Rookie seeking for veterans' advice

[Rehm]

Hello everyone out there!

 

I'm Rehm. 27 years of age and living in Germany. I'm quite new in the world of flight simulators but interested in aviation and aerial warfare since I was told about the Luftwaffe (how can you not?  ). This is probably how I finally ended up being here. After spending around 10 hours "fighting" novice AI with very little progress I decided to look for help since even leveled out Yaks are a hard target to hit (patience has never been a trait of mine ). I'll give you a very short rundown of my setup first.

 

T.16000M Joystick + TFRP T.Flight Rudder Pedals + TWCS Throttle

Track IR 5

 

Bought the first 3 of these in a bundle since it seemed to have a good price-performance ratio for a beginner. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong; I am used to crying myself into sleep

 

Mainly flying the Friedrich and Gustav.

 

After watching "Requiem's" awesome plane familiarisation videos on youtube and several other montages / flyouts / guides including the handy .pdf of "Chuck" some mysteries keep unrevealed

 

1) As stated above I'm having a hard time hitting even straight forward flying aircraft let alone deflection shooting ( AI seems to turn left and right, rinse and repeat once I miss the first few shots)

 

2) Tracking the aircrafts is a pure nightmare even after simple manouvers like overshooting the enemy and pulling on the stick to regain some height in order to transform kinetic energy into potential energy let alone tracking in a scissoring dogfight.

 

3) Never using flaps since I don't know when to effectively apply flaps.

 

4) Never trimming since I don't know good trim setting.

 

5) When looking backwards to check my six or look around for enemies I totally mess up my own coordination.

 

6) Probably pulling too hard on the stick but when trying to go slow on it the enemy plane starts scissoring like a madman before I can get him into my crosshair. Regarding this topic - Can't seem to find good ingame sensitivity settings for pitch yaw and roll. Any suggestion?

 

7) When fighting in the defensive I am probably easiest prey these bots have ever seen since I am trying to figure out which manouver is the best to get rid of the foe and probably missjudging energy states. Tried scissoring in a gentle climb. Diving downwards in order to gain velocity. Straight climb. Lowering throttle in hope he overshoots. Stalling in hope he overshoots. Most likely doing everything wrong and at the wrong time

 

8) Having automated radiators is a neat thing. But adjusting the RPM while keeping track of the enemy, watching temperatures and thinking about my next step is overwhelming already.

 

9) When / how to efficently use the rudder? Should I swap to joystick twist in the beginning to simplify the experience?

 

10) In all the videos I watched the movement seems so fluid and on point that it drives me nuts to deal with my own wobbling. This bugs me the most.

 

 

Potentally could continue this list until we reach the character limit but let's stop the self-flagellation at this point.

 

At this point does it even make sense to look for someone to fly out with in order to teach me? Or should I spend more time practicing against the AI?

 

I'd really like to get involved in the community and join Teamspeak while flying with others and such but I am worried quite a lot since my spoken English is not that good and I am naturally introverted. And well, a very bad pilot. How's the acceptance in the community towards that?

 

Have a nice day whoever made effort to read through all of this.

 

[=38=Tatarenko]

Hallo Rehm and welcome.

My suggestion is to fly the 109E7, it is the most stable.

1) You'll get used to it - start with a Ju-52

2)  You'll get used to it - start with padlock (on normal or custom settings) instead of TrackIR  to keep a view of the enemy until you get the idea where they will be after a manoeuvre.
3) Don't bother in that plane except when landing or a bit on take-off.

4) Don't bother in that plane - basically if you're always holding the stick forward or back you can trim so the stick sits in the middle but it's not a huge deal.

5)  You'll get used to it. Try without TrackIR for a bit. 

6) Yes, use the curves to make the joystick less sensitive at small movement

7)  You'll get used to it. Try a rolling scissors.

8) Leave on Auto

9) Use it on take off, less effective at high speeds
10) Use the E7 for stability or try a Yak

Edited December 29, 2016 by =38=Tatarenko

[IvanDolvich]

Perhaps this might help you with your wobble but the other videos are also quite interesting.

 

But I understand your problems.... it is really hard to hit enemies, practice, practice practice....

 

What helped me to aim was taking one aircraft for a spin in Quickmission against four slow bombers and then try to hit them. Preferably against bombers with weak defensive armament.

[BOO]

Hi

 

My opinions only -----

 

The gear is good.

 

Try some missions with the aim assist on (if its working with the latest patch) - soon you'll realise that even straight and level is relative given the nose only position of the guns in the F and Gs.  

 

109s like speed - 109s do not (generally) like the tight slow turn. Russian fighters (generally) like slow turning 109s......

