"Advanced" LW Primer: The 190A8

[Soda]

Try and fly the A8 while light on fuel and guns.  If you take the 4 * 20mm option , half internal and a drop tank then you are pretty good.  Pitch the droptank before you commit to the fight, and then run off the internal fuel while BnZ'ing your opponents.  The A8 is a world apart in light form vs. one full of heavy guns and fuel.

Oh, and check this link:

.Soda's Aircraft Pages

-Soda
The Assassins

[guttboy]

Hi Guys,

Still looking for an answer on the "low dingbat" maneuver.  Any answers?

[Urchin]

That was a joke, bud .

[Wotan]

is anything like a "hi dingbat"

or is it closer to a "dikfor"..............

[gofaster]

Originally posted by smflash
Im new to the game (never tried a flight simulator until now) and Im having loads of trouble with the fw190. Im flying the a8 since its the latest varient but  found it difficult to fly as it stals esily and doesnt turn well. I cant outturn any other fighter in the main arena. Is this correct was the fokwolf this poor of a fighter?

The problem is, you're trying to turn it.  What you want to do is point your nose at the target, go straight at him, squeeze the trigger to fire the 4 x 20mm, 2 x 17mm, and if he explodes, that's great, and if he doesn't, then just keep going straight and get some separation so that you can come back around and do it again.  The 190a8 is the ultimate jousting machine.

About half of my kills in the 190a8 come from sneak attacks from behind and below the target (in the blind spot), dropping down from altitude with great speed and getting off a quick burst as I go by.  A quarter of my kills come from maneuvering snapshots as I work my way through the bait ball, and the others come from winning HOs.  A 190a8 will successfully HO most aircraft except for P38s, Mosquitos, and Me110s so long as you start shooting before the other guy does.  Typically, by the time you get close enough to worry about a collission, the other guy is just a bunch of debris.

[devious]

[MOSQ]

I wanted to punt this excellent thread and add a  comment.

I am no FW-190 ace, but had a great time last night in an A-5. Feeling flush with success I thought I'd punt the thread and throw in my two cents of wisdom.

First, to fly the FW -190s successfully, you MUST learn how to use your one overwhelming advantage, which seems to be left out throughout this thread.

ROLL ! You can out Roll any plane at 200-400 mph. Only a P-38 can out roll a FW, and only when the P-38 is at 400mph plus. At less than 400 you own every other plane in roll.

The 190 simply dominates all other planes in roll at 200-250 mph by a huge factor.

Practice rolling at 200mph and making slight turns to the edge of a stall. You can confound an attacker to no end by rolling and making slight course changes. If the attacker is too fast, you can easily force him/her to overshoot once you have him out of phase in a scissors defence.  If the attacker is in a plane that slows quickly and saddles up behind you (like a YAK that seems to be able to put on the brakes and slow instantly), you can keep them from a firing solution by rolling and pulling small turns.

The second key to practice, which is especially useful when rolling/scissoring, but helps in all planes:

Learn to fly while looking backwards! Yes, the ability to fly forwards and maneuver while looking backwards is probably the most important skill you can have in defense. This will allow you to recognize when your attacker is out of phase in the scissors, they are blind, and now you can dart away for some separation or turn the table on him and now you're on his six.

I had a YAK on my six for an eternal amount of time last night. I couldn't shake him, and he couldn't land even a single ping on me as I rolled so much faster than he. Everytime he would pull a little lead for a gun solutiuon I would roll opposite and be gone. This went on till my heartrate was in the exceeding cardio safety workout zone. It finally ended when I dragged him low over our base at  200 mph, rolling all the way, and our ack killed him.

I'm not anywhere near the skill level at looking backwards as I want to be, but heck you have to have a new challenge and I can't think of any skill that will advance me any better right now. So I'm going to practice this at least 30 mins each day till I have eyes in the back of my head.

A couple of comments on the A-5:

The 7.9 mm cowl guns are not entirely useless. They have an incredible 900 rounds each. I have found them ideal for de-acking a field. You can de-ack an entire field using just your machine guns. That way you save all your cannon rounds for planes, and lighten up your A-5 at the same time. I deacked an entire field last night without being hit by a single ack round by simply attacking them one at a time with my puny 7.9 mms. Then roll and jink and roll again out of ack range.

I have also found the 210 mm rockets to be good for GVs and structures. Still don't have the skill for killing buffs with them, but I'm working on it. They definately fly different from the usual US and British rockets, they seem to fly higher.

[Max]

Thanks for the punt...some great FW info.

DamnedMax
The Damned MkXX

[GODO]

Another comment about 190s. Dora may be the fastest of the brotherhood, but it has also the poorest control at hi speeds (> 350 mph), and the poorest control at low speeds (< 250 mph).

[gofaster]

Originally posted by GODO
Another comment about 190s. Dora may be the fastest of the brotherhood, but it has also the poorest control at hi speeds (> 350 mph), and the poorest control at low speeds (< 250 mph).

I agree about the Dora.  I've never had much luck with it.  Its a greyhound in a straight line but the limitations to the controls makes it tough to do anything but go through the bait ball and then run away.

