Flight Tactics

T

Templar

Spaceman
A thread dedicated souly to the art of war in WC!:cool: Just wanted to post my flying style and pick everyone's brain on their's.

*When I'm flying solo and come up against a wing of cats, I like to shoot a missle at one of the wing-men and gun for the second one, trying to take him down before the other guy regroups.

*With a wingman like Maniac, I order him to break and attack, while I follow him and take out the guy chasing after him. It's the best way to get an easy kill witha wingman who thinks he's the wingleader.

*Usually, I close to around 1000 klicks of my target before I launch a missle at his rear. This is why I like the heat-seekers; fast, powerful, and hit 'em where they are most vulnerable!

*Everyone knows this one, but I clear the cats out before I go for a cap-ship. (Learned this one here!) Close into the cap ship, and fire a torp when you are around 1000 klicks from him. Then get the heck out of Dodge! Of course, if don't have a torp, in WC3 I stratigicly take out a single turret, park outside thier blind-spot, and blast them with my guns (don't use your missles, save it for the fighters). If I have a wingman, I order him to strike the cap-ship while I afterburn around the ship, playing cat-and-mouse in order to draw fire from my wingman. I'll shoot a blast or two, get their attention, and run like hell!:)

*On carrier defense, I'll shoot the bombers first, then take out the light fighters.

*Aces last. I shoot (and order my wingman to shoot) a kilirathi ace's buddies before I take him on.

*A wingman is just a pretty word for stealth-fighter bait. Trail your buddy, let the strakhas get a few shots at your wingman, make them think they have the upper-hand, and blow him away!
 
*Aces first, esp in Prophecy. I accelerate to full burn, and right before I reach firing range, I order a 'break and attack'. I then concentrate on the Ace until he's down.

*If I know theres going to be a ton of fighters at a Nav point, I load up on Friend Or Foe missiles and drop them all at once when I'm within range. It softens up the group for me and my Wingman.

*I tap afterburner a lot, esp when being followed.

*If I have to take out a Captial Ship and I'm in a bomber, I tell my Wingman to attack the Capital Ship and have him ignore the fighters. I then hang back as far as I can and still get a lock; when I do, I hit the afterburns and drop the Torpedo at near point-blank range? Why? Because it's fun.
 
Aces first and I keep my wingman in formation so the guys trying to follow me have something to shoot at besides me.

Afterburn Slide around the cap ships after all the kittens are taken care of if I'm in a fighter. If I'm in a bomber then I still go for the caps last but sit out at 1000 klicks until I get a torp lock.

I'm not a big fan of cutting the wingmen loose in WC and WC2. They spend too much time running into me or shooting the ships we're supposed to be escorting.

WC3 and on I cut them loose right away.
 
In WCP and Secret Ops

Well I use the Nav Map a lot. I don't know how I managed to beat Secret Ops in nightmare without in.

If I'm flying a devastator I try to go for the capship first. First I take out the engine to prevent it escaping (particularly useful with transports). Then i find the bridge, blasting any turrets that happen to be in my way. The plasma gun is generally faster than torps although the range is low.

When I'm taking out turrets in a fighter I usually stay close to the capship and assist my guns with ramming the turrets.

If your shields are in a reasonable state it generally helps to ram stubborn targets of most types (not asteroids or capship components). I have a nails and teeth fighting style I suppose :rolleyes:

On Secret Ops autoslide everywhere if you can. That way you can keep mobile but not have to conserve AB fuel too much. It also helps when firing missiles for some reason. The missiles tend to be fired in the path of the target as you fly past.

Fire missiles and torps from point-blank range. It'll virtually guarantee a hit and wont cause you any harm.
 
A question LeHah & Knightwing: Why do you guys take out the aces first? I've always found it easier to take them out after you eliminate the shmuck fighters. :)
 
-afterburner slide a LOT... try to match velocities with target and use instead of autoslide when in combat (less predictable path, hit less).

-Close is good. Mines suck.

