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.

[BRIGGBOY]

i have a good internet connection and it dont help me

[TRC Subaru]

Originally Posted by Robotic Pope

I'm convinced connection quality to the internet makes a big difference too....

Yes Pope, the more I play the more I realize the “micro-lag / connection” issue has a lot to do with your Kill Count. As soon as I enter a room I “slap” both controller sticks left and then right. The plane should flip side to side so fast you would think it will snap its wings off! It should roll a full 90 degrees from left to right (wing tips straight up and down) in under a second as it does when you are in single player Training mode (I use Training mode as the “bench-mark”). Often when I try this in a “corrupt” room the plane seems as if it is flying thru maple syrup and may take several seconds to roll from side to side – I know at that point the game is not going to register you cannon shots as it would in Training, you will get few kills and get shot down a lot – your just going to have to grin and bear it until you find a better room...

I can see why this issue along with the “Crash-No Kill” problem can drive some people nuts and make them give up on the game. At least now that I understand the connection issue I can deal with it a bit better (I still swear like a long shore man from time to time though - sorry)

I try to hold room size down to 8 or less now just because of this.

[Zatoichi_Sanjuro]

Connection has little to do with it. Crash-bug happens to everyone. Some people handle it like rational adults and some cry like babies and blame the player (not naming names ).

If you get beaten by the same player a lot, got to the leaderboards and check out how many times that player has played that particular mode. Chances are they have far, far more games under their belt than you. It's about the only statistic which is good for anything (although it doesn't show flight time just number of matches played) and it shows you that 'practice makes perfect'.