Talk:Imperial Navy Tactical Training

Change-ups

I'm going to try and work on some templates, if possible, so that we can change up the face of this a bit.

And I put the "quote" under an actual quote code.

FMJR 13:39, 25 October 2008 (CDT)

Getting that first paragraph in better shape...

So I can pick up where I left off without leaving something incomplete there:

Basic Fighter Maneuvering (hereafter BFM) is the art of, or maybe more accurately, struggle for fighter position. Contrary to what you may have learned, an air battle is most often won through wrenching turns and smart maneuvering; it is usually not as easy as the push of a button; much occurs before that missile lock can be acquired. The temptation for you, as a new recruit, is going to be to kill everything in sight with that very same button- but you shouldn't. You see, as good as your pilot is, that enemy pilot may be just as good if not better, or he might have the simple advantage of a better ship. Either way, you're in for a ride, and it will probably be difficult. Now, as a struggle, both you and your enemy are fighting for 'position; by position, we mean that your pilot is looking to get a clean line of fire, which is most readily available from the enemy's 'six'(the position behind the enemy's ship.) Inevitably, one of you will have the advantage over the other, meaning that you're more likely to fire on them: this is the Offensive position. Both offensive and defensive maneuvering requires This means that the both of you will be making frequent changes in course, which effects both your altitude and speed (your energy if you wanna be bare bones about it.) The art of manipulating that energy, both potential and kinetic, is the basis by which all of the tactical information to come is based on.

Alternate Version

"Never think with your brain in flight; if you practice your tactics enough, your body will do the thinking for you..."

―Tempus Agat, Veteran Pilot

Intro

To be the best, or to even survive an air battle, a pilot has to be prepared; one's talent may be tremendous, but preparation, more than anything, saves the life of a pilot. Is your pilot prepared? In the beginning— maybe not; as a recruit, you'll probably get by with a little luck. But, as time goes on, your pilot will train hard; he will rehearse and drill over and over again so that his tactics become instinctive. What a pilot learns in class he does not keep there- he builds it into his hands and his feet and his eyes. There is no alternative.

Now, as a VEN pilot, it's assumed that you are fairly skilled simply because you have actually survived battle. However, as time goes on and your pilot lives through more and more missions, it's also assumed that the author's writing will convey that increased sense of confidence and awareness in battle. While the information presented in the following passages is not the end-all be-all of any excellent air combat sequence, it can go a long way in helping you come up with ideas, avoid repetition, and add a natural flow and rhythm to the imagery you present through your writing. For new recruits, this page will suffice for your tactical training, as prescribed by Basic Training; however for veteran members, the topics listed toward the bottom may be of greater interest and value. If you need anyone to brainstorm with or to clarify the materials in this article, as always, don't be bashful: grab hold of a VENA-S member and let 'em have it. Enjoy.

BFM

Basic Fighter Maneuvering (hereafter BFM) is the art of, or maybe more accurately, struggle for fighter position (between two opposing fighters in this discussion). "Position," can be described as either offensive or defensive. While there may be periods where neither pilot holds the immediate advantage over the other (fighters often engage in a series of maneuvers before the offender and defender are actually established), most of the time one pilot will be pursuing while the other evades. These two positions posses maneuvers and tactics that directly oppose one another and comprise what we refer to as BFM. Once these positions have been established, a "turning battle," usually ensues, where, by use of BFM, the defending pilot tries to break the pursuer's advantage by manipulating him through tight turns, quick maneuvering, or by setting him up so that a wingman can pursue him. While the defender's main goal is to avoid damage to his own fighter, he will also want to find a way to reverse his roles with the other pilot. Meanwhile, the offender will not only be trying to stay on the enemy's tail, but also find a stable position where he can cause damage or make a killing shot. The danger of being the offender is that, while trying to achieve the best position around the enemy, he must be wary of getting too close, as this can cause him to overshoot the target; however, riding a target for too long can make him susceptible to traps set up by the enemy pilot and his wingmen. You can find a detailed listing of tactics, maneuvers and more at Offensive and Defensive, or at the bottom of the page.

