Waldemar Kurtz

I'm not sure if I have a bad install or something-- but I've noticed that if I get closer than 50 ft with the DFW C.V-- that my front machine gun won't register any hits on enemy aircraft. I just got within 25 ft of an Airco DH.2 and fired nearly 100 rounds to no effect at all. that seems very odd I thought the 50-foot dead zone got fixed. or perhaps I need to get a new patch?

I've been flying the FE2b for awhile now-- and, for the life of me, I can't remember the AI ever bothering to fire on enemy machines with the tail gun. the chin gun is a lively fellow-- but I've never seen the tail gun do anything UNLESS I manually operate that station and open fire. so something I was wondering about-- would it be possible to "move" some of those Lewis drums to the chin gun instead? if there are 388 bullets for the chin gun and 388 bullets for the tail gun-- I'd find that it was more useful to put 6 or 7 drums (582 - 679 drums) on the forward gun. that would still leave 97- 194 bullets for defending the 6 o'clock position. since the plane flies in a straight line once you hop on the observer's station-- there's not much benefit to the thing. scouts always just sorta drift into the lattice-work and it becomes counter-productive to even try and operate the tail gun except in the most fortuitous or unusual circumstances! anybody else have some advice or thoughts on this tail-gun station for the FE2b?

wow! that's really sad. I knew that the French were trying to pawn off a bunch of Strutters to the USAAF (who wisely decided that they were not worth using in front-line units)... but I didn't realize the French were still sending people out in those machines so late in the war... with the Fokker D.VIIs just arriving no less!

I used "best" to just hammer home the point that even good aces could get shot down (and killed) by two-seaters. if we're only going to look at in terms of the entire war-- then, no, we wouldn't have any of the "best aces" of the whole war-- but if we consider the time periods in which they fell, and the contexts of their death it becomes more clear. Manfred von Richthofen was nearly klled by a two-seater pilot in the spring of 1917, as I'm sure most people here will already know. it was merely extraordinarily good luck that he lived long enough to die later. Erwin Boehme (shot down by British two-seaters in November of 1917). he was not a very high-scoring pilot-- but he had the respect and friendship of Oswald Boelcke and Manfred von Richthofen. he's also the man who brought Jasta 2 out of it's doldrums in 1917 and made it one of the best German Jastas again. Raoul Lufberry (the American ace-of-aces at the time of his death, was shot down by a two-seater in 1918) Max Immelmann was likely shot down by an FE2b (two-seater) although there is debate on this point. what is not open for too much debate is that Immelmann was either the top-scoring German pilot at the time of his death, or a VERY close second. in fact, had he not been killed in action in his final battle-- he would have made the two additional claims that would have regained him the top-scoring fighter pilot status at that time. Jean Navarre, the French ace of aces at the time he got shot down (with a head injury, much like Richthofen) was taken out of action by a two-seater. Robert Little, the highest scoring RNAS pilot of the war at the time of his death-- was shot down and killed by a Gotha at night. Wilhelm Frankl was killed in action against Bristol Fighters in April of 1917. at the time of his death Frankl had 20 victories. for a long time he was one of the top five German pilots active on the Western Front and a recipient of the Pour Le Merite. Gustav Dorr was shot down in flames in May of 1918 by Bregeut XIVs on the 28th. had he not been so lucky he wouldn't have become a 35 victory ace by the end of the war. Adolphe Pegoude, the very first French ace, was shot down by a two-seater crew-- ironically it was a pilot he helped train before the war that led to his death! when you contextualize each death and major injury -- the significance of aces being killed or wounded by two-seaters becomes more important. Immellmann and Navarre are minor aces when compared to the huge tallies at the end of the war-- but in the spring of 1916 when both men were taken out of action while fighting enemy two-seaters, the impact was tremendous-- so much so that Boelcke was taken off active flight duties for fear of losing him in combat as well.

