the aces

[nuklhed808]

Okay, so yesterday I got into a one on one against MIRGERVIN in a sim battle, and as expected I lost big time! Now I consider myself an OK sim pilot, but flying against that level of talent simply amazed me. I mean, I rarely saw him because he was almost always on my 6. whether I stayed high and dove down on him, or if I got down low in the weeds and tried to get the angle, it didn't matter, within a couple of turns he was behind me blasting the last shards of pride I had that was floating above Berlin.
I don't believe it was plane choice or any other lame excuse I could come up with. After the match I sent him a messege full of praise, and he wrote back with a thanks stating it's from lots of flying time, but is that it? I mean I was beside myself experiencing that kind of flying! I'm not looking for "gaming tricks", but rather flight combat tactics that can be practiced and honed to improve my battle worthiness. afterall, aside from the occasional flash of La-5 whizzing by, I never got to see how he ALWAYS got on my 6 o'clock....

[gbtstr]

What were you flying?

I don't think of it as completely an excuse. We've all heard, it's the pilot not the plane - and to a good extent I'd agree. But I think there is a line somewhere where no matter how good the pilot, he is at too much of a disadvantage by virtue of his mount. Either that, or he'd have to be Chuck Yeager + von Richthofen + Hartmann + Bader + O'Hare + ... you get my drift. There's not many that fit that bill. McGervyn is a good pilot with a lot of experience, and throw him in a better than average plane, it will only tip the balance more in his favor. If you were in say, a P-47, it would not shock anyone that you had a pretty rough go against even a barely competent pilot, let alone one as good as McGuyver. I flew against him back in his xbox days and had my tail chomped on by his Spit many times. But, I was able to make his Spitfire fold in half several times with my 109s.

If he was in the La-5, there aren't many planes that stack up evenly with it. Allegedly, but I believe it to be true, it can out-turn the Spit Mk IX (which afaik is the best turning Spit). And, unless the dynamics changed drastically in the PS3 version, or post-patch (not something an xbox player would know about), the La-5 down low can only be out-run by the La-7. Up high, the Bf-109K-4 has the top speed advantage, but the La's still might out-accelerate the 109 in a sprint.

Other things to consider in sim -

Better eyesight/bigger screen can give you an advantage over somebody dogfighting on a 13" dinosaur. If they're up high, you can pick out a speck at some distance. In the weeds, you will only see them when: they get close, you see tracers whizzing by your plane, or you see them moving rapidly across your line of sight.

Different control setups may give you an advantage over someone else's. I don't know the new schemes, but if there's a better way of looking around other than click and hold the right stick, it would be an improvement, and probably an advantage in a fight. Remember, he who sees first wins - and also, lose sight, lose the fight. Perhaps your setup in that regard is not as good as it could be.

Combat flaps. If you're not used to flying sim it's easy to forget about them. Use them to get the edge in a turn-fight. However, if your opponent also uses them, I guess it's a wash. But, if you don't use them and he does, you will know about it real soon as he saddles up on you after a turn and a half. You can yank back all day and he'll just line you up and send you down in flames. This is the voice of experience talking. Spitfire vs Spitfire and I was kicking myself all the way back to the loading screen after it was over.

Otherwise it all comes down to tactics. 1v1, this La-5 leaves little place to hide from it. If you turn with it, you're gonna die. If you stay down low, it will have a speed/acceleration advantage over your bird.

You really have two options: 1) also take an La-5, or 2) chose the 109K-4 and be a very, very, very disciplined boom and zoom attacker. Neither option is very good. Assuming you were as good a pilot as he, it could only end in a draw for La-5 vs La-5. Odds are one of you will make that fatal mistake, and by your own admission, odds are it will be you more often than him. BnZ works best on a predictable, unaware target. Get up high, dive down, blast the fucker, and zoom back up to safety. You won't get a lot of kills this way - one or two a match if you're lucky/good - but, on the other hand, you'll die a lot less. Working against you: he will most likely be very aware of where you are and not provide you that predictable target. Also, the priority is that if you don't hit/kill him on your pass, you have to get out of dodge with your own ass intact. Having a high energy state (a lot of speed) on the pass will help you live to fight another day, however, it gives you mere seconds to try to hit a moving target. This is also why it helps to have a lot of killing power on a BnZ aircraft - like all those nice cannon on the 109K-4. Also, it can be easy to botch the escape (the zoom). When you go whizzing by, he will turn to get on your six. If you climb away too steeply, or bleed speed by turning a little too much (no turning is best), he could have enough accel on that Russian hunk o' junk to catch you and spoil your whole day.

In reality, the Fw-190D-9, the P-51D and P-47 were all great at BnZ fighting. However, in the game they've been neutered and don't have the speed advantage that made them good at BnZ in real life. I'd say the D-9 could almost pull it off - I outran an La-5 once, but he would have dogged me to the end of the map had there not been more appealing targets way back there in a giant furball. In game, the 109G-10 and 109K-4 are the only two that can do BnZ successfully while solo - and you have to be on your game.

If all else fails, next time bring a wingman. At least one of you should get a shot.

[BRIGGBOY]

I havent been playing sim mode online for very long and believe me i have had then all on my six but i have also been in a games where there are lots of the sim aces and mirgervin and believe me mirgervin is the ace of the aces.

