Warhawk Pro-Flight, Tips and Tricks (pg 5)

Dingo's Tips and Tricks

(Use at your own discretion. Different skill levels may yield different results)

Tips

.Ambidexterity
.Powersliding for dummies
.Feinting and Missiles
.A pilot's best friend: The AERIAL MACHINE GUN
.Kill or Be Killed
.Orientation and the Mini-Map
.Using the Environment
.Timed Boosting

Tricks

.TRICK: Crash Dummy

TIPS

Ambidexterity What is it good for: Makes you a more effective pilot. Works like a charm and believe me you'll be more combat effective. Not just in Warhawk. How to: It's not a trick but it's something that always helps me. Get used to using 6 fingers when piloting. Thumbs for the sticks and d-pad, Index fingers for R1 and L1, Middle fingers for R2 and L2.

Powersliding for dummies What is it good for: Quick turns and tight maneuvers. How to: Simply press L2 and R2 together and you'll slide. Let go of either or both and you'll stop sliding. Advanced sliding tips:Powerslides are only useful for quick turns and tight maneuvers. There's no point in sliding EVERYTIME you make a turn cause you'll be vulnerable to attacks. The delay after a slide is long enough for your pursuer to lock a homing missile on you. Which trigger you release will affect how you exit a slide. Release R2 and hold L2 and you'll be able to do a tight brake. Release L2 while holding R2 slides you even further at the end of a slide. Releasing both is somewhere in between. Use according to the situation. Another use for Powerslides is when you need to adjust your aim without changing your direction. Powerslide and hold, then aim as usual. You'll still be moving forward with little to no change in direction. It's more useful for PF users but use with caution cause any Powerslide momentarily but drastically lowers your chances of evasion.

Feinting and Missiles What is it good for: Fool your prey into wasting his/her chaff. How to: Fire a single swarm missile. This will fool them into thinking you're hitting them with a homing missile. Once you are sure that your prey has wasted his/her chaff or didn't have any to begin with, lock-on with multiple SWARMS or a HOMING MISSILE and blast away. Advanced missile: Don't you just hate it when your swarm misses because the fella keeps doing funky stunts to evade them? Here's what you can do. SWARM MISSILES: Feint as usual. Another thing about feinting is that it often triggers your prey to start his evasive maneuvers. Don't worry, keep him in sight, and after you get a good number of locks, close in on him fast (remember, don't lose sight of him!). There are a couple of factors that affects your SWARM's acurracy. 3 of the most important: There're always "apexes" during an evasive maneuver after which, for a short duration, the probability of SWARMS missing is lower. One of those is the sharp turn. The angle of your missiles And of course, proximity So look for the right moment (apex), close in on him and if possible, release when he's slightly below you. HOMING MISSILE: The same rules of accuracy apply to HOMING MISSILES only difference being HOMING MISSILES can't be evaded using aerial manuevers, most of the time. So feinting is a good option to get rid of them CHAFFS. The best use for a homing missile is to finish off your prey. Damage him a little bit (about 20%), close in and release. A very good tactic that I always use is the AERIAL MACHINE GUN and HOMING MISSILE combo.

A pilot's best friend: The AERIAL MACHINE GUN (AMG for short) What is it good for: Other than killing your enemies, the AMG is a useful way to discourage a teammate's pursuer and most importantly, it tells you the remaining life of your intended prey. So check the status of your prey, it lets you prepare the appropriate weapon in your available arsenal to be used for a swift kill and also prevents ammo wastage. How to: Fire a couple of shots to reveal your prey's Health. Advanced AMG: Use bursts of AMG fire to prevent overheating. Time them right (less than a second in between) and you'll never have an over-heated AMG ever again.

Kill or Be Killed What is it good for: A good movie title How to:I always have this "mantra" in my head. It has saved me a lot of times and is a great for keeping your kills high and your deaths low. When you pick a target, quickly finish him off. If a dogfight takes too long and you feel too exposed, head for cover because chances are that you're already being locked on.

