long5hot's beginner's guide series

[Maj_Fox@psn 522]

Thank you long5hot, much appreciated.

 

kamuka thanks for the tips.

 

I'm of to practice.

 

Cheers JTF

[Hs_Panda 17]

do you have any tutorials aimed directly at bombers?

I find the defensive maneuvers helpful a bit but, not entirely plausible in a bomber where doing some of the maneuvers will rip your wings off

[long5hot 7,302]

do you have any tutorials aimed directly at bombers?

I find the defensive maneuvers helpful a bit but, not entirely plausible in a bomber where doing some of the maneuvers will rip your wings off

 

I believe that Yubided, another regular on these forums and a guy I often fly with, is looking at making a series on how to fly bombers effectively.  Not sure what his expected timeframe is - he's new to this youtube mularky, but its definitely something to look forward to.

 

From a fighter pilot's perspective, good bomber pilots either escape by going into a dive that you don't want to follow, or they try to force you to overshoot and expose you to their rear gunners.  It all depends on where the enemy fighter is attacking you. 

 

If you have frontal gunners, try for head-ons but not to the point that you're sucked upwards into a climb that quickly stalls you out.  If you don't, you want to pass the fighter as quickly as you can which means accepting the head-on but doing everything you can to make your large plane a hard target - snap rolls, rudder and elevator wiggles & the like.

 

If the enemy plane is approaching from the side, turn in towards him.  He has less time to get guns on target, and when he's past you he'll be in the firing arc of your gunners.  An alternative is the up/down elevator wiggle, its amazingly hard to hit a bomber from the side that does that simple evasive maneuver.

 

If he's approaching from above, snap-roll your plane.  If from beneath, go into a bit of a dive to gain speed and also snap-roll - do not try to climb over him.

 

If he's approaching on your six, either hop in the gunner's chair and try to blast him out of the sky or do the elevator wiggle.  Better still if you've disabled the auto-pilot setting and have the coordination skills to do both at the same time.

 

None of these things are, of course, guaranteed to save you.  One thing's for sure though, if you just fly straight & level then you're going to be shot down sooner rather than later.  The above are all aimed at reducing the ease with which the fighter can aim and the time he has to shoot at you - they're maneuvers aimed at buying you time, either to make it to your target or to give time for friendly fighters to intercept or to fluke a gunner kill.

[Yubided 465]

It's going to be a while. I don't actually enjoy flying bombers. I'm only collecting data at the moment. It's not really a bomber tutorial - it's more of an explanation of why bombers (or any PvE option bar torpedoes) are still strong. The big mistakes I see from people trying to kill NPCs, who get mauled by fighters, are:

 

a) refusing to take evasive action or not knowing how because (apparently) bombers should be able to fly straight and level to the target and maul every fighter in the way with death lasers or something equally ridiculous; and

 

b) most bomber players don't think tactically. They don't look at the situation at the start of the game or how it is unfolding. For a lot of bomber players, it appears that they more interested in racing other PvEers to the targets rather than waiting for a good opportunity to strike.

 

Now, I can't provide one answer to the bomber player issue. A large part of the problem, as I see it, is the way AB is at the moment (the mechanics do cause problems). Why wouldn't a bomber player race to targets when there are so few? (for example). One could argue very effectively, that suicide diving is a completely valid tactic in AB and I would agree. However, I don't agree when someone employing a "suicide tactic" then gets on the forum and complains that bombers aren't able to take sustained 20 mm and 30 mm cannon fire for more than a few seconds. Flying to survive in a bomber is worlds apart from winning at all costs. This brief explanation doesn't cover 10% of the wider issue as I see it. You can shoot holes in what I've just written very easily but I don't feel like going into further detail right now. If you feel the need, fill your boots.

 

There is, in my opinion, one very easy way to get better at surviving in bombers and that is flying fighters (or PvPing in general). You might not be able to kill a fighter after your bomber but you can definitely apply knowledge of defensive tactics / maneuvers and knowing the capabilities of your opponent to aid in your survival (either by flying that aircraft or fighting against it).

