Page 27
MarkShot's STK/EAW Guide
by Mark "MarkShot" Kratzer
Table Of Contents Download/Print PDF Version
Negative Closure Solution
Often one player, the trailer, will acquire the six of another player, the leader, with perhaps 2,000' of separation and negative closure of 10-40mph. This presents a problem for the trailer as he does not have a shot and is not getting closer to having one. Now, if the leader is an Energy Fighter, then the trailer has his work cut out for him. The leader will probably initiate a spiral up on the edge of the envelope. However, if the leader is an Evasive Style player, the leader will solve the trailer's problem for him. This usually happens in three ways:
- The leader will begin long range air show maneuvers. All maneuvering costs energy. When the leader losses his energy advantage, there will no longer be negative closure. The trailer gets positive closure, and thus has the opportunity to get in range and have sufficient energy to pull lead and take a shot.
- Most air show maneuvering create lateral displacement which tends to average to a vector which is more or less in the same direction. The trailer only has to ignore the lateral displacement and continue to fly roughly straight to capitalize on the leader's loss of forward speed due to lateral displacement (speed sideways).
- The leader will often consciously bring the trailer in closer so that he may practice his Evasive Style techniques. Bringing someone into close range with guns behind you is simply a poor proposition as we have seen already.
Favoring Energy Dumping as the Answer to any Tangle
When a fight takes place between an Energy Fighter and an Evasive Fighter, once the Energy Fighter has acquired the Evasive Fighter's six, he can often afford to also dump energy. In some cases, he may dump more energy than the Evasive Fighter. How can afford to do this?
- Often the Energy Fighter will dump energy in a tight downwards twisting fight by intentionally getting slower than the Evasive Fighter. The Energy Fighter can afford to do this, because he maintains his angle advantage; meaning he keeps his opponent in front of his nose and guns. Additionally, the Energy Fighter can afford to get slower if he remains above, since the additional altitude retained is probably still a sufficient energy advantage to generate a lead pursuit guns solution later on.
- But the primary reason that the Energy Fighter can afford to do this is because if he should dump a little too much energy, the Evasive Fighter will often give back to him what he lost a little later in the fight.
Arrival at Sea Level
Ultimately the Energy Fighter pushed the Evasive Fighter down to sea level. This eliminates the potential for downward twisting and turning to cause overshoots. At this point, if the Energy Fighter has retained an energy advantage, he may capitalize on it.
The Community Evasive Style Phenomena
As stated in the beginning, there has been a growing trend by the EAW online community to adopt this form of dogfighting. Logic would seem to dictate that it must be an effective approach or it would not be possible for its application to expand. However, the point of this topic has been that it is an inferior approach relative to Energy Fighting. So, now I will address the reason for the expansion of this approach in the EAW online community. This is how I see it.
- The community is continuously populated by new players.
- Energy Fighting tends to be a subtle art which is not quickly grasped.
- New players are mainly of the yank and pull variety. They go straight after the opponent as opposed to see the contest for the chess-like strategy game which it is. Thus, they often tend to maneuver at excessive speeds in order to achieve maximum performance for their plane. They have little awareness that they are building speed while dropping altitude and turning very poorly.
- As such, new players are easy marks for tactics that involve rapid descent, energy dumping, twisting, and turning. They can very quickly be forced to overshoot and fall victim to rear quarter gun kills. New players can also be equally dispatched by Energy Fighting, but it tends not to generate the same sudden and glamorous kills. Energy Fighting tends to be a more cautious strategy which emphasizes risk avoidance before attempting violence. So, Evasive Fighters will find such techniques a very swift sword for dealing death to the unwary.
- The victims in these situations tend to emulate the victors. This quickly generates a large strata of mid-level Evasive Flyers. They compete against each other by ever refining their airshow capabilities.
- The top evasive flyers win the majority of their fights. They are firmly entrenched in a mind set that makes it hard to see any other way. When they loose, they do not see the role energy management played in putting an opponent at their six. Instead they attribute the loss to not putting on a good enough airshow. They are unable to see that in Energy Fighting Doctrine a fight has already been resolved when one player has established a workable energy advantage over another and then converted it into an angles on that player's six. For the Energy Fighter, the rest is simply a matter of playing follow the leader and setting up for a number quick lethal bursts.
Closing Thoughts
I have addressed what I believe is going to be a controversial topic. Since you don't write a position paper contradicting the majority without generating an uproar. I have decided to write about such a topic for the following two reasons:
- STK/EAW is about getting kills. If we were interested in air shows, then we would be flying Flight Unlimited instead.
- I am hoping that I can reverse the growth of Evasive Fighting in the EAW online community. It pains me to see so many talented players losing fights which they might have had a chance to win if they had fought differently.
Take these lessons away from this topic. (Note, another topic covers Energy Fighting.)
- A player needs to stay on offense to win. Offense is not having another plane bearing down on your six from 500' away.
- Don't practice dealing with players who acquire your six at close range. You should simply be prepared to die in that case. Evasion should best be regarded as a last ditch effort. Practice keeping that from happening. Learn the art of Energy Fighting. Learn how to keep others out of your turning circle (addressed in a later topic).
- Learn how to achieve kills without exposure.
- Learn progressive strategies for achieving victory. Progressive strategies are not dependent on a single quick move that catches an opponent by surprise. Single quick moves may fail to catch a wary opponent, or the practitioner may fail to time or execute the move perfectly. Energy Fighting is a progressive strategy. Energy Fighters win a fight one turn at a time and slowly build an advantage.
© This STK/EAW Guide is Copyright 2000 Mark Kratzer. All Rights Reserved.
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