Orientation and the Mini-Map (OMM) What is it good for: It's the most important aspect of piloting a Warhawk. If you're gonna pull off big, fancy maneuvers and want to get the edge over your enemies then you're gonna get used to Orientating yourself with the Mini-Map. How to: The mini-map is very straight forward. It will twist and turn according to which way you're facing but simply, it tells you exactly where your enemy is on the horizontal plane. Right is right, left is left etc regardless of your rotation*2. It only takes your facing into consideration. The size of the icons change (your Warhawk's icon will stay the same) to reflect the vertical distance between you and your enemy ie. as you get further(vertically) from your enemy, so will your enemy icon shrink or grow depending on who is above/below who (bigger means above you, smaller means below you). Though the difference in sizes is hardly noticeable and when someone's lit your ass up(lock-on) you probably can't bother. Advanced Orientation and Mini-Map: In the most ideal of situations (when you're not being flanked, you're not marked for death, one on one fights, it's very straight forward, but what if you're climbing/diving vertically? That's when getting used to OMM pays off. Read Finding your Bearings in the Pro-Flight Maneuvers page.

Using the Environment What is it good for: Mountains, vallies, ridges, cliffs. They're there so use them! Good for losing pursuers and even better for getting the jump on them and getting the odds to your favor. How to: There are only 5 different landscapes in the game. Get to know each and everyone of them. . Find safespots where you can lose enemies or just catch a breath. . Develop routes and plans around the terrain. . Use the terrain to stop your enemies' missiles, block their view and confuse them . Mountains and high cliffs are 2 of your best friends. The environment can only help you as much as you can exploit it. It is not the ultimate defense or the ultimate tactic. Use it inappropriately and the next thing you see is your limp...and very dead, in-game self cartwheeling to the ground or into the sea.

Timed Boosting What is it good for: Extending the life of your Boost. Depending on how you use this method, it can either help you none or help you A LOT. How to: Like the AMG method, use bursts of Boost to get the more distance. The best would be to just tap R2 (boost) twice and not hold it for a second and a half, then boost again. Rinse and repeat. Though UNLIKE the AMG method, you can't get "unlimited" Boost. Depending on the time in between each Boost, you can get up to 3 boosts which may not seem like much but it gets you further than if you hold down the boost. You're probably thinking what's the point. Timed Boosting is a great help during evasions. Firstly, you're not wasting your Boost and by the time you run out of Boost, you're more likely to be in good cover. Secondly, it's the only way that I know of to get out (and survive) of a situation involving you and a big group of enemies.

TRICKS

TRICK: Crash Dummy What is it good for: Getting rid of that annoying tailgater. I'm a big advocate of not using airmines so for nut cases like myself, this has helped me more than often though I don't get any points since it's a suicide count (for my victim) but makes for a good laugh. Nonetheless this is a pretty risky maneuver and the chances of success are very slim but it'll definitely frustrate your pursuer. How to: Simply fly towards an obstacle, be it a mountain, cliff, or a if you think you're good enough (or plain crazy), a friendly mine. Then steer out of the way when you're very close to the obstacle. Obviously, the closer your pursuer is the better. A variation: Instead of flying directly into a wall, use winding paths and/or obstacles with tight spaces. Such as the Valleys, in the Bad Lands, the dividing river in Island Outpost, Archipelago is a haven for slippery devils or the 2 tallest sky scrapers in Destroyed Capital. The more complicated and tighter your maneuvers, the better. Most important thing to note is the distance and height of your pursuer to yourself, these days smarter players tend to fly higher and put more distance between you and them. So use the appropriate obstacle/path. Regardless of which version you use, the Crash Dummy trick is a double-edged sword that MUST be used wisely.

Next...

Go to page...Page 1 (Introduction)Page 2 (Advantages of Pro Flight)Page 3 (PF Maneuvers)Page 4 (PF Maneuvers continued)Page 5 (Tips and Tricks)Page 6 (Conclusion)

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Key
. Auto-Maneuvers: Defined maneuvers you can use in the default flight controls
. Rotation: The tilt of plane ie. sideways, upside down, rightside up