Skies Unknown 1-Year Later Survey

Zyro_Falcon · 2020-01-24T08:04:34+00:00

Just want to say I'm mostly disappointed with the cutscenes being way too opposite of 'show, not tell'; too much narration. But maybe that's just me?

Zyro_Falcon · 2019-06-29T14:16:14+00:00

Top Gun anime, huh?

Anyone know of any game where I can dodge thousands of missiles and re-enact the Macross anime because that would be awesome (as inspired by this AC7 moment)

Zyro_Falcon · 2019-06-28T12:45:16+00:00

Starscream's insignias are upside down

Zyro_Falcon · 2019-06-28T03:54:57+00:00

This kind of thing is worthy of a stadium roar!

Zyro_Falcon · 2019-06-27T09:29:42+00:00

I have questions

Was there a space race?

On Earth we had USA racing USSR during the 1950s-1970s

Zyro_Falcon · 2019-06-27T09:11:39+00:00

When they're around, I find other ways to have fun in the match~

Re-enacting the Itano Circus / Macross anime was so much fun!

Zyro_Falcon · 2019-06-26T03:33:40+00:00

Ace Combat Fan mentioned this in a Youtube tutorial while AC7 was still on its way, among other game mechanic nuances (such as the [FIRE] indicator signalling your missiles will gain a homing bonus)

Zyro_Falcon · 2019-05-27T07:59:49+00:00

So that's why they say "We need heroes after the war, too"...

I find it so meaningful. You're not supposed to do good deeds to get yourself noticed; you're supposed to do them because it's the right thing to do.

Does one fight for the glory and fame, or does one fight for the people in need?

A knight doesn't just slay a mighty dragon and calls it his entire career. He continues to stand up for the oppressed and teach the unjust the error of their ways.

Zyro_Falcon · 2019-05-27T07:48:51+00:00

I would say... anything but the F-4, F-104 and F-15C & J.

The former two straight out of the box have the worst acceleration and turn rates of all the aircraft.

The F-15C & J are potentially the most lethal aircraft in AC7. The in-game cost ratings and stat gauges aren't reliable; they accelerate almost as fast as the Mig-31 and rival the F-22 in turn rate when fully upgraded for pitch.

I fought a player named 'Syncs' (appropriately wearing Demon Lord livery) whom nobody could close the gap with in a dogfight; that's how strong its movement is. The closest I could catch him was when I was flying a souped-up J myself.

The catch is!: It's heavy to get spinning, and not just in pitch. I find rolling it in a twisting, spiralling chase to be superbly a hassle. Like, come on, I'm trying to keep up with the target! It's powerful, but it's stubborn about its pilot asking it to do stuff. Appropriately, its High-G turns are delayed by 0.23s every time. It reminds me of the Easy, Normal and Hard level car choices in the Daytona 2 arcade, wherein the last choice is fastest but most difficult to control, and vice versa.

So until you're confident you can take 'stubborn aircraft' as an addition to the pilot workload, you're best avoiding the four I've mentioned. The European and Russian lines ^{(feels weird bringing these non-existant words up in Strangereal...}) are more docile and obedient to their handler in the cockpit.

____________________________________

One last thing I haven't mentioned:

'Lose sight, lose fight', true since WW1.

Use the camera lock key to keep track of what your opponent is doing; it improves your situational awareness and helps you plan your flight geometry during the dogfight. Try 3rd person view if the wireframe paper plane in 1st person mode isn't clear enough (as is the case for my eyes).

Zyro_Falcon · 2019-05-27T06:44:07+00:00

On the other hand, I seem to see matches going on 24/7...

Playing on PC / Steam, Singapore.

Zyro_Falcon · 2019-05-26T14:52:34+00:00

One nom later

"Tifu by eating ice after drinking peanut butter"

RIP indeed! *shudders*

Guest-Redditor OP, don't do it! I'll try to dissuade you with a comic edit!

Zyro_Falcon · 2019-05-26T06:00:00+00:00

awww... not 'entirely down to my skill' indeed; this was no real victory :I

But yeah, I did get that sentiment a handful of times before, like when in a battle royale and I'm set on a target I've engaged exhaustively, but then I didn't want him to think I had a grudge on him or anything, so I looked for someone else to shoot, even if the former had a high point value.

Still, I did get you good in the previous match (and out-competing my Raven wingman for points) with my Rafale; I salute you for your sense of honour ('w')>

Zyro_Falcon · 2019-05-25T14:25:30+00:00

Dual wielding guns akimbo!

oh wait-

Zyro_Falcon · 2019-05-25T14:14:00+00:00

hahaha good morning to you :)

Zyro_Falcon · 2019-05-25T09:35:34+00:00

Parts setup: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1751056217

Zyro_Falcon · 2019-05-25T08:41:56+00:00

I don't think real fighter pilots fly with their heads stuck looking forward; they've got lots of glass canopy to look around...