I guess I'll just come out and say "I strongly dislike the idea of two-seaters which are not player-flyable." part of what makes OFF so interesting for me is that if there's an aircraft featured in the game you can most definitely build a pilot career around it. I know that most people here love flying fighters-- and that's perfectly understandable-- but this sense of scale that's been addressed prompts me to ask for two-seaters. there were more two-seaters out in the sky than any other type of plane. scouts/fighters were invented with the specific purpose of thwarting or destroying enemy two-seaters. on top of all of that many of the best aces of the war died at the hands of skilled two-seater crews.... and for the first year or so of the war-- scouts didn't even exist! I've already made lots of impassioned arguments in favor of more French two-seaters like the Voisin, Salmson 2a2, and Morane Parasol. I don't want to revisit those specific arguments right now, no matter how strong I feel the case for them may be. I just find myself losing that sense of "immersion" when I'm flying an Albatros D.Va or a Fokker D.VII in the summer of 1918 and find myself mercilessly sending Sopwith Strutters down in flames when I know full well that this was most certainly NOT being used in large numbers by ANY air force on the Western Front. seeing dozens of Nieuports in 1916 in Alsace when we should be seeing dozens of Farmans or Voisins is also a bit disconcerting. the Snipe, Pfalz D.XII, S.S. D.III, and Dolphin were all very fine aircraft-- but most of these only saw action in the last half of 1918! likewise, earlier in the war-- to not see a single German two-seater until March 1916 seems very odd! I am very grateful for all of the hard work that has made Over Flanders Fields possible. I just don't want the development team to lose sight of their original vision-- part of which, I believe, was that if the aircraft showed up in the game at all-- you could fly it.

my best advice on this matter is this: NEVER complete any time-based mission objectives. for example: if you're supposed to patrol over a waypoint for 18 minutes, leave after 15. if you're supposed to loiter over an infantry position on an arty spot for 15 minutes, fly back and forth between the two points and don't loiter for more than a minute or so. the game treats time-based mission objectives like a finish line. once you've crossed that finish line nothing else seems to matter. people have complained that pilots get promoted too easily-- so my solution was to NEVER finish the assigned patrol times. this way I don't get promoted too hastily... I dont have to manually edit missions (and this is especially frustrating on longer two-seater missions). another problem is that if your wingmen are all killed-- the game will consider the mission a failure (depending on the mission) and will stop recording time. if any primary mission objective is either accomplished or considered a complete write-off, the game will stop recording time. if I feel I've been robbed completely I will go in and manually edit my pilot (logbook and dossier). but since I like to fly two-seaters with longer mission times... I've found it's much easier to simply "fail" to meet all of my objectives this side of staying alive.

yes, the air activity has been intense. I can only guess that since Verdun and the Somme battles are in full swing by July of 1916-- that the game makes it very active all across the Western Front. although there was considerable bombing activity on behalf of the French in 1916-- so while it might not have been lots of scouts-- that sector should be swarming with Farmans as they launch attacks into Germany and occupied France. I have no problem with the level of activity-- it's just that the French two-seaters that would have been active in large numbers in this sector just aren't modelled in the game yet. well, that and the Lafayette Escadrille sorties I've flown at this time have been very eventful too.

if you complete your mission objectives the clock stops. I noticed this right away when I finished a recon or an arty-spot (don't remember which) to be honest. but once the primary mission objective was finished it didn't record ANYTHING that happened afterwards. which, if you think about it, might explain why the flight time on the pilot's log only reflects about half of the in-game time. there are two options: don't complete your primary mission objectives... ever. and this won't be a problem or you manually edit the time in your pilot's log.

damn! a lot of old timers must be passing away! I felt absolutely lucky to find this thing for $70 five or six years ago! for a long time the cheapest availabe copy was just over $100... and that was after looking at amazon, borders, and abebooks every month for the better part of a year! it's considered one of the best books every written on the subject of aircraft armament prior to 1918. so even though you guys could get the book for half the price I paid for it-- it still felt like it was worth the money I invested in it. the other book cited on this thread, by Williams and Gustin, is also a good find. I still prefer the Woodman book because of the schematics, the chapter on gun-sights, and the fact that it's just all-around well researched. he even takes several paragraphs to tackle the mythology of the "dum dum bullets".

my guess: Sopwith Salamder. I think the tip-off is the unusual paint-scheme. the British were very parochial about that sort of thing. and the only aircraft I've seen painted like that is the "Salamander" which was supposed to be used for ground-attack missions. to my knowledge it never saw service in the war, as it arrived too late.

