Here are a couple of dogfighting tips that I learned while in the air:
Those are some basic tips I've learned while flying in the field. I'm sure I missed some or some of the above needs correcting so feel free to do so.
See you on the battlefield, soldier!!!
EDIT: Added 2 more tips at the bottom.
- Don't fly straight: This may sound obvious, but whenever you hear the lock buzzer turn hard. Many bomber pilots ignore the buzzer and are an eazy kill.
- Use a joystick: A mouse and keyboard its going to cut it.
- Check your 6: Personally I recommand mapping the F9 and F11 keys to the HAT on your joystick so you can quickly check your 6.
- When dogfighting, don't fly over enemy AA: Take the fight away from the bases because you don't want to have an enemy AA vehicle or enemy Stinger/IGLA take you down while dogfighting.
- Be a medic: You still get points for destroying enemy assets, but most importantly is that you'll be able to travel outside the boundaries of the map for short periods of time (this will allow you to escape from some pilots).
- Have your co-pilot spot for you: Having a co-pilot spot for you can really help. Having VOIP and communitating during a dogfight is also great if you have the luxury. The co-pilot can spot using F11 view or just mouselook and communicate with you.
- Altitude is your friend: By doing loops into the higher (less than 800m), altitude you can often loose your opponents.
- Keep your bomb view as long as possible: When you have your bombs selected you don't trigger the buzzer alarm in the enemy jet. This allows you to get into position before you switch and release your missiles.
- Shoot two missiles each time: There's not need to shoot all 6 missiles. Most likely the enemy pilot will pull up or turn sharply so all your other missiles will just miss. Be patient and use your guns in bomb view until you think you can use your missiles - try to shoot your missiles ahead of the target so the missiles don't have to turn as much.
- Flying low if you're a good pilot: I don't recommend this, but if you're playing against a novice pilot you may want to fly low and make tight turns around hills and structures - novice pilots will crash. This is not recommended against experienced pilots since obstacles will not really hamper them.
- Team up with someone in ground AA: Sometimes you'll see a guy that just LOVES ground AA, get him in your squad and communicate with him. Lure the enemy jet pilots towards the ground AA and work together in taking the enemy jet down. Becareful to always stay within the 350m range of the ground AA, if the ground AA shoot while locked on the enemy and looses lock in-flight the missile may hit you instead (still buggy in 1.03).
- EDIT: Fly outside the map bounds: Make sure you're a medic and you can fly outside the bounds. Do this two or three times during a dogfight and you'll kill the enemy pilot if he's not a medic. If you're in a bomber and both you and your co-pilot are medics you can last longer.
- EDIT: Be Anti-tank and steal enemy jet: When trying to steal enemy jets I recommend going Anti-tank since you can hit a jet while its taking off. If you have time to setup you can place C4 on the runway or if you can run and jump to get a C4 on the actual jet you can blow it anytime. Whatever kit you choose make sure to time the respawn of the jet otherwise when they respawn they'll kill you as you're taking off.
- EDIT: Shooting Air-to-Air Missiles without a lock: Yep that's right you can shoot Air-to-Air Missile with no lock if you're at point blank range. You can do this by sneaking up behind the enemy when its over its runway or when its doing a bombing run (many bomber pilots will level out their flight to give their co-pilot's a clear shot). More experienced pilots will be checking their 6 (see above), whenever they are doing any straght-a-ways (where they are most vulnerable to missiles), so this trick won't work on them. Becareful though to dodge the enemy jet's wreckage or you'll be dogfood. I'm still experimenting with shooting Air-to-Air Missiles at range since they arc up at a gentle angle, but haven't perfected the technique. Personally I like shooting the missiles slightly before the lock is locked - that seems to give the best results.
- EDIT: Don't fly over artillery strikes or artillery: If you're directly above an artillery piece when it fires it will kill you (there are actually projectiles that leave the artillery piece). Also flying above an artillery strike, friendly or enemy, can kill you as well.
- EDIT: You don't need to go back to the airfield all the time: The best pilots, the ones that have 30:1 ratio, don't go back to the airfield to restock on ammo all the time...they use their guns. Soft targets like jeeps and anyone in AA or ground defense turrets are easy to kill - if you can't line-up quickly on a box in your reticle then you need to increase the sensitivity.
- EDIT: Mouselook: You can edit your CONTROLS.CON file to allow you to mouselook with your joystick, but still have to press CTRL or you can run a third party program like JoyToKey that'll allow you to use your HAT to mouselook without having to press CTRL to enter Mouselook mode.
- EDIT: Check ground AA emplacements: Whenever you get a lock that isn't a jet you'll want to check the ground AA emplacements. I recommend circling at a 90 degree angle and checking the ground AA emplacements or just circle around and use your guns to blow them away. Some people have figured out that its smart to stay inside an AA emplacement and so they get out when they don't think they can shoot you...this is where you spray the area with your guns.
- EDIT: Don't fly over artillery strikes or artillery: If you're directly above an artillery piece when it fires it will kill you (there are actually projectiles that leave the artillery piece). Also flying above an artillery strike, friendly or enemy, can kill you as well.
- EDIT: You don't need to go back to the airfield all the time: The best pilots, the ones that have 30:1 ratio, don't go back to the airfield to restock on ammo all the time...they use their guns. Soft targets like jeeps and anyone in AA or ground defense turrets are easy to kill - if you can't line-up quickly on a box in your reticle then you need to increase the sensitivity.
Those are some basic tips I've learned while flying in the field. I'm sure I missed some or some of the above needs correcting so feel free to do so.
See you on the battlefield, soldier!!!
EDIT: Added 2 more tips at the bottom.
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