Alright thanks
I heard that it’s good. Any specifics one? I have all the TT ones except the G
Yep, with those bombs I think you’ll be fine with just switch camera view (to enter camera of the bomb/targeting camera), switch secondary weapon and fire secondary weapon keybinds
Actually it has the bullpup, manually guided rocket. Basically the same keybinds as you used when steering the rocket on that bomber for the event that gave us the Losat/F100
Okay. Like you said I’ll DM you if I need help
A-4E may also have SAS Damping mode, which is handy to learn sim with
A-4E can also make use of CCRP. ( I think) but for now. Id not look too deep into it, and just focus on flying the aircraft… but Here is a CCRP guide for you in the future.
Cool. I can also recommend joining some sim discords
Oh I didn’t get any of those
Okay, thanks. I am working on getting discord right now so I’ll try hooking up with some people when I get it
Okay, thanks!
Okay. Can you link that guide if you or someone else haven’t already
It’s my sim controls guide for controller, not super relevant to your HOTAS probably but you can use it for future reference
(just googled some file-sharing site since I can’t upload PDF’s here)
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Okay thanks
p38g is solid as is the P38j
Actually, I briefly explain some important keybinds for sim in white text with a red arrow on some of the pages in the guide, check it out. You can probably find some useful stuff
Okay, thanks for specifying!
Okay, I’ll check it out later. Thanks for it!
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Hold on it will be long, but worth it - all tips I think are the basic minimum for flying in SB:
1. Starting plane
Spoiler
Pick rank II for familiarization with airplanes and learning how to fly. My choice of easy aircraft to fly which turn well and are forgiving:
Sweden: B-239, Hurricane, UK: Hurri, Martlet, US: P-36, P-40, F4F, USSR: Yak-7B, Japan: Ki-43,
Selected an airplane? Then let’s go:
2. Test Flight Trimming tutorial
Spoiler
Go to test flight and set up all trim controls to some buttons on your keyboard, arrow/numeric/<> whatever suits you. Aileron trim and rudder trim on keyboard, however elevator trim you will use more often so put it on hotas for easy access (mine is on thumb up/down). Set up also a button for “Trimmers Fixation” - very important, but used just once in test flight so map it to keyboard.
A bit of trim theory:
Each prop aircraft will deviate from course because of propeller torque and tends to fly sideways. Some even tend to rotate along axis so one wing drops. On top of that when speed changes, the wing generates different amount of lift so in general at slow speeds - nose dives, at high speed - nose raises up. Now lots of aircraft have trimmable controls to ease pilot from constantly pulling/pushing controls to keep flying straight (you know WWII it was quite a heavy lifting job controlling aircraft) especially for longer period of times. However lots of simpler constructions don’t have such an ability in flight, but had a small tabs at the end of control surfaces which technicians would bend/adjust on the ground to trim aircraft for specific flight conditions.
In test flight you can adjust exactly that - trim aircraft for specific flight condition which is not trimmable in flight.
Why it matters? Untrimmed aircraft which does not fly straight, loses a bit of it’s performance due to additional drag, you have to constantly ‘fight’ against controls to keep airplane straight and it is more difficult to aim.
Test Flight:
- take off, climb just a bit to few hundred meters and level airplane to fly straight, more or less
- throttle at 100% no WEP
- reach around 400km/h (this is the most average speed you will fly those rank II airplanes)
- trim elevator to fly level, so you can let the stick go and plane does not climb or dive
- locate “turn/slide indicator” gauge in the cockpit, in different nations it might look different but works the same:
- on that indicator there is usually a ball or an arrow(UK) which indicates which side your aircraft is slipping, when flying level the ball has to be in the middle, indicating the aircraft is flying straight and not ‘crabbing’
- adjust rudder trim, so the ball/arrow is in the middle - trim in the direction of the ball, if it is left from center - trim left
- optionally now adjust aileron trim (only few airplanes require this) so you don’t roll anymore
At this point you should be able to let the stick go and airplane should stay flying level at around 400km/h. When you achieved this - hit “TRIMMER FIXATION” button and the settings will be saved.
Now whenever you spawn in actual battle, those trim settings will be automatically restored.
Remember to adjust you elevator trim during flight - when diving apply some negative trim so your nose don’t want to climb.
