Multiple bandit tactics
 

Hey all.

I can go 1 on 1 with most anyone in my spit, but when I start to add enemies (dogfight 4 or more), or even a nice 10 man team battle, I quickly become swiss cheese.

I know enough to get on the tail end of a crazy train, but I was wondering if anyone else had any advice or tactics they use in the middle of a mess like that.

Rigno
PS. Seraph and Morgoth made bacon out of me this morning. Not my finest hour. But you just wait. I've got the XVI now. :)

Hehe, we apologize sincerely ;). Be careful though, the XVI doesn't turn as well as the IX. As for tactics.. Try to play as a team, even without communications. Do not chase after a target that's already being targeted, quite useless and very annoying. There's a player that shoots down almost as much teammates as enemies.
Also watch out you don't turn on someone's 12 when you're not paying attention. When there's 2 bogies coming for you it's usually best not to turn after the first one right away. This can be tricky though, because No.1 might turn to you anyways.
Make a choice between kill and evade. When you're tailing someone with a bogie on your six, be decisive. You may want to break off and try to lose your tailer. In realistic this choice is quite difficult, since it's hard to get someone off your six with the arrows and all.
Know when to switch target. Especially in 2v2 it's hard to know when to go after one or another. To be entirely honest, me and Morgoth were talking to eachother, so we knew when we should switch. At the start of the match for example, there were two circles going on, until we decided to move towards eachother and take eachother's targets, getting out of an infinite loop. Difficult to do with a random teammate though. Also the reason I don't like 2v2 too much.
In a furball.. don't be afraid to switch target, it's chaos everywhere and when someone turns on your 12, just go for it, unless it's very obvious there's already someone chasing him.
For the rest... I have no idea. Tbh I don't really use any tactics, so the above is just rambling in the hope it makes sense :). Being in contact with your teammates is a big help though.

Keep up your speed, try to maintain an altitude advantage and BE PATIENT!

The XVI doesn't turn as well as the IX? What's the advantage? Better firepower and top speed?

Yeah, communication with your partner has got to be key in 2v2. As for the big furballs, I suppose I'll just keep practicing.

It seems like the BF's hit harder, but the Spit is much more manuverable. How much less turning ability are we talking about here, because I certainly wouldn't want to get to the point of a BF, because I don't hit as hard.

The IX barely outturns a La-7, which in turn barely outturns a XVI, which in turn outturns a 109. Don't worry, you'll outturn 109's without a doubt. The XVI has better firepower I believe (don't have it myself ;)). Top speed.. no idea. Morgoth might know it.

Hmmm... Just trying to figure out what plane will put me in the best situation.

Right now, I'm playing a lot right on the deck and get sucked into turning contests (which don't turn out so badly since I'm flying a spit). I imagine if I start flying a BF, that I should be taking more high speed attacks and not getting sucked into the turns. If I see a guy going flat circles, extend out and bring it around?

Hmm, problem with B&Z (boom and zoom) at the moment is that the zoom usually doesn't work out all that well, since you can't pull out real fast and disappear. In a busy server it could work, but since B&Z is meant as kind of a surprise attack, the realistic mode arrows usually ruin it. Before the update you should probably stick to turning planes. If you want to try something fun, fly the I-153. It turns like crazy, so you'll outturn any plane in no-time. It's very slow however, so if you're up against people with experience they'll just fly away from you and come in to B&Z. You should also tune down the elevator sensitivity, else you'll be spinning every other second.

I still dont know wich one I preffer, the spit XVI or IX.
I think im going with the IX.
The advantage of the IX over the XVI is its turn radius. The IX turns just slightly better.
The XVI has a bit more gunpower, and a better roll rate. But since most fights are turning fights (until the fix comes and blackouts show up), I choose the IX most of the time.

As far as top speed, I'm not sure, but I felt the XVI being a bit better low to the ground, and the IX more an allround performer.

Just try to find friendlies when you are in trouble, and hopefully they will hit your enemy. just 1 hit can get him off your tail :cool:

To answer you question about the spit and bf109. yes the bf109 has a bit more firepower. But I would swap that for more manouvrability any day. How much less agility are we talking about? well, when I get a head on with a bf109, when im in a spit ix, I will be on the bf109's six within 10 seconds. If the 109 is an ace, it might take a bit longer, but it will happen. in my eyes, the bf109 are easy meat, unless it is a G-6! Damn im afraid of those guns :P. And a good pilot in a K4 will be able to outrun your spit if he plays it well

Good luck flying mate ;), dont put too much hope in the XVI, it will not do more good than the IX imho

EDIT: did you adjust your elevator sensitivity? when flying the IX I like to put it 4 or 5 clicks down. When flying the XVI 5 or 6. maybe it helps ;)

That was exactly my feeling. No point booming and zooming if there's no way to feasibly make it possible until a patch. Might as well get used to the spits. I just have to be a little smarter in group situations so guys like .... Seraph... don't make cheese out of me.

Alas. It's a great game anyways. Patience is probably a good idea after a spawn.

