Lewie 7 Posted February 27, 2011 Well I'm still playing CFS3, but I'm assuming that the bullet counter and the hits percentage listing in Stats when you close Quick Combat is still present in OFF? I'm flying the Bleriot two seater I've downloaded from SOH, with the two MG's in an instant respawn, quick combat situation to get a feel for the gunnery in OFF and get in some practice. The percentage counter is a stunner, I can't believe the amount of bullets I waste. My best so far is about 11%. What a reality check! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
themightysrc 5 Posted February 27, 2011 Get. Up. Very. Very. Close. Indeed. And. Then. Get. Closer. Still. When. You. Can. See. The. Stitching. On. The. Pilot's. Helmet: Fire. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lewie 7 Posted February 27, 2011 (edited) Get. Up. Very. Very. Close. Indeed. And. Then. Get. Closer. Still. When. You. Can. See. The. Stitching. On. The. Pilot's. Helmet: Fire. Gotcher. See. The. Big. Bits. Of. Enemy. Plane. Hit. Your. Plane. You. Die. Make. New. Pilot. Edited February 27, 2011 by Lewie Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
themightysrc 5 Posted February 27, 2011 Gotcher. See. The. Big. Bits. Of. Enemy. Plane. Hit. Your. Plane. You. Die. Make. New. Pilot. Nah! It doesn't go like that, honest Guv. I've never been downed by detritus from enemy aircraft, although I've been through hails of the muck. The message is as simple as you'd like it to be: get very, very close and then fire. You really can't lose by so doing, and they will go down. The reason I have a pilot who started on BE2c's and is now on RE8's who has 24 kills is that I have always closed in on the enemy until I couldn't really miss. If you can't get close enough - and trust me I speak from experience - then it's because you haven't mastered the plane or become acclimatised to the AI. But you will. My initial %age stats were dreadful - probably 2-3% hits, which is quite depressing - but with repeated flying and particularly in the same aircraft type at the same time of the war, then it started going up and up. Moral: start a campaign, stick to it and take your licks - you'll improve. Given that you appear to be fairly new to the fora here, I'd suggest that the above - starting a campaign - is not only the best thing that you can do, but also, I'd add that the best possible start to your campaign would be as the pilot of a two seater aircraft. That will, if you survive, teach you more or less everything you need to know about WWI air combat, and will enable you to hop into a Camel or SE5 (or whatever) in a subsequent campaign with every chance of bagging a large number of victims. Cheers, Si Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lewie 7 Posted February 27, 2011 (edited) Nah! It doesn't go like that, honest Guv. I've never been downed by detritus from enemy aircraft, although I've been through hails of the muck. The message is as simple as you'd like it to be: get very, very close and then fire. You really can't lose by so doing, and they will go down. The reason I have a pilot who started on BE2c's and is now on RE8's who has 24 kills is that I have always closed in on the enemy until I couldn't really miss. If you can't get close enough - and trust me I speak from experience - then it's because you haven't mastered the plane or become acclimatised to the AI. But you will. My initial %age stats were dreadful - probably 2-3% hits, which is quite depressing - but with repeated flying and particularly in the same aircraft type at the same time of the war, then it started going up and up. Moral: start a campaign, stick to it and take your licks - you'll improve. Given that you appear to be fairly new to the fora here, I'd suggest that the above - starting a campaign - is not only the best thing that you can do, but also, I'd add that the best possible start to your campaign would be as the pilot of a two seater aircraft. That will, if you survive, teach you more or less everything you need to know about WWI air combat, and will enable you to hop into a Camel or SE5 (or whatever) in a subsequent campaign with every chance of bagging a large number of victims. Cheers, Si I was being reciprocally facetious, sorry if I was misunderstood. I'm actually not new to campaign sims and I presently have a one month old Typhoon pilot in CFS3 that has done nothing but CAP's out of Leiston. ( because he keeps on dying when he elects to go on long patrols and has to fight BF109's). My question is how do you close on an aircraft to attack in a BE2c? Yeah I'm going to start my first WWI pilot in two seaters when OFF arrives. The Fee is especially attractive, because of Frederick Libby's exploits in his autobiographical "Horses Don't Fly". Edited February 27, 2011 by Lewie Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