Buckingham was first used by the RFC on the Western Front in July 1916 when they were used to attack ground troops. page 165, column 2, paragraph 2 of "Early Aircraft Armament" by Harry Woodman.. the Pomeroy was restricted to British Home Defence squadrons and seems to have been put into action in mid-1916.... no exact date. for the sake of simplicity, one might guess than June or July of 1916. there was an order of 500,000 rounds placed in this year-- which were almost certainly dedicated to anti-zeppelin flights., the Brock zeppelin bullet had an order placed in October of 1915 and a follow-up order on May of 1915. interestingly enough, the order was completed in December of 1916. so it's possible that incindiary could be introduced as early as... perhaps... actually, this bullet was considered mediocre so... June - July of 1916 is still the time when incendiary starts getting used in combat with the RFC. an external link helps explain http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1919/1919%20-%200895.html additionaly, Woodman points out on pge 167 of his book that one of the reasons the over-wing Lewis was used for so long is because it was the most effective mount for anti-zeppelin sorties. it helped prevent the pilot from being blinded by the muzzle flash, it helped keep the ammunition from cooking off. syncrhonization gears were still prone to failure. if there was cook off (the shells exploding in one's face) it was safer if it were above the pilot on the wing. Harry Woodman's book is very good-- and also very expensive and hard to find. I felt very luck to get a used copy for less than $100 from South Africa. however, right now, there are some pretty great deals on this book. http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0874749948/ref=sr_1_1_olp?ie=UTF8&qid=1280168881&sr=8-1&condition=used

http://combatace.com/topic/54322-help-me-not-suck-at-flying-the-eiii/page__p__398105__hl__fokker+e.iii__fromsearch__1?do=findComment&comment=398105 I think this will cover most of what you're looking for

on recon sorties. I just use screen captures. in the DFW C.V I look through the bomb-sight view and take screen-captures. for other aircraft I'll just look out of the side of the aircraft and take "oblique" screen-captures. it gives me something to do. besides which, if I spend too much time looking for the best screen captures, I might get surprised by enemy fighters (just like pilots in real life). as much as I would love a real-time interactive artillery spotting mission I just don't think it's going to happen. the strain on the game engine would be pretty fierce. it would have to keep track of all of the range-finding information. the best way to think of it is this... you would have to integrate that old PC-Game "Cannon" into the existing CFS3 structure. we'd have to find ways to input the data directly into the game for the battery to open fire, wouldn't we? apart from myself and a handful of other people-- I don't foresee too many people actually using that feature! the other thing to consider is would this feature apply to the player's flight or to ALL of the aircraft in the OFF world conducting the same type of mission? I'm afraid my computer would probably choke on that sort of data. I guess a primitive method would be that if a special 'flare' got dropped on the target, after a certain delay a bunch of explosions would be set off randomly around the point of impact. sure, it would still end up being your ordnance doing all of the work. but maybe that would be a substitute for a fully functional artillery barrage. the added benefit is that if you're flare causes a significant number of targest to be destroyed it would be added to your score. historically, if people successfully called artillery strikes on enemy targets it would go on their record. so I think a specialized ordnance for "artillery spotting" might be the best alternative if a interactive artillery-spotting mission is impossible. cluster munitions and delayed fuse bombs should be possible with the CFS engine, right?

haha, as soon as I posted that idea I thought "what if the game manager can't recognize the towns anymore and it just causes game crashes on start-up?" saw plenty of THAT with testing RB3d patches.

if we could have "town nation ###" changed into the historical name for that location... that would be nice. (I think that troop positions and balloons probably change over time-- but towns remain static throughout the war, right?)

I think my biggest claims disappointment thus far just happened a little while ago. I was with two other Roland C.II and a trio of Fokker E.III providing escorts on an arty spot. when we reached the target we were attacked by 9 Airco DH2 from 24 Squadron. the battle started at 11,000 ft east of Lens and spiralled all the way down to the deck. during the course of that battle my observer and I managed to bring down at least four enemy machines (two of which were flown by Saundby and John Oliver Andrews). then after getting out of there alive, I headed back home and spotted a trio of Airco's beneath me as I started climbing up. I got above and behind them, then dove down at 180 mph on the trailing Airco and got him completely by surprise. made it back home and it wouldn't let me make any claims because my wingmen were dead. which is too bad, really, because the Fokker E.IIIs that were providing escort were with me the whole time! ah, such is life... and death, in OFF

