Battlefield Heroes

DOLFED: Come Fly With Me
'Strategies implemented by me to reduce the risk of being shot down'

Intro:
No-one has ever not been shot down by a plane, myself included and while I don't claim to be an awesome pilot, I was lucky enough to be taught by Tuxedo and honored to be listed as the only other pilot in Oceania alongside Tuxedo as an 'Ace' in Glengis List of Excellent Pilots. I don't use 'plane hacks' as I am often told, I just implement some strategy into my flying. If you also use and practice tips I will pass in this guide, you should improve your flying skills and become an asset to your team when in the air.

Terminology - BB is the map I will use in this guide as it's my fave map. I will speak in this guide as a National as my main hero is Nat. Front Plane refers to either the Mansion or Farm plane. Back plane is obviously the uncap planes. Uncap is the two back bases which you cannot capture.

Logistics:
Sensitivity - A lot of people ask what sensitivity a plane control should be set at. It's different for everyone, but saying this, you need a sensitivity which will allow a good range of movement. This is especially handy for dog fighting. Although this guide is predominantly for ground attacks, you need to fiddle with the sensitivity so that you have a good balance for both dogfights and ground attacks.

My Settings:

Wrenches - If you are going to be a hardcore, in a plane 90% of the time, then stock up. Your game play should not be hampered because your running low on wrenches and you don't want to sustain damage on your plane. I hate being in the shop, so I carry between 6000-10000 wrenches on a hero at any one time. You don't need this many, but once people cotton on to you being half decent in the air, you WILL be targeted, so keep a good amount on hand. It's also important that you allocate a good button to engage them. I use RMB. Easy to manage, LMB = Shoot, RMB = Repair. This allows your right hand to stay on the mouse at all times and leave's your left hand for the W,S,A,D. It's the mouse controls which will get most people into trouble, so easy to manage button configuration will make a difference.

Ok - Lets get started

When the Map starts, everyone runs to the plane for some reason and 9/10, the two front planes get in a game of chicken and end up blowing up over town. Forget it, let everyone else run to the plane, grab a jeep and go straight to the back plane. Some people go straight up when they take off, dont. You need to scan the map and see what is happening, and if you go straight up and the Royal backplane is heading your way, he will be up your clacker and you won't know til he starts firing on you.

So head at mid height towards farm. Forget ship and town, let the Tanks and Jeeps take care of that. You need to take control of the planes and enemies leaving Farm to ease pressure on your team and allow them to cap. The picture below is labeled 1, 2, 3. When you start heading to farm, watch 1,2,3 constantly. 1 = Popular Jeep path and a very quick and easy kill of up to 3 people. 2 - Back plane should be coming into view if someone has driven up to it. You wanna see him before he see's you. He will be watching town and looking for a tank near ship. If you see him first and line him up for attack, usually by the time he realizes your onto him, its too late, and you have taken him out. 3 - Front plane maybe taking off for the 2nd time as the first one is probably destroyed, and the killed player is more determined to get back in the air and finish off what he started. If both 2 and 3 appear at the same time, go for 2, then tap in behind 3, you don't want any planes taking position behind you.



So once you reach in line with ship, you can quickly determine whether anyone is using path 1. If it's a tank, ignore it for now. So, get in line with ship, nothing, move towards Royal Uncap, if the plane is still there, give the plane a quick spray to temp disable it, don't destroy it, just give it a few hits, keep flying over the uncap, circle around and head towards farm. You can now tap in behind any of the players who died in the initial attack on ship / town and take out jeeps or planes as they leave farm. If it's a tank, then head up into the sky and lets cover that in Part II.

Before Part II, let me say if you do get Front Plane at the start, I would suggest flying down low along the beach behind town, along the coast before heading into the clouds, and then coming back as suggested before, from Royal Uncap towards farm. A good pilot will take out someone before they even have time to react, so take position and the advantage from attacking from the back where they cannot see you until it's too late.

Learning to control a plane makes the difference between a noob pilot and a good one. Your average player will either fly from point a to point b or fly a plane into a person and either bail or kill themselves at the same time. Not many players can go a whole round using 1 plane and not die once. So I am going to try and make you one of those players, who can start going 12, 15, 18, 22 nil all in 1 plane in 1 round.

Some people say height is your friend in a plane. This is true, but it can also be a friend that bites you if you cannot control the plane.

Advantages to height:
-Clearly allows you to see players names and abilities
-Allows you a view of a major proportion of the map
-Takes you out of range of AA Guns
-Puts you in easy attacking position on vehicles

The picture below's shows a good height to be at to view the action before you decide where you are going to dive. This pic shows a vulnerable tank near ship. I end up destroying him and will go into that in the Tanks Part, but this clearly shows the majority of the map. Most battles will be Town V Ship so as you can see, this is a good view to see Snipers on rocks, vehicles, groups of people and even abilities.



