Can you explain to me what you did with the German planes again??? I can’t hit anything, rockets are crap, rockets only work on premium machines, machine gun and cannon shells fly through planes without damage and USSR planes fly happily even without wings?? Are you normal?? You’re starting to get really WOT!!
I’ve flown german planes (Bf109G2/trop) yesterday and had zero issues with my mineshell damage. In fact, it immediately made a P51D30 explode in flames.
Are you playing on another server with a higher ping? I often struggle to get gunkills as consistently when playing on NA servers compared to CIS/EU due to higher ping making my shots fall just short.
I recommend reviewing your replays. I had one game a few months back where my mineshells “did no damage”. Upon review, my shots chewed through the P47’s flaps and didn’t impact near any fuel tanks or wing spars. The P47 only went down because said chewing also included the rudder on the second pass. When I checked the angle of impact in hit analysis - mineshells either over-penetrated or exploded out of range of wing spars.
Another possibility is - did you toggle convergence and vertical targetting? When I fly american or british planes, I prefer not using vertical targetting. Sometimes I forget to turn it back on for my german props and despite using the revi as I always would, my shots fail to connect.
As for planes flying without wings - instructor be like that. If a plane is fast enough and not maneuvering, it will keep flying in a straight line with mouse aim. It can also fly with sim controls if you react fast enough with the rudder and keep her fast enough and lucked out with engine torque offsetting the lost lift.
You’re right about the ping. It does a lot. I play mostly on the US server, because the CIS and EU are very overloaded. BUT I DON’T UNDERSTAND THE OVERTAKING OF RUSSIAN AIRCRAFT! I have the vertical aiming turned off, the automatics intentionally don’t hit anything. I aim at the YAK 3, 300 meters away, the entire magazine directly at it, I set it on fire, its main wing falls off, it turns around and destroys me? This is way over the limit, isn’t it?
wing falling off and it turning around to me sounds like a claim that requires a replay to be shared.
Although I have to ask - Arcade or Realistic? I’ve never seen yaks do anything like that, and I’ve seen yaks do a lot of things.
Main wing falling off might also be a in-the-moment confusion due to the dumb graphics of explosions and fire when you rip a flap or blow it off.
Yes, the wings can be dropped and turned without any problems by machines from all countries except Germany. Especially the USSR. I see on the servers that people are stopping playing for Germany. Record? USELESS. DO YOU WANT TO SEE REALITY? DRIVE THE GERMAN BRANCH! You can hit the Germans even with your eyes closed, but the rest of the machines are destroyed on Hard Level. The German must not hit anything! Automatic aiming must not be turned on and the aiming distance should be selectable so that the player hits the target! Manual aiming is also nonsense, the target in front of you is constantly changing distance and course. In addition, I have a comment about the crews. None of the German planes have in the mechanics description how much the dispersion of the bullets decreases at a given crew level. Recently, the differences in the dispersion of the cannon bullets were written. I am not allowed to improve weapons on the crews (item mechanics-armorers, at the very bottom). Otherwise, I will hit absolutely nothing!! You’ve destroyed everything you can, and Germany is no longer playable for all vehicle types. Go back to 2015. That’s when reality was functional even in AB battles.
I fly german planes a lot.
About 25-32 hours in the Bf109F4, 6-9 in G2/g14 each (assuming each match is 2 in length). Definitely not a german main for my total flight hours in SB at 214, but proportional given there’s also italy, ussr, japan, us, gb to fly as well.
The mineshells have horrible ballistics. Do you know the best solution?
Vertical targetting. 600 or 800 meter convergence and you will land your shots. For wing-mounted guns, I use 300 meter convergence with vertical targeting, nose guns 600/800 depending on vibes.
Also important:
Mineshells are INCENDIARY shells. They can take out wings if you hit near wing spars, but are less effective than a high-explosive fragmentation shell. Mineshells do best if you plant them smack dab in the enemy engine block or fuel tank.
Also also important:
The Mg151/20 is on the BOTTOM of your aircraft’s nose, not on top. This has some serious consequences between what you see and what’s REALLY happening.
This video demonstrates the issue well:
3 tracers leave my plane’s nose and I see impacts on the P-47. If you look closely, it’s the top 2 tracers that make contact, not the bottom one. Bottom one has mineshells. Top 2 has machinegun bullets.