scope out the target first. look for concentrations of enemy machine guns, anti-aicraft artillery, things of that nature. I try to set my attacks to move from "dangerous" to "safe" areas. I'll use a hill-side or a forest to mask my path of departure. I start up from about 5-6000 ft and descend towards the target as fast as I can. I try to level out at speeds of 120 mph or more before I start my attack. I only use one method of attack per pass. if you're dropping bombs you need to fly straight and level. if you're using guns you'll have to constantly adjust your line-of-flight to keep your guns lined up with the target. with rockets all you have to do is make sure that singular moment (instant) that you're launching rockets, that at least one of them will hit the target. while it's possible to do rockets and machine guns at the same time... it's usually not worth the trouble unless you've got a lot of densely clustered targets. my reasoning is this, you can only AIM for one of those weapons at a time. trying to bomb AND use machine guns is a recipe for disaster IMO. the best ranges for cutting down enemy troops and positions with machine guns means that you're SO low and SO close to the enemy that dropping a bomb could well be a self-destructive action! morever machine guns only work well when you're within 1000 ft of the target, by which time you have very little time to make corrections. I find that using multiple weapons for attacking a single pass means that you're exposing yourself to danger for longer periods of time. to minimize the dangers I only use one weapon at a time. if you're leading a flight remember that it can take up to 15 minutes before your wingmen attack the target. you can use the TAC display and command keys to tell them what target to attack. I have no problems doing this because it's the ONLY way to get them to attack ground targets at all! besides which, as a flight leader you'd be talking to your men about the most valuable targets anyway. same problem with CFS3 you have to give your flight members a command to attack ground targets---otherwise they blissfully ignore anything and everything on the ground (so far as I can remember) there are lots of ways to make ground attack missions work-- I've just found that knowing your path of escape, going in as fast as your plane can handle, picking one weapon and sticking with it, and getting out of there is the best way to go. if your first attack run is successful and you still feel eager to push your luck even further... I repeat the same method. I'll climb up to several thousand feet, and then attack again (sometimes from the opposite direction, if I'm running along the trench lines) but for most targets deep behind enemy lines, I always try to use the safest approach. I guess I could have kept this really short and said, "attacking ground targets is the same as balloon busting, it's just with ground targets you can actually destroy them with bombs"

are you really talking about the Fokker E.V, the late-war German parasol? or the E.III, which is an early war wing-warper? (if you do a forum search you'll find other threads on the Fokker E.III) the E.V feels pretty good to me. it has a pretty abrupt stall, and there's not much warning to when that happens. but if you put the nose down and apply some rudder it recovers quickly. it's worth remembering that the E.V uses the same engine as the Fokker Dr.I so if you're trying to fight the enemy you can either try to climb with them or turn with them... but not both. the SE5a, the SPAD XIII, Bristol Fighter all have more horsepower (some have almost three times that of the E.V!!!) so I remember this-- because my aircraft's engine will "tap out" long before theirs! the E.V gains it's speed from aerodynamics rather than horsepower. if you climb after something don't expect to catch up with it! it's better to lure the Allied energy fighters into a turning battle and then climb above them. don't follow Allied E-fighters into a zoom-climb. this is a trap that you will never escape. you need to anticipate when an Allied fighter will try to zoom... conserve your energy. when I tried following them in zooms I always stalled out before I could even fire a shot. when I held back from trying to match their zoom climbs I did much better. as long as I was below and behind them it didn't matter if I couldn't match their zoom-climb... because sooner or latter they always have to come back down. it just means waiting a couple of extra seconds. they usually have to turn when they've bled off all of their energy... because to go into a straight descent would be crazy. fortunately, going into a descending spiral is good for the E.V which can keep up with the SE5 and SPAD in tight turns providing it's not TOO fast. if they drop down into a 200 mph diving turn leave them alone! against the Sopwith Camel I've shot them down (almost) effortlessly by going into fairly mild left-hand turns and keeping my speed up. the E.V easily over took them with high and low yo-yos. it enjoys about 10 mph advantage over the Camel... so use that speed to win your battles. it IS twitchy, but the problem comes from flying lots of very docile British aircraft OR expecting the German parasol to behave in the same way as late-war German fighters with inline engines. it sounds like you need to amp up your "rotary engine time". I've put in hours and hours on the Fokker E.III which is, in many ways, good practice for the E.V. the Fokker Dr.I is also a good "lead in" plane for the E.V the Albatros D.Va is rock-steady because of the inline engine, as is the Fokker D.VII and the Pfalz D.III (which is so rock-steady it flies like a rock! :p ) once you get used to it the Fokker E.V is actually pretty good (for a rotary engined fighter.)

