Finally!

[klarrix]

After an unhealthily long bout (1.5 hours straight) of practising in a P-39 against a BF109 I have FINALLY secured my first non fluke kill in dogfighting!
It took about 10 attempts to get that one kill but it was seriously worth the effort, and also i managed to save the replay.

I think I need to start trying online play now, so can anyone name a good server for n00bs?

[Dakaras]

Hyperlobby See links at the top, servers are listed down the left hand side, right click will show you server info including the settings the server is running on.

[klarrix]

Nice. Don't think i'll be getting online kills for some time (i've been told that the AI has a habit of inexplicably flying in straightlines when being shot at- human pilots jink more) but i'm getting kinda eager for the experience now

[MA_Moby]

don't be suprised if during the first couple of weeks of online play can't get another plane in your sights and find yourself being shot down a frustrating amount of times. It's a really steep learning curve!

scripted DF servers can be quite good as you have a limited planeset, which means you won't get people swooping around in their end of war nOOb planes blowing you up with one cannon shell all the time. Also many of them have fairly tough settings, usually enemy icons only (no external views, map icons etc).

[klarrix]

Originally Posted by MA_Moby

many of them have fairly tough settings, usually enemy icons only (no external views, map icons etc).

I think i'll be ok with the whole external view thing as i've been training myself to keep the camera inside the arcraft, and i wasnt even aware you could turn off the cockpit until yesterday, by which time i was fully accustomed to always having it. Not sure what you mean by enemy icons, tho.

[Dakaras]

Some games have little icons attached as they swop round, these can be seen at a set distance. Typical settings for Dogfight servers range from

Speedbar only so there are no other aids at all.

Limited icons + Speedbar is a very common one. Sometimes these Icons will be friendly so all your team mates will have tags for example MA_Dak Yak1b, enemy planes will not have icons. Or the other way round when enemies have icons and friends dont.

Some servers will have multimap on which means your plane is represented as a small white plane when you look at the map showing where you are. However a lot dont.

S! Dak

[Zak33]

and ALWAYS work out what markings to have on your wings..some servers point out what youshould have (Russian Red Stars or German Black and white crosses) but others are very USA and Japan etc...

its worthy of your time...strive for height...always for height....and then speed.....

always keep higher than the bad guys........dropon them, and then climb again.

Contstant thoughts on your energy state (speed x height)

of course...Im spouting this and die on the floor a lot but you'll soon see what we mean

GL

[Auran]

And don't do what I do -

Boom and zoom straight into the bomber you are after

p.s. Zak - Top quality Avatar Buddy

[Efaill]

Originally Posted by Auran

And don't do what I do -

Boom and zoom straight into the bomber you are after

p.s. Zak - Top quality Avatar Buddy

That is indeed a classical german tactic straight from world war too

[Auran]

Tho more amusing was when I came in at pace under a german bomber using a hurricane and forgot to back off the power too late and peel away.

Took off the front of the bomber losing my tail in the process

Slow agonising spinning death to the ground ensued

[klarrix]

Just a quick bunch of questions that weren't worth starting a new topic for:

How do i move the gears on an I-16? (Usual controls won't do it for me)
What does changing propeller pitch and mixture do to plane performance?
Is using UBI.com obligitory for online play?
Is there a key for airbrake? I found what i thought was it in the options but after setting it I found that it did nothing noticable to my flight speed..

Thats all my n00by questions i can bring to mind for now cheers in advance

kirb

[Zak33]

kk

Assign Manual Gear Up and Manual Gear down for I-16's....its in the menu...I use CNTRL G up and CNTRL B down cos they're logicasl in relation to the normal G for gear.

Prop pitcxh changes the way the prop blades cut into the air....100% (default) is low cut in, high revving....good for climb and slow speed acceleration.

The faster you go the lower it goes...lots of us use 95% in most situations to keep the engine a tad lower revs....over 400 I go to 90% and so on..its down to you to suss it according to whether you are still acclerating or now.

Also...to slow down when landing...throttle to zero, and drop prop pitch to very low...30% ish..that slows ya down

Ubi.com..never used it....goolge the word "Hyperlobby" and install that

Airbrake is only a very few planes....certain P38L I believe...most dont have. Assign it for when you in one of those...and remember...its ON and then OFF with two pushes I chased Luke for ages with it OUT going at 200kph and no faster..I THOUGHT it was on when you held button down...but no.

[MA_Moby]

Originally Posted by Zak33

The faster you go the lower it goes...lots of us use 95% in most situations to keep the engine a tad lower revs....over 400 I go to 90% and so on..its down to you to suss it according to whether you are still acclerating or now.

Also...to slow down when landing...throttle to zero, and drop prop pitch to very low...30% ish..that slows ya down

Just to add to that.

A tip in the US and Brit planes! They have an easy to see and read RPM gauge. Make sure you're not going over the red line. If you are, lower the pitch. Test it a few times with a hurri or a Spit with manual pitch - if you stick them in a dive full power, pitch 100%, the RPM will tip over the red line and the engine will start to make a screeching sound. If you over-rev like this for too long the engine will overheat more quickly and eventually break.

When landing (if you've follwed Zak's advice), remember to reset the pitch to something close to 100 when you get to about 500m or so. That way you'll have full power and grab if you suddenly need it.

In my opinion the best way to slow up for landing in FB is to is kill the throttle and just try to hold on to height for a bit, you'll see the speed rapidly rub off as the energy is converted into height. When it's safe to lower the flaps and gears, do so, and then reopen the engine to something sensible (say about 50%). Try to aim for an approach speed of about 170/180, then the rest of the speed will die as you close the throttle and land it (hopefully between about 140-160). And remember 'the probability of survival is inversely proportional to the angle of arrival' Though making a too shallow, too fast approach in Forgotten Battles is also a common mistake at first.

[Zak33]

to scrub speed, for me, I hold full rudder one way, and lean the plane the other....then reverse it....

however I have never tried that Moby....so...throttle zero....try to hold height....then allow it to drop out of the sky using throttle to speed up as nec...

hmm...that sounds like Rias needs to do it like that

[Sair33]

Hmmmm, I'll try that next time. Sometimes, I can land fine, but I think thats more luck than judgement as it's not very consistant!

[klarrix]

myself i use the 'turn and rudder' method, but i've never had problems with taking off and landing, except for my VERY FIRST two attempts at taking off in the il-2 demo 6 months ago. part from that i have no problems. still not sure about the whole engi mix and propellor pitch thing. in the meantime (untill i understand it) will i be ok going without it?