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#2240971 - 06/20/07 09:56 PM Dicta Smosh  
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I've come to the conclusion that my flight leader does not always know best. On our latest excursion into enemy territory he proceeded to lead us onto every enemy force we came into contact with (against all advice given in the manual). Now this isn't too bad when we're up against a couple of Rumplers every now and then but when he took us headlong into what was practically Jasta 10 I've had a hard think as to how I play this game.

I've now decided to play this game a little more realistically. Well what I consider realistic \:\)

1. From now on I follow my leader religiously but when we start to deviate a mile or so off our planned course over or in to enemy territory I turn on the automatic pilot to get back on track taking my wingmen with me and leaving the leader to go off on his own. If he’s that dumb we don't want him leading us.

2. Once the odds of a dogfight become 2 -1 against I get the hell out of it. Staying to help friends on these occasions usually ends in my death. If my mates want to stay and be heroes well hey, it's their funeral but really they should know better.

3. On balloon busting missions I like to stay as top cover protecting against the 2 - 4 enemy planes that are usually circling overhead. I leave the balloon to my wingmen unless...

4. Sometimes the enemy aircraft are quite high above the balloon making it possible to get in and have a squirt before the top cover comes down. Get in quick and then get the hell out.

5. Once the balloon is in flames it's nose down for home irrespective of how many enemy aircraft are around. You may have the advantage in numbers but dogfighting over machine gun nests is not my idea of fun.

6. Two passes maximum on any ground attack mission. One in and one out!

7. I don't climb away from any type of ground attack but contour chase for about a mile homewards. Climbing away from a ground attack only turns your backside into a bullet magnet!

8. If my pilot is wounded in any way shape or form I spin and dive away from the fight and make for home immediately. If I'm seriously wounded I always make for the nearest friendly airfield.

Following these rules that I've set for myself I'm finding I'm living longer and consequently accruing the kills

Does anyone else have any tips for staying alive?

Last edited by Smosh; 06/20/07 11:24 PM.

Rabbits, break right and climb.
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#2241044 - 06/21/07 12:35 AM Re: Dicta Smosh [Re: Smosh]  
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You've pretty much learned what I have. Clip grass and lead them into friendly territory, hopefully near a drome with 20 friendly scouts circling! Now that's fun!


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#2241122 - 06/21/07 03:46 AM Re: Dicta Smosh [Re: Skiddmark]  
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Agree on just about everything. I gave up on AI flight leaders long ago. I always fly as squadron commanding officer. This also lets me modify all missions for that day and reassign pilots as I choose. I don't let my flights use enemy positions as waypoints, for example, if I can help it. It also lets me avail myself of the well-known "lost RBII commands" Ctrl-E, R and H, (flight engage enemy, regroup and rtb).

Now if I am not flight leader and I want to stay with the assigned mission when he goes haring off after some Gothas, I must use Autopilot Navigate, (Alt-A), to head for the next waypoint. Autopilot Full, (Ctrl-A), lets that idiot flight leader bring me along with him.

From my younger days wargaming ground battles, I have kept the habit of declining to engage unless I have the advantage. I would avoid even a 1-1 ratio unless other factors favor the engagement, (such as engaging over friendly groundfire). Actually, I avoid dogfighting with enemy scouts at all unless they are an obstacle to the completion of my mission, (I am flying a barrage patrol and they are escorting enemy reconnaissance aircraft, for example).

Absolutely agree on balloon-busting. I always lower my altitude approaching the balloon waypoint to about 5500 feet in View Flight Plan, (balloons are at 5000). Then I get the balloon and get the hell out. Or Object Capture, ("O") the balloon and Ctrl-E to make my wingmen attack it while I cover. But it is when I have successfully *defended* a balloon that I feel I have really done something.

Yes, nap-of-the-earth home after a ground attack. If I am wounded or harried, I will land at the first friendly infantry position I can find. This was often done in RL.

They are not exactly about staying alive, but your list of suggestions made me think of Mark66's "20 Extreme Rules", available along with a mass of other campaigning advice at Nowi's site: http://majpalmer.com/horst/mark66.htm . Mark made the "Moving Front Patch" for WFP.

S!


As ever,
Birdbrain
#2241128 - 06/21/07 03:54 AM Re: Dicta Smosh [Re: Birdbrain]  
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Gisborne, New Zealand
I never knew about the ctrl-h (RTB) command.