carrick58 23 Posted February 27, 2011 :english_en: cant add anything except : Aim for the Biggest part. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TaillyHo 2 Posted February 28, 2011 Well I'm still playing CFS3, but I'm assuming that the bullet counter and the hits percentage listing in Stats when you close Quick Combat is still present in OFF? I'm flying the Bleriot two seater I've downloaded from SOH, with the two MG's in an instant respawn, quick combat situation to get a feel for the gunnery in OFF and get in some practice. The percentage counter is a stunner, I can't believe the amount of bullets I waste. My best so far is about 11%. What a reality check! Hey Lewie, guessing you know you're not comparing apples and apples here - but you asked for a reality check. There was a thread here some time ago asking folks to 'vote' on their accuracy in OFF. From memory, I think the majority were in the 15-20% slot, but quite a few were 20%+, with a few 'aliens' managing 30%+. The good thing about player stats is that they come up immediately after each mission, so you get some verification immediately if you thought you had a good 'show'. Of course, if you've only been getting 10-11% for a while and then discover a better way of sighting or whatever, it can take a while to drag your career average up. Sure the advice above about getting in close is spot-on, especially if you opt for 'less accurate' gun settings. Hope you get your copy of OFF soon! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hellshade 110 Posted February 28, 2011 (edited) I'm one of the aliens. I can often manage 60% accuracy and it's not because I'm a good shot. I have a system I use about when to shoot and how to fly & use the throttle for the maximum time guns are on target. You can see my air to air tactic tips below. It starts with a tutorial about how to keep more agile EA in your sights and then turns to shooting rules. Air to Air Tactics (9:15) 1080HD Fully Voice Shooting Tutorial for OFF:BH&H Hope it helps. Hellshade Edited February 28, 2011 by Hellshade Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lewie 7 Posted February 28, 2011 (edited) Hellshade's video does a good job of illustrating combat tactics. Interesting in that the attack scenarios I use to better success when stalking and shooting JU88's with a Typhoon in the CFS3 CAP campaign, has a similar pattern, except that the JU88 is generally more interested in dive bombing ground targets. Not that I haven't been nailed by the tailgunner. I tend towards the attack from underneath tactic and have been using the flaps set on the first notch to damp my speed of closing. Yeah i know, apples and oranges.. Which brings me to two seater gunnery. The Bleriot is a two seater with one forward firing fixed gun and a pintle mount Lewis for the rear gunner. When I switch cockpits the joystick control of the free aiming gun suffers from a bit of inertial over swing, something that SDOE FS-WWI has spoiled me on with it's tighter control. The problem I notice is that despite this over swing, that the AI of my opponents in CFS3 have no problem being as deadly an aim as the opponents in SDOE's gunner's AI, and there's less spray in SDOE's guns, 'generally speaking'. So two seater gunnery in OFF is going to take much more practice. But hellshade's demo of setting up your fight so you're not suddenly rushing your opponent in a dive, by cutting throttle is something I've already picked up with SDOE. And just judging by hellshades video, SDOE's ships tend to be more draggy in a dive when you reduce throttle. Not stand on your nose and have it slow down, but you can reduce your airspeed considerably while in a less than 40 degree decent in some kites. Of course both the Farman MF11and the Caudron GIV tends to shake themselves to bits in any speed over 105 mph. Of course slowing down like this in a dive really should not that possible with prototypical fixed throttle rotaries like the early Gnomes. yeah, more apples and oranges.. Edited February 28, 2011 by Lewie Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TaillyHo 2 Posted February 28, 2011 I'm one of the aliens. I can often manage 60% accuracy and it's not because I'm a good shot. I have a system I use about when to shoot and how to fly & use the throttle for the maximum time guns are on target. Hellshade Tee-hee! Spot the alien! Very nice vid, Hellshade - should be required viewing for all OFF newbies. I think the real art you demonstrate - but that is not so easy to replicate - is the hanging back to not lose your target, yet being right there for that close-up 'kill' shot. No doubt you do a lot of work with that throttle, but I think you must also have the experience to know where the target is likely to go next. I can almost see you leaning over prior to a newbie's first flight and saying "I'm now gonna show you the most important thing in this cockpit for shooting down the enemy ... and to his/her surprise, instead of pointing to the trigger button, you lovingly tap the throttle lever. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CW3SF 0 Posted February 28, 2011 Most of the time I get about 30% average over 10 missions. Go for the close shot , short burst of not more than 2 seconds, use your throttle to slow down behind the injured plane. Cross control to slow down even more. But WATCH YOUR SIX. CW3SF Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