 

The other big thing that applies to all AB players is getting out of the mindset that you are flying an aircraft. Personally, I don't see anyone playing in AB as a pilot. I refer to them as players (occasionally pilot does slip in for whatever reason). Play AB for what it is. Exploit the highly unrealistic physics, damage models, performance models, random changes, etc, etc. Don't get hung up on "flying" a particular nation because they were good at something in reality. Also, don't get hung up on KDR or KPM as a bomber (obviously ground targets here). The measure of a good bomber pilot, in my opinion, is win rate percentage. Use that as a guide to how well you are doing with bombers versus how many times you lose a plane.

[ronin3423 832]

do you have any tutorials aimed directly at bombers?

I find the defensive maneuvers helpful a bit but, not entirely plausible in a bomber where doing some of the maneuvers will rip your wings off

Here are some threads from beginners where i've posted some general guidelines and information:

 

http://forum.warthunder.com/index.php?/topic/133851-how-do-i-choose-which-bombs-to-use/

http://forum.warthunder.com/index.php?/topic/160014-heavy-bombers/

http://forum.warthunder.com/index.php?/topic/164311-flying-height-and-attack/

http://forum.warthunder.com/index.php?/topic/167371-new-player-needs-help-with-bombers/

 

Some of the info is over a year old. the principles still hold, but the FM changes and transitory nature of guns vs damage models means some of the altitude and bomb numbers may be out of date.

 

Regardless, to survive and prosper as a solo bomber, you need to read the flow of the battle.  You have to think 4th dimensionally and know what is going to happen in 5 minutes.  You'll look at the deployment of the enemy team and your own team at the start of the round, and you should have a good idea who will be dead 30 sec after the furball merge, who will be climbing to intercept, who will dive from respawn to kill an armored car, and who is going to have high/med alt supremacy.

 

Once you can read the skies, you will be able to avoid most of the enemy interceptors and be able to drop multiple bomb reloads.

[__EasY__ 127]

Nice work, very good presentations indeed!

Thank you for your dedication it certainly helps out people a lot like myself and I appreciate it tremendously, once again thank you!

[SgtKabukiman 15]

As a player with just about a month of War Thunder under my belt these guides helped out a lot.  Thanks for the time and effort you put into making them.

[_Noobz_ 2]

With 2 weeks in War Thunder, jumping here straight from WoT, I can say that's a big difference.First of all, the people I've met here and the more sportsmanlike behave ( with some inherents exceptions ).Your guides helps me a lot to better understand the mechanics of this game,but I still have some problems with my mouse settings. I saw you are using a G400 Logitech mouse, capable of 3600 dpi. Are you using as it is or you lowered the dpi ? For maneuvres ,I saw it's best to have a high dpi settings, but for aiming is impossible to use it with that setting. And another question..Can you put a link to the video from Versus series where we can see the fight from AIM_120_AMRAAM's perspective ? I can't find it. Thanks for your time spend to make noobies like me understand better this game.. :salute: 

Edited April 18, 2015 by SEN_MrC

[RandyBacon 30]

Regarding the previous poster, I believe Long5hot mentioned he was taking a break from the game.
I can understand why, since the increasingly short duration of Arcade Battles is putting some drag on what should be a sleek, shiny FUNselage... (see what I did there?)  ;)s

The fact Gaijin doesn't seem to take into account the opinions constructive criticism of the more experienced community members doesn't help either, which is baffling since a game that is MOAR FUN = MOAR MONIES spent in said game, or at least a higher chance of player investment.  :dntknw:

 

Either way, thank you Long5hot for your immensely didactic tutorials, and I hope War Thunder finds a way into your heart again.
Until then, fly safe!  :salute:

[long5hot 7,302]

Regarding the previous poster, I believe Long5hot mentioned he was taking a break from the game.