I suggest you try the Yak-3, La-5FN, and La-7. They can outturn anything, and have a good speed. The Yak-3, is actually faster than the La-5FN, and just a little below the La-7. It also has a better turning radius and such than the La-5FN or La-7. Any of those planes are good for down on the deck dogfighting/chases.

As for tactics, always keep your head on a swivel, and don't fly in the combat zone for more than 30 seconds. You'll become food if you do. Always keep turning and moving as well as you can. Like said before, don't keep going after one target. If you see another enemy closer, go for him. You never know if you have a tail, which luckily when I went after a closer target, my tail wasn't expecting is, and lost me :cool:

So also, you can fake your enemy out by diving towards the ground and then pulling up before you hit the ground, that always works for me.

Some tricks are things like wing wagging, this can put off an attackers aim. Split-S and immelmans also are good manouvers to counter multiple attackers. When you do manouvers though, you dont have to get them perfect. You can do them at angles and not get the Ace Card for it but they will help massively in large engagements.

There are some other little tricks you can do, but Im not going to share my entire playbook ;) A good tip is to do training missions vs 16 fighters. Once you can do a training mission against 16 planes and win without getting killed your on the money for dogfighting modes.

This is indeed true (ofcourse), but use them when against multiple attackers, like lexandro said. If someone is on your six, at 1.0km, and you start making an immelman (climb till you face 180 degrees the other side and then flip over), you will be an easy target. The climb will give your attacker a chance to close to gap, and get really close. Also you lose speed, making you an easier target to shoot at. As you will notice, being an easy target with an enemy on your short 6, is not the best thing in the world ;).

Spilt-S on the other hand, is a good manouvre 1 vs 1. It will be really hard for your attacker to lead the shot when you are diving and looping. You're increasing speed, and leading the shot at a diving target is harder then against a climbing on (my opinion anyways).

In that situation the Split-S would indeed be the preffered manouver, as its easier to build speed for disengaging. Of course as I said though doing the manouvers straight can make you open to attack. So an immelman with a 10-20 degree bank included will ruin a gunners aim simly due to the angle its performed at. Many pilots have trouble with gunnery when not in level flight.

Its not the best option, but it can be effective when done properly.

you and your bloody ruski planes!!!! :-P HAHAHAHA.

You'd tell him to fly a glider if it had a soviet star on the fuselage haha.

Best bit of advice i can give is....


fly what your comfortable in. Its no use flying a 109 and trying head on passes with an enemy if you cant really do it and you dont like doing it. If your more of a turning fighter, then it would make sense to fly a plane that has a good rate of turn but also feels good for you on the controls.

I can fly the 109 and the spit quite well,


with the 109 i attack head one when i can and i dont get into a turning fight if i can help it (unless with the same aircraft)

with the spit i like to get on their 6 and do what i can, if they go for a turn...i'll stick on them.


BUT...

Just because i feel like i CAN use the 109, it doesnt mean i DO use it. Reason being is i just dont feel comfortable or confident enough. It just doesnt "feel" right for me. Where as the spit (or preferably hurricane :D ) i feel safe flying it and comfortable and confident.


Sorry if non of this makes sense...its late and im tired lol. I know what i mean though :P

I'm probably not making many friends this way, but I try to target the best player on the opposing team every chance I get, often exclusively. For one thing it keeps him off my six as much as possible, but also, if you're going for team victories in an effort to unlock say the 109 G-10.. you could do worse to help your team than trying to neutralize the alpha killer.

Also the best pilot on the other team quickly picks up targets and is most likely to be in a turning fight shooting at another plane at any given moment, which makes for the easiest kind of target.

Theres a small chance the MiG-3 could make it as DLC =P

I like this quite a bit. For this reason, I'll likely continue to fly the spit, although I'm curious about the hurricane. It's like I said in the original post. The spit is great for turn fights one on one. I can usually drag them into one of those, but I feel like I get chewed up in multiple bandit situations. Until the patch comes out, I'll probably just stick it out in the turners.

The buzzword here is situational awareness when the fuzz is flying. When the match starts, you don't necessarily have to charge the closest enemy. Team up with a buddy and both of you can tackle a lone enemy. Then, you can move on over to the rest of the fight while the guy is respawning. Also, when you respawn, don't simply head straight back into the fight. Look at the number of enemies, currently IN THE FIGHT, watch for the enemy respawn and when that guy dives right into the furball then you drop onto his six. Aggressiveness is a great quality in a fighter pilot, but beware target fixation.

Yep I do this myself, and I also get it done to me a lot to. Infact simply because I feel confident in my flying skills I relish people going for me exclusively. On many occasions players will go for me and I can keep them busy long enough for a friendly to get on his 6 and take him out. A few times also I have used the enviroment to good effect to help in taking them on. Things like flying and under a bridge and looping right away with a bit of a bank can make many pilots disengage instantly or crash while trying to follow me. Or the "nap of the earth" flying up and over the cliffs of Dover is another great enviromental asset.

Dont forget as well to tell your team mates your in trouble over the Mic. If Im flying and a wingman calls a bandit on his 6 he cant shake, I immediatly try a raking pass to try and scare him off. Communicating to your team is great and helps out immensly.