Air Wing Formations

[kazaboo]

imo they should add some kind of "cruise control" or let us adjust the speed using the mouse wheel or something else along those lines for every vehicle.

[Pepsi]

Do Galaxy's and Lib's (still) have a huge blindspot directly above them?

[Bruttal]

I think there are ways to do full wing support based on runs youve done before so there would be some AI involved for all wingmen

[Gugabalog]

Originally Posted by Pepsi

Do Galaxy's and Lib's (still) have a huge blindspot directly above them?

That's where the interceptor umbrella comes into play.

[Flaropri]

Originally Posted by Sledgecrushr

Thrustmaster HOTAS flight stick has infinite speed conltrol. Flying in formation will almost require this kind of ultimate speed control.

My flight stick from 10 years ago has throttle dials, I know the hardware is out there, my concern is whether or not the software supports the use of those parts of the flight stick or if the controls are still simplified even with that hardware. I also would like to think that they could implement it for keyboard/mouse for those that want to use that control setup (for whatever reason).

[Xianith]

Had like 3 galaxies in the middle of a swarm of mosquitoes today. It was epic. Till the galaxies collided with each other :X

[Serjikal]

Originally Posted by Xianith

Had like 3 galaxies in the middle of a swarm of mosquitoes today. It was epic. Till the galaxies collided with each other :X

3 wasn't watching 2, and 2 wasn't watching 1... sad day with midairs.

Being a pilot right now having flown form, there is an increased amount of attention that wingman have to put out to follow lead while also maintaining spacing/scanning their areas. I'd be interested to see if formations can work, but highly doubt it haha.

My biggest concern comes with wondering about the shear amount of damage lib's can do. If you have one lib drop a bomb on a group of infantry will the infantry die instantly or just lose a ton of health, where maybe a 2nd bomb would kill them? What i'm getting at is that if it takes X number of bombs to kill a tank, and you're doing a fly over with aircraft, you have to have the aircraft drop those rounds precisely to get a desired effect. If you're carpet bombing and you're not killing someone within the first 2-3 rounds, you've already flown past it and it can still possibly shoot back with all its friends.

[Galron]

Anyone confirm energy maneuverability theory applies in Ps2? Ive been keeping an eye out on these types of threads but so far have seen nothing specific.

[SixShooter]

Originally Posted by Gugabalog

Thoug hthis is just a rough idea atm. What if there were a v wing of libs to clear out an LZ with a few galaxies in the middle of the v and up above or below the libs?

That would be pretty cool with the Libs clearing out the LZ for the Gals to come in behind and drop in a platoon of troops.

[derito]

We can't really know yet but I doubt we will see many battles escalate to the point at which a full wing would be required since the fights should be more spread out.

[Tvayda]

Originally Posted by Gugabalog

Formations obviously wouldn't apply to interceptors, just craft with turrets.

False.

You can have formation with the fighters as well. Fighter formations are not large bulky things like the ones you would find WWII bombers in but small compact pairings or even small groups of fighters meant to engage enemy aircraft to deny them air superiority. They provide defensive and offensive support to each other and those of the ground (as well as other larger aircraft that they may be escorting if thats what their mission is).

The objective of a fighter/interceptor formation is not to stay in formation it is to engage a group or even lone enemy aircraft.

Example: 2 aircraft are flying together for mutual support. They encounter an enemy aircraft, they work together to get on its 6 to blow it out of the sky.

Example 2: Same 2 aircraft encounter 2 enemy aircraft flying relatively close together but not necessarily coordinated . By having a formation, the first 2 aircraft should have the advantage because as an enemy goes after aircraft A, his wingman can get behind enemy #1 and down him, then A and B team up against enemy number 2.

Not perfect examples, I know, but as a military pilot I can assure you that formations do exist for fighter aircraft and now-a-days are used much more than bomber formations. Just sayin.

[Looopy]

they could have certs that give combat benefits for being within a certain vicinity of friendly aircrafts (or a lead aircraft) Perhaps the lead aircraft would be an important transport galaxy or something.

Kinda a wild idea but perhaps a lead aircraft could have an ability whereby all nearby friendly vehicles can match his speed.

[Gugabalog]

Originally Posted by Tvayda

False.

You can have formation with the fighters as well. Fighter formations are not large bulky things like the ones you would find WWII bombers in but small compact pairings or even small groups of fighters meant to engage enemy aircraft to deny them air superiority. They provide defensive and offensive support to each other and those of the ground (as well as other larger aircraft that they may be escorting if thats what their mission is).

The objective of a fighter/interceptor formation is not to stay in formation it is to engage a group or even lone enemy aircraft.

Example: 2 aircraft are flying together for mutual support. They encounter an enemy aircraft, they work together to get on its 6 to blow it out of the sky.

Example 2: Same 2 aircraft encounter 2 enemy aircraft flying relatively close together but not necessarily coordinated . By having a formation, the first 2 aircraft should have the advantage because as an enemy goes after aircraft A, his wingman can get behind enemy #1 and down him, then A and B team up against enemy number 2.

Not perfect examples, I know, but as a military pilot I can assure you that formations do exist for fighter aircraft and now-a-days are used much more than bomber formations. Just sayin.

I was talking about geometric formations silly

[Sledgecrushr]

I havent actually seen any official confirmation of energy being used in flying. Also I guess Higby has used a full flight sim setup while flying in PS2. He said he prefers to use mouse and keyboard.

Originally Posted by Looopy

they could have certs that give combat benefits for being within a certain vicinity of friendly aircrafts (or a lead aircraft) Perhaps the lead aircraft would be an important transport galaxy or something.

Kinda a wild idea but perhaps a lead aircraft could have an ability whereby all nearby friendly vehicles can match his speed.

Every aircraft will have the ability to match speeds. It just depends if you bother using the voip to tell your wingman how fast you are going.

[kadrin]

I see formations not being as valuable as in real life.

For fighters you have the standard finger four, which can split into wing pairs once combat starts. This is basically the pinnacle of fighter tactics, you can keep adding pairs to the formation, but combat comes down to the wing pair. Not to say that only 2 aircraft will ever coordinate, but only 2 will probably ever coordinate closely, as the more aircraft are added into the mix (friend and foe), the harder it is to keep track of whats going on, and often results in situational awareness overload for most people, and that usually ends with getting shot down by someone you didn't see.

For the Liberator and Galaxy, I think formations will be useless and big number blobs will be the name of the game. The way the Liberator and Galaxy are designed formations won't give the same overlapping fire you'd get from your standard WW2 bomber. Since the 2 main benefits of formations are accuracy of bombing (not really a concern when you Liberator is firing guns and not dropping bombs) and protection from fighters (no overlapping fields of fire to help here), that leaves only its drawback which is nice big easy target, especially for flak. So blobbing large numbers and hoping you're not the one targeted as you play follow the leader into battle will probably rule supreme here.