Ok, getting in the right spot. If you know everything is happening at ship but you cant get the plane above ship, fly low and when you get to ship, pull the nose up and head straight up.
Ok your in the clouds above ship, now to turn it around let the fun begin.


Tap your down key (Usually S) and let go of your up key (Usually W) and move the mouse inward,
this drops the nose, TAP TAP TAP TAP, the plane nose will drop, engine will cut out and start facing back towards town. Now here its important to start tapping your up key (W). TAP TAP TAP TAP, this keeps the engine running, you want the engine to run but you don't want to accelerate. Now move the mouse and get the nose in the position you want it. Keep Alternating your taps between W and S but never hold one of them down. Mix it up though, if you need to tap W 3 times before S, do so, but the point is to not to lose control, Vary it til you get control and keep repeating it.

If you see a plane fly past below you, accelerate away and go get him. If your diving on a group at ship, keep your taps and open fire. This will take practice. A few hours will have a HUGE difference if you put the time in. I would suggest practice before taking this technique onto the battlefield. Go above Mansion and practice taking out the jeeps. Practice Practice Practice!

Ok, lets pretend you now have some control in diving. How and when you decide to pull out and your falling speed will decide your fate. I know some players who almost come to a complete stop and snipers scope up and take them out super quickly. So find your rythym, find a speed which will effectively hit your enemy with a heap of damage.

-Too fast will mean nose plant and what I call a Noobclip or Kamikaze
-Too slow you will have snipers licking their lips and you licking your wounds

What point do you start pulling up to back into the clouds?
It depends on a few factors,
Can you turn it into a wing clip to finish them?
Can you get the engine back to accelerate and pull up before hitting the ground / building?
These questions will depend on your sensitivity, your location on the map and your speed in the dive.

So you need to really practice your nose control and dives. Play with it and find a good medium.

At first, you might think it's too hard. It's not.

AA Guns are either a pilots worst nightmare or believe it or not, the easiest kill since the jeep.
Which one it is to you depends on your flying skills.

Once you have started diving Farm or a base near an AA, prepare yourself for someone to get in one. Being aware of them WILL save you. I ALWAYS check AA's with a little spray before I go in for a dive or I fly past one. So many times, I have killed a stealth Commando who will claim I have hacks.

An example of finding someone hiding in an AA during a proactive check is in my video.
1.51, I was hovering waiting for someone to grab a plane or jeep, thought I would spray the AA Gun and there he was hiding, waiting for me. I had to wrench because obviously I would not try and take on an AA Gun that close and on that angle if I knew he was in it. Same with 1.56, a kill which came from proactive check.

2.23 on my video is the optimum height to be at for an AA Kill. Quick, Easy and will leave the guy thinking WTF, I hardly hit him.

Use your rear view! You are flying, you see the black clouds and think OMG - AA, Pull up, go into the clouds and watch your rear view, you will see the yellow flicker on the AA Shooting at you. A good example of me doing this is 2.21, I saw the Black Clouds, finished the plane, went straight up, turned on him and then 2.24 was the result.

To see the yellow flicker, use your rear view as sometimes figuring which AA Gun is shooting you is difficult. See pic below


I can then head up, position myself and start a dive on him. He wasn't there by the time I turned around and started to dive, but I did get him and I will show you how in the Sniper Section.

At 2.08 SoldierX201 said "I am leaving, DOLF you are a nerd". I had dived on him like 3 times. On my way back up after that kill, I hit the rear view and saw him run to the AA Gun. So the next dive, I went to the AA and there he was. At 2.13, my nose was on that AA before his name even showed up, and I started to fire and bam, there he was, sitting on a chair just waiting to die.

My tips for AA Guns:
Always check them before diving town or farm, just a little spray, if you have to dive Farm, dive it facing farm, never dive with an AA Gun behind you unless you are certain no-one else is around.
Get your height right and your angle. A good example of the wrong angle is 1.38, I know this was not an AA that I killed but at that angle, if it was an AA, I would of been killed for sure.

I have captured one of the quickest AA Kills, I have ever seen. 2.17 was 4 shots, less than 2 seconds. Its all about angle and height.

Commandos. Yes they seem to like us pilots but there are a few techniques I use to counter sniper attacks. If your a dive flyer like me, there are 2 clear times a sniper will try and get a plane.

1) Whilst Diving
2) Post Dive - while your heading back up into the clouds

If you flying above the clouds and looking down for some targets, they shouldn't be able to reach you. If they get one shot off, just nose up and go deeper into the clouds and figure out where he is.

Height is good in getting away from a sniper, but it's in the mid height to cloud height which is the danger period. Don't risk a life but giving him a clear shot at you. Hide! How do you hide? Let me tell you.