[Hrok81]

Yeah he's probably gonna own you no matter what plane he flies.
Saw him many times being attacked by two La5's at once and he always shot them down with no apparent effort. He's great pilot.

[SEE]

1 v 1 is the real test and probably why a lot of folks feel uncomfortable entering tournaments or going 1 v 1 . I have spoken to many of the guys I consider to be great at 1 v 1 and, apart from the fact they are excellent flyers in combat anyway, most say that they have mastered the skill of maneouvring and watching you at the same time using the camera pan. They have lightening responses and are much quicker at spotting their foe from distance irrespective of what altitude they are at (bigger screens seem to help). They can see or induce 'predictibility' ........and exploit it!

[Hrok81]

Originally Posted by SEE

... they have mastered the skill of maneouvring and watching you at the same time using the camera pan ...

Absolutely true, whenever I've had a decent "performance" (very few games sadly) I was constantly watching the enemy plane with the cam. Staying on their tails becomes way easier, and shaking them too I believe.
Too bad I always found it really "tiring", but I guess it's just me.

[Robotic Pope]

I'm convinced connection quality to the internet makes a big difference too. And from the times Ive flewn with him Im sure Mirgirvin has a very good connection. I think everyone has experienced times when you are pouring bullets into a plane thats right infront of you and nothing happens, other times you are flying 90 degrees from your target and get an awesome leed shot that kills the enemy instantly (something which would have been totaly imposible to do in the first example). A lot of the times that ive been killed by mirgirvin have been like this, I die before I even know im being shot at.

Ive also noticed the times when latency is higher the more non-counting crashed kills I get. Mirgirvin seems to get almost all his kills when Ive seen him fly.

Now i'm not saying his skill is just down to connection quality. He is obviously one of the best pilots in the game. I'm just saying its something to consider when he totaly wipes the floor with you.

Just want to add I remember one time when my connection was being nice to me, I was playing a realistic team battle in an I-153 and mirgirvin was on the other side in a La5. I singled him out and murdered him many times until he became anoyed and quit the game lol. He doesn't like the I-153.

[nuklhed808]

Originally Posted by gbtstr

If all else fails, next time bring a wingman. At least one of you should get a shot.

...then this will make you laugh: About a week ago I was invited to play in another sim match. There were 7 players, and MIRGERVIN and cep34 insisted on a 2 vs 5 battle. Well, once the game started someone said he didn't know why those two wanted it that way, after all, he said, "they are good but not that good." Long story short, the question of "good" was answered when the final score was something like 15 to 2, with MIRGERVIN and cep getting the 15.

By the way, thanks for the flying tips...

[Spitfire23]

Mirgervin is a great pilot, although i was one of his main competitors until my official controller broke after i defeated him.

it sure was one of the most intense dogfights i have been in so far. if anything a one on one with mirgervin would end real close between the two of us, no joke.

i really need to start practising more often though as i haven't been on sim in a while.

[gbtstr]

Originally Posted by nuklhed808

...then this will make you laugh: About a week ago I was invited to play in another sim match. There were 7 players, and MIRGERVIN and cep34 insisted on a 2 vs 5 battle. Well, once the game started someone said he didn't know why those two wanted it that way, after all, he said, "they are good but not that good." Long story short, the question of "good" was answered when the final score was something like 15 to 2, with MIRGERVIN and cep getting the 15.

By the way, thanks for the flying tips...

Well, the implication was that you bring a good wingman, or one you can work well with. Actually, Mirgervin and cep prove my point - even more so doing it against the odds.

Usually, with a wingman, you stay in position with each other so that if the engaged fighter loses the advantage, the wing comes in and gives the bandit something to think about while the other fighter goes back to a supporting role. Essentially, two could keep jumping in and swapping out to keep the bandit continually on the defensive. It's a bit more complicated in practice, but that's the bare-bones of it.

Sometimes, more desperate measures work, but your wingman may not exactly thank you for it back at the O-club. For example, I was in a little guns match in Over-G Fighters. My wing and I were in F-14s against a single F-15. Now, the F-14 is a solid jet in that game, but the F-15 has a clear performance advantage - light weight with big engines, and the ability to pull +9Gs till the sun goes down versus the F-14's heavy weight with big engines and +6.5Gs. Whether or not the Tomcat is fairly represented considering the Eagle's performance (it isn't) is a topic for another day.

So, we hit the merge, dogfighting happened, etc., etc. Eventually, I get a little spit out of the fight, the 15 turns in on my wingman and he goes defensive. Thinking quickly, I decided to start calling my wingman's turns to help him evade, but more so to help me re-engage and saddle up on the F-15. So, essentially, I staked my ability to have my wingman maneuver the bandit into my sights and my ability to hit what I was shooting at against my wingman's ass. I figured, as long as I could make it happen fast, I could either get the bandit to break off or kill him because he was so intent on my wingman.

Long and the short of it, I had my wing drag the bandit into a firing position for me, and I nailed the bastard. It was actually a pretty beautiful thing. I did my best to help my wing reverse as the bandit overshot him, so by following my instructions, I flew my wingman into a scissors with the bandit while I closed for a shot. So, I was really trying my best to not get my wingman shot. It all worked out in the end. My wing was pretty impressed (at least at first) and asked how I knew when to call his turns for his defense. When I confessed that it was more intended to help me get a kill shot on the bandit (but by doing that, save his pink hide) the sentiment he expressed was more along the lines of "Good thing you didn't miss."