Tales from online; ignorance of energy....
 

Hi all,

Recently on a closed cockpit/no outside views server, the pilot of one of the very fastest aircraft in IL2 asked how I shot him to pieces from his 6 o'clock position while I was in a much slower aircraft.

I explained to him that although some of the aircraft in IL2 have a decent top speed advantage over others even of the same year, 1944 for instance, that unless they are actually traveling at top speed their advantage will be less or even reversed.

Some aircraft in IL2 with high top speeds can be kept up with or even caught at low to medium speeds by aircraft that have lower top speeds. If you add to that an energy advantage or poor energy management, then the top-speed advantage of a particular aircraft can be erased.

A little altitude or speed advantage going into a fight, or a maneuver that scrubs off less speed than your opponent can be all that is needed to get the job done, not to mention being able to make types of blind shots others don't expect you to be able to make etc....

To many this is very simple and common sense flying, but surprisingly there are people out there that have been flying IL2 for a decade who are still oblivious as to why they just got shot down.


Good luck and,

S!

Just watch for hard and/or flat turns.

Haha, I had something like that happen a month ago. Turning in a Yak-1B against a FW 190-5, I ended up on his six, about 150m back. At that point he just straightened out and flew almost perfectly level. After he bailed out he accused me of flying "Oleg's wonder-uber-Yak1B." He was expecting his faster plane to just leave me like a missile leaves a wing.

I remember being on the other end of such over-simplified assumptions when I was starting out online; once at about 1500m there was a La-5FN 500m behind me and gaining fast, so my reaction was to climb steeply because of course everyone knows those La's lose a lot of performance above 2000m, lol.

Best way to learn energy in flight in IL-2 is to either fly the slower plane (which forces you to learn to conserve energy to catch up to faster opponents) or fly in air races until the concept sinks in.

The thing that amazed me in my first few air races was how much faster some pilots were than me just in how they were flying. Trim and stick inputs are much more significant than you'd think.

I enjoy flying a Ki-43 Oscar against P-40s or Corsairs, for example, because you know they are much faster than you but if you play it right then you can have more energy and be in a position to score your kills. If you play it right... It's not usually a winning proposition but it is educational.

Yep, being smooth on the controls is important, but flying straight away from danger is not a good idea.

You can do both, when I am running I dive in a shallow turn so that anyone trying to hit me does not have a straight shot. It does not have to be much of a curve in your flight to make it so your pursuer has to make a lead shot instead of a straight shot. Then if you very slightly change your direction over several seconds you are in much better shape.

It is a balancing act, those running while putting in heavy control inputs are not going to pull away, and those who are so smooth on the controls that they offer their opponent an easy shot may not get too far either.

The IL2 pilot that is consistently completing his missions while scoring against his opponents has to have a very large bag of tricks he can draw from.

I disagree. All I need to consistently complete missions while staying alive is a fast aircraft, a decent flight plan and discipline.

Exactly like AI :)

I have flown on well-known servers hosted by well-known allied squads, and they all train together and use the same tactics and fly the same mission over and over again. This makes them very easy to defeat........Just like AI.

My thanks to AI and those who think and fly like them for my great successes.

I manage 90-95% rtb, more if I try. It's really simple, if you're in the faster plane, the other guy can be as good as he likes, he won't catch you.

So where is this server where nobody is ever flying above you at an energy advantage? :)

Having someone above you with an energy advantage means that you went below him with an energy disadvantage. What a stupid thing is that to do if you don't know you're fast enough to still get out?