Originally Posted by
bearcat241
dasuto247,
You're playing inside of a retail combat sim that is skewed to give the AI opponents the performance advantage, although it leaves much to be desired in AI combat decision-making. They have no fuel weight, no additional payload weight (ammo and pilot), no stall limitations, insanely low drag factors, plus unlimited ammo. Conversely, the player is bound by all of these. Throw out the historical accounts about the strengths and weaknesses of allied and axis warbirds and how it all factored into the battles. The sim's AI physics and the player flight dynamics wasn't programmed to play by such constraints 100 percent. Just take some QC time and learn how the sim's AI engine actually "thinks" in combat -- it has some serious decision-making flaws that really stand out in the heat.
Using your example above, your move to dive for life was a good one, but instead of running on the deck, you should have popped a tight loop or a chandelle on the Zero. These moves are directly counter to actual accounts from former Wildcat pilots and their training. They were told to never loop a Zero or an Oscar and avoid climbing turns -- just dive and run in tight spots where they had altitude (the Zero can loop so tight that 2 complete loops, with the Zero starting in the disadvantage position, will put the Zero squarely behind a Wildcat). In this sim, the stock Zero is just as fast as the stock 'baby Cat' in a downhill drag race, so running won't help. You have to get to know the enemy "pilot" better and he flies every model the same. And here's one of his greatest weaknesses: he absolutely hates loops when giving chase to the player. Regardless of what he's flying, he'll pass right under you almost every time for an easy setup on his six. And in the rare cases when he does climb with you, he won't fire his guns after you pass the pure vertical aspect and begin to actually turn over the top, so its always a good move to escape gunfire when you're getting hammered in a careless moment. If you continue over the top, he'll covert his climb to a chandelle maneuver and disengage. This also is an easy setup as you re-engage from above and behind.
Bottom line, forget replicating the stories. They're great for mission setups, but that's where it all ends. If you want more wins vs loses, get to know the habits and traits of your enemy, not just his weapons.
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