Oh no I'm still flying, and producing plenty of tutorial vids for individual planes. I have ideas for some more videos in this series but they're still stewing around & I haven't had time to plan them out properly yet.

[RandyBacon 30]

Well, d'oh! :facepalm:  I thought I read it in an answer to a comment on one of your YouTube videos... Glad I'm wrong.
In other news, learning Energy Tactics at low tier is a pain in the empennage... Hope it pays off! :good: 
(I think I'm overdoing it with these emojis... they're just so... damn... cute!)

 

EDIT: After watching tx141's videos (which I thank long5hot for pointing us out to) on Air Combat Maneuvres and proper stock grinding, I have to say my gameplay experience has been Overcharged with FUN!

 

There are airplanes (lets call them "Ugly Ducklings") which, once you unlock their performance upgrades, start to behave like they're on steroids. :Os  Case in point: the CR. 42 Falco. I know it's a biplane with an already solid foundation, but this is just the scaffolding for an awesome machine once you unlock it's full potential! It's a joy how much noticeable the improvement you get after each upgrade is, and that Engine Injection turns it into a veritable Beast! (plz Gaijin dont uptier) Never expected to be learning energy fighting in a biplane... But I am! So once again thank you long5hot and tx141 for you contribution to the community! :salute:

Edited April 25, 2015 by RandyBacon

[Maj_Fox@psn 522]

Just finished an Air Domination battle when this message came through.

 

"at least you can dogfight, nice fight".

 

Watching your tutorials and aircraft guides made this possible so I just wanted to share it and give credit where it's due.

 

Cheers JTF

[long5hot 7,302]

Ok, I'm going back in time & inserting vids after the 1st one in the series, beginning with this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_939QHzXeK0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_939QHzXeK0

[long5hot 7,302]

What to do in Night Battles...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqq5lJC2Nq8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqq5lJC2Nq8

[Maj_Fox@psn 522]

Excellent work on the night game vid, learned a few things. Tactical vids are just as inportant as the plane vids in my opinion.

 

Cheers

Edited May 9, 2015 by JT_Fox

[Maj_Fox@psn 522]

With reference to long5hots MM & Crew Skills Video.

 

I've done a little bit of math work on the Tiers and BR and these are my findings.

 

By grouping the individual tiers together I was able to calculate the median value for an international tier as follows: -

 

T1) 1.7     T2) 3.0     T3) 4.3     T4) 5.3     T6) 7.3

 

Next I calculated the average spread from the median. Tiers 1 - 4 is two BR steps and Tier 5 is three BR steps. We can now visualize the average BR range per tier as follows: -

 

T1) 1.0 - 2.3     T2) 2.3 - 3.7     T3) 3.7 - 5.0     T4) 4.7 - 6.0     T5) 6.3 - 8.3

 

So, how can we use the above information?

 

Only select planes within the same Tier within the above spread and keep the average BR equal to the median value.

 

For example my British T1 line up is as follows, (top 3 planes only)

 

Hurricane (2.0) / Havoc (1.7) / Gladiator (1.3) When testing this line up the average player I met was 1.3 to 2.0 line ups. Meeting a 2.7 was the exception not the norm. I would not add the Blenheim (2.0) or Beaufort (2.0) to the line up as that would raise the average to 2.0, that's why I used GE to  get the Havoc.

 

If you like the challenge raise the average by 1 step.

 

For example my German line T1 line up is as follows, (top  3 planes only)

 

Bf 110 (2.3) / MC 202 / (2.0) / Ju 87 (1.7)

 

The rule of thumb to use is - Your average BR + 1.0 must be <= the next tiers median. The T2 median is 3.0 so never allow you T1 average be  more than 2.0

 

If you keep the above information in mind when selecting your line ups you should be able to avoid those situations when you scratch your head wondering why your Gladiator is been stomped by a Fw 190 - A5

 

Next I'll advise on how to handle planes which fall out of the above ranges, how to minimise the impact of mixing Tiers and lastly a view on crew slots.