I'd like to see an FE2b variant that has a fixed Lewis gun mounted on side of the nacelle. I've seen several photographs where this took place, presumably of the same machine. it probably allowed the pilot to still use a weapon for dogfighting even if his observer got killed.

regarding RB3d, I actually planned my missions around kill-poaching. I would deliberately start attacking an enemy machine, putting only 50 or so rounds into it, and then break away and wait for my men to start the inevitable poaching. it enabled my flights to destroy more enemy machines than if I shot down everything myself. some AI in RB3d weren't very good about taking initiative-- so as soon as you run out of ammo a lot of your wingmen were as good as dead against even mediocre adversaries. but there was a bright-side: I had one wingman score over 50 victories in this kill-poaching manner. but he eventually got better. once, I put him in charge of the flight and he shot down 4 British two-seaters inside of 5 minutes as I stood by and watcched. that's pretty good for AI. I also found myself living longer (always had enough ammo for unexpected guests) and eventually racked up more promotions with fewer kills. to answer your last question. yes, it IS possible to kill an enemy pilot in their machine. it's a bit tricky... but you need to get in very close. I frequently get within 30 feet of the enemy and see pilot kills about 30 percent of the time. it's more likely to happen with single deck-mounted machine gun types like the Eindecker, Nieuport 17, or the Sopwith Triplane. the convergence of two machine guns makes it harder to get pilot kills without a bit of rudder to spray the lead around a bit.

Kill Poaching: this hasn't bothered me in years, to be honest. it bugged me during the first 1000 sorties or so of Red Baron 3d, but after that I figured it was nice to have the AI actually shooting down enemy machines. it's not like I ever run out of targets! and it helps me save ammo for unpleasant surprises from the enemy. I've only been killed by friendly poachers once in OFF. that first time was enough. I check my six even if no other enemy machines are around. however, I have had my engine shot out three or four times and been forced to land. usually if I see one of my guys moving into a kill position I'll do one of several things. 1. drop down several hundred feet and then launch a zoom-attack into the belly of my intended victim. this gets me out of harm's way (AI wingmen always seem to use pure pursuit when going for the kill) and allows me to keep attacking the enemy. (although half the time, when it comes to dealing with two-seaters, I'm already doing this-- so my wingmen are more likely to get roughed up by the observer) 2. I fly off to one side and allow them to attack directly while I go for a deflection shot from one side or the other 3. keep attacking and over-shoot the enemy, preferably by going below and in front (if it's a two-seater) or climbing above if it's a scout if I haven't seen my wingman approaching I treat bullets flying past my machine as if they were enemy bullets and get out of there. [before any sort of battle begins I put on the TAC display, and scroll through the entire enemy flight and give the order to attack. I save the highest or lowest enemy machine for myself. this helps negate the friendly kill/damage potential. ] remembering that the AI favors pure pursuit, I try to avoid turning directly with (and in pursuit of) the enemy for more than one or two turns. I'll break out in the opposite direction and try to force things into head-on combat or a deflection shot. high and low yo-yos are another good method because it reduces the time you spend in front of "friendly guns"! this keeps me from getting shot up by my own men. (given that most of my pilot careers have been in Fokker Eindeckers there's ANOTHER reason why I haven't been in a lot of turning battles! :p ) constantly checking my 6 o'clock to make sure it's "clear" is my best solution for those who play by the Dead is Dead rules.

I just got a copy of "Oh! It's a Lovely War" in the mail today. I've got one of the CDs, but it was getting the sheet music that I found most exciting. one of the things I like to do in my spare time is to compose and arrange music. so I was looking forward to doing some arrangements. I enjoy the music that came with Over Flanders Fields, but I thought it would be exciting to have some period pieces arranged as new menu music. I've had the good luck of finding hundreds of French folk songs and classical songs from this time-period at my local libraries. but the big gap I'm seeing is that it's difficult to find any sheet music for German music from this period. does anybody out there know of any?