Rabbits, break right and climb.
#2241140 - 06/21/07 04:13 AM Re: Dicta Smosh [Re: Smosh]  
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Neither Ctrl-R or H work for wingmen who are engaged with the enemy. They can't break off. I confess that I have gone back to get them more often logic would dictate. Who can blame me? And, mercifully, the stakes are pretty low, it being a game after all.


As ever,
Birdbrain
#2241704 - 06/21/07 07:42 PM Re: Dicta Smosh [Re: Birdbrain]  
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LE Heureux Offline
Red Baron ESC 124
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Very sensible guidelines for SP missions. I have a few of my own.

- Any time I've been engaged and either expended significant ammo or taken hits, I head for home. This seems pretty consistent with the sorties described in my readings (such as Winged Victor, my favorite). I often was stranded in Hunland by undetected fuel leaks and even discovered I'd been wounded and bleeding a while before I adopted this practice. The possibility of structural failure also loomed large in the real event.

- If wounded, I land as soon as I get clear of the Front, whether there is a 'drome or not. That also was a common occurence. The Poilus can patch me up at an aid station and the ACK-EMMAs can come 'round to collect my 'bus, I figure.

- I've never flown a mission where I was leading, so the idiot flight leader problem has taught me to climb when we sight and turn towards a contact. That way I have a substantial height advantage by the time we engage. I go for the highest foeman and I don't follow them down. I get fewer kills, but that too, is realistic.

- I used to use Tymophil's Editeur where I could delete "kills" and I always deleted any kills I hadn't "earned". That means the AI idiots who fight on until they flame get deleted. I also don't count any combat unless it occurred over the lines or in the presence of a wingman that makes it home with me. Confirmation from the infantry or another flier justifies those kills. It's ben so long since I SPed that I can't find T's Editeur program. Some day I'll hunt it out and try again.

Au revoir en l'air. S!
Hex


Au revoir en l'air...S!
Hex
#2241732 - 06/21/07 08:28 PM Re: Dicta Smosh [Re: LE Heureux]  
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Smosh Offline
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Originally Posted By: LE Heureux
I can't find T's Editeur program.


You can get it here http://www.flybert.net/genfiles/RB3dCamEd.zip

There are other editors at the bottom of this page http://www.flybert.net/rbdevel.htm


Rabbits, break right and climb.
#2241785 - 06/21/07 09:55 PM Re: Dicta Smosh [Re: Smosh]  
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LE Heureux Offline
Red Baron ESC 124
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Merci Mille fois,

S! Hex


Au revoir en l'air...S!
Hex
#2241848 - 06/21/07 11:01 PM Re: Dicta Smosh [Re: LE Heureux]  
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Pas de quoi


Rabbits, break right and climb.
#2241989 - 06/22/07 03:19 AM Re: Dicta Smosh [Re: Smosh]  
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Editing waypoints and reassigning Pliots can have real advantages.
I delete all "navigation" waypoints (except the first one which is over your Drome)to the target so it's a straight shot or a safe way over the Front, plus if you get off course from a battle or whatever, CTRL-A gets you headed in the right direction without having to backtrack many miles to cover a bypassed waypoint.
In cases where there are two "loiter" points (secondary being the target)I'll change the first one to be in-line with the target waypoint. This gets you credit for completing the mission if you make it back alive. Otherwise you could get beat up over the first loiter waypoint and never make it to the target.
You can also SHFT-A from CTRL-A and reach the target, this avoids a lot of the distracting "engagement opportunities" along the way.
I never fly with just one wingman if I can help it. He's always useless!


Computer = PHENOMX3
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OS = Microsoft Windows XP SP3 Home Edition (5.1,build 2600)
Processor = AMD 8750 triple core 2.4GHz
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DX 9.0c
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Disk Drives:
Floppy's: D: HL-DT-ST DVDRRW GSA-H21L, E: ASUS CD-S480/A5
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#2244088 - 06/25/07 02:56 PM Re: Dicta Smosh [Re: Skiddmark]  
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Very interesting info....

Some I use .... others I'll try

I did discover something recently about staying alive over enemy territory with a damaged kite.
In one mission my Nieuport kite was damaged by staffel of DIIIs over the lines.
Unable to escape, I opted to land thinking it was better to stay alive, get captured and escape later.
(Note: Also found out you can fly through trees but trying to take-off or land throught them will only prang your kite very quickly.)
Well, I put her down and waited. The E/As circled overhead and then flow off.
Interesting!
So, I waited some more thinking that this might be a rouse and they'll return.
Nope, they had left the area and my kite seemed to be flyable again.
So, ground huging I returned to the nearest friendly aerodrome.
Seems I was sightly wounded. So a short stay in the infirm and I was good to go again.
Certainly a better option then getting captured.