 

Cheers JTF

[Maj_Fox@psn 522]

Planes which fall out of the above ranges & Minimise the impact of mixing Tiers

 

These are planes whoes BR ratings fall outside of the above ranges, some examples are:-

 

P-36G           Tier 1     BR 3.3

Bf 109 E-1     Tier 2     BR 1.7

 

The low tier high BR you can simple move up to the next tier without any comback but moving the high tier low BR may cause problems for example. The Tier 3 BR 3.0 German P47D would by BR number fit nicely into a Tier 2 line up but it may mean you meet Tier 4 planes.

 

The rule of thumb to use is - Your average BR + 1.0 after you move the high tier down must be < the next tier two levels above lowest value. For example:-

 

For example my German line T1 line up is as follows, (top  3 planes only)

Bf 110 (2.3) / MC 202 / (2.0) / Bf 109 E-1 (1.7)

 

BR avg +1.0 is BR 3.0 which is lower than the Tier 3 minimum which is BR 3.7 therefore you should reduce the chance of meeting tier 3 planes a the majority of Tier 3 plane are BR 3.7 or higher.

 

Basically if you keep the avg BR to no greater than Tier 1 to BR 2.3 you should be OK 

 

Presets & Crew Slots.

 

The presets I use are as follows:-

 

Repair Rank / Rank 1 / Rank 2 / Rank 3 etc.

 

The repair is used because I have "Auto Repair" turn off for insperation to stay alive. Only planes in the selected preset repair at the normal rate. I put all damaged planes from different ranks in to this rank and select it prior to leaving the game so they repair while I'm offline.

 

The other are basically Tier aligned.

 

I takes a lot of effort to develop a crew to the max so you want to ensure you effort is not wasted. Why develop gunners when you fly fighters in that slot. If you pre-define your slots in advance you can develop the crew to suit a type of plane.

 

Mine are as follows with my Rank 2 British planes:-

 

Slot 1) Primary Fighter (Sea Hurricane MkII C)

 

Slot 2) Primary Fighter (Spitfire MkIIb)

 

Slot 3) Heavy Fighter/Attacker (Beaufighter Mk Vc)

 

Slot 4) Ground Attack/Light Bomber/Torpedo Bomber (Typhoon Mk 1/L)

 

Slot 5) Medium Bomber/Heavy Bomber (Wellington)

 

 

At the end of the day you can put your planes any way you like if it works for you but if you're struggling I hope you find the above useful.

 

Thanks to lon5hot for letting me borrow this thread so I could share this with you.

 

Cheers JTF

[Polaventris 85]

Fantastic video series that has pretty much taught most I know about flying in War Thunder so far.

 

Would love to see Ju-87 G-1/2 tutorial at some point as I am struggling to find an effective way to use it in a combat. Other than being the enemy fighter magnet of the team. The most ridiculous thing is that in the best round I've had with it so far, I was hunting bombers with it!

[Housecat14105 45]

Today a FW190 A4 forced a head on with me and critted my wing since im not that good at avoiding head ons against those Cone of fire planes. In the game after he tried the same, but this time I remembered something from your videos.

I went 90 degrees to him, took a split S at around a kilometer, heard some guns, turned inside him and turned the tables. 

I laughed with joy when he went down in flames not knowing what had happend.

 did a decent climbing spiral today as well so i just wanted to thank you for sharing your knowledge. performing some manouvers is very rewarding when you pull them of

[tizianenel 2,124]

I think I'm a bit outside the intended target group for these videos with my ~4k matches played so far

...but there's always some things to learn, some things to be reassured of, some things to notice I'm doing wrong, getting new ideas etc etc.
I don't think I'll ever stop learning new things about air combat.

Thank you for the videos!

