Tales from online; ignorance of energy....

[JtD]

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

[Jumoschwanz]

Originally Posted by JtD

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.

[JtD]

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.

[Jumoschwanz]

Originally Posted by JtD

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?

[JtD]

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?

[K_Freddie]

Moons ago, online Berlin map..
In a FW190-A9, I'd just plugged a red a/c and was set upon by a LA7.
A few seconds later he was joined by another LA7 and they both had advantage on me.

I couldn't escape directly to Berlin, as they would easily catch me. Then both attacked one behind the other, which gave me an escape route.. turning inside this attack, I put nose down gently and 'floored it' towards the south.
They caught up to within about 400m as we reached ground level.

What followed was about 10 minutes of treetop speedway.. As I trimmed and played with my radiator and plop-pitch.. I kept them at arms length - their shells 'expiring' a few metres behind me.
Slowly turning in a wide gentle arc I headed back towards my base. The one LA gave up halfway but the other had big ideas...

Little did he know, I was leading him into a trap... my base AAA shot him down.

[Laurwin]

I believe that in practical terms, it is valuable to know enemy plane's capability and your own plane's capability.

Know yourself and your enemy and you will triumph in thousand battles.

Obviously different aircraft characteristics exist for different planes. This has been established.

Characteristics such as top speed, - and perhaps even acceleration. (heavy overweight planes like p47 don't seem to accelerate fast, actually tempest seems to suffer slightly from the same thing)

And these characteristics are different at different altitudes (this is the reason for all those DREADED CHARTS that they made in black-and-white paper for studying the aircraft effectiveness in WW2)

Does this have any relevance to the game though? Well, ideally speaking the physics determine the viability of tactics and to some extent even strategy.

Physics is behind the "rules of thumb" that they gave to real life fighter pilots, rules like "never dogfight with zero" (it was posted on a placard in squadron mess somewhere in Pacific)

So, basically all of this ought to help in finding out tactics on how to use certain planes against certain enemies.


More about the speed characteristic. I do remember reading about a Finnish ww2 fighter pilot's advice to new pilots. He noted that basically assuming 1v1 scenario, the socalled speed differential (difference in speeds, of the two airplaes) is one important factor. IF the speed differential is too much disadvantegous, then this is cleaarly bad thing you could say. Practical example of this situation is e.g. brewster buffalo vs la5, p38 vs zeke

The enemy will possibly be able to gain overwhelming energy advantage, if he can keep fighting for long time, and keeps slowly building his energy. Something like that I think. It maybe was from Hans Wind fighter pilot...

[Jumoschwanz]

Originally Posted by JtD

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?

I guess I should have specified I fly on hard settings servers where there is no way to know where other aircraft are on the server, just as in WWII. I am not interested in gaming on easy servers where the players scroll through outside views and have icons.....it means about the same as someone bragging about how well they do on Pac-Man.


As for K_Freddie's escape from the LA-7s, good job because they are certainly faster than a 190A. I had a similar experience once, only managing to escape because I watched my engine temperature and the pilot of an La5fn did not and ruined his engine after chasing me for quite a while.

Although the La- series of Russian fighters are generally as fast or faster than their contemporary 190A opponents, they do have fragile engines and if their pilot does not know how to manage his Energy or his engine then the full potential of their aircraft will be wasted.

In earlier patches of IL2 the Russian aircraft seemed to come apart in high speed dives easier than they do in the last few patches. Back in the day I watched more than a few La- or other Russian fighter hit the ground behind me while trying to keep up with my 109 or 190 in a dive. It was always good for a chuckle.

[JtD]

My statement applies to both externals on and externals off servers. Only difference is the flight plan.

[Notorious M.i.G.]

Originally Posted by Jumoschwanz

In earlier patches of IL2 the Russian aircraft seemed to come apart in high speed dives easier than they do in the last few patches. Back in the day I watched more than a few La- or other Russian fighter hit the ground behind me while trying to keep up with my 109 or 190 in a dive. It was always good for a chuckle.

I can't really recall how severe it was compared to now, but I've inadvertently ripped a few ailerons (or more) off in the Las while trying to follow a German fighter diving away - at around 650km/h (for the early LaGG-3 at least iirc), you don't really get a whole lot of leeway to chase down something before you're forced to call it quits.