I've mastered bombing, but am getting hammered in dogfights....

Keyzer

Right, some of you may remember me asking for tips a while back on flying and bombing etc. Well, from many sessions on single player "Operation Clean Sweep" I have mastered bombing to almost precision accuracy. I am consistently scoring 70-80 pts from bombing alone on single player expert mode. Tested it out online last night and hammered the other team.

Right, I hear you say, what does he want now?

Dogfighting and that god damn lock on noise.
The bane of my online existence. I line up a bombing run, choose to either direct bomb i.e point the nose of the plane at my target and release or carpet bomb a stretch of road with incoming enemies, and then it happens.
Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.
Check behind me and there he is. Drop flares. Start my evasive manouevres.
I pull up, do a loop, turn, twist, loop again, flying close to mountains, turn and twist again and then
Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.
Son of a bitch, I can never get rid of people never mind manouevre so that I end up behind them. I am trying different turns, twists with varying speed and jamming on the brakes.

How the hell do you get rid of someone off your tail?

Big Nelly

Keyzer wrote:

How the hell do you get rid of someone off your tail?

Bail, no matter how good you are if there is someone behind you who can fly they will be able to follow you no matter how much you role and bank and will end up firing after you launch flares and bang your gone......was on a server last nite and there was 4 lads on....2 on each side and actually just was watching them in dog fights and they where class!!! I'm a heli man myself......

Keyzer

Bailing is not an option, thats 30 million dollars worth of taxpayers money...

jonski

Keyzer wrote:

Bailing is not an option, thats 30 million dollars worth of taxpayers money...

Yeah , but if it's american then it's no big deal really , is it ?

magick

hug the ground, until u get close to the target, then climb fast bomb, then hug the ground again, not exactly dogfighting, but it does work when u need to do a bomb run

Keyzer

magick wrote:

hug the ground, until u get close to the target, then climb fast bomb, then hug the ground again, not exactly dogfighting, but it does work when u need to do a bomb run

Bombing ain't my problem dude.
I was just home at lunch time and had a quick game, Clean sweep on expert mode again. 126pts in total at the end.

I discovered the joy of afterburners. I used them for super tight turning in dogfights, albeit with a bot opponent but they aren't bad at following you.
Anyway, I had a bit more joy using thr afterburner (bear in mind I have never played any of the previous games or any flight sims). Following jets was easier too by hitting hard on the brakes and turning tightly.

Big Nelly

Keyzer wrote:

Well, from many sessions on single player "Operation Clean Sweep"

Do you have to download this or is it an option in BF2? never seen it....cud prob do wit some practise on bombing runs!!

Sorry if I sound thick but I usually just jump into battle and dont check many options!! lol

Big Nelly

Keyzer wrote:

How the hell do you get rid of someone off your tail?

I find helis easy to lose a plane(not as easy with anti air) because the plane is flying so fast they have to shoot as soon as they lock on so I would wiat about 1-2 secs then hit flares and bank to one side like a mad man while climbing or dropping......9 out of 10 times I will lose the missile.......

Mind you was on server last nite.....heard lock.....did as above but didnt realise the plane was in front of me....banked to the right and done a head on collision into him!! bloke in plane was laughing away....... :eek:

Stephen

Operation Clean Sweep is one of the MEC maps included with the game. You've probably played it. Its the one with The single US base on one island with airfield. Lots of choppers and jets. there's 5 or 6 MEC bases on a larger chain of islands to the south, with 2 airfields, one with 2 jets and one with a single jet.
Reminds me of wake island in BF1942, albeit a lot wider.

Keyzer

Stephen wrote:

Operation Clean Sweep is one of the MEC maps included with the game. You've probably played it. Its the one with The single US base on one island with airfield. Lots of choppers and jets. there's 5 or 6 MEC bases on a larger chain of islands to the south, with 2 airfields, one with 2 jets and one with a single jet.
Reminds me of wake island in BF1942, albeit a lot wider.

Like he said...

GreeBo

Keyzer wrote:

Check behind me and there he is. Drop flares. Start my evasive manouevres.
I pull up, do a loop, turn, twist, loop again, flying close to mountains, turn and twist again and then
Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.