---

One simple trick that made leading a target "click" for me actually utilises arcade mode in cockpit view, and perhaps you might want to check if it's worth including in a future video:

1) Take a P-51 for a test flight (the premium ones can be testflown at any time so you don't need to have researched the US tree at all)
2) Go into cockpit view
3) Take off
4) Start maneuvering
5) Observe the glory of the gyroscopic gunsight - normal reflector sights are good for allowing you to see where the guns are pointed regardless of the exact position of your head inside the cockpit, but a gyro gunsight ALSO shows where the bullets will end up at based on how your plane is maneuvering. If you're flying straight and level, both the gyro indicator and the regular reflector sight circle+dot will point at the same spot, but the wilder you maneuver the more they diverge.


I do not recommend using cockpit view in arcade fights for actual fighting (you will lose far too much situational awareness), but I believe everyone should try it out a couple times - it's not necessary and anyone can learn how to lead targets during maneuvers without, but I believe this can speed up the process. Another worthy tool to see how your plane is flying is the virtual cockpit mode - there's a little indicator that displays your flight vector (your bullets inherit this velocity and add in their own muzzle velocity towards where the nose is pointed, so bullets will strike somewhere between the two).

I'm quite unable to make videos of my own on this potato computer but perhaps the edited screenshot can still prove helpful to demonstrate.

edit: oh my god, why did I choose green for the text colour? Sorry... it looked quite readable before saving as jpg (even though I used 100 quality..) - the green circle+text show where the bullets end up because of inherited flight vector.

also attached a picture of virtual cockpit someone else was asking about earlier - the red circled indicator shows the actual direction your plane is moving towards (which is an excellent tool for making carrier landings in RB btw. Edited June 27, 2015 by tizianenel

[Torham 0]

Long5hot, I thank you for your beginner's video guide series, it's really great! :yes:  I play War Thunder for a year at least now, but have preferred tanks over aircraft; partly because I really suck at fighter art and bombing stuff is really lacking in War Thunder (meh, killing ground units wins Ground Strike games, but the RP/SL income is pathetic compared to downing fighters - this should be fixed by Gaijin so you get corresponding rewards for killing cars - which is what wins the Ground Strike matches, after all).

 

Anyway, today I started flying a bit more for US side (love their toys, but US tanks are nigh unplayable now...) and having watched a few of your video guides, I am slowly learning the principles and practice of energy fighting. Well, my Buffalo scored more kills today than ever before... first game 6 kills (sadly lost the Buffalo), the last one finished a short while ago - 4 kills and no plane lost. 

 

Your videos have great theoretical and practical value, very solid explanations (thanks for the IAS explanation, very helpful!) and good practical showcases, including your faults and their consequences. Again, thank you for being so helpful to novice/less experienced pilots  :good:

[long5hot 7,302]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4sjT6XOBEg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4sjT6XOBEg

[matthes650 9]

Very good video as always, long5hot.

 

I like your guides and plane reviews a lot - short, spot on and with lots of easy to understand explanations why & how you do what you do.

 

Takes a lot of practice to put everything into action (looking at flip's videos for insane gunnery skills), but even Hartmann screwed up his first shots if I remember correctly ;)

 

Nice to have guys like you, tx141 and the like here, it helps a lot in getting into energy fighting, pushing for air superiority, correct maneuvering and so on, especially if one has no background in air combat games so far.

 

Any chance those tutorials could be featured by Gaijin officially to get the view counter up? A lot of other guys could need it as well..

Edited September 21, 2015 by matthes650

[Bramborough 376]

Superb.

 

I've seen countless threads over the past 2 years on this topic, along with some very good responses (both text & visual).  In fact, I've seen or read before almost everything in this video.  But nowhere else have I seen such a clear, succinct, and complete presentation.  

 

The one thing that was wholly new to me is the mouse "enhanced precision" button in computer settings.  Going to give that a try now.

[LYeah101 2]

Long5hot thank you for all your time in making the videos!!! I know it takes a lot of time to do this and for a noob like myself this is goling to be a great help to me.... :salute: