- How the hell do I get people off my tail when their plane is more maneuverable than mine? Or am I just screwed no matter what?
- What control setup do you use for best access to the important controls (like looking around)?
- The game says it's possible to steer to some extent even with half of a wing gone. My attempts don't seem to do anything; I just sit there tilted to the side. I'd like to at least attempt a crash-landing, but it seems impossible once you've lost a wing.
Here's a bit more on these:
1. It depends on what you're flying and what they're flying. Japanese and British planes tend to be the best turn-fighters, while US planes tend to be the best energy fighters. The Russians are decent all-around and the Germans are
mostly shit sort of like that as well. Basically, if you're in something that's an energy fighter (check the stats of your planes; high climb rate and maximum speed tend to indicate this), you'll want to either outclimb them or dive to build sufficient speed to escape. At the same time, you should maintain awareness of your heading, as quite often you can lead an enemy into an ambush if they tunnel on you. Conversely, if you're in a turn-fighter, you should be redlining your engine and making the tightest turns you can to get behind your enemy. If they're in a turnfighter as well, try to spiral towards friendly forces, but if they're an energy fighter you can quite often force them to break off.
As before, though, one thing you should always be doing when not otherwised occupied is gaining altitude. The game, especially outside of Arcade, is all about energy. Altitude is potential energy that you can convert into speed, and speed can be converted back into altitude. Every plane has a certain golden spot where they both gain altitude while also maintaining or slightly gaining speed.
2. I use mouse&keyboard, and here's the general setup I like: W & S control pitch, but I only use them to help with rapid maneuvers (but I'm pretty certain that you
do turn faster with both a key and mouseaim than with mouseaim alone), and A & D are my roll. I have my throttle bound to my side buttons on my mouse, and freelook to C, while my bomb and rocket keys are Spacebar and V.
Incidentally, there's another super-important point for those of us without TrackIR:
USE FREELOOK. FREELOOK IS THE GOD OF SITUATIONAL AWARENESS.3. It's certainly possible, and easier in arcade, but it's never just plain easy. Usually you have to figure out what you need to do to compensate for the damage; one of the most common is damage to flaps, which necessitates a lot of screwy flying. I've landed one-winged planes multiple times, though (even if I flipped more than a few). Some aircraft can repair obscenely easily from the airfields, too; I've got a rather memorable picture saved: