Old Guy 1st Time PvP (AB air exclusive for now)...

[[email protected] 7]

Sixty-sumptin, retired. Lifelong WWII casual historian - esp. Pacific theater. Dad was an upper turret gunner in A20s during WWII with the 8th Bomber Squadron. He was primarily a flight mechanic/crew chief but after heavy losses he was dual purposed to fly the upper turret. He was based in Buna & Rabaul and was part of the occupational forces at Atsugi. They A20s were pretty exclusively CAS and ground target attackers. The 8th got B25's but dad never flew in them.  He's the skinny guy front and center in the middle - although TBH they are all skinny - LOL...

 

That's the back story why have a primary interest in Pacific WWII aviation - Although Africa and Battle of Britain are also secondary interests. I am also glider and power pilot rated. Dad did airshows during the 70's and I was either ground or flight crew. We did SAR with the Civil Air Patrol. 

 

This is literally the first time I have done PvP. I never had an interest and still sorta don't. My brother in Australia told me about WT around the beginning of October and I though I'd give it a try. I have played a lot of sims. Probably my favorite was Falcon 3.0. I also played a few others but PvP was never my thing.

 

I have been grinding (sorta) the US and Japanese trees - working LIII in both. I am grinding to primarily unlock Single and Campaign missions. When I say "sorta" it' because I'm not broke and when I get the grind down to a buck or so, I just might buy the research to move ahead. I've watched hours of YouTube and there is some really helpful stuff out there. The learning curve is steep on this game.

 

I am flying AB mode right now as I am still learning to aim and fly intercepts. I practice with the mission editor and with the single and campaign missions in RB mode as well. I fly sim mode just for fun and training and test flights. TBH, I was looking for more of a "sim" game that relied on joysticks. I even bought a TM Hotas. I was getting my butt kicked so bad I ported my account to my PC and started flying keyboard and mouse. No bitching cuz I know why the game is that way but the advantage to M&K is pretty great. 

 

Sim Mode -  I have flown in the backseat of a Seafury, I have flown right seat in a DC3 and I have flown jump seat in a B-17. I would say the biggest thing Gaijin has wrong is the cockpit rattling noises and stability. The real planes are a lot more stable and quiet. The Seafury at 400+ knots is as stable and quiet (almost) as a B737. The DC3 rattled a bit but mostly from engine vibration not aero. Same with the B17. Two things Gaijin could do to improve the sim mode is to create target head lock like Falcon had. Of course all of us have either a key bind or (because you can fly in 3rd person) mouse look. The second thing would be to enable the rear view mirror to be blown up to like 1/3 screen.  I am sure "real" pilots target locked as much as possible and while the rear view is small, I find it pretty useless even on my 20 inch screen.

 

Biggest gripe - I have lurked on the forum long enough to understand the arguments about BR and Matchmaking. But experienced players don't remember how at low BRs they were just trying to learn to fly, fly ACM and learn to point and shoot. Today I got in a battle and was pursued and shot down 3X by the same up-tiered L100 guy. I say pursued because after the first spawn I flew to the other side of the BF and watched this guy cross the map to find me. He was flying a 109 and I was flying a fury and didn't stand a chance. Also yesterday I was in a BR1.7 match and the other team had 4 L100 guys. Our team's max was a 17. Oh, well... 

 

My 2 cents - Segregate 1.7 and below to a max level - say 20. There are some good monoplanes to learn in at that level and the bullies can have their way at 2.0 and above. It is important to fly against better pilots but I look at the end of a match sometimes and my L2-4 squad mates have zero kills and have been splashed like 4 times. That's not a fun game to spend money on.

 

"Best Planes" -  I have a blast in the Japanese A7He1 - its my best kill/die ratio and its a great earner at LI. Also in the Japanese fleet is the J1N1. With a skilled crew in the turret it's a blast. I fly low level bombing and strafing a few things and regularly get a couple of kills in 1.7 from newbies who don't understand turret - LOL. Also if anyone crosses my field of view the front cannons are deadly - just gotta keep the speed up.  In the US line up Thatches F2A is my big earner. The TBD is also fun with the same disclaimer as the J1N1 on crewing skill. Although with the limited firepower my kill/die ratio is pretty bad. I knew/know very little about WWII Russian aviation and have just started grinding the Mig, LaGG & IL trees. After flying a lot of monoplanes I decided to fly biplanes again to improve my dogfighting and somehow ground a lot of the British tree in Tuck's Gladiator and the Fury so ended up with the spit and the hurricane but haven't learned how to fight with them. I am a lot better at boom and run or boom and zoom than energy fighting I think one needs a ton of situational awareness to fly in a furball a lot.