If your a slow diver and you start getting sniped, drop, DO NOT go back up. Your a sitting target. Drop drop drop. Hit accelerate and get as close to the ground as possible. This is where your sensitivity will assist you. Basically, what I mean by drop is, use the road, don't land but fly as if you were a jeep. By this I mean low to the ground and on the roads til u get out of the danger area, then climb. Most snipers will be on high ground or in between rocks. You take the "air" out of your flying and fly along the ground, it makes it hard for a sniper to hit you. If he is on ship and you flying low at ground level, there is enough twists and turns, rocks and buildings for you to take cover until you know your clear again. Then shoot straight up and hit rear view and see if you can spot him. Wrench up. Most snipers will then realize they are sitting targets and elixer away. Keep watching it and estimate where he is going and start a dive in the area you last saw him. If he is crazy enough to come out of stealth and start shooting you while you diving on him, wrench, accelerate and then slow down so you can clip him. He will probably be in rocks and if you slow down you can clip him in rocks.

Lets have a look at detecting a sniper with rear view:



Ok, most pilots in this situation would go up. Your a sitting duck. Looking at that picture, If I went down and left and headed toward the Royal Uncap - he loses total sight of me, has no idea where I am going and is now vulnerable. So in this situation, down left, low to the ground, up to Royal Uncap, over the fence, through the tree's sideways and then straight up. Position yourself in his vacinity and dive. You will either find him or not find him. Again, your now looking down on him, if he is crazy enough to snipe you while your facing him, get your cross hair right on him and fire. A sniper under heavy plane fire is more likely to retreat than keep shooting. Hold your wrench til his first shot. You only might get 20-30 repair, but he only has 80 and maybe a tonic, That 20-30 may well put you in clip positioning. This sniper decided he would try and snipe me whilst facing him. Don't forget to try the AA, It's often a favourite sniper hiding spot.

Sniper Tips - Go Low and get outta there! Use the road, rocks and buildings to hide.



So if you have just started a dive, go back up and rear view, try and find him.
If you can't see him, do a fly through - i.e fly medium height, from uncap to uncap, throw some bait. If he starts shooting, low low low to the ground. BB is not open enough for him to keep sniping you. So low to the ground, rear view and track the white firing lines. Get clear, go up super high and look for his name, look for his elixer, and then start the attack on him.

If your in a game with 4 Commandos, forget diving, you cant keep up. So turn your whole game into low to ground wingclips. In and out of rocks. Just watch for tanks!

I have made a video of low flying and will attach it soon.

Sniper Tip:
Go Low and use the road, rocks and buildings to cover you while your making your escape.

Part V - Tanks

Tanks. One of the most annoying vehicles to infantry players in Heroes. They may be slow, but they can sit back and spam into ship or town from a mile away. And there is nothing worse to an infantry player, to be enjoying a great Ship v Town battle, to have an idiot sitting at the back spamming fire into the mix and ruining a great battle.

So this is where the good pilot can come into help. You will need height, some good plane control and you can make a dent. Get position above them, start a dive just like you would on a group of infantry players sitting on the front of ship, slow down and start hitting him. He will either try to drive away or jump out or maybe even doubt that you have the ability to take him out.

Check my video out, specifically, 2.05, 2.50. Its again about height and nose control watching your surroundings, knowing how close you are to the camping mando's, knowing if the AA's are clear. If you use your rear view, scan the AA's, watch the flag capture indicator, you can take control of the tanks and assist your team.

I personally, like to cripple a tank, make him think I am gone, let him wrench it, loop around and then dive on him. You do this a couple of times to the camping tankers, they will give up pretty quick. If not, more kills for you.

I would not try taking out tanks in 1 go until you have mastered the dive. Mastered a good dive that isn't too quick, too slow and doesn't end up in you crashing into the ground. I personally practiced in pregames above Mansion. I would sit above Mansion and practice taking out the stationary tank. By doing this you can practice and perfect the height you need to be at, the angle to take and the distance you need to be able to pull up in time.

Once you have done this, and your nose control is good. Then give it a go on a moving tank.

Remember the tank sitting at Ship in Part II? Here below is my dive on him



Now the pic below is where he was when I killed him. It's here when the Snipers will come out. So taking my Sniper guide into consideration, the blue arrows indicate 2 escape routes. Drop, fly on the wing and get out through either of those 2 rocks passes. DONT go back up, your just asking for trouble!

Part VI - Wingclips

Wingclips. Probably most the most satisfying and fun kill you can do in a plane. Made Famous by Tuxedo's The Art of Wingclipping video. Here Tuxedo's shows the crazy clips a pilot can do.

Wingclips are cool but don't make an idiot of yourself by crashing as a result of the clip. Know your map and your surroundings. If your scanning the map from cloud height, you will be able to see the action, you will be able to pick out the rambo gunner's who run out everytime they are killed, you will be able to see the camping mando.

