Combat Flight Simulation

How to Survive

How to survive combat flight simulation is probably one of the biggest questions when approaching the game. People, ahem-pilots are always thinking kill, kill, kill, but really it is a question of survival that should be crossing their minds.

Combat Flight Simulation Game Survival Tips

In my years online I have probably built and maintained somewhere in the neighborhood of a 20:1 kill ratio. This means that for every time I was “killed” I had most likely killed 20 other players along the way. That’s not the most impressive I have ever seen, but it’s not too shabby. In the meantime I have trained literally hundreds of pilots with varying degrees of success.

ACM – Air Combat Maneuvering

The first thing I tell every new pilot is to find a resource on ACM; Air Combat Maneuvering. This will give you standard textbook maneuvers used by the real pilots. Learn them, learn how to apply them.

Start with the simple ones and work your way into some of the more complicated maneuvers in either a practice arena or offline in your favorite combat flight simulation game. Got ‘em down? Are your wings snapping over?  Is your nose responding with military precision? Good, now do them ugly.

Think about this, if you were a boxer, which is better, to telegraph your punches before hand or keep your opponent guessing? Flying with the precision of an airshow jock will get you killed. Mix it up and do it dirty, it will keep them guessing.

SA – Situational Awareness

Another thing to consider is SA; Situational Awareness. There is a reason most combat flight simulation games display the type of aircraft you are going against. That reason is to help you evaluate their performance envelopes. A BF-109 for example can out turn a P-51 in most games.

If you are in the ‘Stang you’d better start thinking of a way to get the heck out of there. If you are in the 109 you will need to try and bait the P-51 into a turn fight or what’s called and “E” (for energy) fight and make sure he doesn’t have an escape vector available to him.

Situational awareness goes beyond that. Knowing where your opponent is and what else is in “your air” will keep you from turning into stray bullets being thrown around by your opponent’s wing man.  So know you space, who’s in it and how you can get out.

Escape Plan

Getting out brings me back to that escape vector thing I mentioned earlier. Always have an escape plan. This is how you land kills. Without it, you could be pushing a bad position and push it too far. I didn’t get my kill ratio by going up and killing 20 pilots and then landing.  I got it by knowing when to bug out and how. The instinctual thing to do is to head 180 degrees away from the plane you are trying to get away from. This is bogus. 90 degrees works well, 78 works better. He will be looking for you dead behind him, bug out and watch what he does.

Fuel and Ammo

The final factor is your fuel and ammo. Keep track of them; losing either in enemy territory is a death sentence. Reserve at least 25% of your ammo for the return trip home and keep your fuel with about 5-10%.

Getting Home

Getting home after a mission is your top priority in a combat flight simulation. You might score 15 kills in a hop but if you don’t land them, you’ve accomplished half of what you could have.

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