 

Squadrons -  Not sure if I will squad up but I can clearly see some advantages. I have my eye on one but not sure I understand their dynamics well enough to understand them. I would possibly just like to squad up with a couple of old farts like me so we have each other's backs in a battle but I don't have an IRL buddies who are interested enough.

 

Anyhoo, in the immortal words of Winston Churchill (and others), "If I had had more time I would have written you a shorter letter." 

 

 

 

 

[Uncle J [email protected] 374]

On 18/12/2022 at 14:54, [email protected] said:

Biggest gripe - I have lurked on the forum long enough to understand the arguments about BR and Matchmaking. But experienced players don't remember how at low BRs they were just trying to learn to fly, fly ACM and learn to point and shoot. Today I got in a battle and was pursued and shot down 3X by the same up-tiered L100 guy. I say pursued because after the first spawn I flew to the other side of the BF and watched this guy cross the map to find me. He was flying a 109 and I was flying a fury and didn't stand a chance. Also yesterday I was in a BR1.7 match and the other team had 4 L100 guys. Our team's max was a 17. Oh, well... 

 

Hi Oldtimer!

 

I bought my first book regarding ACM in 1984. After my son was able to get an x-box live account perma ban whilst using my account i created a new account - i had about 290d game experience in Air RB there, so this account does not show the whole picture. You will see some vids about Air RB and my old plane stats on my xbox profile.

 

Your thread was quite interesting - but i picked up the above shown quote especially as it shows a clear downside of this game: Player levels are not considered in MM. I see these sealclubbers mainly active in low BRs in Air RB too, but they are not as present as in Air AB. Best recommendation for this on your experience level: Land, repair, j out and quit the game. In my BR bracket 3.7/4.0 they are not that often, but manageable if they are not squadded.

 

To your other topics and maybe helpful recommendations:

 

I play on xbox only - i got rid of my last PC 8-10 years ago and xbox is much more convenient. And I use Thrustmaster jstick, flying with a mouse is ridiciously easy but gives no real flying feeling. Using a jstick versus mouse aim is a clear disadvantage but i can live with that. All i have to do is avoiding headons and the mouse aim advantage is gone - if you are willing to invest some time on the jstick settings. Some planes have better flight characteristics with jstick compared to mouse. 

 

You will need a hell of experience to have any kind of fun in this game, as a rookie in Air AB or RB you are just a cheap income source for others. So the question is how to get better with the lowest level of pain.

 

So you need know-how about ACM, your plane and your potential enemies. YouTube will help you:

 

I am not sure if you know the content creators on yt, but i recommend DEFYN the most (despite he flies with mouse) regarding ACM and strengths and weaknesses of flown planes and enemies. Dengar is more structured regarding his presentations, but flies mostly squadded the last years, so you might come to the wrong conclusions when his squad keeps his six clean. Imho inactive but very good too: AdamTheEnginerd. I do not recommend spitflyer, he likes the sound of his voice and i was actually able to kill him 2 times without any effort. Ok it was 2 or 3 years ago, but it was way too easy.

 

As you might have noticed - all are dealing with Air RB. My preferred mode.

Air Aircade is imho chaos and for Sim AB - its more or less dot spotting, not my thing. 

 

Your next topic should be crew skill. Imho the most decisive factor in 1vs1s besides player experience, not level. I clap frequently good pilots in far superior planes just by by g-locking them in high speed and high g-load dogfights - as my preferred planes have all ace crews on lev 75. Player level is an indicator, but plane statistics are showing you much more. High K-Ds with low win rates - K-D clubber, avoids risks at all costs. Dangerous are pilots with both ratios up - either really good or often just part of a stat padder squad. 