I've used this a few times when things get too hot to increase my survival rate but I suppose
this could be considered cheating by RB3 purist....

Last edited by Skylark; 06/25/07 03:02 PM.

"The further backwards you look, the further forwards you can see"
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#2244338 - 06/25/07 08:44 PM Re: Dicta Smosh [Re: Skylark]  
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Originally Posted By: Skylark
Nope, they had left the area and my kite seemed to be flyable again.


That's the problem with landing and coming to a stop. Any damage your plane had taken will automatically be fixed and quite often your pilot will be healed. Apparently it's a hangup from part of the MP code (I may be mistaken).

I learned this through my questions about injuries and lengths of stay in hospital. After landing with a badly shot up pilot I would wonder why I sometimes would only get a couple of days in the infirmary. It was because of the above mentioned reason.

I personally won't land in enemy territory in order to escape EA but persevere with a contour chasing flight to the nearest friendly territory and then put down and press esc.

Everyone to their own though.

Last edited by Smosh; 06/25/07 08:47 PM.

Rabbits, break right and climb.
#2244673 - 06/26/07 10:28 AM Re: Dicta Smosh [Re: Smosh]  
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Italy
This feature of self-healing and repair of RB3D arose neverending discussions on RB forums in the past.

Must be said that you cannot repair oil leaks, heavy damage and you don't have restored your ammo load.

About wounds and "minor" damages you may imagine that landing allows your pilot to make some kind of provisional medication to stop bleeding and repairs to a/c.

About this latter, someone mentioned an historical tale about one british pilot, IIRC, that repaired damaged rudder of his aircraft and then took-off again from enemy territory... Perhaps was Billy Bishop...

GB

Last edited by Greybeard; 06/26/07 10:33 AM.
#2244831 - 06/26/07 03:18 PM Re: Dicta Smosh [Re: Greybeard]  
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I remember in one of my many incarnations I was playing with one of my most successful RB3D characters ever and had survived all the way up to the Ludendorf Offensive in 1918. So during that show I led the squadron into a scrap directly over the frontline. A German fighter I was tailing pulled up and I went up after him, shooting my little heart out, until I began to stall. At that EXACT moment I looked right and saw the silhuette of an approaching Fokker triplane, had just enough time to think "Crap. Well I've had a good run with this character" and then he just peppered my machine with bullets like you wouldn't believe, at the exact moment i had stalled so I was practically sitting in place in mid-air. It was amazing my pilot wasn't killed outright.

Anyway, I went down belching smoke with my wings shot to pieces and entered a fearsome and unrecoverable spin. Now, I was pretty high up so it was a long fall. And when I hit... my machine landed on its wheels! And I just sat there for a few moments, amazed that I was still alive, started the propeller, took off right in the middle of No Man's Land, and flew home. 'twas the most bizarre RB3D experience I ever had.


JAVITO1986 on the CombatAce forums!
#2248359 - 07/01/07 02:59 AM Re: Dicta Smosh [Re: Skylark]  
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Originally Posted By: Skylark
I did discover something recently about staying alive over enemy territory with a damaged kite. In one mission my Nieuport kite was damaged by staffel of DIIIs over the lines.
Unable to escape, I opted to land thinking it was better to stay alive, get captured and escape later. Well, I put her down and waited. The E/As circled overhead and then flow off.
Interesting!

So, I waited some more thinking that this might be a rouse and they'll return.
Nope, they had left the area and my kite seemed to be flyable again.
So, ground huging I returned to the nearest friendly aerodrome.....
Certainly a better option then getting captured.

I've used this a few times when things get too hot to increase my survival rate but I suppose
this could be considered cheating by RB3 purist....


I don't think I have ever landed in enemy territory to escape pursuit by EA. I certainly have in friendly territory many times. But it did happen in RL. Arthur Gould Lee recounts such an episode in "No Parachute", and I am sure I have read other accounts. But it was perilous. The risk of capture was certainly a factor, as one would have likely been observed from the ground.

In RB the ground is not populated, so unrealistic. Realism would call for something like a die roll to avoid capture, though I don't know what the odds would be.


As ever,
Birdbrain
#2248832 - 07/01/07 08:23 PM Re: Dicta Smosh [Re: Birdbrain]  
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I personally think pushing the ESC button once your wheels touch terra firma is the best way to go about this. There are odds for your capture and escape.


Rabbits, break right and climb.

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