I had a day and a half off of work this week due to lack of daycare, so I took some time to get into IL-2: FB w/ Aces again.

I've always loved the P-38, the look, the firepower, everything. (got to see one in person last year, beauty.)

Well, I suck at dogfighting in it. I'm looking for some tips from the pros here on what I should be doing, and which model of the two availible I should be flying.

Thanks in advance,

Killian.

Must... reply ....to .... hypno.. toad,....
Killian,...Yes the P-38 is no real dog fighter. However,...before we go into this any further,...You need to go here...

http://ubisoft.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/ubisoft.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=9678


Get the 2.01 patch that came out yesterday. The P-38 roll rate appears to be tweaked and low speed handling improved. PLUS! .50 cals have been fixed. You can now achieve 1 pass kills on most fighters.

Now that that is addressed,...Keep your speed up, you are a great turner aboe 400KPH, Make sure you have your convergance set to the range you like to start shooting at. I have mine set for 200 meters. No more than than 350 meters IMHO.
If you get slow, you can get one or two good tight circles before the ca ca hits the props. To extend away use a shallow high speed climb to get away from bad things, and use 50% fuel load or less.

I use the L model just for the dive brakes, because above 600 KPH the nose will tuck under and you will be in compressability,...use the dive brakes to save your bacon, and they can be used to tighten your turn radius with combat flaps,...at the expense of a lot of speed. I also use a X-45 stick and have engine selection on the throttle, so that when I turn, i leave the outboard engine wide open, and select the inboard engine and ease up on the gas about 10-15%, and use that assymetric thrust just for a bit of extra umph.
Hope this helps,..

PS. If you are on dial up,...let me know, I will be willing to burn you a cd of the patch and mail it to ya if needed, ...cause its 102 Meg
JarheadEd,...over and out.










JarheadEd. Official Laser Magnet and Missile Sponge. Pub abductee. Bravo Division, Beta lance.

I picked up the patch yesterday, and did notice the improvements. Didn't know about the dive brakes or the improved .50 cals.

I've been using the L with the 2 .50 cal pods and 25% fuel. I had my convergence around 325 I think. Yer right though, I need to lower it.

I'd been thinking about fiddling with the engines for turning speed ever since I forgot to reslect both of them after starting, and cranked her to full throttle... I needed a new plane and new shorts.

I think my best tatic had been to start high, and swoop in on a plane that was either unaware, or already busy, make one pass at them, and climb back up and away. Only problems I ran into were not getting the kill on the first pass, and misjudging the speed (many collisions).

I hadn't tried that after the patch, so it's lethality sounds like it's improved. And I'm getting better at controlling my speed, so I'll have to try it out again next time.

What Jarhead said. Must be modeled well, because those are the same tricks the guys that fought the thing in combat used.

Haven't played the game, but it also depends what theater you fighting in.

By the way... Last word on the engine trick in the P-38 was that Oleg Maddox, developer for IL-2 doesn't believe it worked. Therefore it really should not be modelled.

Unless he had a change of heart with the recent patch.

I believe I also pointed out in another thread that the game engine isn't capable of handling zero torque, thus the P-38 will have a torque-effect where it should not due to the counter-rotation produced by the engines.

Also, Capt. Eric Brown gave the Aces Expanison Pack a try and had good remarks about the modelling of the planes he had flown. Except for one little snag, he had to turn the joystick sensitivity way down. The magazine that posted the article had his settings and they wouldn't allow more than 33% authority on the stick. Not exactly something that will work well flying in comabt in-game (unless you do it online with a bunch of people that you know will do the same).

-Shrike
Resident Urbie expert
PUB Recruitment/Administration

Well the assymetric thrust trick is a bit,..Off,..IMHO, but it is additional yaw in the direction you are using that should be treated as additional rudder authority. I should have clarified that before,...but remember,....don't get into a turning fight unless its a BF-110 or larger. Come in hot,...make a turn or two,...then split. Even better,...one pass and keep on truckin, extend, reverse, repeat.

As for being modeled by Oleg, not having a torqueless plane is a game engine limitation. If we had a TRUE P-38, with TRUE engine torque effects on all planes, Then evasion of all Luftwaffe planes would be a a left hand spiral climb until the -109 or -190 either broke off, or snap rolled into a spin due to high power settings and low air speed with associated loss of control authority.

Edit: I read that Eric Brown aricle, and it was really interesting, but his input profile is a bit wonky if you ask me. Just a way to play online and be a more stable target. Not that I'm not one now.
JarheadEd. Official Laser Magnet and Missile Sponge. Pub abductee. Bravo Division, Beta lance.

Even more to note... one-on-one it might not be bad to drop flaps and brakes to break inside the turn of a nimble fighter. Just make sure you get them or else you're gonna wish you hadn't bled off all that energy.

Boom and Zoom pretty much works for any plane, though much better if you have a decent climber.

There was an interesting anecdote I read on the IL-2 forums about a conference of vets where Adolf Galland was asked about the P-38 and replied to the effect that he didn't think much of it. One of the US vets there went on to describe a dogfight he had with a Fw-190 asking if Galland knew the pilot. To summarize the dogfight, it was mostly back and forth with each coming close to a kill but the Focke Wulf repeatedly extending away. Eventually the P-38 broke off due to low fuel. At that point, the US vet supposedly look up and Galland had turned white and remarked "You almost killed me that day"

-Shrike
Resident Urbie expert
PUB Recruitment/Administration

Captain Eric Brown, RN? I have a book by him...two actually.

Captain J. E. Searcy
1st Platoon, C Troop (Dead Last), 4th Battalion (The Last), 'Mech Regiment
Pesht Armored Cavalry

"Poor you! S0bbzerz!"-Calypso from the NR.org boards, making fun of banned FF.net writers

Any of you guys play online in HyperLobby?

If so, I'm EAF331 MadDog, of the EAF (European Air Force), squadron 331 (Norwegian).

*S*

I dabble in Hyperlobby every couple of weeks. I'm no serious pilot so I tend to look for servers with "Cockpit off" the rest of the settings I like to be on the realistic side. I just enjoy the challenge of flying and not crashing. Getting any kills is just a bonus!

I'll look around for you next time I'm in there, I fly as Killian... or is it Killian Lett... I forget... one of them!

VMF312_JarhedEd in HL for me. Yesterday I tried the leaked 2.02 patch.

MMMMMMMMM .50 cal dispersion has been tightened up. P-38's make the most out of this now. Can't wait for it to be official.

JarheadEd. Official Laser Magnet and Missile Sponge. Pub abductee. Bravo Division, Beta lance.

Ok man, the P-38 had a good reputation in WW2. It was not expecialy manuverable, but since it had two enegens, it was known for speed.

dont use conventional dogfighting in th eP38, hit and run. theyll have a hard time cetching up to ya.

LET THE LOSAAS HAVE IT!!!

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Dude, this place is still alive?