View File West of Colmar this was scanned from Baedeker's Northern France as published in 1909. I've tried locating the local aerodromes as much as possible. but there aren't all that many there. I've used Hugh Wynne's aerodrome research to help me plant the aerodromes there. there is an aerodrome on Wynne's map north and south of Colmar. I've included both of these fields. if there are any aerodromes that I've missed feel free to point them out. it's a bit tricky finding some of the right places on these old maps. Submitter Waldemar Kurtz Submitted 03/28/2010 Category Maps, Missions, and Campaigns

my last Fokker pilot lodged 18 claims in 6 days. 11 of which were confirmed before he was killed in action. all of these victories were against Bristol Scouts and BE2c. I had the good fortune of having numerical equality in most of these fights. but some aircraft no longer frighten me: the Bristol Scout and the BE12c are pretty much destined to die by my hand if I encounter them. their woefully inadequate armament leaves them no choice. the Bristol Scout is alarmingly easy to neutralize once you know how the machine-gun is installed. it's off-set to fire 45 degrees left of the line-of-flight. this means that if you're in a tight spot with a Bristol Scout on your tail you always go into a right-hand turn. it doesn't even have to be a tight turn where you bleed off a lot of energy. no, if anything you need only go into a slight bank, bleeding off as little speed as possible. if things get bed go into a slight climb or dive. the ONLY way that Bristol Scout can get a lethal shot on you is by over-pressing his turn and stalling out below you. once this happens you can start climbing and make an escape OR if the odds are favorable you can turn around and make a quick slashing attack. I've found myself one-vs-six against Bristol Scouts on at least four occassions and I've always managed to make it back home alive. it's not the Bristol Scout on your tail that kills you. not if you're flying in a straight line. they always kill you when you're in a left-hand turn. this sort of thing favors them! against the BE12c the greatest asset is patience. it takes forever to chase them down. usually you can't even reach them unless you have an altitude advantage. but once you get in close, don't let up. they have no observer to defend themselves with-- so if you can get within 150 ft, hammer them mercilessly (in short burst, of course) and watch them burn. one thing to remember about the BE12c is that you don't want them on your tail. because they DO have a forward-firing machine gun. they'll make short work of you if you give them the chance. against the Nieuport 11 you have to avoid them if at all possible. the best bet is to go at them head-on and hose-pipe them. you have about at least twice as much ammo as they do. so it doesn't hurt to "waste" bullets at long ranges if you're not badly out-numbered. it is, however, MUCH easier to see what you're aiming at with the E.III-- the Nieuport 11's weapon is so vastly inferior to the Fokker Eindecker that you must play up this advantage at every possible opportunity. if at all possible, try to aim for the lower wing root and the cockpit if you can catch them in a turn. the Nieuport doesn't like taking damage there and is prone to shedding wings. if you find a Nieuport coming after you always turn against him. if he flies in a clock-wise circle make certain that you're flying in a counter-clockwise circle. you may get fleeting chances at head-on shots which favor you in every possible way. it's easier for you to aim AND you've got a lot more ammunition. don't break out of a counter-circle unless there is an enemy on your tail OR another friendly engages him. if possible use the environment to assist you-- fly low towards friendly infantry positions. this has saved me at least twice. Nieports are almost impossible to defeat in 1-on-1 combat. so you have to use team tactics. I always fly as "flight leader" because the AI just doesn't not take the initiative often enough. against the Airco DH.2 the same holds true. although I find that the Fokker E.III is more forgiving when it comes to stalls. play that to your advantage as much as possible. the Airco DH.2 did get christened "the Spinning Incinerator" for a reason! ;) the same "counter-circle" method will probably work against the DH.2 as well. these are not guarantees of success, but they can help even out the odds. regarding the Sopwith Strutter-- I avoid them. they're superior in every way AND they have an observer's station. there's no real reason to attack these things in a Fokker E.III. your best bet is, if you have no choice, to linger back about 600 ft and just pepper them at long range. don't expect to shoot them down-- but you're odds of making it home are much better. back when I flew the RB3D Western Front Patch I probably put more hours in the Fokker E.III than any other machine. when JG1 (RB3d) had their online wars called "Flanders in Flames" I got very familiar with this machine. the OFF flight-model is actually pretty similar. the key is good energy management. don't give up energy unless you can do one of two things: A. stay alive.... or B. kill something. use team work. protect your wingmen. you will NEED them. I always use the TAC display and command my wingmen to attack specific opponents before entering combat. wingmen should always be directed towards the biggest threat. you should always favor saving a wingman instead of taking a kill. since the E.III can't outperform anything you need to find "safety in numbers". I've taken the trouble to save AI wingmen only to find them save me twice over on the very next mission! additionally, keep an eye out for approaching enemy machines. the British seem to fall on you like rain. I always use the zoom-feature to get a better look at them. my computer makes it impossible to positively identify a machine until I am well within killing range.