 

Learn to trim - this stops you fighting the stick when you're trying to steady the aim and lessens the workload when doing stuff like a long climb or a landing run. I find it better if its on an axis that you can quickly move but others have it on buttons (can you have the 109 on buttons??) - you can also assign the stabilizer to the pitch axis in the 109- dunno if its considered a cheat or not. if you do though you may still need another axis to set the general trim other wise you'll be bobbing up and down instead of flying steady. 

 

Lots of rudder kills speed - useful for scrubbing speed in a too fast landing approach - a little rudder helps bring the nose in or out for aiming - probably better on pedals as your arm is already doing enough with the pitch and roll and you have more movement to fine tune with.. If youre kicking the crap outta the rudder trying to get sights on, you've lost the run, go up and try again. 

 

Have fun! - it'll all come together

 

Regards

 

BOO

[=EXPEND=Tripwire]

you can also assign the stabilizer to the pitch axis in the 109- dunno if its considered a cheat or not.

 

I'd consider it cheating as you are using it in a manner that was not realistic and to give yourself an advantage over your opponent. But that's my opinion.

 

 

1) Practice. Potentially change some of your joystick curves to help this a bit.

2) With experience your ability to track targets will improve. Normal difficulty with Icons will help with situational awareness.

3) Ignore flaps for dogfighting, especially at this early stage. I only use mine for landing and takeoff and very rare situations to avoid a stall.

4) Setting the adjustable stabilizer will aid you with high speed gunnery so you aren't fighting the nose of your plane when attempting a shot. Also stabilizer adjustment aids in achieving top speeds.

5) Practice and Experience. All in good time.

6) Would be different depending on your stick.

7) AI gunnery is spectacular. If you get into their firing range, only kicking rudder seems to really throw off their aim. AI dogfighting and flight capabilities are terrible though so use your planes advantages against them. Climb rate is the 109s best asset.

8) No need to manually set it at this early stage unless you are damaged and trying to limp home, or trying to conserve fuel.

9) Stick with your pedals. Be careful not to have both twist and pedals mapped to rudder as they will override each other if you twist and push pedal at the same time. Rudder is essential for accurate gunnery in a 109 unless the target has no idea you are about to fire. (AI knows you are about to fire).

10) Adjust elevator sensitivity in joystick settings and see how you go. Don't yank on the controls and listen to the airflow sounds to get a hint that you might be pulling too aggressively.

Edited December 29, 2016 by Tripwire

[JG13_opcode]

I tried that trim trick once and found it hard to maintain level flight since it trims to 0 on the Bf109 which is very nose-up, especially in the F-4 where neutral is something like -35 depending on speed.

 

Does it help that much that it's worth it?

[BOO]

I tried that trim trick once and found it hard to maintain level flight since it trims to 0 on the Bf109 which is very nose-up, especially in the F-4 where neutral is something like -35 depending on speed.

 

Does it help that much that it's worth it?

 

 

I have the trim on the stick to give me a plus or minus 15 degree deflection (in game percentage terms) - the remaining trim adjustment is made on the old throttle axis of the MSFF sidewinder. This way, if i want to trim for level or a climb i can, as the stick returns to the value set by the slider control when it returns to centre. (i dont know why this is bold - i cant not make it bold - :-/)

 

A cheat - well perhaps yes perhaps no. Well yes - overall.....but hear me out....

 

In its defense - Thats a big big wheel in the 109 that would be really good for making small adjustments in a diving approach or closing turn - the slider isnt a big wheel - its got about 1 inch of travel from full on to full off. Having the stab angle on the joystick just gives me some fine control within the perimeters set by the blunt control. If i use the slider im at a bit of a disadvantage because the lack of fine movement could throw the aircraft off course or even into a spin if im anything but feather light with it.. To date, ive never been able to get the Hat switch on my joystick (or any other key) to recognize the trim up down functions for the 109 that many players flying other aircraft use to fine tune . And having the hat switches set up this way one of many other, non historical HOTAS features of modern fighters used in modern simming as a matter of course.  

 

And for the prosecution - you cant half flip the thing about when someones on your six........(which kinda damns everything above)

 

a happy compromise would be perhaps the slowing of the effect so that it aids fine long control but doesn't give a directional "vector thrust" advantage. 

 

In the meantime i guess im a cheat in some peoples eyes - And im sure a lots of those will be able to justify their dedicated map monitors and virtual cockpits, voice activated commands, macro keys and the TIR set up that lets them sit on the dash of the aircraft whilst looking backwards with just as much imagination as i have shown :-)

 

S!

