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MarkShot's STK/EAW Guide
by Mark "MarkShot" Kratzer
Table Of Contents Download/Print PDF Version
How is Energy Managed?
Energy is managed by avoiding many of the pitfalls mentioned above. Here we will focus on a key skill that most flyers need to learn and some specific situations and how to handle them properly.
The thing that most people need to learn is how to turn in the vertical.
The basic rule is that you should avoid turning when above corner speed. Why? Because your turn will be poor and you will lose energy at a faster rate.
So, how can you bring yourself to corner speed? Should you chop the throttle? Most emphatically, NO! The answer to this question is quite simple. Climb. You can climb and then turn or you can go into a climbing turn. Upon completing your turn, you may descend or simply remain at the higher altitude at a speed closer to corner.
You accomplish the following by climbing:
- You bring your speed close to corner. This gives you best possible turn.
- You conserve energy as opposed to bleed it rapidly.
Here are some other points for managing energy in fights.
- You may also want to consider while making your turn in the vertical to not apply the maximum G which your plane is capable of without spinning. This is especially true if your opponent is not turning in the vertical with you. Granted you will suffer a short term loss of angles, but you will have gained a relative energy advantage. If you continue to use the vertical properly (meaning not bringing the fight down to your opponent and getting too fast), then you should be able to stay out of his gun sight. You are working on gaining a workable energy advantage over your opponent. Also, many players who don't really understand energy will tend to further exacerbate their loss as they become more and more desperate to get the angles for the shot.
- Another thing which you want to do is to avoid unnecessary maneuvers. All maneuvering costs energy. Sometimes, you are chasing someone who will dive, climb, roll, etc… If you will not lose your position, then don't bother matching his maneuvers. If he is rolling through a number of revolutions, remember that all you need to really match is his final vector.
- If you are faster than corner and trailing your opponent in a turn, then climb in the turn and take the high six position. You will be able to maintain your position with him and conserve energy at the same time.
- If your opponent is running away from you and you are both at high speeds (300mph or better) and then he pulls up hard into an Immelman to go nose to nose with you, what should you do? His plan is to gain nose on you first (since he has reduced his speed to be more maneuverable) and gun you down in the ensuing head on. There are two things which you should note here.
- His plan requires you to be a willing participant. Meaning that you intend to go for the head to head shooting frenzy also.
- From an Energy Fighting perspective, he has just done exactly what you want. He has dumped energy. You know that you can always take advantage of this later.
- So, all you need to do is simply step out of his way and deny him the gun shot. After which, you break into a high climbing turn and come around. He can do two things at this point.
- He can choose to turn with. In which case, you can translate your energy gain here into an improved turning rate over him.
- He can fly by and continue running away in the opposite direction. If you just grabbed the energy advantage, then you should be able to give pursuit and run him down.
Cashing in
The main focus of the fight for an Energy Fighter is to generate a sufficient disparity in relative energy states that he achieves a kill. Generally, a 50-100mph advantage is what is required here when the combatants are at relatively close range (500'-4000'). At some point, the Energy Fighter stops being the Energy Fighter and switches to being the Angles Fighter. This means that he cashes in (converts his energy advantage to an angular advantage) to get on his opponent's six and kills with a tracking gun shot. It is common that up to the point of cashing in, his opponent held the angles advantage at his six, but his opponent was much slower and could not pull lead for a shot.
Cashing in is a fairly simple process:
- Make sure that your opponent is slow (90-120mph) and that you have dragged him up to where you are at corner. If he is very slow, you may want to give him a few seconds and see if he spins.
- Make sure that you have achieved a fair amount of separation (500'-1500'). You will need this separation in order to have adequate turning room to acquire your opponent's six.
- Roll back into your opponent and pull back on the stick. This means that you reorient your lift vector to point towards your opponent. Typically, prior to this, you are probably in some form of climbing with your opponent has been falling behind and beneath you. You are now ready to reengage your opponent and gain angles rapidly.
- Drop your flaps. After getting through your roll, you generally want to drop your flaps in order to maximize your turn performance. It's now time to burn up the energy which you have been accumulating, and put it to good use.
- Implement a maximum performance turn. It is time to pull back on the stick and achieve the best turn possible.
Having cashed in, you should find yourself within 500' of your opponent's six with sufficient positive closure (20-40mph) to pull lead and take a tracking shot. Your opponent may dump energy at this point to escape. In which case, your best option is to break into a high yo-yo and reposition on his six by using the separation he leaves by heading down to turn your plane.
A Practical Observation: Energy Fighting in Action
I often fly with people and they are unable to figure out how by 4-6th turn of a neutral fight, I managed to acquire their six. Basically what is happening is that I am apply Energy Fighting and with each turn gaining anywhere from 10-20mph on them. Remember Energy Fighters win the fight one turn at a time. By 4th or 6th turn, I have accumulated enough of an energy advantage to cash in.
When you think about it, it is pretty apparent that this is what underlies my gaining position. However, my opponents often think that somehow I know a magic secret that allows me to turn better than them. This is clearly not the case. How can you see that? Well, the fight often remains fairly neutral in the first turn or two. Why? Well, I have yet to acquire an energy advantage to work with. Thus, what is illustrated is that given a similar energy state their plane turns just as well as mine. I finally out turn them after a few more turns, because I have acquired an energy advantage which can be converted into a turning advantage.
An Energy Fighting Illustration
For those who still have some doubt as to how substantial Energy Fighting contributes to dogfighting victories, I propose the following exercise that you can do with a friend. Here is what you need to do:
- Go online and join a two player mayhem game.
- Take identical planes.
- Agree to fly straight into the merge full throttle; no maneuvering, no collisions, and no guns.
- When you hit the merge proceed into a climbing turn at a 45 degree pitch, and have your friend proceed into a diving turn at a 45 degree pitch. Both turns should be more or less the best turns which you can make. Coming out of your turns once again nose to nose.
- As the two planes merge again, observe the speed of both planes in the HUD.
You should notice that your speed should exceed that of your friend by 10-20mph. Now imagine that you do this through the next three merges. By the fourth passing, you should hold anywhere from 40-80mph energy advantage over your friend. Hopefully, once you have seen this, you will understand how critical energy management is. Failure to manage energy well is like handing your opponent a 30% energy thrust boost. Why would anyone want to do that?
© This STK/EAW Guide is Copyright 2000 Mark Kratzer. All Rights Reserved.
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