Inconsistency in my playing

[MasserME262]

Hello everyone,

 

Just wanted to tell something that usually happens to me, and want to know if it happens to someone else.

 

I just wanted some quick fun so I decided to play some QMBs and hell, I was in a "killing spree". Always 1v1, every battle flying in a F4, starting altitude: 1500 metters. Map: near Brussels. Enemy AI difficulty: Ace. Starting distance between planes: 10Km.

 

Played against:

-Yak1

-Yak1b

-Yak7

-Mig3

-SpitV with the improved engine

-Spit IX with 150 octane fuel

-Pony

-Tempest (hell this one was difficult)

-P38

-P39

 

0 loss, every battle was a victory, and pretty good ones actually, that even surprised myself. Nice deflection shooting, energy fighting, never got my enemies at my 6, etc.

 

But, yesterday I couldn't shot down anything, no matter which plane I fly. Its just like that, one day Im a "Hartmann" against AI, and next day Im a total potato with wings and get destroyed by any enemy AI. Happens like almost every time I play, which often leads to frustration.

 

Does it happen to someone else or it's just me?

[US63_SpadLivesMatter]

I had a day like that in the K4.  Every turn and dive perfect and smooth.  Every deflection shot with the 30mm a perfect hit.  It made me want to stop playing right there, because I knew I'd never have such a good day again.

 

Sure enough, the next day, back to chimp mode.

Edited October 4, 2019 by hrafnkolbrandr

[RedKestrel]

I got two kills in one sortie flying multiplayer against superior planes, two sorties in a row. The next day when I played I got killed five times in a row without so much as scratching anyone’s paint. It happens, it’s a mental game and we are not always at our best, and sometimes you’re just in the zone for some reason.

Edited October 4, 2019 by RedKestrel

[ShamrockOneFive]

That's basically been me online recently. I used to, once upon a time, be at least decently competitive, but recently all I get is bounced... bounced... bounced. Even when I'm not I seem to either suffer from some technical malady or just not be able to aim when I do get an enemy, rarely, in my gunsights. It's all very frustrating and it seems to come in waves.

 

Nature of the beast I guess!

Edited October 4, 2019 by ShamrockOneFive

[RIPSkyKingTasmanaut]

This is most definitely a 'thing'. I am very familiar with it, and it can get pretty complicated and technical... Essentially it is to do with your state of mind i.e alertness, focus, anxiety level etc. It happens in sports as well.

 

There is no easy or quick solution. Perhaps the best advice I could give is, rather than trying to emulate your 'good' days all the time, work on raising your baseline 'bad' days. Patience seems to be the key for me. When I have none, I do horribly. I rush into situations and get killed, I make dumb decisions and take shots too early rather than setting up for a 100% kill shot. I don't plan my exit or check what is going on around me enough. 

[von_Michelstamm]

happens to me if I’m in a bad mood or tired, or (ironically) if I’ve just watched DerSherrif vids.

i want results so I get impatient, is what I can figure it is. For gunnery, if I’m off it’s because I’m jerking or my reaction time is slow.
Take a break and shoot up trains, doing nice turns and loops and lining up shots, till you’re steering with a finger tip. it will smooth out your flying when you fly against bogies the next round.

Also beer and coffee

[pilotpierre]

I used to fly (in real life) aerobatics as a hobby. I found 80% of the flights were normal, 10% were unbelievably smooth and were just creamed, the other 10% I knew after a few manoeuvres it was probably a good idea to give it a miss and go home. 
 

I think the above occurs a lot in life with various hobbies, sports and situations.

[AKA_Hollywood]

Some days you're the bug... some days you're the windshield...  just gotta roll with it...

[Pict]

On 10/4/2019 at 6:05 AM, ME-BFMasserME262 said:

Does it happen to someone else or it's just me?

 

In most if not all of the WWII fighter pilot biography's that I've read, the same thing happened to them. Even top aces had their off days like everyone else.

 

Not something I would be overly concerned about. On the other hand if everything went right all of the time, it would freak me pretty quickly 

[EAF19_Marsh]

Be mindful of the living Force. Remember, concentrate on the moment.

[Goffik]

Just confirming that I see this kind of thing all the time in my own simming. Not restricted to flight sims because I run a sim-racing club and it's the same there. One day nobody can get near me, the next I find myself in the pack and unable to get the car around the track without making mistakes. Just goes to show that, much like doing these things in real life, our performances rely not only on overall skill, but also on how we are feeling physically and mentally.