3. MEC basics
Spoiler
MEC is quite important, especially if you want to keep your airplanes at top performance during fight and engine cool during cruise.
The two important bits to set up are Prop Pitch and Radiators (supercharger stages in later ranks when you will fly above 3km).
Prop Pitch (if aircraft has manual, if automatic - leave automatic):
I won’t go through theory much here, you basically adjust the propeller’s blade angle of attack so the propeller grabs more air (more thrust and drag) or grabs less air (less thrust but less drag).
- At takeoff and climb you want 100% - this way the propeller works hardest.
- When cruising in level flight, reduce it to 90% - this way you reduce engine RPM keep the engine cool and at higher speed you will fly a bit faster as it induces less drag
- In a dive reduce to 80% or less - this will reduce drag significantly and allow you to gain a lot more speed, but be careful not to overspeed
- After the dive when you are still fast > 550km/h keep 80% if you want to run away in level flight
- After the dive when you climb back, start adjusting prop pitch back to 95-100% as you speed drops below 450km/h, not too soon to not to lose the speed you just gained.
Radiators
Set up your controls to open close both water and oil radiators. I have those controls on my throttle, the same buttons I use for radar controls (jets don’t have manual radiators in general).
Manual control of radiators is very important.
In automatic mode, your radiators will be closed all the time, until your engine starts overheating - then they will open to 100%. This is bad as when you climb and cruise your engine temp keeps increasing and then when you are about to fight and hit WEP - your engine will be cooked and radiators fully open increasing drag and reducing performance.
In general:
- Open your radiators to 100% at takeoff, climb and cruise - keep the engine cool.
- Close your radiators to 30-50% when you are about to fight someone in a circle fight
- Close radiators fully to 0% when in a dive, running away or chasing someone, to gain additional speed
- Open radiators fully to 100% reduce throttle and prop pitch to 90% to cool engine down.
In WT you cannot “overcool” the engine like in other simulators so don’t worry about open radiators on winter maps.
(Optional later)
Supercharger stages - this is available to many aircraft for increased boost at altitudes where air is thinner. The altitude to switch turbo/supercharger to next stage varies per airplane, but in general for most of them, switch to stage 2 above 3km altitude.
P-47 is special here and you can also adjust supercharger RPM - it requires even more hassle but you can potentially squeeze additional 50km/h of speed by adjusting radiators, prop pitch and supercharger RPM in this airplane, however it is higher mathematics ;)
4. Control sensitivity
Spoiler
Learn to fly with 100% sensitivity from the beginning. I know it will be difficult but it is better to learn the best practice straight from the beginning to not lose time and learn bad habits.
It is important because only then you have full, one to one control translation from your stick to airplane controls in game. This will allow you to fly sharper, on the edge of critical values, also with tiny adjustments you will have more crisp and responsive control.
Anything below 100% will slow your reaction down and handicap the aircraft’s abilities, learn to fly the aircraft with all it’s flaws and to control it, rather than using any training wheels.
5. Ready to fly
Spoiler
With all the above points set up, mastered now it’s time to practice.
- master take-offs and landings, speed is cruicial - keep around 160km/h | 100mph | 90kts for both takeoff an landings in most WWII prop airplanes, aim at the middle line on the runway and practice flaring
- master cruising and basic manoeuvres while maintaining MEC and situational awareness, practice until flying is not something you have to focus or remember about but is natural
- engage AI enemies in test flight to practice aim, first shot down those friendly bots in default test flight, after that set up custom flights with enemy bots.
- strafe ground targets to practice steady aim, adjusting elevator trim and always in a strafe dive, reduce your power.
- after that - join Air SB or Ground SB
- in general you will find fights quicker in Ground SB and lots of pilots are quite mediocre there, however from time to time you will meet veteran players like me - well bad luck, games are fast so join next one. The planes I listed in point 1 are very good for dogfights in Ground SB.
- for now natural step is to practice turn fights, aiming and controlling the airplane.
- after you do good in this, it is time to step up your game, learn advance combat manoeuvres, energy retention, B&Z, and start flying fast airplanes, like Typhoons, P-51s, Fw-190s or very demanding airplanes like Spitfires.
Pheeew that’s all the basics covered, now go there tiger and practice!
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Wow thanks for the advice! It looks like that would have taken a long time to right so thank you!