 

How to get crew skill fast up? Premium account and plane helps a lot but are not required. You should identify a nation you prefer and then look for overperforming planes. Master them with the help of yt, and try to get expert and ace crews fast. An easy way is to fly Op rank 3 planes - helps you with daily tasks as lev 3 is required. You find the best attacker and the best bomber on this account in my statistics.

 

Gl and hf!

 

Tom

 

 

 

[[email protected] 7]

Quote

Player levels are not considered in MM. I see these sealclubbers mainly active in low BRs in Air RB too, but they are not as present as in Air AB. Best recommendation for this on your experience level: Land, repair, j out and quit the game. In my BR bracket 3.7/4.0 they are not that often, but manageable if they are not squadded.

 

Thanks for taking the time for a long reply - much appreciated.

 

I have taken on a new strategy as of a couple days ago. I fly one sortie and after respawn I look at the opposing leader board. If there are more than one or two 100's at the top, I either fly around the spawn point viewing or near the edge of the battlefield, maybe take a snipe at a high flyer, or RTB and quit. I also (maybe mistakenly) buy with GE or acquire back up planes with rewards so dying in the A7He1 costs me a real dollar to play and die. I have since broadened my fleets so I fly one sortie per plane mostly.

 

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All i have to do is avoiding headons and the mouse aim advantage is gone - if you are willing to invest some time on the jstick settings. Some planes have better flight characteristics with jstick compared to mouse. 

You will need a hell of experience to have any kind of fun in this game, as a rookie in Air AB or RB you are just a cheap income source for others. So the question is how to get better with the lowest level of pain.

So you need know-how about ACM, your plane and your potential enemies. YouTube will help you:

 

It's funny how so many threads talk about the "pain" of playing this game, like it's supposed to be that way and just a fact of life - LOL... I don't especially like getting hit on the head lessons so I have probably spent 2X to 3X the time in single missions, campaign missions and mission editor than I have in PvP.  There is promise for me however as in the daily arcade assault I am now getting like 15-20 kills a match vs. almost nothing to begin with. I am also clearing out 1 V 30 mission editor battles with 20+ kills. Of course this only points out that my aiming is getting better which is why I do it. 

 

I am looking forward to playing more SIM level. You are right about joystick and cockpit view being much more "realistic" and I enjoy that but I can't fight that way at all yet.  Once I get much better at aiming in practice RB mode that will be my next step. 

 

TBH my humble opinion is that there needs to be a mode with simpler flight dynamics than sim mode that includes the target cues, without the lead dot but that "requires" cockpit view only like SIM does. So kinda like RB but limited to first person view.

 

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I am not sure if you know the content creators on yt, but i recommend DEFYN the most (despite he flies with mouse) regarding ACM and strengths and weaknesses of flown planes and enemies. Dengar is more structured regarding his presentations

 

Oh, yeah. Big time. DEFYN probably has the best content for me. Beyond all his tutorials on different fight styles, aiming, killing etc. I am really enjoying his aircraft reviews by tiers. Jengar also has super good content but TBH I run most of his vids on 1.5 speed as he moves a little bit slow for me most of the time.

 

The biggest difference for me was when I learned from DEFYN to use the zoom to target specific areas on planes, especially bombers to find the kill spots. 

 

Quote

Your next topic should be crew skill. Imho the most decisive factor in 1vs1s besides player experience, not level. I clap frequently good pilots in far superior planes just by by g-locking them in high speed and high g-load dogfights - as my preferred planes have all ace crews on lev 75.

 

True dat!  Along with the massive learning curve this one is easy to overlook as a beginner. It wasn't until I watched DEFYN's video about spending crew points (after about 4 weeks) that I groked how to spend them for maximum effect. Like I said before my J1N1 crew are killers getting me 1-2 kills a match in 1.7 AAB. 

 

The other aspect is the modifications grind. I have done accelerated training on a number of crews, spending real GEs, as I figure they are an investment in the game that persists. For 4,500 GE (or about $3) the crew is ready to fight. Same with certain mods. I will almost always spend real GE to accelerate weapons and survivability mods.

 

Again, sorry for my long windedness and thanks for your many tips. It's just nice to get some of these thoughts out of me head and out to some people that understand what I'm talking about. My only gamer buddies play arcade shoot games or driving games and don't have an aviation passion like me...

