:

couple p51d's
couple niki's
couple la7's (more if it's a base defense)
mostly spit16s
odd 109s and f4u's

IMO and all.

[Anaxogoras]

Do you really see that many Ki-84's?  I only start to see them pop up when either ENY is in effect or after I've been chewing up spixtweenies and they wonder how an ENY 15 plane could do it so easily.

I'd say in any full darbar that wasn't misshun based you'll see:

couple p51d's
couple niki's
couple la7's (more if it's a base defense)
mostly spit16s
odd 109s and f4u's

IMO and all.

The top 5 fighters I've killed this tour:
Spit XVI: 23
P-51D: 20
La-7: 16
190D-9: 14
Ki-84: 10

I think some of the people who were in the N1K have been trying out other rides, as we've seen the N1K's usage go down since its update.  Maybe some are in the Ki-84.

[bongaroo]

IMHO the spit8 is the easiest plane to learn to fly in the late war environment.

[Hap]

P38 is still a mystery to me.  It's the 1st plane I pick on in fight.  And very quickly, I can tell if I decided aright.  Most often I did.

Tough plane to learn to fly well without pointers from those who know it inside and out.

[Wingnutt]

if by "hard" you mean to KILL in. 109F4.. the assist machine, you get into the engaugement, if your lucky and they other guy doesent just run way as the tables turn, you get to saddle up and start reeling him in, for that sustained burst at sub D200 range..  of courser usually by this time, a "firendly" has spotted you and is blasting in to "hep you out".. and thus all your work is for not.

if by hard you mean to SURVIVE in.. I.E. make it home..  pretty much anything that cant top 350 on the deck.. it usually plays out as such: you come in, start gettig buisy, reach your bingo or winchester and its time to go... NOPE.. enter the LA7/51/ fast overpopular plane.. the all to familiar guy who spots you trying to egressand dives right through everyone else, ignores the folks who actually WANT to fight.. and comes after you ... and you run out of fuel evading and get pseudo-vulched as you try and ditch. 

[Shuffler]

The C-47 is the hardest to get kills in. I have had some success but not often. A couple of weeks a go I got into a fight on the deck with 2 pony Bs in a Goon. After several turns and rolls they both augered. I prefer fighting in my bomber.

[CAP1]

I am confused.  What do you mean easy to learn?  They all will fly them selves in this game.  ACM is ACM and not really related to the type of plane.  Some will perform a move better than others but you cannot change that.  So, what does it mean easy or hard to learn?  What is easy about the spit?  Easy to turn?  Same in every other plane.  You pull the stick back and they turn.  Try to follow a 109 or P51 that started faster than you in a Spit and see how easy the spit is then.

So, easy to learn what?

i define hard to learn, as knowing what to do, when to do it, and what to manuevers tro copmbine together, in what order, and when to combine them......

spits n zeeks.....you can yank and bank all day long in them. try that in a 38, or a 190, and the spit'll eat ya for lunch.

 i also think the ones like the 38 are harder, because although the same acm may work, you have to watch your energy a bit closer than in other planes.

[Morpheus]

Just my opinion here... But for the guys saying that spits are easy its all in how you fly them.

If you watch someone like Leviathn fly a spit, you can't say its "easy". If you watch a newb fly a spit, that's easy.

Survivability in any plane is easy if you fly it to its strengths. If you want to furball with an A8, that's not easy and that's not what it was built to do... Tho I have known some people to fly an A8 and make it look like it weighed half of what really did and turn better than most of the best turn fighters in the game.  If you want to Bnz with a D9, that's easy. I think you get my point.

The P38 is a big target. Sure, but you just have to know when to make it a "small target". If you go for an over shot and pull straight up showing the nme your entire plane, then its a "big target". If you go for an overshot and show the nme just the side profile of the plane, you're making it a "small target".

Jugs are heavy so you have to just remember that. Forcing an overshot while in a jug makes it that much quicker. You wont scrub E as fast in an La7 like you could a Jug. Hint. Get what im getting at?

[CAP1]

Just my opinion here... But for the guys saying that spits are easy its all in how you fly them.

If you watch someone like Leviathn fly a spit, you can't say its "easy". If you watch a newb fly a spit, that's easy.

