cosell@bbn.com (Bernie Cosell) (02/03/91)
For no particular reason, after a long hiatus I've recently been playing Cinemaware's "Wings" again some, and I discover that i'm no better now than I was then. My problem is that I've flown LOTS of sorties, but I have _never_ had a kill. Somehow, I just don't have the right intuition for what is going on in the dogfights to be able to manage to shoot something down. I can fly around mostly fine [I have little trouble with FA/18, although there, too, I cannot do _anything_ with the machine guns]. I'd appreciate any advice/help/guidance/etc you might be amenable to providing. For example: is there some trick to 'aiming' the machine guns? Should I ignore the crosshairs and just watch the tracers to figure out how I'm doing at leading the other plane? How close do you have to be for the machine guns to be effective? Any dogfight strategy tips? [just chasing 'em seems to be not so good --- if FA/18 I can stay _absolutely_ onthe tail of one of the other planes, but in Wings I just can't: the turn/roll rate [coupled with thelack of engine power for full aerobatics] means that I just can't trail another plane: should I just practice more, or is this whole plan wrong?] Anyhow, thanks.. /Bernie\
hamilton@intersil.uucp (02/07/91)
In article <62474@bbn.BBN.COM>, cosell@bbn.com (Bernie Cosell) writes: > For no particular reason, after a long hiatus I've recently been > playing Cinemaware's "Wings" again some, and I discover that i'm no > better now than I was then. My problem is that I've flown LOTS of > sorties, but I have _never_ had a kill. Somehow, I just don't have the > right intuition for what is going on in the dogfights to be able to > manage to shoot something down. I had the same problem-went on 100+ missions and never was able to shoot anything down. I *think* what is happening is that the Huns gradually get better as time goes by. So by patrol 50 or so, when you've finally got the hang of things, they're expert flyers and you don't have a prayer. Solution? Start over from the beginning, and make sure you shoot down at least one plane each patrol. If you also do well strafing and bombing, your maneuverability and "skill" will increase dramatically. Your plane becomes more maneuverable, the guns jam less frequently, you can even survive a head-on collision. It worked for me... -- Fred Hamilton Any views, comments, or ideas expressed here Harris Semiconductor are entirely my own. Even good ones. Santa Clara, CA
PYC118@uriacc.uri.edu (Rasiel) (02/08/91)
I don't why you all have so much trouble shooting down planes in Wings. It really is easy, asopposed to Their Finest Hour in which you spend forever trying to shoot down planes, all you really have to do is get on the suckers and keep shooting at them for all your worth. You'll see a little flash when you score a hit and it'll take about 5 flashes per plane. The Huns don't really get better (although you certainly do) they just come in greater numbers. In one mission I was fortunate enough to shoot down nine planes and still return to base. There are a couple of other hints which might be useful; first don't chase the guys who are far off in the distance if there are other planes around (they'll probably pick on you); second don't worry about the balloons until all the planes have been shot down; 3 don't fly low when there's balloons or you will get hit by AA no matter what; 4 if a hun's on your 6 it's difficult to get away without a hit but it's best to make a hard turn to either side and up or down (either way's equally effective); in strafing mission walk your plane around the howitzer or blow it up cuz you take one hit from that sucker and you're out of business; 6 don't sweat it in strafing missions if you get shot down because some of those missions require you kill 100 or more troops for a success, which is plain impossible; 7 in bombing missions where planes fly out at you don't worry about the planes and just go up to the upper left corner until they're gone; 8 if you're hit while flying and you're going down (that smoke comes out the side) you'll be able to still shoot and fly but you still go down anyway so it's best to just let go and make a smooth landing because you're very likely not going to hit anything and could crash if banking; 9 never shoot at the red cross vehicles (have you no conscience :)); 10, don't attempt to fly after a hun if he's going up, you're likely to stall. instead slowly gain altitude while turning from side to side and you'll catch up soon enough; 11, when starting a new character use all the extra abilities points towards shooting ability because it's the worthiest attribute; 12 one of the most hated things that can happen is to have your guns jam just as you were homing in on a bad guy, keep your finger