Scramble Strategies Tutorial Video

[Hellshade 110]

This isn't a tutorial on how to become an Ace. It's about how to hopefully see dinner if you decide to try going up on a scramble mission in an in-line engine a/c against rotary equiped opponents.

 

Before you check out the videos, please understand the following:

 

I'm not suggesting anyone should fly scramble missions for any reason. They are hard and not very historically accurate.

Nor am I making any guarantees of success, just how to improve your odds - I feel - significantly.

Lastly, I'm not suggesting that every in-line can beat any rotary matchup. I picked two a/c that were around at the same time and tried them. (Alb DIIs vs N16s and N17s)

 

I successfully tested the strategies I chose in two other scramble missions before I filmed these two.

 

{Editors note} For some reason I got the word "radial" stuck in my head instead of "rotary" and repeated misspoke it throughout the tutorial. What can I say? I brain farted. Please think "rotary" when yours truly says "radial" like a dumbass. Also, I forgot to put the .com in the www.OverFlandersFields text at the end of the video and didn't realize it until I had fully converted it to 1080HD format. Lastly, my mic recorded a little low so at some points I'm not as clear and loud and I should have been. What can I say but I'm having an off night. sorry for that but hopefully you find the information useful.

 

Scramble Mission Strategies (12:04) 1080HD Fully Voiced Tutorial

 

 

I then ran the mission again with Alb DIIs against newer Nieuport 17s. You can see the results here.

{Editors note} I misspelled "Scramble" in the title text and didn't notice it until after the 1080 conversion again. When it rains, it pours. /sigh

 

Scramble Strategies II (8:50) 1080HD - No Voice Over.

 

 

What I failed to mention by tried to demonstrate was one last very important strategy. Fly Defensively. Make sure your tail is clear before you even think about engaging a target. You die most often when you think you are the hunter but really you are someones prey.

 

Hope this helps anyone wishing to try and survive these types of dangerous missions. The strategies themselves are quite simple. The hard part is applying them without exception, without getting target fixated or climbing too long so you stall out on a target of opportunity. You have to follow them as if your life depends upon each one of them because - essentially - it does. The moment you get too attached to your target, climb too high or forget to fly defensively, your life is all but forfeit.

 

Hellshade

Edited March 5, 2011 by Hellshade

[Olham 164]

Good show, Hellshade.

I was wondering about your FOV - it seems very distorted in width?

If you like, send me a PM with your screen res, and I'll calculate you some possible settings.

[Lewie 7]

Hellshade,

 

In your comments in the video you mention that staying low keeps the attacking targets outlined against the sky, For the player this is a given, but now I'm guessing the AI in OFF doesn't have the ability to discern whether the camouflage of the Albatri is harder to see against the backdrop of the ground than the CDL of the Nupe 16's, or compared to either of these two planes underbellies against a brighter blue sky? has anyone from the Dev's talked about the abilities of the AI, in this regard?

[Hellshade 110]

In your comments in the video you mention that staying low keeps the attacking targets outlined against the sky, For the player this is a given, but now I'm guessing the AI in OFF doesn't have the ability to discern whether the camouflage of the Albatri is harder to see against the backdrop of the ground than the CDL of the Nupe 16's, or compared to either of these two planes underbellies against a brighter blue sky? has anyone from the Dev's talked about the abilities of the AI, in this regard?

 

Great question Lewie.

 

It's hard to hear me in the video because my mic was being recorded too low, but right after I said that it's harder for the enemy to see you against the terrain, I paused and said "In theory". I'm sure the reality is that the AI sees you just the same no matter where you are (unless you are behind or within a cloud AND you have Cloud quality set to 5 on the sliders). The real advantage is that the AI tries not to run itself into the ground, so if they have to point earthward to shoot at you and they are already low, they can only get a short burst off before they have to pull up again. Anything that helps reduce the amount of time that you might be in their sights is definately going to be an advantage for you. Also, if you are that low, you don't have to worry about any enemy aircraft sneaking up on you from underneath you where they can be hard to detect until it's too late. Basically, you eliminate a huge blind spot from where they might attack you from. It makes it that much easier for you to be sure that you aren't being actively hunted by someone before you set your sights on an opponent and attack.

 

Hellshade

Edited March 6, 2011 by Hellshade

[Olham 164]

Although your tactic makes perfect sense in terms of AI low flying behaviour, I prefer to climb out a bit,

at least, when everybody else is fighting very low. Of course I will be more exposed and in greater danger

of receiving long, fatal bursts. But I can dive in for a kill, and retreat with the gained energy, and it just

feels more realistic to me.

But for a long run home, out of ammo, with some mad SPADs behind me, I'd use exactly that flying

below tree top level. I call it "Daisy-counting-level".

Although the SPADs usually get me out of counting sooner or later with a short burst.

Edited March 6, 2011 by Olham

[Hellshade 110]

Zig zagging as unpredictably as possible while still heading in the general direction of your nearest friendly base is the safest way home for me. I fly looking backwards alot when retreating home that way and if I see my pursuer is about to make a dive on me I often turn into him to throw off his aim and reduce the time his guns can line up on me. As soon as he passes or climbs again I complete the turn all the way back to my original direction of retreat and resume zig zagging. But it's true, a short burst can be all it takes to take you out if they have twin guns and are an Ace. It's war. There are never any guarantees.

 

Hellshade

[Olham 164]

Well, most times I make it back alive.

Another very usefull method to get rid of a SPAD pestering me, is to fly around German balloons.

Almost every time, the SPAD gets distracted from me, once it is hit by ground fire.

 

The balloon crews are NOT so amused about that - usually, their sausage gets blown up in their

own Flak and machine gun fire. But hey - it's only a balloon. It saved my life and an Albatros!

[SteveLohr 0]

Hellshade-What program do you use to record video? I'm thinking about doing the same, but I don't want the recording program to take so much in the way of resources it interfers with gameplay.

[Hellshade 110]

Hellshade-What program do you use to record video? I'm thinking about doing the same, but I don't want the recording program to take so much in the way of resources it interfers with gameplay.

 

I use FRAPS. Depending on your gear and the scenery / terrain you are flying over you'll lose between 0 and 15 FPS in OFF. The files are NOT converted to any compressed format on the fly, so so expect 3.9GB video files for every minute or so of video. You'll have to use something else to convert it to 1080HD format, like AVS Video Editor. It takes a lot of tweaking but the results can be pretty good.

 

Hellshade