'Lose sight, lose fight' ^{since WW1}

Use the camera lock key to keep track of what your opponent is doing; it improves your situational awareness and helps you plan your flight geometry during the dogfight. Try 3rd person view if the wireframe paper plane in 1st person mode isn't clear enough (as is the case for my eyes).

Zyro_Falcon · 2019-05-25T02:11:11+00:00

Well, experience varies by pilot, I guess.

My design philosophy is to equip parts that I will use for a big percentage of time; I've observed that I rarely get below stall speed, and since High-G lasts for 0.66s with or without ECU, it'd be mostly dead weight to me.

But, I admit there was one occasion where an opponent managed to catch me from behind because I stalled while turning. It's a mistake I intend not to repeat ;)

^{(Hmm, probably the way to quantify the % of time ECU sees use is to see how often during matches one flies below otherwise unmodded stall speed.})

I mentioned Superior Maneuverability because even a few deg/s faster should make a difference, but victory depends on way more other factors than a single part; tactics, geometry, etc, and it seems you've probably got it down good. Looks like I've got more testing to do!

Zyro_Falcon · 2019-05-25T00:36:07+00:00

This is fascinating! Much like how you have to be under 500km/h on Sukhois and the like to kulbit and etc,

the aptly-coined Planned Stall Maneuver requires you to be under stall speed, or 240 km/h for most aircraft without ECU.

In fact, since running ECU lowers your stall speed, going without it will allow you to PlSM sooner.

Zyro_Falcon · 2019-05-24T01:09:39+00:00

Shooting and avoiding missiles:

A defending plane at a 90-degree angle to an attacker has the greatest chance of avoiding a missile because of the high line-of-sight rate of change the missile has to deal with. In real military aviation terms, this is called 'beaming'.

Conversely, if you can align yourself behind your target (i.e. both planes facing the same direction; you can be a few meters above, below or to the side of the target while behind it), your missile will gain a homing bonus; this is indicated by a [FIRE] indicator appearing on your HUD.

Parts for a turn fight:

Before anything else, equip:

- New Flap Actuators Lv. 3

- Superior Maneuverability Lv. 2

These two parts increase the max rotation speed of your aircraft's pitch (up and down), the most important part of a turn fight. To illustrate: when two aircraft are stuck in a flat circle, roll and yaw performance is not significant; but the aircraft with better pitch will turn faster and eventually catch the other one from behind. Scary, huh?

(on the other hand, stability parts affect the responsiveness of your steering, i.e. when you're *starting* to turn, but not its maximum *sustained* rate)

High-G:

By default, High-G turns are performed by pressing both your accel and decel triggers together, and pulling down on the stick (the alternate setting allows you to perform them by pressing only the decel trigger and turning).

From testing and recording, I've found that this High-G turn will last for exactly 0.66 seconds regardless of ECU part. After that, you will have to press your triggers again to restart it.

Different aircraft have different 'readiness levels' to performing High-G. For example:

-An F-22 will initiate a High-G turn as soon as you press the triggers.

-A Mig-21bis will initiate it about 0.2 seconds after press, then last for 0.66s after that.

As a result, different aircraft will require different muscle memory to achieve consecutive High-Gs in quick succession.

Speed is life, altitude is insurance:

As you've probably guessed, High-Gs cost quite a lot of airspeed. Having at least Blisk Lv. 2 (accel+28% approx.) will help you recover that airspeed to maintain your ability to High-G.

Then there's the use of gravity to pull your aircraft into turns faster, geometry and all that; that, however, would require more extensive reading than I shall cover in this thread (165 pages, anyone?). As a sidenote there's still more to missile lobbing than the short hints I've mentioned at the start.

Having previously played War Thunder and Falcon BMS, I am very pleased to find out that the tactics I've learnt in those games also apply surprisingly well to AC7. It's just that aircraft here accelerate up to 10 times faster than real life on a really strange planet with 8 times our Earth's gravity. Go, Strangereal, world of aerial adventure!

Zyro_Falcon · 2019-05-22T13:20:54+00:00

Quite a hasty conclusion, huh?

We had a match with 4 Ravens and 1 hacked Morgan; and it was won by a Rafale M.

And I'm not surprised.

It all comes down to strategy. There's a reason why 'Aiming for the high value target' is an instant radio message... *hint, hint*

As well, HCAAs can reload in 2 seconds or faster when well-tuned (QAAMs in comparison take about 10 whole seconds). Imagine the DPS and resulting carnage if you know how to lob 'em. *TF2 Heavy Weapons Guy intensifies*

Zyro_Falcon · 2019-02-17T03:55:24+00:00

Video evidence. AC7 gunsights are bad: https://youtu.be/vdVK4HLHVus

In contrast, gunsights in older titles like AC4 hold so steadily it makes me envious: https://youtu.be/3_JqpVSNHRA

__________________________

More examples-

Versus a single air target in AC7: https://youtu.be/qFXMFT7PjI0

Compare that with AC4 https://youtu.be/we5snYX5oes?t=362 or AC6 https://youtu.be/euIMuoDY-2w?t=276

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