on the button permanently and at least you'll know when they're ready again as soon as possible; 13, if you're not good at making kills or there's just too many planes for you to handle just fly up high above the rest and hope your wingmen take out as many huns as they can: also do if you are in bad shape; 14, don't rely too much on your crosshairs, shoot a little ahead of where the plane is going unless he's very close or coming straight at you, and never let up on the trigger and 15, if you're hot on his tail but he's just closing in and turning on a dime so that he's getting away at the side just immediately make a hard turn (till the horizon's vertical) to the opposite side and you'll get him real good. Well, I hope these few tips help, any more I'd be glad to give, I just finished WINGS a couple of nights ago and I shot down a total 283 planes out of 240 missions. Of course I saved after every two missions or so if success- ful but otherwise I didn't strive to outdo it and make every possible kill the game offers. Just wish there was an in-game save feature.... Rasiel
colas@lemur.inria.fr (Colas Nahaboo) (02/08/91)
I got MUCH better at WINGS when I realized that the plane handling wasn't similar to other flight sims: namely just angling 30 degrees and let the plane turn without touching the joystick makes you turn MUCH faster than rolling 90 degs and pulling back the stick like you turn in modern sims. In fact your plane seems to stop turning as soon as your stick is not center. So roll your plane, and let it turn, refrain to re-touch the joystick! With this tactic, my killing have GREATLY improved!!! PS: WINGS is a fabulissimus game! -- Colas Nahaboo, colas@sa.inria.fr, Bull Research, Koala Project, GWM X11 WM Phone:(33) 93.65.77.70(.66 Fax), INRIA, B.P.109 - 06561 Valbonne Cedex, FRANCE.
cosell@bbn.com (Bernie Cosell) (02/12/91)
PYC118@uriacc.uri.edu (Rasiel) writes: }I don't why you all have so much trouble shooting down planes in Wings.... Me neither, even though *I* was the one who asked. A million thanks to the folks who sent me advice, tips, tricks, etc. Beyond various advanced tips and such, for others who care I can summarize what I found to be the three BIGGEST helps in getting started: 1) when you crash START OVER. Just creating a new pilot and then pressing on is _madness_: the missions get harder, the enemies get cleverer[*], and just generally things aren't good for a brand-new pilot. On the other hand, if you work your way through the missions you'll find that your abilities go up and keep you in the running. A variant that works real well, too, is simply to snapshot the game before you start: the file you care about is "reel 2/pilot.dat", and if you simply checkpoint it you can recover if you get killed. [*] for example, after a while they start flying VERY close to the ground, and so if you're not reasonably proficient with maneuvering you'll find it REAL easy to 'ditch' [or crash] inadvertenty. On the first few missions, the enemy planes mostly just circle around waiting for you to get your act together and shoot them down... it all seems so easy now... what a difference a handful of hints and a week makes! :-) 2) you must *center* the joystick in order to turn. It is very odd for me [since I'm a pilot and have much of the dynamics of the control surfaces very-well ingrained and automatic] but it DOES work and isn't too hard to get used to once you know that that's what's happening. Roll over to 30-45 degrees, and then just center the stick. 3) Chasing the enemy playes works, even though it doesn't look like it is going to. Once you can get on the tail of an enemy plane, it IS possible to stay there, although it is a bit tricky, since you'll keep losing the enemy plane and so have to roll 'blind' to where you think it ought to be. But it works: rather than be pointing toward you, the enemy plane will be in a relatively reasonable position and attitude, and if you just perserver you can catch up again, get close, get in a shot or two, and then do it again as the enemy tries to evade you. Rasiel's hints are wonderful --- many agree with and extend things that I had kind-of blundered into. But they're really icing that'll help you get a lot better --- The above three are the ones taht REALLY made a difference to me [I"m now around 50-odd missions, thirty-odd kills, cross de guerre, promoted to Captain, happily humming along]. Thanks all! Only about 180 or so missions to go!! /Bernie\
ronkko@cc.helsinki.fi (02/15/91)
My advice is to test a good and accurate mouse instead of joystick, especially if you have a 68020/30 based Amiga. With a Genius mouse I reached 381 kills during my second war, and I am far from an experienced player... But when I tried to fly with a joystick, I couldn't destroy even one plane! RR