-Missiles are for the weak, or for those 16/1 situations where your wingmate gets killed and your in a Longbow. :) IMREC for the snapshot, and dumbfire or heatseekers for anything big. Weaken shields with guns and slip missile into the hole instead of using missile for hole and hope to hit with guns.

-Fighter choice is purely by damage/sec, hence the Raptor as my alltime favorite and the Thud not far behind.

-Ramming is an acceptable tactic if your out of missiles or the odds are better than 5/1. Recommend that you let your shields recharge first and damage him if possible. Loss of ship to ramming is unacceptable if the ship rammed is your home carrier.

-WC2/3: capships die first. Flack hurts, and so do 12+ laser cannons firing in a stream... use dumbfires whenever possible, max salvos. Otherwise: capships arent a threat unless stated by mission. Kill them as convenient.

-Overkill?

-Autotrack is also for the weak, and whoever wrote the code for it should be shot for treason, preferably in the arse. Autotrack = automiss.
 
Ah, combat tactics, one of my favorite WC subjects. Fighter tactics in WC have changed little for me since WC1. When facing a Kilrathi/BW/Confed/Bug enemy in a fighter use a tactic you see in Top Gun first, take them down one side. go head in (on afterburners if you can spare them) until the enemy fires, jinx in the opposite direction you want to go (usually up and left for me), wait for his next salvo, and pull toward your destination until the enemy craft is in the corner of your viewscreen (he usually passes to my left and just above me -Oh, and don't bother taking a shot in his face, save your capacitors). Just before he passes, decelerate while you turn back into him and accelerate about halfway thru your turn. This should bring your weapons to bear (with full gun energy) on the rear of the enemy ship. Now either take him out with ships energy weapons (what I usually do in WC1) or use my favorite tactic of softening up the fighters rear sheilding and popping a missle into weakened or non-existant shields or armor (what I usually do in WC2-WCSO and also another favorite of at least a few on this board. Also weakening the armor of a Vaktoth and above in WC3 and any WCP bug fighter is advisable before dropping a missle on him). I usually don't launch a missle until 1000 appears on my targeting indicator and only after the enemy has nearly completed a manuever and is composing himself for another).
This tactic doesn't work on 1 fighter in all of WC, that damned Darket (at least in the higher difficulty settings). That fighter is the bane of my existance on the Nightmare level. WIth these pesky fighters I usually use the "pop a missle into the wingman at extreme range technique" to lower odds (Imrecs and Leeches work best). Be sure it's the wingman you've targeted and nothte wing leader, they seem to know how to jinx a missle better than their younger charges.

Bombing tactics have changed since their inception. IN WC1, peel off the fighter cover and destroying the capship is a joke (unless it's one of those SM's when your reduced to fighting Drakhai and hitting destroyers flying a hornet! :) ). In WC2, destroying the fighter cover is a must for me (especially in a Broadsword, not so much the Sabre). I usually do this by staying at extreme sensor range and provoking the fighters with either an insult or a missle into combat outside the capship protection range (though you do get lucky every now and then when a AMG bolt takes out a Kilrathi). After the fighters are dealt with, I usually tell my wingman to go home because if I don't I'll end up tractoring in their ejection seat after the mission. Stay at extreme range until you can target the (or one of the, depending on how many) capship and sit motionless. You can usually get about 25% or 50% of a lock before the flak and AMG bolts start heading your way. Jinx ever so slightly when AMG shots come your way (I don't know how many times I've had to abort a run because teh AMG shots where just too well placed), making sure to keep the capship in your viewscreen to avoid losing lock. Then just let the Torpedoes go when your under 2000 klicks away. Bye bye capship (one thing I always wnated in WC2 was to know which torp was going to be launched. I don't know how many times I turned right into my torp or pulled up to early and hit it with my belly until I got my bombing down!!! :)). In WC3 torps were optional and Capships couldn't shoot at you while you were locking up at extreeme range, so all you had to do there was skin teh fighter cover and make a very anti-climatic torpedo run (same for WC4). WcP and SO though was a different story for me. I usually skinned the turrets while my wingmen racked up the kills on the capships, no matter what ship I was in. Damn those plasma guns, could make short work of a capships defenses! Go for those missle launchers first! :)