[LeChance 921]

I too am "old" & retired (65) & have been playing since Feb. 2014. And no need to apologize for not being "terse", a good back story makes it easier for others to relate and find common ground. Being an actual pilot, you seem to have a better grasp on how things work irl, and that is good. But yeah . . .  it's a video game . . . lol. When I started, there were 5 nations, only planes and top tier were early jets to Korean War Era and maybe just beyond that. Far from what we have now. I started out playing Arcade and still do, it may be less "realistic" than RB and/or Sim, but I am not a true pilot, just a "gamer" that likes shooting stuff . . . pew pew pew. And I just got used to it and that is what I play to "grind", but . . . having acquired a great many vehicles at this point (1770 I think) I don't really grind so much for new vehicles anymore. I don't play the higher BR's/modern stuff . .  stay mid tier mostly, that's my "fun/comfort" zone and I like the WW II stuff better overall anyway . . .  "The Greatest Generation". But to each his own, everyone plays differently and has different goals here, and that is prolly a good thing too. Enjoy your time here, use the Forum to ask questions, even the general chat in game can be helpful .. .  at times . .. lol. A lot of knowledgeable players in the game, some extremely educated about the vehicles and history. I just like shooting stuff . . .

Good Luck

[[email protected] 7]

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I started out playing Arcade and still do, it may be less "realistic" than RB and/or Sim, but I am not a true pilot, just a "gamer" that likes shooting stuff . . . pew pew pew. And I just got used to it and that is what I play to "grind", but . . . having acquired a great many vehicles at this point (1770 I think) I don't really grind so much for new vehicles anymore. I don't play the higher BR's/modern stuff . .  stay mid tier mostly, that's my "fun/comfort" zone and I like the WW II stuff better overall anyway

Thanks for the reply. Yeah - that about sums it up for me as well. I probably won't fly above like Tier IV or maybe V. 

 

Getting the vehicles doesn't seem like the problem right now. I am actually well into Tier III on US and Japanese yet flying mostly LII-AAB.

 

Sometime I also just need to push away from the desk. Like yesterday I got something like 9 kills and today in 3 battles I am bupkiss. Just really bad decision making today and for some reason I can't hit the broadside of a barn - LOL...

 

 

[Uncle J [email protected] 374]

5 hours ago, [email protected] said:

I am looking forward to playing more SIM level. You are right about joystick and cockpit view being much more "realistic" and I enjoy that but I can't fight that way at all yet.  Once I get much better at aiming in practice RB mode that will be my next step. 

 

TBH my humble opinion is that there needs to be a mode with simpler flight dynamics than sim mode that includes the target cues, without the lead dot but that "requires" cockpit view only like SIM does. So kinda like RB but limited to first person view.

 

I am not sure if you are aware of what happens in SIM level in certain BR ranges, but i assume you spent some time in your overall research about SIM modes. It is imho even worse than your current experiences with seal clubbing at very low levels in Air AB. I flew some missions on my old account and just 2 on this one - things have not really changed. You find some real pilots with aviation passion (really chilled and stable personalities), but a hell of let's say deplorable pilots. They prove in their plane vehicle overview that they have zero clue how to fight in Air RB, but they excel in SIM as they abuse the spotting and aiming superiority of medium bombers with turrets. So they die like flies in Air RB but collect thousands of kills with incredibly high KDs in stuff like B-25s or P-61s (radar on top). If you can live with that - be my guest. 

 

You will find some discussions about RB EC in the forum, that was a mode you are looking for.

 

Of course, i do not fly with full realistic settings in Air RB, but the 2nd of the current 4 level of settings is a fair compromise between dealing with mouse aim guys and my own requirements regarding some kind of realism. Have in mind that flying with joystick with increased realism has some major drawbacks regarding aiming as your plane won't be stable at lower speeds, so flying in 3rd person is recommended until you are in gun range and then switch to virtual cockpit view. If you are able to visit my xbox live account, you will see in these short vids how this works in reality.

