The quickest way to learn to fly

Seems like a game I am going to develop some bad habits playing single player... like switching off the cockpit and chasing red/blue pointers around the edge of the screen. It's fun but its not right is it?

The missions have that operation flashpoint feel to them. You know...

Friendly AI: Soldier at 9 o'clock
Me: Who's 9 o'clock yours or mine? Looks around but can't see anything. Comes under fire hits the deck.
Friendly AI: I got him.
Me: You did? Nice one buddy. Stands back up.
Friendly AI: Soldiers at 3 o'clock
Me: Hit's the deck quicker this time.
Friendly AI: 2 is down, 5 is down, 1 is wounded
Me: ****!... stands up... lies down... ****!... stands up... runs about a bit... lies down
Friendly AI: I got him.
Me: Shoots a bush. Shoots it again.
Friendly AI: :heckle:
Me: It was a mistake OK. I'm kinda jumpy right now.
Friendly AI: I got him.

MISSION SUCCESSFUL

Actually I lied...
Friendly AI: 1 is down
Me: Ooops
Friendly AI: :rant:

Change the difficulty to full real (and speed bar if you wish)

Tis the only way to learn, jump in the deep end.

well not realley right. Fun yupp... not right. and most importantly... it will bore u ( could take a long while but...)
full real--->> wont

LMAO thats funny :)

Lock your self in cockpit and use f6 when you have to, it will padlock the baddies, just keep hitting it to see how many there are, then get your bearings and tally ho in cocpit again. Then try and use it less and less as you understand where people go and how to keep a plane in sight relative to you, your speed, direction, up down etc

Quote:

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Originally Posted by [MA]Dak[GSV]

LMAO thats funny :)

Lock your self in cockpit and use f6 when you have to, it will padlock the baddies, just keep hitting it to see how many there are, then get your bearings and tally ho in cocpit again. Then try and use it less and less as you understand where people go and how to keep a plane in sight relative to you, your speed, direction, up down etc

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if what i've been told about online play is true, its always on full real.

So by using the padlock key all the time would be ill-advised as one who does this all the time will not learn to track threats from within the cockpit.

So leading on from what dak has said, only use padlocking until you can comfortably frag loads of planes, then put full real on and invest in a joystick that has a hat switch...when you can track threats from within your cockpit in full real then you're ready for online play...

Learn what plane is on your tail by the colours and patterns of his guns (in single player) then if know what plane is following, then you know what moves you can do to get away from him.

Also, don't be afraid to call for assisstance if you can't shake someone off your tail (pressing TAB > 7 = Anyone Help ME!!)

A lot of servers have external views on, but it's just not the same when externals are on.. you can't stalk people, no sneaking up on them etc. purely because 9/10 all the people on there are pressing f6 (external padlock nearest enemy) every two seconds.

Once you are used to full real, externals get boring, very very quickly.

It's done... full real.

The LA-5 has nice big windows thank goodness. The hat switch view changes are not quite so confusing now that I've had some practice and it makes sense when I look ahead in the general direction I am turning. The plane is more predictable with practice and I can afford to look in different directions.

Problem now without icons I make the wrong decision and find myself chasing friendly planes in a dogfight. Watching from a distance I see 99% chasing and 1% gunfire and I cannot reliable recognise the fire patterns so I am just guessing. I find myself going after 'two planes' one that is already in pursuit of another. I know one of the planes must be the enemy but that is the only tactic I have stumbled upon thus far. Seems to work to some extend and better if I have the height and associated speed advantage that gives me.

Does screen resolution AA /AF settings have any bearing on how easily the planes can be identified visually or spotted?

I'll try pay more attention to the gun fire patterns and colours which are more clearly visible from a distance.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ed^chigliak

Problem now without icons I make the wrong decision and find myself chasing friendly planes in a dogfight. Watching from a distance I see 99% chasing and 1% gunfire and I cannot reliable recognise the fire patterns so I am just guessing. I find myself going after 'two planes' one that is already in pursuit of another. I know one of the planes must be the enemy but that is the only tactic I have stumbled upon thus far. Seems to work to some extend and better if I have the height and associated speed advantage that gives me.

Does screen resolution AA /AF settings have any bearing on how easily the planes can be identified visually or spotted?

I'll try pay more attention to the gun fire patterns and colours which are more clearly visible from a distance.

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That happens until you start to be able to recognise the aircraft.

A few tips.

Russian fighters - Yaks, MiGs, LaGGs etc - often have wings that sweep forwards, or that taper from the fuselage to the wingtip.

109's are fairly easily identified. Their wings often have a straight stubby appearence. If you are chasing one look for the radiators that stick down under each wing. They also often have yellow identifier markings on them - nose and wingtips.

Look for the markings - Black Cross, Red Star etc. Better graphics settings will help with this.

Colours and paintschemes. Try to get to know these as it will help you ID in some circumstances. For instance Russian aircraft often have their tops painted a light green and their undersides a pale blue.

Try to postively identify before you open fire. It's a good habit to get into offline as you won't be popular online if you start shooting down friendlies :)

For bombers. Remember they have gunners. So if you're approaching a bomber that isn't shooting at you there is a strong likelihood it is friendly!

and assign a few different "fields of view" cos they are like a zoom function. Have your two favourite ones assigned to the joystick so you can toggle quickly between them :)

Such as the widest and one of the narrowest....flick between them :) to zoom in and out of your target :)

And make use of the 'snap view forward' key... Keypad number 5, iirc... very handy for getting your head to swivel back around front in a hurry... let's you use the views to hold a view rather than a glance (F9 key)... and then you can get back centered on your gunsight quickly.

German tracers are blue, btw, that often helps in identifying enemy a/c. If you fly online with the Marlins, we're easy to spot as there's normally smoke and flames coming from our planes... ;)

Try going onto the marlins server as well. They might give you flying tips. They did me and now I can get the plane off the ground!