Weapon's Envelope

The firing position is constantly changing due to one aspect, though: weapon's envelope. "Weapon's envelope," when referring to the firing weapon alone, describes the angle and distance from which a craft can successfully strike its target. A cannon bolt, for instance, can only travel in a straight line, meaning that the craft must be directly aligned with it's target to score a hit whereas most missiles, as long as they have a lock, can chase their targets. Missiles are further limited, however, by range. Missiles can only travel so far and for so long before their cores burn out; this means that a pilot must consider his distance from the enemy, but also his angle when he fires the missile. If the angle is too far off, the missile may have a lock but will have to swerve and correct it's heading, wasting valuable fuel and causing it to spend more time catching up to its target.

Weapon's envelope is often expanded to describe the capabilities of the weapon's targeting computer as well; the missile is dependent upon a missile 'lock' after all. The targeting computer is important, though, because it's capabilities can change just how quickly the missile will be deployed. Most missiles equipped onto fighters can target in one of two ways: heat signature of code signature. When using missiles that require a heat signature, the fighter must be within a certain range so that its sensors can pick up a thermal reading from the enemy's engines (internal or external). However, the fighter's forward face must also be positioned so that it's sensors can pick the signature up; a fighter's nose cannot be facing the opposite direction and pick up the heat signature, on the frontal region. The angle from the nose of the fighter to it's target, and the angle that determines if a fighter can achieve a lock, is known as the "aspect angle." Targeting computers have varying aspect angles; they may be very narrow, meaning the pilot must be almost directly behind his target in order to achieve a lock, or very wide, so that a pilot can fly in almost any direction and still gain a missile lock. Code signature missiles follow the same basic principles but lock onto an electrical signal as opposed to a heat signature.

Missiles aren't the only weapons with varying aspect angles, however, as certain weapons can maneuver on the surface of the craft; some cannons are movable for instance, or placed on different portions of the ship. For this reason, "acceptable" firing position changes according to the craft involved; for example, a pilot wouldn't want to pursue an enemy from directly behind if it had rear-mounted cannons.

weapon's envelope

Common Weapons

missiles

The weapons on-board fighter craft can very greatly, but are usually limited to: cannons, ion cannons, missiles, and tractor beams. Cannons are weapons that shoot bolts of intense, damaging energy at the speed of light. For this reason, the actual bolts cannot be seen, but for ease of targeting, sublight tracers often follow and allow the pilot to correct himself. Cannons are often thought of as the melee weapon of a fighter, as they cannot be fully expended and rapidly regenerate, allowing the pilot to strike over and over again. They may be used to pelt down the shields of another craft or they can go straight for the kill, causing immediate damage if the craft is unprotected. Standard tracers for TIE craft are green while X-wings usually carry tracers of crimson or bright red.

An ion cannon is a weapon which fires highly ionized particles or highly ionized plasma. These particles do little physical damage (the plasma does more), but seriously interferes with the operation of electronics and computer systems, shorting circuits and often disabling them outright. These are often found on capitol ships and cruisers; less in fighters, but are equipped to gunboats and missile boats.

Missiles are separated, for our purposes, into two main categories, though many other varieties exist. The missiles we will concern ourselves with are the concussion missile and proton torpedo, which belong to the TIE class series of fighters and X-wings respectively. Both concussion missiles and proton torpedoes are considered to be highly maneuverable and effective in dog-fighting, as opposed to previous speculation. The concussion missile is slightly different in that, upon detonation, it has a percussive, concussive effect. Though it may never reach its target, if the target is within its concussive blast radius, it will still feel the effects. For this reason, concussion missiles can also harm other enemy (or allied) targets if shot into a cluster. Proton torpedoes, on the other hand, are much more powerful sub-nuclear devices. Perhaps more importantly, though, proton torpedoes are renowned for their shield piercing abilities. Often, they break the surface of a shield before they detonate, causing damage to the actual hull of the ship. Due to their high damage potential and armor piercing abilities, torpedoes are often useful against capitol ships and are more effective against fighters when they actually strike. Proton torpedoes are blue in color

