pee38......
you MUST use the vertical. this doesn't mean to bnz the guy to death. it only means that you cannot follow about 90% of the things you'll fight through a flat turn. keep some speed.
if you're bouncing a con, and he turns hard, level above him, bleeding some speed, and see what he does. once he';s straightened out, you can go after him again.
you can also throttle back, go below, and although you'll be too fast, again, keel an eye....you can still get back up above him.
the key is to have more "E" stored than he does.
if you're closing on him co-alt, and he turns hard(they all do), then do a high yoyo....pull up, as you loose speed, you'll turn with him. although you may be a bit too slow now, you're still in good position, as once he changes his direction, you simply push the nose over again.
in the "J", try to take the fight uphill if you can. keep him turning against his engines torque if you can. i believe the 109's torque to the right?
in the main arenas, i love roping guys. it's fun, as they ALL think they have the "E" to lift their nose a liiiiitle more to get the shot.....and they stall, just before my "J" does. timed well, when my nose drops, they're right in my sights.
that doesn't work so well in here, as you lose them without the icons.
although i've been told i'm too fast, i get my best results merging at 330mph or so. i don't know the cornering speed of a 38, but when i watch my films, i seem to average in the 220mph to 270mph range in my successful turnfights.
flaps.....they are SUPER DUPER important. you can get 10 degrees out at 250mph. be careful with them though. they will slow you down quickly, and get you into trouble. you need to kind of get the feel for them in the fights. i'm almost constantly working flaps, and throttle throughout a fight. i often find myself coming downhill with 10 or 20 degrees of flaps out. i kind of hate the auto retracting feature because of this, as i've bellyflopped when they retracted.
throttle management is very important too. in spits zeeks and hurris, i've found i can firewall it, and do pretty much anything. in the 38, you can't do that. those allisons will keep you going too fast for turns.
bear in mind, that i think i still suck in the 38, and learn somethign new every time i fly her.......but i hope this helps.