Result? I chew the P-47’s control surfaces apart but don’t land any high explosive rounds.
You aren’t making any english sense.
Yes, this is why you need to employ basic dogfighting techniques to control the fight so that you can simplify the shot (get on the enemy’s six by flying lag pursuit and then pulling lead for the killshot when opportune, waiting until you’re under 300-600 meters).
Gun dispersion is not based on weapon maintenance. Weapon maintenance affects how long you can hold down burst before jamming. Most of my crews have no or minimal weapon maintenance and I have observed zero issues with that.
What affects dispersion is spading a plane. This can reduce dispersion by multiple meters at combat distances.
Bf109F4 is one of the most fun you can have IME. It’s jack of all-trades, has an answer to everything. In uptiers you are vulnerable to american planes being fast and dictating the engagmeent - but that’s the case of all uptiers and not uniquely german.
Also you? Why me? I fly every WW2 domestic producer’s aircraft on a whim and opportunity.
This explains things.
I mean no offence, nor do I look down upon those who fly arcade battles but…
Arcade battles do not even attempt to represent reality.
The aircraft there have significant engine power boosts leading to nullification of a lot of dogfighting principles (one of the basic distinctions of propeller plane combat compared to jets is thrust to weight is lower than 1, and energy generation is insufficient to maintain best-rate speed without having to sacrifice altitude or speed) and minimization of aircraft strengths and weaknesses. I do not play Arcade battles so I cannot confidently offer you any advice and guidance only that…
German planes’ main advantage in realistic and simulator battles is that they have some of the best specific excess power - low drag, high thrust, low mass. This means compared to their peers they are very good in fights that can be described as “turning and climbing.” Everyone else must choose between either turning (and losing altitude versus you) or climbing (and losing position in the rate fight).
This is in stark contrast with american aircraft whose main strength is high-speed maneuverability and energy retention at high speeds. What this means is that american planes prefer dogfights where you’re both diving (descending spiral). One of the best allied propeller pilot players said as such - “Never take a hellcat into a descending spiral. It will win.”
I presume both aircraft’s strength become washed out in an environment where engine power is tripled or boosted even higher.
I think turn rates and drag is also different in arcade. IIRC flaps also don’t break and WEP cannot be held until the engine dies and just stops on its own. These two also massively change what happens compared to expectations.
I recommend finding a highly skilled arcade battles content creator and watching their gameplay and trying to internalize what they do and why.
If you want to use dogfight techniques as they were employed, use realistic flight models in RB or SB instead. RB and SB are not perfect representations of reality, but aircraft performance becomes much better differentiated with the added limtiations and boosts.
Also
Now I understand what you meant by this.
My advice:
It’s memey, but seriously - learn to use your gut feeling over gunsights or lead indicators. Gunsights are nice, lead indicators are nice but they often lie and fail to account for everything at hand.
Thank you for the exhaustive answer.
I don’t speak English, I’m Czech, the Czech section is kind of dead, and most of you write in English anyway. English is difficult for technical answers, and I have to rewrite the text in the translator several times so that you understand me at least a little. But I will answer in points:
Vertical aiming. Convergence 600 or 800 meters and you shoot.
My answer: Yes, the only way to hit the target.
The dispersion of the gun is not based on weapon maintenance. Weapon maintenance affects how long you can hold a burst before it jams. Most of my crews have no or minimal weapon maintenance and I have not observed any problems with this.
Yes, that’s why you need to use basic combat techniques to simplify your shooting (get to the enemy six by pursuing with delay and then at the right moment to attack and wait until you get below 300-600 meters).
Never jammed? Common with Thunderbolt, but here the Germans handle jamming great. They don’t have that much ammo and you have to shoot in bursts anyway.
My answer: I have to laugh here. The plane doesn’t slow down instantly like a car on the ground!! And 300-600 meters is ALWAYS instantly deadly. Only Russian planes can stand your instructions. AB battles are shot from 1600 meters normally.
Arcade battles don’t even try to represent reality.
My answer: You’re basically right, but before (2015) it was like that, and explain to me why the Germans are so clumsy compared to ALL other machines?
The main advantage of German planes in battles is that they have one of the best specific excess performance - low resistance, high thrust, low weight.
My answer: Absolutely aptly and precisely stated, but it was also true in AB battles in the air and on the ground.
This is in sharp contrast to American aircraft, whose main strength is maneuverability at high speeds and energy conservation.
My answer: Also absolutely accurately stated, and you will be surprised, this paradoxically applies in AB battles! You have just portrayed American aircraft in reality nicely, because their tragedy is the location of the fuel tanks, and they quickly catch fire after being hit (Kingcobra, Airacobra, Mustang).
The Americans are portrayed perfectly, this problem is also described in the same way in the documents.
Thank you for the explanation of weapon maintenance and the exhaustive answers
It’s very hard to see (too high resolution) But I don’t see the overshoot indicator anywhere, and how do you do this shooting?? Like choosing one wing separately, then the other wing…? Moreover, the target doesn’t hinder you at all. Not every player doesn’t look behind him.
I can’t comment there. In the game mode I play, usual engagement ranges are at 200-600 meters. Shooting from 1.6km out is a very alien world to me, so most of my intuition and advice is rather useless.
The self-destruct mechanism of mineshells sounds like it’s genuinely a serious drawback in arcade given you’re shooting at the very edge of it not just blowing itself up.
This falls under the arcade boost vs realistic/sim performances.
However, if you refer to the issue of coming in behind a plane too fast and flying over it - you do not need to slow down. I do not know if this mechanic works in AB, but try the following:
It has animations, and automatic translate might be able to help.
This is one of my favourite way to stay behind enemy planes. Here is an example of me using it in live combat against an enemy trying to dodge me: (https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkx9PpLA1J2SMiOl5IGi3gRxlLq2DBcWXJE?si=1frOJFSHanxz63Yn) (full video has many examples of using proper approach and technique to simplify shots. After the clip, you notice that my targeting is under the enemy plane, not above/in front. This is a very powerful trick for how simple it is - it is called “lag pursuit” in technical terms.)
Watch this video as well:
It’s complicated english, but has animations and demonstrations.
Key lessons:
If your nose is IN FRONT OF enemy plane, you get near enemy plane FAST but your shot becomes DIFFICULT
If your nose is BEHIND enemy plane, you get near enemy plane LESS fast, but you slide behind enemy.
Live example: (https://youtu.be/s4m_7t8fcyY?si=gXQiw5ZupJ3gpR5P&t=105)
Another live example (more complex): (https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxQJT-RJWobFa0D2gxQa7fzD6Fjs4kACnq?si=0C60e4W0sPjQxXxz)
Watch how even when I could aim in front of the enemy, I aimed behind enemy. Observe how easy my shot became by doing this.
It is a very simple thing to do, but makes massive difference.
This is in air simulator battles, so no indicator to help me lead my shot. He was trying to escape me, but he was too slow.
I was using my rudder to move my nose left and right.
https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxmImrKEt-9QvNE3XaU8bW40Yq65jU_VNC?si=O_Bc-UvGWeMCbvGf
Here’s another example of doing that (and also using my sights to line up a shot). When enemy plane is in line with horizontal line, I kick rudder to the left and hold trigger and rake my nose across them.
This is not really applicable to arcade battles though, as you use mouse instead to do things rather than stick & rudder.
Thank you very much for the extensive manual. It can only be used in RB and SB, but it will be useful for fighters.
In AB battles, barrel turns are a must, many players use the kamikaze/AL Qaeda method, even at the expense of self-destruction, just to remove a better player from the sky. A lot of loping is done, where you have to time the right moment to attack, because as I wrote above, German planes are quite clumsy (WW2 planes) and degraded, so the turns from the manuals cannot be used in AB on German planes.
Sometimes I get lucky, and I manage to time the loping and head-on collision correctly, but here the dispersion of the shots and reflexes play a big role. In a dive, when I need to slow down so as not to fly over the opponent, I also turn left-right, just to stay behind the plane, but here reflexes and the capabilities of the plane are needed. I think you can play on the keyboard, because you can actually use the keyboard to help you turn, climb, and descend.
When I played for the USA and USSR for a while, it was a different romance.
Try playing AB, so you can see what I’m talking about. I might try RB and SB sometime. It’s quite difficult for me.
Anyway, thanks for your effort.