DiD pilots.

[Rick Rawlings 137]

My wingmen in detached naval squadron 8 are all aces themselves, except for my poor wingie, Geoffrey Boyd, who got himself shot up and spent two weeks in the infirmary. I am amazed at how they go after the enemy. There have been several flights where I tried to stay on top of the fight and pick off the upper scouts, but by the time I found them, my boys were all over them and there were none left for me! There was a run there of about two weeks where I couldn't seem to get a plane of my own to shoot at and had some moments of Olham-style battle rage. Lucky for me, no additional enemies were around to take advantage of my recklessness. Sometimes, I will just hover above the fray when there is only one enemy scout left and padlock him and watch the rest of my flight kick him around. It is fascinating for me and also gaurentees I won't get collided with!

 

RR

[Interlocutor 0]

Griphos,

 

You ask an interesting question, about whether the sim models lower abilities for new/low rank squadmates. My assumption is "no", that all AI members of an "elite" squad have elite characteristics, but I may be wrong.

 

In my 2nd mission with my 56 Squadron pilot, a mission just behind German lines near Lens, I was crusing along at about 10,000 feet leading my flight when I saw specks in the sky at about 1 o'clock above me. They got closer, and I saw they were a flight of Albatri, brightly colored, led by an all-red specimen ! Gulp! I won't recount the details of the ensuing fight beyond saying that my pilot survived, though his crate semi-crashlanded, riddled with bullets, just inside British lines.

 

 

Rick,

 

Yes, I find that when I'm flying with an elite squad, if I "stay high" for a moment to get my bearings and make sure no other e/a are about to come down on us, by the time I look below to the fight again, my squaddies have often polished off the enemy. In my missions with my Storks pilot, flying N17's versus EIII's over the Somme in July '16, this is especially true. Of his 24 missions, he's only seen Germans about 5 or 6 times, and in all but one of those scraps, his squaddies had finished off the EIII's by the time my guy got his bearings & tried to join the fight. AI to AI, a Fokker EIII has no chance in Hell against an N17 flown by an elite AI pilot...

[Red-Dog 3]

Hi Siggi, quick question. Do you want reports every flight or once a week for example.

[Olham 164]

My new pilot, Leutnant Detlev Ritter von Mahlo, Jasta 1, Vivaise, May 1917, was just lucky!

Recently, I couldn't seem to do a thing right. But now I just had a scramble, and I thought,

well, doesn't really matter anymore, if this one too will get messed up by vertical diving

enemy fighters - just do your best to have some fun.

But then I saw no less but 12 FE2b crossing overhead, but not coming down! Twelve of these

crates, that's like 12 Christmas turkeys! So, I was egotistic enough, to keep my wings behind

me as witnesses, and do the attack alone.

I managed to destroy 4 of them in mid air, and shot up two so badly, they curved downwards

with trails of smoke. And what do you think, flight 1 did now?

Right - they were too slow at climbing, or too lazy; so they just shot up my descending two

Fees, stealing my kills. Tch - unbelievable, but true.

But anyway, I had 4 definite kills; so now my claims are ten, and if they should all get confirmed,

and my pilot still be alive then, I would finally have one for the board, Siggi.

[Siggi 10]

Hi Siggi, quick question. Do you want reports every flight or once a week for example.

 

Whatever's convenient to you old chap. :yes:

[zoomzoom 2]

Excellent work Olham!! Thats how its done. Quite a few of my kills with my current Did Pfalz pilot were gotten in the way you describe. We seem to be in an area where quite a few of these groups pass over, so between these and picking off strays, you can amass quite a few kills. Just watch out for the six and eight plane camel murder squads, they are a no-no. Avoid at all costs.

 

Its funny, but when I attack a group of these two seaters I do the same as you, wound as many as possible so they drop altitude and are eaten alive by my squad mates below. I call it "feeding the flock"....hehe. And by the time I hit the last guy, if I have enough ammo left, he's all mine.

 

ZZ.

Edited April 16, 2009 by zoomzoom

[Interlocutor 0]

Hi Siggi, quick question. Do you want reports every flight or once a week for example.

 

Red Dog, welcome to the French page of Siggi's killboard .

[Interlocutor 0]

Ahhh, I really like your strategy of flying with the other flight. I usually leave them at some point. I'm going to try that. I don't know why I haven't thought of that before.

 

Griphos, when you fly as "always leads", another advantage to tagging along with your squadron's other flight is that the other flight's leader can act as another "pair of eyes" for the purpose of spotting enemy formations. On a number of such missions, I've first become aware of enemies in the vicinity when the "other flight" suddenly broke formation and headed off in an unexpected direction .

 

Another "flight leader trick" is to use the "wingmen attack" command ("A" on the keyboard, but I've put all wingmen commands on my stick now) periodically when flying along in a seemingly empty sky. If there are any bad guys around that you yourself haven't spotted yet, your wingies will go for them, thus tipping you off. I think of this trick as "relying on younger eyes to spot baddies" . If your wingies don't peel off a few seconds after issuing the "A" command, then there's likely no one near, so just issue the "R" (Recall) command to make sure they stay with you while you look away from them.

 

Before I hit on this trick, I used to regret the fact that when your wingies are flying in formation behind you, they don't "take off after" any baddies that you might have missed. I wanted to be able to use the real-life tactic of having the flight leader (me) spend his time scanning downwards for likely targets while the wingies looked up to make sure no one came down on the flight.

