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MarkShot's STK/EAW Guide
By Mark "MarkShot" Kratzer
Table Of Contents Download/Print PDF Version
Usage of Flaps
Flaps are a tremendous aid to turning. They do three things in that respect:
- They improve the turn rate.
- They reduce the turn radius.
- They stabilize the plane and push back the onset of stalls and spins.
However, there is one serious downside with flaps. By increasing lift, they also increase drag; and by increasing drag, they accelerate the loss of energy. So, it is very important to know when to use flaps and when not to. Here are some tips:
- Be careful of deploying flaps against Energy Fighters. How do you know whether you are flying against an Energy Fighter or an Energy Dumper? Let's assume that both of you are more or less equal in energy at the given moment and in a wide circling fight (2,000'-3,500').
- If you are flying against an Energy Fighter, he will appear to rise up in the turns and come around slowly at a low speed (150-200mph).
- If you are flying against an energy ignorant player or an Energy Dumper, he will appear to sink rapidly in the turns. Energy Dumpers will often appear to wing over in the turns; there will be a slight apex, and then a twist (roll), and finally pull sharply downwards. At the same time, the relative separation between planes will rapidly be decreasing. Usually, the Energy Dumper is cutting throttle, using flaps, and applying heavy rudder into the turns.
An Energy Fighter will often try to force an early deployment of flaps by his opponent in order to grab a decisive energy advantage. Be cautious of getting caught.
- Avoid flaps in the early stages of a neutral fight right after the merge.
- Avoid flaps when speeds are still high (200mph or better). Drop flaps when the fight gets slow and tight.
- Avoid flaps when you don't feel that your opponent is rapidly out turning you and there is no immediate threat. Drop flaps when you are in jeopardy of losing position to your opponent in a major way and there are no other alternatives.
- Avoid flaps when there is still substantial separation between planes in a turning fight (3,000' or better). Drop flaps when the fight gets slow and close.
- Drop flaps when you are in a twisting arms length fight with an energy dumper on the way down and you need to take every possible step to maintain your position by staying somewhat above him and on his tail. The flaps will both add stability and have a braking affect to help prevent the overshoot which he is working on inducing.
- Avoid flaps when you are flying straight. They are doing nothing to help you, and they are impeding your ability to increase your energy state. So, whenever a turning fight straightens out, retract those flaps and regain some speed.
- Drop flaps if you are an Energy Fighter who has secured a significant energy advantage (50-100mph) and it is time to cash it in for angles and the kill.
- Drop flaps if you are mounting a high altitude attack and you need to settle straight down on an opponent below you. (In this case, you will need to chop the throttle and drop gear too.)
- When dodging out of the way of a high speed attacker from above, avoid the use of flaps. The difference in relative speeds (and what this means in terms of turn rates/radius) and timing should be more than sufficient to spoil any shot potential by your opponent.
- Retract flaps when having completed ¾ of a loop at slow speeds. With little back pressure on the stick and flaps up, the nose of the plane should fall through rapidly towards the ground by itself. Then, reengage flaps upon the pull out.
You may ask how to apply the various flap settings? In practice, I tend to fly clean or using full flaps. Only rarely have I played with trying to fine tune a turn rate versus energy loss by applying partial flaps. Usually most of my energy tuning in a fight takes place by maneuvering in the vertical.
Chopping the Throttle
Well, this is pretty obvious. Your engine is the only way to increase your absolute energy state (increase speed or climb). Everything else covered here teaches you how to reduce your rate of energy loss and/or how you can get your opponent to increase his rate of energy loss such that you gain a relative advantage.
Performing High-G Maneuvers
High-G maneuvers accelerate energy loss. What are High-G maneuvers? (There are no G meters in EAW; Now, that would have been a very useful piece of HUD info to help people with their flying.) Whenever you are pulling back on the stick as hard as you can, then you are at high-G; especially when you do this at higher speeds (200mph and greater). Once again, note that the energy impact of such behavior is most pronounced when done at higher speeds.
High-G increases wing loading and angle of attack. Both of these increase drag. Increased drag means faster energy loss. Also, I have read elsewhere that rapidly yanking the stick to increase the angle of attack has a greater impact than slowly increasing the back pressure on the stick. I am not sure if this is modeled in EAW. However, I tend not to yank back on the stick as such behavior reduces one's ability to achieve fine control and increases the risk of spins and stalls.
What are some basic indications that you are performing high-G maneuvers?
- The wings of your plane rip off.
- You stall or spin you plane when at higher speeds.
- You black out.
- You pull back on the stick to turn hard when above 200mph.
Diving down and not fighting in the vertical
I have saved the best for last. Predominantly, players lose energy (except for instinctive Energy Dumpers) by going down when they should go up. Going down is almost always a mistake in terms of energy management. Why? Descent means that you gain the acceleration of gravity. With increased speed comes the following problems:
- High-G turns (extreme energy loss). Remember that high-G turns make your wings into two big air brakes!
- Risk of ripping off your wings (immediate death).
- Risk of black out (loss of situational awareness).
- Poor turning in terms of turn rate (degrees/second) and turn radius (loss of angles).
Once again diving down is generally a major mistake. Even if you avoid the problems of blackout, you are likely to lose both energy and angles simultaneously.
© This STK/EAW Guide is Copyright 2000 Mark Kratzer. All Rights Reserved.