 

I forgot to mention the importance of MEC usage. It makes a real difference in overall performance and in prolonged dogfights. If you are able to fly with full WEP the whole match without cooking your engine, you can focus on the fight and not on oil and water temperature. For most planes standard 50/50 coolers are fine and you have just to adjust the prop pitch. I would even say for a proper usage of a P-47 MEC is essential.

 

5 hours ago, [email protected] said:

True dat!  Along with the massive learning curve this one is easy to overlook as a beginner. It wasn't until I watched DEFYN's video about spending crew points (after about 4 weeks) that I groked how to spend them for maximum effect. Like I said before my J1N1 crew are killers getting me 1-2 kills a match in 1.7 AAB. 

 

The other aspect is the modifications grind. I have done accelerated training on a number of crews, spending real GEs, as I figure they are an investment in the game that persists. For 4,500 GE (or about $3) the crew is ready to fight. Same with certain mods. I will almost always spend real GE to accelerate weapons and survivability mods.

 

At a certain point in life some bucks here and there don't matter so i admit that i spent some money in premium planes in the past and some GE in upgrading some expert crews to aces in additional crew slots. At the end of the day it was wasted as i use in Air RB just one plane in each match, so on this account i spent nothing.

 

Premium planes are nice if you want to grind RP and SLs but if your focus is on max rank 4-5 you don't need them. Imho pilot and crew skills becomes less important the higher you get, as technical and performance aspects of the planes decide most of the matches above BR 6.0. 

 

When i started a new account in wt i remembered in which planes i had the most fun, so i fly these only here and grinding them was quite easy if you know how. On this account i use on all nations just the first slot, so the crew skill level was quite fast from zero to 75. 

 

As you focus on Japan and US: I flew all props of them and there are some really good planes in their trees.

 

I flew US still in the old-world meta axis vs allies cause flying for axis was boring like hell. Mainly as wt thunder meta prefers fast climbers with good turn performance and the US had none of that besides P-39s and P-36s. With some limitations you could have seen the P-38s as an exception due to interceptor spawn. So the majority of good players played for axis and US teams get slaughtered every time, just boring. Flying for US was a real pain these days, but it makes a difference if you decided this by your own to have a challenge of if you are forced to do so. There is no doubt that the P-39Ns are undertiered like hell and early p-63s too. The P-51C is nice and imho a good choice. P-38s J and Ls are good as well, but mainly due to ic spawn combined with good climb, as soon as i am able to equalize their energy advantage i clap them easy with my 9 metric ton heavy SM92. 

 

I was never a fan of Japan as the gameplay of their A6Ms has nothing to do with reality, unrealistic high g- loads with low compression - and just climbing and turning in a very, very slow plane, the 4.0 Ki-43 was much better but still slow. The Ki-61s were more European and turned on par with Bf 109 Es. My favorite was the Ki-84 as i needed something fast with cannons as their 12.7 mm were just a joke some time ago. Today i would recommend the Ki-44s due to speed, good climb and good turn - the 3.7 one is really good, and all Ki 61s except the MG151 version. The 12.7 mm buff was insane, so go for them. And when you get better - go for the B7A2 at 3.7. I flew it when it was at 4.3, but i flew it wrong. Its actually a faster A6M with bomber spawn. Fly it as a fighter and clap their XP-50s. This is the only plane i will grind for next year.

 

5 hours ago, [email protected] said:

Again, sorry for my long windedness and thanks for your many tips. It's just nice to get some of these thoughts out of me head and out to some people that understand what I'm talking about. My only gamer buddies play arcade shoot games or driving games and don't have an aviation passion like me...

 

As this is the internet without any data security and i do not like share my private data or history with the world:

 

There are lots of people like you and me here.

 

And if you are down like in your last post - go to yt and look for SR-71 speed check. 

 

Edited December 20, 2022 by Uncle J [email protected]

[[email protected] 7]

2 hours ago, Uncle J [email protected] said:

There are lots of people like you and me here.

 

And if you are down like in your last post - go to yt and look for SR-71 speed check. 

 

The SR71 speed check is a classic. I have a very good buddy that was a crew chief on U2s and SR71s. There are still missions he can't talk about. Very interesting operation for sure though.

