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MarkShot's STK/EAW Guide
By Mark "MarkShot" Kratzer
Table Of Contents Download/Print PDF Version
Essential Functions to Use (programmed on your controls)
Flaps up/down should be readily handy while you are flying. You often drop flaps in a turning fight when things get tight. You may also need to quickly retract them to avoid damaging them.
Gear up/down is also useful to have programmed. I may drop them when I am settling upon an opponent who is significantly below me as a fight begins. Effectively, I am using them as a form of air brakes. Don't ask me if this realistic; I don't know. But it works quite well in EAW. Some people drop gear in order to perform scissors or other maneuvers while trying to force an overshoot of their opponent. I generally prefer to avoid doing such things, because energy lost may be impossible to regain if your opponent knows what he is doing.
Guns! No further explanation is necessary.
Gun Select is useful when flying planes with a few cannon rounds and more numerous machine gun rounds. Generally, you want to fire your cannon rounds with a good chance of connecting. If you waste your ammo, you may not have it when you need it and/or you will not be able to score five consecutive kills or more without getting a new plane. Sometimes, I'll select just my machine guns in order to create harassing fire for my opponent. By this I mean that the potential for decent a shot is low, but you want to rattle your opponent none the less. This tends to score psychological points even when actual damage is minimal.
Lock/Unlock target is pretty much self-explanatory.
Spins
Beyond the guns of their opponents, spins are probably the greatest single threat to the survival of new online players. In this section, I will cover:
- How to detect the onset of spins
- How to avoid spins
- How to recover from spins
The Onset of Spins and Stalls
There are four things that are immediate indicators that a spin is imminent. If not quickly heeded, your situation in the fight will deteriorate very rapidly if your opponent has any skill at all.
- The HUD which shows your planes' information includes your airspeed. Normally, your airspeed is displayed in green. When you are in danger of a spin/stall, your airspeed will become yellow. This is the indication that you are now flying on the edge. Pushing it a little further will stall you or start you spinning.
- From your sound system, you will hear a shuddering sound. This is the audio queue which is analogous to your speed going yellow. The difference here is that this cue is generally indicative of a more severe situation.
- You should perceive a slight amount of shudder via the view system and/or a rapid slowing down of your relatively turn rate.
- You will loose padlock of the opponent who you are tracking. This means your plane is about to depart.
Ideally, when you get familiar with the planes in EAW, you should have a sense of four things and the tolerance of handling your plane can sustain without spinning.
- Altitude
- Speed
- Side stick deflection
- Back stick deflection
Until that point, you can depend on the indicators identified above. When you have developed an intuitive sense and know how to recognize the indicators, then you will be ready to fly on the edge.
Avoiding Spins
It is far better to avoid spins, then recover from them. Generally, when your plane spins the following things happen.
- You loose energy. I am not sure if this is a result of flight modeling or the fact that you will need to chop the throttle to recover.
- You loose position. It is likely that whatever your situation was with your opponent before the spin that after the spin your opponent will be maneuvering on your six or already there.
- You loose situational awareness. You are unable to focus upon your opponent and the time it takes to re-establish that focus may be more than you can afford when you come out of the spin.
- You suffer a blow to your ego, since you advertise to your opponent that you cannot fly your plane on the edge or that he has pushed you beyond your abilities.
Spins generally happen in the following combination of conditions.
- Your airspeed is between 100-200mph.
- You are turning hard (substantial back deflection of the stick).
- You are maintaining or gaining altitude; particularly when you are in an extreme nose up attitude.
- You are applying ailerons and/or rudder in conjunction with back pressure on the stick.
Here is what you can do to avoid spins.
- Get very gentle with back pressure on the stick when your airspeed is low (below 150mph). Use gentle and slight movements to increase the tightness of a turn watching for the onset of a spin. Don't simply yank the stick.
- When flying on the edge of a spin/stall, avoid applying aileron or rudder.
- If you want to roll the plane (for example: your nose is above the horizon and you want to Split-S), you can apply full aileron and rudder no matter how slow you are as long as you do not pull back on the stick.
- If you cross over into a stall (shake and loose padlock), immediately center the stick. Such quick response should allow you to return to normal flight and you can carefully resume control input.
- Avoid heading into loops and other vertical maneuvers that you don't have the energy to support. For example, forget looping if you are beginning the loop at less than 200mph.
- Watch your opponent's energy state, do not get suckered into climbing and vertical maneuvers when your energy state is lower. Instead look to gain position through maneuvering or forcing an overshoot.
- When looping and doing Immelmans with low entry speeds (190-240mph), do not pull through the top (apply strong back pressure on the stick). Instead apply very slight back pressure with the stick. As your plane slows, its nose will fall through towards the horizon on its own. Generally, when this happens, you will actually get a good number of degrees/second without needing lift from the wings.
- If you must maneuver at very slow speeds, then drop your flaps. This will help improve the stability of your plane.
© This STK/EAW Guide is Copyright 2000 Mark Kratzer. All Rights Reserved.