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MarkShot's STK/EAW Guide
by Mark "MarkShot" Kratzer
Table Of Contents Download/Print PDF Version
The Evasive Style versus Normal Evasion
The evasive style is somewhat different than just normal evasion. In normal evasion, the player who is doing the evading has flown his best fight, but has had his situation reduced to that of his opponent pulling closely onto his six o'clock. The fight is now in the end game for his trailing opponent and his gyrations are a last ditch attempt to delay the inevitable or perhaps achieve a reversal. In the Evasive Style, the player using it readily yields their six to an attacker in preparation to apply the various techniques mentioned above. The Evasive Style player will often forsake any energy advantage which he holds in order to achieve the setup by which he will apply these moves.
The Evasive Fight Pattern
Following the merge of a neutral fight, a fight with an Evasive Style opponent may take one of the following two forms:
- When two Evasive Style players meet, the fight often ends up a slow race to the ground between the two players rolling around each other with separations of a couple hundred feet from each other. Each player attempts to get slower than the other and maneuver more radically. This continues until right above the ground with the winner often being the last guy who could squeeze in a radical maneuver without crashing into the ground.
- When an Evasive Style player meets an Energy Fighter, the Energy Fighter rapidly gains the six o'clock position. From there, the fight pretty much proceeds as described above with the Evasive Style player trying hard to force an overshoot if the Energy Fighter is not careful.
Is the Evasive Style Being an Angle Fighter?
There are those who will say that what I have described above is nothing more than the two well known schools of dogfighting which are Energy versus Angles. I would disagree. I believe that the doctrine of angles places greater emphasis on acquiring a positional advantage as opposed to an energy advantage in a dogfight. However, unlike the Evasive Style, the Angles Doctrine does not propose ever putting an adversary on your six o'clock. Further it should be noted, that most energy doctrine players transition to an angles doctrine in the final moments of the end game to score a kill. So, the Evasive Style is not simply the practice of Angles Fighting. Although the actual maneuvering may, in fact, bare quite a few similarities to it.
External Views
Lastly, I should note that many Evasive Style players will fly with external views as the use of such views have the greatest impact when two planes are in close proximity and maneuvering radically at low speeds. Although external views are commonly used, they are not a key aspect of the style. The key aspects are energy dumping, radical maneuvering at close range, and willingness to yield one's six o'clock to an attacker at close range. However, there is no doubt that effective application of external views can add considerably to the lethality of this style.
The Failings of the Evasive Style
The point of this special topic is a rant against the use of and continued spreading of the evasive style within the EAW community. The five key failings of this style are:
- Exposure to disadvantageous angle situations
- An incorrect focus of going on the defensive in fights as a means to victory
- Inadvertently solving the negative closure problem for a trailing attacker
- Favoring energy dumping as the answer to any tangle
- Arrival at sea level at an energy disadvantage
Exposure
Since the style focuses on often achieving an overshoot by an opponent at very close range, players tend to be willing to allow or put their opponent on their six o'clock. This may be pretty obvious point, but anytime you have someone on your six in guns range you are exposed. The Evasive Style aces will argue that their maneuvering up to the point of forcing an overshoot precludes their opponent from ever achieving a guns solution. This simply is not true if the trailer is good enough for the following three reasons:
- Part of good evasion involves flying in an unpredictable and difficult to follow fashion. Effectively, you put the trailing opponent into a reactive mode. He is always chasing after you; pointing his nose at where you have been. However, the reality is that seldom is anyone's flying totally random. As such, it does not take long for patterns to become obvious to the trailer such that he begins to anticipate what is next in the airshow sequence. At which point, the trailer needs only to fly his nose to where the evasive flyer is going to be and open fire when the evasive flyer has practically arrived.
The evasive flyer must continuously generate displacement as opposed to simply rolling his plane. By displacement we mean that he alters his flight vector. He cannot afford to remain on the same vector beyond three seconds or to have is next vector anticipated. This is extremely hard to do. If the trailer should only guess the next vector with random accuracy, then given a full load of ammo, the trailer has a half decent chance of connecting with a few shots from that position.
- At moderately close ranges (50'-150') and low speeds, the use of the rudder can have a tremendous compensating affect for achieving the deflection necessary for shots. By this I mean that the rudder can adjust the nose much more quickly, sharply, and accurately than the combination of ailerons and elevators alone. Of course, one has to be cautious not to spin by watching the amount of back pressure on the stick. The shots will often be snapshots (1 second opportunity) as opposed to tracking shots (3-6 second opportunities). However, defeating your opponent with five good shots is just as valid as one long tracking shot.
- There is always someone out there who maneuvers his plane as well as you or better. If you put such a person behind you, then the combat is over. Whereas, if you don't yield your six, then you still have a decent chance of victory.
So, my point is that any approach which advocates achieving victory by putting your opponent on your near six o'clock is substantially flawed.
The Wrong Focus
Since Evasive Style players generally believe that they can achieve kills with their opponent on their six o'clock, they tend to focus on the wrong skill development. They focus on improved airshows and radical maneuvering at close range rather than avoiding finding themselves in this situation in the first place.
When they meet even an average E fighter in a neutral fight, they are unable to stay on the offensive or maintain a neutral fight. By this I mean that the fight rapidly falls into a situation where they find their opponent closing in on their six. In many cases, they may chose to readily give up their six and try for low turning angle moves.
If you accept that it is a bad idea to put an opponent behind you, then the focus of your skills development should be on how to avoid yielding your six to an opponent. This is as opposed to focusing on how to respond to an opponent who has gotten on your six.
© This STK/EAW Guide is Copyright 2000 Mark Kratzer. All Rights Reserved.
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