Arcade - Fighter Tutorial Videos

[long5hot 7,302]

Anyway, does the review for the Ki-61 also apply to the captured US premium? Is that premium worth buying?

Yes the captured US premium is identical to the plane I reviewed, and I happen to own it as well. To get kills, you need to set targets on fire, and when you're in a lower tier battle that's much easier to do - you can see the 9 kill streak I went on in the only low tier battle I was given flying the Japanese version. So yes I think the premium version is a great buy :)

[Cenric 28]

Yes the captured US premium is identical to the plane I reviewed, and I happen to own it as well. To get kills, you need to set targets on fire, and when you're in a lower tier battle that's much easier to do - you can see the 9 kill streak I went on in the only low tier battle I was given flying the Japanese version. So yes I think the premium version is a great buy :)

 

Thanks. I will wait for a sale on it. It looks fun, but I can hold off while still learning the game mechanics.

[long5hot 7,302]

Thanks. I will wait for a sale on it. It looks fun, but I can hold off while still learning the game mechanics.

Sure - also don't expect an OP clubbing machine, its just a plane that's fairly tiered & fun to fly.

[Cenric 28]

Would you consider reviewing less used premium planes? I was looking to get some more info on the D520. From what I have read, everyone says it is very overtiered. But, I am unable to find a good example of it's strengths.

[long5hot 7,302]

Would you consider reviewing less used premium planes? I was looking to get some more info on the D520. From what I have read, everyone says it is very overtiered. But, I am unable to find a good example of it's strengths.

Sorry I don't own the D520. I do have 2 Boomerangs that I've barely touched in months, could give those a go if anyone's interested.

[long5hot 7,302]

Here's the MiG-3-15 BK. F4U 1A will be next :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBIUfVFLhRM Edited May 16, 2014 by long5hot

[Cenric 28]

I was wondering how much play time do you need to generate enough content for these videos? I always watch and see how well you are doing. Do you ever have bad streaks and how often are they? I get frustrated when shot down quickly and often do not have "great" games. I look at videos like this and assume I really suck and it will not get better.

 

One example is the He 112. I have all 3 running right now and it is painful. Germany is my weakest lineup by far right now.

Edited May 16, 2014 by Cenric

[long5hot 7,302]

Well, I don't need long generally. That's another reason why I post the before & after stats in the vids, so you can see just how many games I played while recording, and what my average kills & deaths per sortie was.

Yes I absolutely do have bad streaks, usually while playing in a squad (looking out for friends etc tends to mess up my decision making & defer more than I do when flying alone), but sometimes I'll die a lot or simply find that killing enemies is incredibly difficult - either I can't aim or friendlies take my kills or I get tunnel vision & someone blindsides me. The usual experience everyone suffers now & then.

The thing is, what do you do about it if most of your games are of that nature? You have 3 choices. The first is to accept the status quo, keep playing the way you are & find ways to enjoy it regardless. The second is to give up and find another game to play. The third is to get angry at yourself and make a determined effort to improve, which is what I did & am still doing with a long way to go.

For me the first step was learning to survive, which involved un-learning all the bad habits that were getting me killed and developing a sense of when it was advantageous to enter combat & when it was not. Learning the snap roll was huge as well, since I started using it to avoid headons about 4 months ago I have died exactly twice in a headon using that maneuver - once a Bf109 got a lucky hit & took the tail control off my hellcat, and the other time a P63 started firing from 1.5km and I began rolling too late. Apart from those I've now dodged hundreds of head ons successfully, so you can imagine how that's improved my survival rate.

Anyway once you learn to survive its then a matter of knowing the attack angles & distances most likely to bring planes down, and that can differ from plane to plane depending on your weaponry and the nature of the enemy (you attack a bomber differently to a fighter for instance). If you know the strengths & weaknesses of the plane you're flying, you'll use it to its strengths and avoid situations where its weaknesses will be exposed. That's the kind of thing I'm trying to convey in the videos, so that anyone can practice & master the things I've discovered.

