If you fly Fighters especially or even Attack Planes in general, this bloke (Skywalker Games) has provided me with the best advice I’ve come across, and now I reluctantly share out of a sense of duty.
I’ll say his tactics WORK. Especially shaking tails. Since taking on his tactics i can honestly say I haven’t been downed in a dogfight, don’t mean I’ve won them all either - I still need to work on my finishing moves and i’ve let a few get away though I’m getting there. But nobody’s shot me down yet with Skywalkers tactics ringing in my head, yes I have been killed diving into the ground once or twice misjudigng the cutback, but that’s me.
I think you’ll find his stuff very helpful (there’s more, check his channel). If you disagree with it feel free to post so and why because I’d like to hear it.
If it works for you hope not to see you on the Battlefield.
Flying just seems so boring in BF1 where most gameplay is super objective focused, planes contribute almost nothing to the actual game progressing outside of knocking off a couple tickets from the attacking team (since the majority of their kills get medic revived anyway).
This is so misguided, let me tell you my typical game in The Trenchy.
My typical game if I jump in a Trenchy:
Oh yes you’re right, we want kills. But where do you think those kills are? Let me tell you - it’s where the action is. It’s on flags that are being contested.
So on those Flags you’re trying to capture/defend - I’ll be overhead providing a pair of spotting flares on every second pass (which btw = constant coverage) and a load of darts on every pass.
Can you explain to me, in your wisdom, how the flares aren’t helping you? Would you rather I not? What about the kills I get on Flag that you’re trying to capture/defend, not helping you or the team either? Again, would you rather I not? Think I’m stealing your kills is that it? Don’t worry, there’s always plenty for everyone or I wouldn’t be there.
Of course I can’t do it all the time or even prioritise it, I just do it when i’m not doing my real job. My real job is clearing the skies which sometimes I can, sometimes I can’t. But getting rid of those Bombers/Attack/Fighters doing to you as I would to others bombing where you’re fighting, that not helping you either? Again rather I just leave them alone?
And if I’m not doing either of the above it’s because someone’s glinted at me. Some hill humping camper sniper sitting on a hill taking pot-shots at the Flag you’re fighting over or anywhere else where he can catch you with your back turned has glinted at me. So when I drop a load of darts on him, that not helping you at all either. None of it? Rather I leave him there for you to chase down. I thought I’d be getting Medals and Bridges named after me for that, maybe even songs in the Barracks.
I don’t know what else you think we’re doing or the motivation you assign us. We don’t go circling around looking for a zombie standing in the middle of the field for our “couple of tickets a game”.
Good video. Each to their own but the planes don’t interest me in this iteration of BF for some reason. I have taken a liking to the AA on some maps though. Not all but some. I personally think the Air vs Ground is pretty well balanced myself. If the planes do get too much of an issue, a couple of men on the AA guns soon evens things out. I see people complaining planes are too OP or AA is too OP but I think it’s about right myself. Most of the complaints I get when I’m on AA are from people flying in head on trying to take on the AA and die or they expect to be able to fly freely over areas where there are one or two AA guns manned and cry when they die when a pair of well manned AA guns start shredding their wood and paper kites.
Some really good tips for pilots, although personally I think mastery of the free camera is key to winning 95% of dog fights. If you can master the freecamera you have no need for flares. You can simply spot them behind you with the free camera and then pay close attention to their flight path. Performing manuvers that are simply over the opponents ability or aircraft class is often the way to neutralise a fight for me. Say an opponent has tailed me, I freecamera on him, and make a direct dive/back turn against his flight path while at the same time following into the turn where he will meet me, this way you can land shot in the front of his engine or against his wings in a FORWARD attack instead of a tail attack, 50-60% of the time you disable the aircraft this way and this ultimately leads to nailing them anyway.
I’ve not paid much attention to the attack plane as it’s so slow and cumbersome in turning, my attention mainly draws toward the fighter bomber killer as you can snipe aircraft guns, snipe infantry, snipe tanks and keep every enemy aircraft out of the sky, the boost button is priceless and can let you perform turns and spins far faster than any other aircraft. I use mountains, ocean, fortresses, ruins anything, if you get a real talented pilot you can nail them through using the scenery… their are a million ways other than neutralising a fight.
You on PC? Otherwise you must have 12 fingers if you can use it while maneuvering on Console. I use it, but much like in the vid, can’t use it while ducking and weaving.
Um, no. I’m maybe an average pilot but I’ll get in an attack plane while being a squad leader and do everything I can to help my squad accomplish the objectives I’VE set. I can see the whole battlefield, drop spotting flares, help anticipate what’s coming at them or what they should be doing as well.
On Operations the other day, we were defending Fao Fortress A flag. The enemy was bunching up and harassing the flag from the entrance furthest from B. In a single barrage I got 7 kills, 2 assists, and the gratitude of my squadies. That’s a hefty multi-kill. They witnessed the carnage close up.
I remember Skywalker from Battlefront where he did a lot of videos on how to use the Tie Fighters and such, which were viewed as underpowered. He definitely seems to know his stuff when it comes to flying, and I’d be interested to see what else he has to say about shaking tails, as I find it frustratingly hard in this game sometimes.
Had a round of Ops yesterday where a pilot went 98-0 then bailed when the map rolled over to Suez. Didn’t even have an impact besides being annoying, since they lost 2 battalions on Fao anyways.
If you’re on a crap team that’s straight up losing badly, then anything you do as an individual either on foot or in a vehicle is negligible.
If the game is even then many different individual efforts can have a big impact. Can one plane win you a round? No.
But if you think the ability to wipe out big clusters of infantry, especially squad wiping is inconsequential, then you are mistaken. Done at the right time at the right point on the map, it can have a big impact. The problem is, its a two way street, you need people on the ground to take advantage of it.
I do think though that planes are much more useful on conquest as they can single handedly defend a flag or support a squad capping it that may be far removed from your teams main group.
Operations in general is just one big zerg where individual ability doesn’t count for much. Especially since the teams are more often than not stacked.
As for the video op, i find the flares unnecessary as you can mostly hear exactly where the enemy plane is and where hes going since the positional audio is so good. Plus a fighter can shred you from much further away before it even runs past the flare.
Probably wasn’t the best video there either since its an attack plane chasing another attack plane and the guy chasing him seemed pretty terrible. Will check his other stuff though, always good to potentially learn new things.
I don’t really use the flares either. But the stuff about continuously turning back on the enemy at speed, using potential energy from your dives to your climbs, quitting with the slowing down jinking to try and shake a tail (which i should’ve known doesn’t work because it don’t work on me) and as such keeping speed up to maneuver - that I wasn’t even thinking about before so it’s a game changer for me.
Yeah my main problem with dog fighting in the game is 90% of the time, the result is dictated by stuff outside your control.
Either AA (friendly or enemy), allied or enemy pilots, good tailgunner vs dud tailgunner or a multitude of other crap in the game tends to interfere and decide the result.
Can you chill for a bit? Yeah MissNaughtyKitty might be underestimating the impact of pilots but he/she just stated her impression of pilots in general while you are attacking him/her directly. No matter how wrong he/she might be but making wild assumptions of someones performance isn’t any better.
Just try not to get triggered by a single comment… You are here to give fellow pilots some tips and tricks (I guess), not to bitchfight with someone who probably doesn’t fly.