C-ya
 
afterburner slide a LOT... try to match velocities with target and use instead of autoslide when in combat (less predictable path, hit less).
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I agree completely, although if your think you can take a few hits, you can goad one fighter into attacking you, wait untill he starts chasing you, activate the slide and blast away. This tactic gives you your own share of damage, however, and seeing how only the Arrow & Excalibur can do the slide (in WC3, its been so long seince I played WC4 that I can't remember if any other fighters can), it's a worthless tactic against medium to heavy fighters (unless you got IR missles, but that's another story...). Missles arn't for the weak, by the way. :) I like to use 'em against a cat's wingman. Gives him somthing to think about while I shoot down his buddy.
 
Originally posted by Templar
Why do you guys take out the aces first?
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In WC3/4, it's obvious too go after the aces first unless you like seeing your wingmen with more ace kills than you. :)

In WCP, Devil Rays can be very annoying on your tail, so I go for them first too. Well, they usually come to me, then I kill them. :)

[In WC1, you should also get rid of the aces as early as possible too, to save you from having to face them again in the last mission series. This is especially for Bhurak, who likes to run away with the slightest bit of damage.]
 
Originally posted by Templar

This tactic gives you your own share of damage, however, and seeing how only the Arrow & Excalibur can do the slide (in WC3, its been so long seince I played WC4 that I can't remember if any other fighters can....
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The Banshee and the Dragon can also I believe (not sure about the Dragon).
 
Originally posted by Chernikov
Rule #1 about the Dragon: if your not sure if it can, the answer is 'yes'.
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Rule #2 about the Dragon: if in doubt, cloak. If they can't see you, you can do whatever the heck you want.
 
Rule #3 If you can see it you can hit it.

Dogfight style changes in WCP.

In Prophecy you don't have to conserve gun power or Afterburn. I think I only ran out of fuel once. Take Aces first, since they're the greatest threght.

The scattergun in WC4 was great for hitting ships while they were claoked.
 
I have no clue what he's talking about, either. Maybe the Devastator doesn't have to conserve gun power (with the plasma gun, you only have to hit it once...), but it seems as if everything else has an overpowered gun that only fires once or twice before requiring a recharge, and a couple of lighter guns that don't do as much damage, but can actually be fired in rapid bursts.
And in some of those missions, I blew through AB fuel with amazing speed. The bugs like to keep their distance open, and the fact that a number of them are faster than you doesn't help matters much.
Never ran out, although IIRC, I did start to carefully watch it a few times.
 
I only ever had that problem on one or two occasions with the bombers - autoslide will help you on fighters which have it.
 
I don't bother chasing things in a bomber. I just wait for them to turn around, and charge up the plasma cannons/CMDs in the meantime. Then, once they try to go head to head, I let them have it. Not elegant, but effective. :D

Best, Raptor
 
I don't bother chasing things in a bomber. I just wait for them to turn around... ...once they try to go head to head, I let them have it. Not elegant, but effective.
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Nothing's really elegant about a bomber. :D
 
If Im playing "Kill Hog", I dont ever let my wingman go, if he goes on his own, I tell him to "Form on me", and I try to rack up over 300 kills by the end of the game. Since Maniac and Flash dont seem to ever do what you tell them to, I never pick them as wingmen, except in the Kilrah mission. They listen there, isnt that amazing?

When I dont care how many kills I get, I try to use the wingman to go finish off damaged targets, and generally do what a wingman should, take care of the guy on my butt.

Now heres one for yall to try. Its harder than you think. Try to get to the very end of the game with NO kills. Since your wingman will have to kill all the bad guys, and you will get dead otherwise, you will probably have to turn invulnerability on. I know on missions where you dont have a wingman you have to kill them all to get through the mission, But if you ever have a wingman, the challenge is to not kill any. Especially if you have a tailgun.
 
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