[Cenric 28]

Then how do you find out the strengths and weaknesses of a specific plane? I look over the general stats of a plane and compare to what I expect to face. But, in practice it does not work out to often. Do I need to go figure out the plane type from history books or something? What identifies that a MIG-3 is best as a high altitude interceptor and a LaGG-3 is not a turn fighter or that certain US planes work better at vertical turns than others? I get really confused right now.

[long5hot 7,302]

A quick check of Wikipedia will tell you what a plane is _supposed_ to be, though there can be significant differences between the historical plane and how its represented in WT. Anyway, once you have a general idea of its historical purpose you can take it up in free flight and see for yourself. How quickly does it roll, turn, respond to rudder - at slow, normal and fast speeds, with flaps & without? How quickly does it climb, what's its handling like at high altitude compared to low? How quickly does it accelerate from low speed? How fast is it in a dive, and what degree of control stiffening affects the flight surfaces?

All that stuff you can find out before you take it into a game, just with 10 minutes of practice in free flight. Then when you're in combat you have an idea of what the plane can do, which means you can have a basic plan for how you want to fly it. Does the plane turn & roll extremely well, climb slowly and lock up in a dive? Well, you don't want to climb very high & instead you'll want to take it somewhere on the map that'll be busy at low altitude and look to dogfight enemies, practicing your situational awareness to avoid getting blindsided. Does the plane handle sluggishly, turn slowly, but it climbs well, accelerates well, has a fast top speed and doesn't lock up in a dive? Then its an energy fighter, you need to climb and practice energy tactics & use your speed to avoid dogfights.

I'd ignore the stats Gaijin provide on turning times in-game, they pretty much mean nothing. What you need is a feel for the plane yourself.

Edit: Btw I flew the Ki45 otsu for the first time in several months tonight. Oh my, what have they done to this plane? So lacking in engine power, and so unstable in the air that it threatens to flat spin if you turn it below 200 IAS, which is exactly what happens if you lose an engine. It also means you can't take it to altitude (where it used to thrive). I can see why its on the poll here. Edited May 16, 2014 by long5hot

[HochgeborenKlown 1,276]

Another great lesson...

[long5hot 7,302]

Thanks :) Btw I removed Ki-45 Ko from the poll as I'll cover it together with the otsu (when I get to it that is).

[UrbaniteNine 246]

Then how do you find out the strengths and weaknesses of a specific plane? I look over the general stats of a plane and compare to what I expect to face. But, in practice it does not work out to often. Do I need to go figure out the plane type from history books or something? What identifies that a MIG-3 is best as a high altitude interceptor and a LaGG-3 is not a turn fighter or that certain US planes work better at vertical turns than others? I get really confused right now.

Sorry I don't own the D520. I do have 2 Boomerangs that I've barely touched in months, could give those a go if anyone's interested.

I have the D.520. I'd highly recommend it. It's very underrated. However, it has one Hispano 404 with only 60 ammo as the "moteur-canon", but it is pretty accurate. It has 4x fast firing 7.5mm MAC MG's on the wings, the smallest calibre in game at the moment. Use the cannons to take down planes and the MG's to strafe and set things on fire. I'd have to say, this plane is extremely average at... well just about everything! Average firepower, average climb rate, average top speed, average dive, average durability. The only things that are not average are the turn time (above average, just slower than Spitfires, but faster than Fw 190's and Bf 109's) and the weight (lightest plane of its class, 2800kg). I'd highly recommend it with it's battle rating of 3.0, much lower than the Boomerang's horrifying BR 4.0.  ;)s Keep the videos coming! Edited May 17, 2014 by UrbaniteNine

[long5hot 7,302]

Just on the Ki-61 otsu, in a game a couple of hours ago an enemy Spit IIb met me at around 4000m altitude in a head on. I snap rolled to avoid, then Split S as we passed each other to gain speed, then immediately into vertical turns with flaps engaged as I knew he'd easily out-turn me if we went horizontal. After a couple of loops/immelmans his plane was clearly struggling to keep up energy-wise, and then he stalled out completely trying to match me as I climbed & I was able to pour concentrated rice-noodle gunfire at him for at least 5 seconds, which was enough to get the kill.

Just saying that the Hien is definitely an energy fighter, should always be used as such. If only it had decent guns it'd be a brilliant plane. I only regret that I wasn't recording video at the time, I had a look at the replay but all the bullets look like they're missing & you can't see altitude & speed info - its just not as good. Edited May 17, 2014 by long5hot

[UrbaniteNine 246]

Just on the Ki-61 otsu, in a game a couple of hours ago an enemy Spit IIb met me at around 4000m altitude in a head on. I snap rolled to avoid, then Split S as we passed each other to gain speed, then immediately into vertical turns with flaps engaged as I knew he'd easily out-turn me if we went horizontal. After a couple of loops/immelmans his plane was clearly struggling to keep up energy-wise, and then he stalled out completely trying to match me as I climbed & I was able to pour concentrated rice-noodle gunfire at him for at least 5 seconds, which was enough to get the kill.

Just saying that the Hien is definitely an energy fighter, should always be used as such. If only it had decent guns it'd be a brilliant plane. I only regret that I wasn't recording video at the time, I had a look at the replay but all the bullets look like they're missing & you can't see altitude & speed info - its just not as good.

Interesting... I'd like to see that replay nevertheless...

[ShaiDorsai 70]

P-38

[long5hot 7,302]

P-38

Kidding right?

 

Edit: Not sure if serious.  I thought the P38's become an excellent plane since 1.39...

Edited May 18, 2014 by long5hot

[ronin3423 832]

Edit: Btw I flew the Ki45 otsu for the first time in several months tonight. Oh my, what have they done to this plane? So lacking in engine power, and so unstable in the air that it threatens to flat spin if you turn it below 200 IAS, which is exactly what happens if you lose an engine. It also means you can't take it to altitude (where it used to thrive). I can see why its on the poll here.

its been this way since 1.37

 

you pretty much have to commit to being a bomber interceptor at the start (turn 90deg + climb) and dont engage anything until you reach bomber alt.  you cant even chase anything that you hobble when he dives for the deck.  the 37mm is pure snipe now (dont use the 20mm) and keep to single shots and virtually any bomber goes down in 5 sec.  when the high alt bombers are gone, its bnz into the furball at 3000ft.  i out sniped a p39 in a near level head on today.

[Kocyra 5,742]

Here's the MiG-3-15 BK. F4U 1A will be next :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBIUfVFLhRM

Great video, Just a teeny correction though, There is the x2 7.62s and x1 12.7 in the nose, The ones in the wings are 12.7s. (and at 5:10 you said you'd let your engine cool, In arcade engine temp. is irrelivant.) and normally I find the tracer belts are better, API-T all around gives you everything you could ask for.

 

And the MiG-3-34 does have pretty much the same flight performace, Only difference is that it has x2 20mm cannons that give it a teeny improvement

 

3-15 (BK): 2.46 KG/S

3-34: 2.56 KG/S

Edited May 18, 2014 by Kocyra

[long5hot 7,302]

Great video, Just a teeny correction though, There is the x2 7.62s and x1 12.7 in the nose, The ones in the wings are 12.7s.

Thanks - someone else pointed it out a couple of days ago & I added an annotation to the video at the appropriate spot. Serves me right for going off the appearance of the guns (the wing ones are tiny) rather than checking it out properly!
 

(and at 5:10 you said you'd let your engine cool, In arcade engine temp. is irrelivant.)

By "cool" I meant recover from being WEP'd.
 

and normally I find the tracer belts are better, API-T all around gives you everything you could ask for.