 

Now I've discovered I can approximate this strategy by periodically using the "A" command. I look back at my wingies and hit "A"; if after a few seconds they don't peel off somewhere I know the immediate vicinity is likely clear, so I hit "R" (to keep them with me while my attention is elsewhere) and then look down searchingly for awhile before looking back at my wingies and hitting "A" again to see if they've spotted anything.

[griphos 0]

Man! Interlocutor. You are full of wisdom and helpful advice! This is a wonderful strategy. I shall employ it immediately. Maybe we should start a strategy sticky where we can share fabulous tips like this that we figure out.

 

[themightysrc 5]

"Maybe we should start a strategy sticky where we can share fabulous tips like this that we figure out."

 

i'd certainly appreciate that, if only to keep to reasonable proportions the number of dead pilots I chuck on the pile every few days.

[Interlocutor 0]

Maybe we should start a strategy sticky where we can share fabulous tips like this that we figure out.

 

 

Well, the "accompany the other flight" policy and the "use wingie eyes with "A" key" tactic are only really useful to those fanatics among us who have given up using the TAC and labels. With TAC to spot enemy formations at a distance, and/or labels to keep them in sight within 2 miles, there's not much need to practice the skill of neck-swiveling or to adopt the habit of deep, searching sky-gazing into the distance. And as Siggi says, I don't get the sense that there are that many BHAH pilots who have gone to TAC-less, label-less flying, so such strategems might not be of general interest.

 

But sure, to keep this line of conversation going, here are a few other thoughts I've had on being a TAC-less/label-less DiD pilot.

 

At first I thought "altitude is life", and in general I still think that's true. I try not to cross the lines or remain over German territory at less than 6,000 feet, and preferably 8,000 to 10,000. But I'm also coming to the conclusion that without TAC & labels, I can't really spot aircraft below me, against the ground clutter, at much less than a mile (call it 5,000 feet). And it's probably even less than that, given that most of us can't look "straight down" given fuselage, lower wing, etc.

 

So I think I miss a lot of advantageous encounters by flying high. Lately, when flying in company with my squad's "other flight" (let's call it "Flight #1" or "F1" for short), I study the pre-flight briefing to see what altitude the mission is supposed to achieve. Then, if it's high, I fly with my own flight about 4K or 5K feet lower than F1, letting them be top cover. I'm then free to look down a lot, and closer to the ground so I can better spot targets beneath me.

 

When my flight is on a "solo mission", i.e., when there is no F1 on a mission, and the mission is behind friendly lines, I'm now tending to top off at about 5,000 feet. There's more risk of getting jumped from a higher enemy doing this, but that's cancelled out a little, I think, in that it's generally easier to spot aircraft further out when they are above you than when they're lost in ground clutter below. If you turn immediately toward a higher enemy whom you plan to engage, you can reduce the risk further. If you don't like the odds, spotting them further off gives you a better chance of disengaging than if you don't see them until they're close.

 

I'd be curious to hear other "flight leader strategies" from other DiD TAC-less/label-less pilots...

[Siggi 10]

Well, the "accompany the other flight" policy and the "use wingie eyes with "A" key" tactic are only really useful to those fanatics among us who have given up using the TAC and labels. With TAC to spot enemy formations at a distance, and/or labels to keep them in sight within 2 miles, there's not much need to practice the skill of neck-swiveling or to adopt the habit of deep, searching sky-gazing into the distance. And as Siggi says, I don't get the sense that there are that many BHAH pilots who have gone to TAC-less, label-less flying, so such strategems might not be of general interest.

 

But sure, to keep this line of conversation going, here are a few other thoughts I've had on being a TAC-less/label-less DiD pilot.

 

At first I thought "altitude is life", and in general I still think that's true. I try not to cross the lines or remain over German territory at less than 6,000 feet, and preferably 8,000 to 10,000. But I'm also coming to the conclusion that without TAC & labels, I can't really spot aircraft below me, against the ground clutter, at much less than a mile (call it 5,000 feet). And it's probably even less than that, given that most of us can't look "straight down" given fuselage, lower wing, etc.

 

So I think I miss a lot of advantageous encounters by flying high. Lately, when flying in company with my squad's "other flight" (let's call it "Flight #1" or "F1" for short), I study the pre-flight briefing to see what altitude the mission is supposed to achieve. Then, if it's high, I fly with my own flight about 4K or 5K feet lower than F1, letting them be top cover. I'm then free to look down a lot, and closer to the ground so I can better spot targets beneath me.

 

When my flight is on a "solo mission", i.e., when there is no F1 on a mission, and the mission is behind friendly lines, I'm now tending to top off at about 5,000 feet. There's more risk of getting jumped from a higher enemy doing this, but that's cancelled out a little, I think, in that it's generally easier to spot aircraft further out when they are above you than when they're lost in ground clutter below. If you turn immediately toward a higher enemy whom you plan to engage, you can reduce the risk further. If you don't like the odds, spotting them further off gives you a better chance of disengaging than if you don't see them until they're close.

 

I'd be curious to hear other "flight leader strategies" from other DiD TAC-less/label-less pilots...

 

What's that you say? Flying at 10,000ft one misses lots of combat opportunities? Damn!

[Winston DoRight 3]

DiD is valid I suppose. I always select DiD in the workshop for death outcome, but really find some of the other many settings too irresistable not to try them occasionally, and change somewhat the way the game is played.

 

After all..... I play OFF for enjoyment....... not punishment.

[Interlocutor 0]

What's that you say? Flying at 10,000ft one misses lots of combat opportunities? Damn!

 

I hear you, Siggi, and tend to agree :yes: . Note that I said "miss a lot of advantageous encounters" (emphasis added). Anything at all disadvantageous, and I'd just as soon miss it...