Maybe dont try so man moves so close together, I ahve found that even as a soldier, if I do loads of jumping and dodging left and right I spend my time weaving back and forth across someones crosshairs...
Make some definite moves, bank left and keep banking, drop/climb but keep it up for a while..
Just a suggestions, might well suck.

Töpher

Easiest way: Flip upside down by rolling either way, kill the throttle into full reverse, and pull back really hard (so you go under yourself), and midway into it accelerate and afterburner! Then belt off sharp to the left or right. Sorted.

Keyzer

Was playing op clean sweep last night and found a guy who let me try to follow him. Holy crap he was good. I couldnt get a lock on him at all, then i bugger off to reload and he swoops down and shoots my ass.

So.... I employed the same tactic on when the game started and my buddy had left to do his homework ;-)....
Did I get good scores? Yes, not just good scores, I got compliments because I couldnt be shot down.... The one time i got shot down was when I was behind a mig with a lock on and his wingman came up behind me and blew me up, not before I got his buddy though...

Flying rocks.... especially in the US fighter on the 64 man op clean sweep map... Pity theres only 2 bombs on it...

tba

do you use a stick?

Keyzer

tba wrote:

do you use a stick?

No, I'm using a ps2 controller with the play.com usb adapter...

Ruffty^

Keyzer wrote:

No, I'm using a ps2 controller with the play.com usb adapter...

different strokes for different folks, but thats weird...
do you use both analogues?

Keyzer

Ruffty^ wrote:

different strokes for different folks, but thats weird...
do you use both analogues?

I only use analogues for switching camera views.
Left for cockpit and right for forward chase cam.

tba

This may sound weird but being a righty, I use my left hand for the stick, look with the mouse in my right hand and contol throttle with the scroll button. It means I can switch from plane to person very quicky, while still keeping the look around ability open.

Thats very important in dogfights plus a reasonable grasp of 3d space, remember to use buildings and landscape to cut off povs and exploit the height advantage that planes can use. Finally never underestimate the distracting advantage of a fancy move.

Töpher

Got myself a Logitech Extreme 3D Pro the other day, has several buttons on top of the stick within easy thumb reach, have camera views on there, so quick switching to check your six is no bother

Airblazer

first if you have a pov switch on your joystick map it to the different views..once someone locks onto you launch flares..switch camera to see if it's another plane or ground attacker..if ground head for the deck and hit the afterburner..ur then too low for them..
if it's a plane... there are 2 differences..if ur in a bomber hit afterburner and go straight up ..the bomber can fly higher than the fighter...
if ur in a fighter break left or right hit afterburner and climb..while climbing invert and head for ground making tighter turns..this way u'll lose them
of course with the bomber you can use the fighter one as well

Keyzer

Airblazer wrote:

first if you have a pov switch on your joystick map it to the different views..once someone locks onto you launch flares..switch camera to see if it's another plane or ground attacker..if ground head for the deck and hit the afterburner..ur then too low for them..
if it's a plane... there are 2 differences..if ur in a bomber hit afterburner and go straight up ..the bomber can fly higher than the fighter...
if ur in a fighter break left or right hit afterburner and climb..while climbing invert and head for ground making tighter turns..this way u'll lose them
of course with the bomber you can use the fighter one as well

Thats a good point about checking to see who has the lock on, ground or air.
Will start doing that now, takes 25 seconds to reload flares so wasting them on AA is a bit silly if you can just evade them....

po0k

There's rarely any need to launch flares, sharp banking turns are all you need.

Keyzer

Some updates for new flyers.

If your on a map with 2 jets per team, bomber and fighter and you end up in the fighter, bombing sucks. You have 2 bombs and 6 rockets instead of 5 bombs and 4 rockets. Although the fighter has increased agility and manoueverabilty, it sucks for bombing unless you have the aim of Jockey Wilson. Fighters should dogfight and protect the bombers who should stick to bombing.

I killed a dude in a buggy the other night, I was most impressed, so was the dude.

jaggeh

the fighter also has 600 bullets, so its perfect for strafing runs.
the cannons can do a serious amount of damage to light vehicles, moderate to heavy vehicles, the spread is so small that you can take out fixed position defenses......

the bombs are best used as an anti infantry device, if you have a good commander spotting high concentrations of infantry, or using the uav well, then you can rack up a lot of kills. my last 1800 kills or so have been airborn....