Survivability in any plane is easy if you fly it to its strengths. If you want to furball with an A8, that's not easy and that's not what it was built to do... Tho I have known some people to fly an A8 and make it look like it weighed half of what really did and turn better than most of the best turn fighters in the game.  If you want to Bnz with a D9, that's easy. I think you get my point.

The P38 is a big target. Sure, but you just have to know when to make it a "small target". If you go for an over shot and pull straight up showing the nme your entire plane, then its a "big target". If you go for an overshot and show the nme just the side profile of the plane, you're making it a "small target".

Jugs are heavy so you have to just remember that. Forcing an overshot while in a jug makes it that much quicker. You wont scrub E as fast in an La7 like you could a Jug. Hint. Get what im getting at?

right...which is why they're harder than the spits.

i don't think anyone's saying it takes no skill to fly a spit......hell, i hate(well, love) comming up against xbrit in his spitfire, as i see him do things in that plane i couldn't dream of doing.
 

 again, though, my reasoning was on these lines.....

 when i first came in here, i did like everyone else....i jumped right into the pony, as i've loved that along with the 38 since i was a little kid. readily got my bellybutton handed to me. so in all my infinite wisdom, i jumped into the 38 o deth. hell, in AW3, i could fly it in the RR arenas on par with rocky. how much harder could it be here? go back to my statement about my results in the pony. in both rides i was lucky to last 30 seconds in a fight.

 now, i jump into a spit5. i was still dying, but lasting long enough to be able to maneuver some...then maneuver into a kill position, screw it up, and die....then maneuver into a kill position, and kill.  i stuck in the spit/zeek/hurris for a bit, then moved into the hellkitty. it seems to be one of the easier american rides, but still harder than the spit group. now that i got my survibility up in that ride, i jumped back into my beloved 38 o deth with its twin quisenarts hanging out there. my survivibility sucks once again, as it IS much harder to learn than the other aircraft. i'm getting there though.........and doing it without ho'ing and picking. 

[Shuffler]

Just my opinion here... But for the guys saying that spits are easy its all in how you fly them.

If you watch someone like Leviathn fly a spit, you can't say its "easy". If you watch a newb fly a spit, that's easy.

I do not really know any good sticks that fly the spit. The spit is so forgiving how can anyone tell. You really see what is pilot and what is plane when you get in a less forgiving aircraft..

[Sloehand]

I think the point of 'easy' or 'hard' was in relation to a newb trying to learn how to fly and get into this game.
Thinking for a newb, the Spits are the 'easiest' to learn because, IMO, they help the pilot in many aspects of flight and combat from the getgo than do some other planes.  The best word for the Spits I can think of is its 'stable', and this is a big help to a new pilot.  More 'unstable' planes like the German iron are harder to learn to fly well, but their inherit instability, if managed well makes them capabile of exceptional maneuvers.
 
All this means, in a Spit, the newb doesn't need think about, manage or master too many things right off the bat to be able to fly passibly well, which in turn means he may stick with it longer and learn more ACM over time.

What makes Spits 'easy' to learn in-

1. The Spits feature several models with various combinations of speed, turn rate, climb rate, etc. so they matchup favorably with most planes.  

2. They have the best trajectory 20mm cannons in the game so shooting might be a little easier to learn in them.

3. They retain and recover their energy very well.

4. They are a very stable gun platform.

5. Very responsive nose (rudder control) for gun shots.

6. No bad stall characteristics, and good stall recovery capability.

7. They don't have compressions issues.

8. Good cockpit visibility.

9. Good at all altitudes (XIV excepted)

[grizz441]

The top 5 fighters I've killed this tour:
Spit XVI: 23
P-51D: 20
La-7: 16
190D-9: 14
Ki-84: 10

I think some of the people who were in the N1K have been trying out other rides, as we've seen the N1K's usage go down since its update.  Maybe some are in the Ki-84.

That's a pretty small sample size.  Mine are:

P51D: 125
P38 (all combined): 75
Spit XVI: 73
Spit 8: 48
A6mb2: 48
N1K2: 37
HurriC:30
Typh:30
Ki84: 25
La7:22

[Ex-jazz]

Hurricane Mk1 = hard to master(not like I did)

Requires a good SA, a lot of patients, also a very good aiming/shootings is needed to make those fast but very thin firing solutions to count.
Lets do not forget the very very good energy management, to fool those over confident mid/late birds... "Sure...  I'm a just a yet another 13-in-12 BoB-wannabe in HMk1 pilot... Wanna play? "