Newb

[Blackdog_kt]

Yes, having a couple of semi-regular wingmen makes a ton of difference.

First of all let me say that i don't fly online much, in fact i usually do it for a couple of months and then disappear for an equal amount of time. Of course, that means i forget a lot of stuff and each time i get back to it, it usually takes me between 8 and 12 hours of flying time to get back to where i was (which isn't something extraordinady, i usually hover around a 50/50 kill/death ratio).
Couple that with some DSL problems and serving a year as a conscript AA gunner in the local air force and i haven't flown online for a year. Well, at least i got to fire twin 20mm rheinmetal guns for real

Nevertheless, in all of my on-and-off online flying, what stood out the most is the importance of a wingman that you can work well with (actually, them being more experienced it was usually me who was the wingman). And in order to find people to fly with and enjoy the sim, it pays off if you are an honest fellow.
What i usually did was join teamspeak, be up-front about my lack of skill and just say "i'll tag along with you guys if you don't mind, don't worry, i'm not going to be a burden". Sure enough, people didn't mind and i got to witness how some very good virtual pilots did their thing. Granted, i'm not a stranger to flight sims, in fact i've been simming since 1992 on my first PC, but it's a totally different beast to be flying online against people with massive amounts of stick time.

Initially, i was just following them from a distance of 500m-1km and letting them do the attacking and the fancy stuff. If they got in a turn fight i zoomed up and to the side a little, settled in a nice turn and watched the fight, if they boom and zoomed i just followed them while staying a bit higher than them. That's all i did, but if someone managed to get on their tails i was in a perfect position to attack him and clear their tail. Sooner or later, i managed to get a couple of kills this way. Now, this might seem fairly basic and maybe even boring stuff, but you'll be surprised how much your handling improves just by following a competent pilot.

See, by following them you are essentially putting your aircraft through the same maneuvers as they are. After 3-4 hours of this you realize that you can suddenly and magically fly in a way that you couldn't before, more efficient, you don't burn off so much speed in maneuvers and so on. The explanation is of course that your muscle memory sets in and you do a small part of what the experienced guys do without even thinking about it.

After a few evenings you'll have picked up who the regulars of the server are in your timezone. You will have cleared their tails a couple of times, you will have acted as bait a couple more and generally people will be thinking "hey, that newbie is a decent fellow and a team oriented player who cares more about out team winning the map than he cares about his own stats and stealing kills from others". That's the important qualities, skill comes not only from talent but also from experience, but if skilled people like having you around the quality of the experience you acculumate is that much better. That's when they start asking you themselves..."mate, we are going to hit the mission targets in grid AC14, do you want to ride with us?"

Another thing to note is that you need to think as a formation/section and not as individual aircraft. After i overcome the stage of being sloppy and i gain some actual control over my aircraft, i stop playing sacrificial lamb and taking unecessary risks, even if i don't care about my stats. The reason is that if i get shot down i diminish the strength of my section. Similarly, i will do whatever i can to help a wingman out of a dangerous position, unless he himself tells me that it's hopeless and he's got no chance of avoiding getting shot down and even then, if i think i have a shot at rescuing him i'll still try it.

This mentality goes for kills as well. There's no such thing as "my target" and "your target" inside your section, unless the target is visibly out of action (the aircraft is visibly and clearly shot down/on fire/pilot has bailed out/wings missing/etc). The target is mine for the duration of my firing pass. If i don't shoot him down i will extend and cover the guy i'm flying with, now the target is his for one pass and then we switch back again. This goes on until one of us shoots him down.

Finally, it's generally considered a courtesy that if you're unsure if you should intervene in a fight you should ask about it. I have been diving towards a friendly to help him only to hear "thanks mate, i can handle him" (and he did), i have also been reluctant to interfere and the guy went "come on, get him off me". Some people might enjoy having a 15 minute one on one duel regardless of who wins and i don't want to crash their party. Similarly, others are more satisfied with completing a sortie, survival rates and advancing the mission objectives, so they are less likely to turn down help in dispatching a bandit. It's pretty simple, if in doubt ask them.

As you can see, i didn't say anything at all about what planes to fly, what load-outs to use and what tactics to learn. There are people out there who know tons more about these things than i do. Just be a good wingman and a team player and sooner or later you'll learn insane amounts of stuff from them, wether they are on your side and babysit you back to base or on the other team and beat seven different shades of crap out of you on a regular basis. All you need is to find a server with difficulty settings that suit you and stick to it so that you get to know who's who among the regular population, some patience and a friendly/enjoyable attitude and you'll be progressing in leaps and bounds in no time. Welcome and enjoy the ride