Lets look at a pic.
We can see two players camping in rocks. I am not shooting them, and they are unaware of me. They are quite busy in a gun fight to worry about me. If they both come out, I will take them both. If one comes out, I will take one, but playing safely, let the the first player have his battle. I don't want to steal a kill. I might get a stat, but it doesn't help get the camping rock hider killed. So I will trust my team to take him out and I will go for the camper. I personally would of taken them both out in a clip whilst they are hiding in those rocks, but slow wingclips in restrictive spots are for advanced pilots.





Lets say I take out the first player, I leave a team member (trauts888) in an open position, wounded against a guy with full health who is hiding (scrubfire). AdorableAdolf may not be able to get around the rock in time to save trauts888 who may only need to pop BB on him to finish him off.

I came out of this clip with full health. I simply cut the images to allow everything I wanted to show you in this section without reducing quality or true size of the pic.

Support your team - don't take over. Leave something for the infantry players. You may need their help one day.

Part VII - Planes

You have to decide what sort of pilot you are. My personal view is that Heroes is a team game. I would prefer support my team and spend my time mid height taking out tanks or strong gunner charges than being above the clouds all game dog fighting.


Diving Pilots - Will dive on tanks, planes, infantry, you name it, they kill it. This is what I consider myself. I find dog fighting somewhat boring. The time it takes to take out 1 plane, you really haven't given much support to your team. Lets face it, 80% of pilots are A 2 B's. They don't pose a huge threat. So why spend the whole game, spinning in the clouds to take out 1 guy. Especially when your team needs your support.

Hey, some guys like to dogfight and if that is there style of play, then that's great. I personally don't want them even getting into the air. I will take them out as they take off, as the player runs to the plane, as they are flying through. I will rarely sit above the clouds and dance with a plane. I personally feel I am not helping my team. While he is sitting in the clouds looking for me, I will down on the ground wing clipping, diving and giving the support to my team.

Use your MAP button to look if planes are stationary. If they aren't showing up on your map, then you need to go find him. If he wants to go and hide in the clouds to avoid me, fine, he isn't doing damage to my team and it lets me go free to clip and dive.

If your behind a plane or chasing him, don't let it get to a cloud battle. Don't start shooting him until he is in your range for a quick quick kill. All it takes is for you to start shooting from a mile away before he cotton's on and will go up, duck and weave and before you know it, your both in the clouds dancing. Meantime, their tanks are pushing up and capping flags.

Follow him, line him up and take him out in 1 go. I use these techniques in my video. Watch it, practice it and master it. Leave firing until the last minute. You don't want him to know your there til it's too late.

My video is here for you to watch. It uses some of the techniques I have illustrated in the guide.

.. cool cant wait for the vid

WOW, i am amazed finally a great guide from a trusted player thanks DOLF

Just waiting for other parts



Can I join [tN] when i mastered this?

Damn, nice skills.

But I have to notice how lucky you are with some of those kills but I'm aware that you crashed a lot when you shouldn't have making you unlucky.

I'm not a pro pilot and I don't really use plane that much but when I do I'm pretty sure I'm above average.

I don't fly with mouse though but I'm asking myself recently if I should go back and try it with mouse. Is the control better?

Can't wait for other parts and I'm subscribing to this.

Good work.

that's a lot of reserving... anyway nice guide

(15-11-2010 10:19 AM)=Sharp= Wrote: [ -> ]WOW, i am amazed finally a great guide from a trusted player thanks DOLF

Just waiting for other parts



Can I join [tN] when i mastered this?

Make a application like all of the other players on http://www.teamnads.net

Nice one..

Yea i already did, Thnaks ADt anyways

(15-11-2010 10:30 AM)Notyou Wrote: [ -> ]Damn, nice skills.

But I have to notice how lucky you are with some of those kills but I'm aware that you crashed a lot when you shouldn't have making you unlucky.

I don't fly with mouse though but I'm asking myself recently if I should go back and try it with mouse. Is the control better?

Can't wait for other parts and I'm subscribing to this.

Good work.

Thanks. Most of it isn't luck. I do a lot of clips where people are baffled as to why the plane didn't explode. Its about speed! SPEED SPEED SPEED. If you are the right speed, you can clip in places some guys wouldn't even try. Some of my favourite clips have been guys next to the house and in the tree's at farm. Once you have mastered speed and control, you will know where you can clip and pull out.

Awesome Guide is Awesome

(15-11-2010 11:28 AM)arbelyjon Wrote: [ -> ]Awesome Guide is Awesome

+1

/subscribed

Awsome

i just kinda find it wierd that team Nads is overloaded with royals.. for an originaly Nat clan..