 

What a difference an hour makes. I decided to go fly the Gladiator in a 1.3 match and got a few kills so was encouraged to complete the easy daily task which was 5 LII kills. The P40F-10 didn't let me down and I got 6 kills fairly easily in 2 matches. I even got a revenge kill on a Marshall level in a 109 by bouncing him from above while he was occupied picking on an L4 guy. I love splashing high ranked guys - LOL...

 

I am not currently working on the Torpedo bombers but as LIII opens up some single missions and dynamic campaigns I am working the A6M, Ki-43 and Ki-100 ranks.

 

I like flying bombers but so far survivability totally sucks. I'll fit out anything that will carry bombs in the fighter and attack trees (P40F e.g.) and do my bombing part in the early part of matches. Then I go revenge hunting the B*****d that killed me. LOL...

[Uncle J [email protected] 374]

39 minutes ago, [email protected] said:

The SR71 speed check is a classic.

 

A shorter one is still pure gold: Bush and Rice

 

 

 

 

 

39 minutes ago, [email protected] said:

I like flying bombers but so far survivability totally sucks. I'll fit out anything that will carry bombs in the fighter and attack trees (P40F e.g.) and do my bombing part in the early part of matches. Then I go revenge hunting the B*****d that killed me. LOL...

 

The B-34 is not bad in Air RB if you use it correct - climb and stay fast. High survivability for an US bomber. And quite maneuverable.

 

Ok - Japan had always a lack of good bombers. There are a few guys in Air RB that are able to kill frequently 5 or more enemy fighters with their gunners in Ki-67s and P1Y1s, but in general they are ez prey and the bombload is too low. The recommendation for the B7A2 was to use it as a fighter. In order to get and maintain alt advantage over their XP-50s you need to drop your bomb right after spawning.

 

Your mentioned Ki 100 is quite nice too but have in mind that you can outturn it in a Bv155. After my first kill i though it was just a less experienced pilot, but I shot a lot of them down in other matches, as soon you are at their six, they cannot escape. 

 

39 minutes ago, [email protected] said:

I love splashing high ranked guys - LOL..

 

As said somewhere else, level can be an indicator of quality, but when he got lev 100 as a tanker it doesn't imply that he is good in a fighter. The plane statistics tell you much more.

 

I personally prefer to separate very good opponents from their team so i can have a pure 1vs1. Without being 3rd partied or getting unwanted help. My longest dogfight lasted almost 10 minutes, from 8km to tree top. Extremely good pilot in a 109F4 - able to keep his speed/energy for ages and used his only left advantage at tree top level - roll rate - very effective. After 8 minutes (all other players besides 1 friendly A6M were dead and we fought at a corner of a larger map) he even killed the incoming a6m in a split second snap shot, fantastic. We scored both hits from time to time but nothing critical. Without MEC my engines would have died as i needed every single hp to get him in my sights or to avoid gettting killed. At the end of the match i actually scored a crit and he ran out of fuel. Have in mind i flew a twin engine plane almost 2.5 times heavier but just 2 times more power, as i had to reduce prop pitch to 75%. 

 

Amazing. One of the best fights i ever had. This kind of fights keeps me playing this game for such a long time.

 

We chatted later - he was also outpowered like me due to the high level of concentration needed. Nice guy.

[Josephs_Piano 7,021]

On 19/12/2022 at 02:54, [email protected] said:

Sim Mode -  I have flown in the backseat of a Seafury, I have flown right seat in a DC3 and I have flown jump seat in a B-17. I would say the biggest thing Gaijin has wrong is the cockpit rattling noises and stability. The real planes are a lot more stable and quiet. The Seafury at 400+ knots is as stable and quiet (almost) as a B737. The DC3 rattled a bit but mostly from engine vibration not aero. Same with the B17. 

 

I'/m a mechanic who has worked on a number of WW2 and early post WW2 a/c, and TBH IMO the main reason they don't rattle these days is they get a LOT more care and maintenance than the military could give them in wartime - every rattle gets tracked down and fixed!!

[VT_88 342]

Level 100 does not mean anything. Level 100 means you played so many games, and guess what.

 

They are bad real bad. They still do head ons for kills and dive down on nearest enemy.

 

Level 100 does not mean you are a skilled player.