[Wespe]

Originally posted by gofaster
I agree about the Dora.  I've never had much luck with it.  Its a greyhound in a straight line but the limitations to the controls makes it tough to do anything but go through the bait ball and then run away.

Ohh yes  agreee  .. but who cares ... anyway  we looove  LW planes ...

[MOSQ]

[mauser]

mauser

[Krusty]

For god's sake don't bump these things. Half of what they say simply DOESN'T apply to AH2.

[1K3]

Fo starters:)

Fw-190A-3/A-6/A-8/F-8/D-9:  2006 edition

Tactics by Hunde_3.JG51 (Kyrule)


   

The Basics

    Use wingman and friendlies, I can't emphasize this enough. The 190 is NOT a lone wolf plane but is an excellent 4 vs. 4 (or more) plane. Often you can simply out-run pursuers and let your buddies pick them off of you. As long as energy is equal or to your advantage, speed and high speed handling will keep you alive. If you don't have advantage, work to at least even it out then disengage.

    Always keep in mind that almost every plane will out-turn you in sustained turns, and almost every plane will out-climb you in sustained climbs. Never think you can out-turn someone, unless flying at very high speeds but this is more for defensive than offensive value. Never rely on climb either, with the Dora it is more acceptable.

    If you do try to climb away, do so at higher speeds than in most planes. The 190A likes to climb at around 350 or so km/h, don't climb below that speed. Remember also that above 2,000m your climb will start to fall off even more, though speed will increase. The 190 seems to like it around 1,500m and below, and between 4,500m and 6,000m.

    Gain altitude whenever you can. Engage with an advantage, disengage if you lose it or get jumped. Split-s works great as climbing will get you shot and other planes will out-turn you. Keep the fight at high speed where your plane handles as good as anyone's, if not better.


   
The Setup

    Know other planes strengths, where they are faster and where you are faster. For example, drag a Mustang to the deck or up to 5,000m or so, in between 1,000m and 4,000m (and above 6,500m) he will be stronger. Knowing where planes are stronger takes alot of time and testing, but it is very useful if you want to employ tactics properly, especially if you want to disengage.

    When attacking an opponent do not follow unless they are making gentle turns. If you are lining him up and he banks hard, simply break off and climb away. He has now lost energy and you have increased your advantage. Try to force him to evade and bleed energy. Not great for Hollywood movies but very effective at gaining an advantage.

    Use high yo-yo's when making high speed attacks at slower opponents. Make your attack, pull up sharply, flip over on your back, look straight up (down at your opponent), wait until he flies beneath you, then dive down on him again.



    The kill

    Fire at very close range, 190's guns are not that great beyond 400 yards. don't fire from far off and alert your opponent prematurely during your attack run. In some, more manoeuvrable planes you want to scare them and force them to manoeuvre, not in the 190. Be accurate.

    Learn high speed gunnery, it is much different than Turn n Burn gunnery. Learn to anticipate more while your opponent is manoeuvring rather than following. I recommend setting up a practice with a couple A-5's against a bunch of Hurricanes. This will teach you about gunnery at high speed against a slower opponent.

    Use rudder corrections alot, it is part of high speed gunnery. If your opponent changes direction at the last moment you can kick your rudder at the last second and get a burst on him. This takes practice but with time it will be done unconsciously and will make you a much better shooter. And after awhile you will not even notice "the bar," (ammo counter) I swear.

    like to trim the nose down a good bit from start, I fly the 190 at high speed more often than not and I don't need the nose pulling up on me, this can really effect your gunnery if not accounted for, especially flying at 600-700km/h.

    Head-ons are acceptable in the FW-190A, maybe the only plane in the game where this is the case. You should come out the victor in a head-on attack because of your excellent firepower and engine durability. More importantly your opponent often will be less than willing to go head-on and will take evasive action, so you simply climb up and use his manoeuvre against him. When going head-on I usually aim slightly high because the bullets/rounds will drop and because I want to force him down or to the side. This is one case where it is good to fire from farther out, don't worry about wasting ammo you have plenty.



    Et Cetera

    Evasive manoeuvres can be very effective at high speed. You should be going fast anyway, but if not dive, jink, and gain speed. Severe manoeuvres when an opponent is behind you, even to the point of blackout as long as you are aware of angle the blackout is induced at, can be effective because if he wants to follow chances are he will blackout also. Try to ride the edge and not black-out, this takes experience. If blacked-out make subtle manoeuvres because you will often still have minor control of your aircraft.

    I prefer to set convergence for cannons at 500m (475 yards), the rounds/bullets leave your aircraft at a much flatter angle than say at 200m, keeping them more level in your gunsight and making deflection shooting easier. At 200m your rounds actually leave the aircraft at a slight downward angle, you don't need four cannons to hit in the same spot anyway. 500m also gives you a bigger hitbox, or more "spread."

    Look for the 109's. Focke Wulfs and 109's compliment each-other well. These two planes have different fighting styles and strengths and combining the two can only make both of you more effective.