 

BOO

Edited December 29, 2016 by 4./JG52_BOO

[Rehm]

Thank you very much for all the replies. It really helped out a lot. Having such a smooth experience right now, it's amazing.

Increasing the sensitivity made almost all the difference. It's a cakewalk compared to what it used to be. Wonder why it is set to 0% by default

 

Having 2 more questions if you don't mind ...

 

... Do graphic settings change the rendering distances of planes?

If I set graphics higher than "balanced" and ground distance more than "normal" I'm still getting stable 60FPS ... BUT sometimes the screen freezes for estimated 0.3 seconds  ...

Maybe there is a fix for this

 

What's the key mapping called that allows toggling zoom instead of slowly zooming in and out? Can't find it.

 

 

See you soon in the skies!

[Dakpilot]

Changing graphic settings will not change spotting distance of aircraft, only quality/render distance of game textures, which is good for level playing field in MP 

 

download and read manual 

 

https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/17572-il2-user-manual/

 

or explanation of camera/head snap view settings

 

try some ground attack missions shooting at targets trucks and trains, this is good gunnery practice

 

de-selecting Full screen will allow you to turn off V-sync, this MAY help with microstutters

 

trying to keep the aircraft trimmed so it will fly level without input at the speed you are flying will always help, learn this habit early

 

correctly trimmed you can almost fly a landing approach with no stick input for pitch

 

taking the learning process in small steps will save a lot of frustration, it is a steep curve 

 

Cheers Dakpilot

[Rehm]

I've bound stabilizers to the small wheel on my throttle, this helps a lot.

 

Will read the manual aswell. Maybe I can find the key mapping for toggled zoom in there.

 

Turning off V-sync is no option tho since I experience tearing without it.

 

 

Found someone who's giving me a small flight lesson later this day, will see how it goes.

[Dakpilot]

If you turn off V-sync you must also change from fullscreen to borderless windowed, Uncheck Full screen in graphic settings or launcher

 

Cheers Dakpilot

[Rehm]

This eliminated screen tearing. Thanks. Still have these micro stutters every now and then.

 

i5-3450 @ 3.1 GHz

GTX 960 2MB

8GB Ram

HDD

 

Probably not good enough I guess.

[banPilot]

This eliminated screen tearing. Thanks. Still have these micro stutters every now and then.

 

i5-3450 @ 3.1 GHz

GTX 960 2MB

8GB Ram

HDD

 

Probably not good enough I guess.

 

I think the freezes have to do with your GPU only having 2GB VRAM. Maxed out at 1080p the game uses more than that.

 

I suggest turning down some settings to avoid this: going from "Ultra" to "Low" preset saves you ~500MB, "Distant landscape detail" from 4x to Normal saves you ~800MB and "Antialiasing" from 4 to OFF saves ~100MB. Try lowering some of these to see if the freezes stop.

Edited December 31, 2016 by banPilot

[BletchleyGeek]

 

But I understand your problems.... it is really hard to hit enemies, practice, practice practice....

 

What helped me to aim was taking one aircraft for a spin in Quickmission against four slow bombers and then try to hit them. Preferably against bombers with weak defensive armament.

This is the best way not just to train your air to air combat skills, but also to get to know about how resilient bombers can be (or not). Make sure to fly these at different altitude bands, as the performance of the planes can be different like night and day.

 

Also tracking and deflection fire are good techniques to use against heavy bombers - of which the Soviet Union has none still in the game, abd unsuspecting pilots - the AI can feel incoming fire, doesn't need to see the tracers. A technique that works surprisingly well in hot stuff like the Me 109 is to go for snapshots:

 

...

I opened fire only when the whole windshield was black with the enemy... at minimum range ... it doesn't matter what your angle is to him or whether you are in a turn or any other maneuver.

...

 

That was Erich "Bubi" Hartmann. You need to be able to handle first, though, otherwise you will end up losing a wing often

[ACG_KaiLae]

I'll just add that the above is good advice, but that even after you learn the basics, it's still not easy. That's one of the reasons that it's so satisfying when you do it well, because it is hard. Plus some days you just have a bad day, other days you run into someone who is just really good like Mr X or The Elf (who is an actual RL fighter pilot, there are a few of them playing) and they make you look silly. But that is also ok, because you can learn something from those experiences as well. 

 

If you need help, ask. As a community the combat flight sim does not even if inclined eat their young, because each new person in a group in a hobby as niche as ours is something to be nurtured and encouraged. A great way is to join one of the teamspeaks around and simply ask questions. You'll find generally friendly people who are willing to share their experiences.

Edited January 2, 2017 by Kai_Lae