 

Don't go above BR 2.7 or 3.0 until you have lots of crew experience with your game slots.

 

 

Remember to keep your BR close together as you will prevent team uptiers as much as possible.

 

Wait until you have two planes at same BR or.3 difference. Then you can fly those two planes in a match along with other spaded planes.

 

Best to have 4 crew slots preferably 5. Sometimes more even helps.

 

 

[Josephs_Piano 7,021]

17 hours ago, VT_88 said:

Don't go above BR 2.7 or 3.0 until you have lots of crew experience with your game slots.

Remember to keep your BR close together as you will prevent team uptiers as much as possible.

Wait until you have two planes at same BR or.3 difference. Then you can fly those two planes in a match along with other spaded planes.

 

All good advice - but WT doesn't give NEW players this advice in a clear and readily available form - you only find out about it once you are long past the "new player zone"

[[email protected] 7]

On 20/12/2022 at 17:20, Josephs_Piano said:

 

I'/m a mechanic who has worked on a number of WW2 and early post WW2 a/c, and TBH IMO the main reason they don't rattle these days is they get a LOT more care and maintenance than the military could give them in wartime - every rattle gets tracked down and fixed!!

 

The DC3 I mentioned was a jump plane and got heavy use and little love.  One time the #2 feather knob fell off in climb - LOL...

 

ETA - Also a lifelong mech (A&P) - I've worked on a lot of round engines too... Love the R2800. Only 36 spark plugs to change - LOL...

 

 

Edited December 21, 2022 by [email protected]

[[email protected] 7]

20 hours ago, VT_88 said:

Don't go above BR 2.7 or 3.0 until you have lots of crew experience with your game slots.

 

 

2 hours ago, Josephs_Piano said:

All good advice - but WT doesn't give NEW players this advice in a clear and readily available form - you only find out about it once you are long past the "new player zone"

 

Two great pieces of advice. For a minute like most FNGs I thought the key was to get into a "better" plane.  They key is to become a better pilot and in the beginning was clueless about how crew points worked.

 

There is so much to know that it's hard to really tell a zero timer what to do. What worked for me (not that I am doing it perfect)  was - 

 

1 - Get a premium LI plane. I got Tucks gladiator and the Japanese A7He1 both on sale.

2 - The game is free so I spent $50. Accelerate training for one crew (DEFYN has a great guide for this).

3 - Populate your roster with at least 3 planes using a couple of he reserve planes - don't worry about their crew skill in the beginning.

4 - Do every daily easy battle task - the rewards and bonuses pile up.

5 - Learn to zoom and fly while mouse-looking. I have the mouse wheel set for zoom and the right MB to activate. It's very natural for me. The other advantage is I can "half" zoom when needed too.

6 - Do the daily assault arcade - Learn how to approach the bombers - most from below. Using zoom aim for the engine, wing root or pilot. I was getting like 2 kills and 5 deaths until I learned this. Now I get 15-20 kills and only 2-3 deaths. 

7 - When deciding what plane to get next - First is firepower. I try to pick the cheapest planes with the most firepower. But they also have to be fast and sub-20s turn time. In the beginning it's hard enough to get nose on target so when you do get a hit you want it to maximize.

 

Finally - Practice, practice, practice.  I started using mission editor to create 1 v. 32 battles and played over and over until I was consistently getting 20 kills against the AI. I also fly all the single and dynamic campaigns I can.  

 

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Remember to keep your BR close together as you will prevent team uptiers as much as possible.

 

Not only that by selecting the right mix of planes you can have one of the higher ranked planes in the battle. I started studying what the "top" guys were flying after the missions to see how they mix their planes together. I also look at who killed me and who I killed. I have had a couple of great dogfights with some high ranked guys. I lose more than win but I don't lose them all ;-)

 

For me the idea is to create as low  combined BR with as capable a plane as you can get in the mix. My UK & US line ups have one LII plane in them. I am usually flying against biplanes in either the P40F-10 or The Hurricane MkII which I just outfitted with rockets today - I always try to start each battle with a ground strike and the MkII is a real hoot. Once the rockets are gone I can mix it up and get a few kills usually.

Edited December 21, 2022 by [email protected]