Sure ok, I'll give those a try, and add an annotation to the vid as well :)

Edit: Annotation added (that's such a nice feature, glad youtube introduced it)
 

And the MiG-3-34 does have pretty much the same flight performace, Only difference is that it has x2 20mm cannons that give it a teeny improvement

Interestingly, AIM_120_AMRAAM & I ran a series of duels in a custom battle yesterday taking the 3-15 BK against the 3-34, and found that the 34 does have an edge in a dogfight. Either that or he's just a better pilot than I, which is likely. We were shooting at each other too, so after a little while the planes were damaged & that could have thrown the results off. Some awesome duels though. I've bought the 34, haven't yet flown it though. Edited May 19, 2014 by long5hot

[long5hot 7,302]

its been this way since 1.37
 
you pretty much have to commit to being a bomber interceptor at the start (turn 90deg + climb) and dont engage anything until you reach bomber alt.  you cant even chase anything that you hobble when he dives for the deck.  the 37mm is pure snipe now (dont use the 20mm) and keep to single shots and virtually any bomber goes down in 5 sec.  when the high alt bombers are gone, its bnz into the furball at 3000ft.  i out sniped a p39 in a near level head on today.

Pre-empting my video a bit, but my experience has not been nearly as good as yours. Its a lousy climber compared to many other planes it faces, so if the other team's at all interested in altitude supremacy you're screwed. Bombers are often faster than the ki-45, good luck killing them when they can just fly away from you. Yes, the 20mm shoots rice noodles, but I find the 37mm is highly random & plagued with hit registration issues. I have footage of me putting 4 successive 37mm rounds directly into a B25 motionless on a runway, with nothing to show for it.

And I have no idea how you BnZ with this plane, its so slow & has no energy retention at all. Perhaps you should be making the video not me:)

[ronin3423 832]

Pre-empting my video a bit, but my experience has not been nearly as good as yours. Its a lousy climber compared to many other planes it faces, so if the other team's at all interested in altitude supremacy you're screwed. Bombers are often faster than the ki-45, good luck killing them when they can just fly away from you. Yes, the 20mm shoots rice noodles, but I find the 37mm is highly random & plagued with hit registration issues. I have footage of me putting 4 successive 37mm rounds directly into a B25 motionless on a runway, with nothing to show for it.

And I have no idea how you BnZ with this plane, its so slow & has no energy retention at all. Perhaps you should be making the video not me:)

Im generally content with 1-3 bomber kills per round, so my expectations may be way lower than yours.

Typically by the time im done chasing the 3 kills down, the map is over so i dont expect much else to happen afterwards.  When i do get bonus time, it's just trying to cherry pick someone diving from their spawn to the furball and not paying attention.  It's like a bomber speed run at 500mph, swoop in swoop out, straight line no turning at all and when i miss(often) strict pull up and out no looking back.  Most of my grinding with the ki45 otsu was in 1.37 and i got pretty favorable matchmaking  (mostly BR 2.0/2.3/2.7 med bombers).  At 2.7 you can match the otsu with lower planes to get a 2.3 server, you see a lot of tier1 BR2.0 planes there and the PBY makes a great big honking target that registers hits nicely.

 

I remember you commenting about your ping with the servers being high, mine is around 100-150 on US servers so i may be getting better hit reg.

 

I did encounter the instability you talked about. That is new, dont know if it came with 1.39 or 1.41.  Any turn at 200 or less and its like a full rudder flat spin.  You may want to submit a bug report.

Edited May 19, 2014 by ronin3423

[long5hot 7,302]

Due to this thread - http://forum.warthunder.com/index.php?/topic/139803-come-on-gajin-fix-the-p-47/ - I'm adding the P47 (the lowest 3.0BR one) to the poll.

[Mauser151 506]

Here's the A6M2-N. Thanks for everyone who asked & voted for it, this plane was enormously enjoyable to fly :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPsbmX06uLc

The Ki-61 otsu is next.

 

Love your music choice for this video " The Last Samurai" epic movie. :good:

[long5hot 7,302]

Love your music choice for this video " The Last Samurai" epic movie. :good:

Yep it seemed to fit perfectly :)

Anyway, F4U 1A is up...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q--7VzixhWw

 

Ki-45 otsu is next.