that gain 'missile locks' on another fighter and are able to follow them. However, should you fire at a bad angle, perhaps to their right side, or "starboard", the ship may pass by before the missile makes impact, and thus, has to circle all the way around to get back on to the tail of its target, by then already losing fuel and probably unable to make it. That's what we call 'trouble'; this is due to what is called the . On the other hand, weapons such as laser cannons shoot at the speed of light, sending tracers behind so that the pilot can correct himself in the case of a miss. Missiles are more powerful, practically sub-nuclear devices used for detonating targets where as laser cannons are straight beams of highly concentrated energy moving at the speed of light. In the case of cannons, they may be used to pelt down the shields of another craft, criple the ship entirely or even destroy them should they find the right mark, but its going to be harder to find that mark because the beams are so thin- thus you need to be a good shot. Back to missiles- all you need is for the target to be in the blast radius and they'll feel it. That covers what you'll be using in offensive BFM, but what about Defensive? </p>

In defensive BFM, one turns their fighter to keep the bandit (enemy fighter) from gaining a good shot. Defensive is only one half though- even if you can avoid the missile locks and laser cannon pot shots, you still have to get behind the bandit and get a few shots of your own off. So, when doing defensive BFM, one will be concerned mostly with spacing and timing to throw the bandit off their tails. What does that mean exactly? When you execute maneuvers to accomplish any of these objectives, you invariably bleed off or expend energy. "Pulling Gs" and turning cause all aircraft to slow down or lose altitude, or both. By taking advantage of this fact, you can do a series of things- maybe bleed off enough speed by lowering your altitude and creating friction (perhaps by barrel rolling), so that the bandit has no choice but to overshoot you (pass). That's only one example though- check out 'Defensive and Offensive Manuevers' at the bottom for more specific BFM.

While we won’t get into the geometry and science of it all, we will provide the basic maneuvers and formations with brief explanations to help you understand why there are used as well as how.

Communication

Before we get into anything, one should know some basic facts about communication between pilots.

When speaking to a fellow pilot, one should refer to him/her by their callsign or designated code name. Callsign refers to any nickname like 'Bonjo,' 'Dibi,' or 'Raider.' Designated code names for every person in the VEN can be found on the roster; people in Kaph Squadron would be referred to as a "Kaph." 'Kaph Five' or 'Kaph Six' refers to a specific pilot and his craft. Similarilly, a member of Aegis or Nazgul would be called an 'Aegis' or a 'Nazgul' and a specific member might be referred to as 'Aegis Three' or 'Nazgul Nine.'

Why don't we use names? By giving out a name to an open Com channel, anyone can pick up the conversation and that name out of thin air. Given to the right or should we say wrong people, it could create serious problems for both the pilot and the VEN.

When speaking to the command crew, the pilot need only say "Command, this is (the pilots callsign)- do you copy?" They will answer back with an "Affirmative, (pilot's callsign)." At this point, the pilot would be aloud to ask any question about anything in or around the mission at hand like targets, enemy vessels, status of fellow pilots or enemies and emergency crews as well as any other mission objectives. For a list of more technical commands, go to Communications.

Engaging the Enemy

Perhaps the most important and dynamic of tactical performances are those during combat between two or more fighters. Here is a collection of simple air-to-air tactical maneuvers to defeat the enemy.

Now, presuming the pilot has managed to get behind the target, their goal is to get into range and have a clean angle to fire its weapons. While the TIE can use its cannons, the shot from a missile will deliver a killing shot if not a decisive blow that will probably take that enemy out of the battle.

So- lets say the pilot wants to get into ‘guns’ range- this basically means he or she wants to get close enough to the target where they can use their cannons. This is much closer than if one were to use missiles, but in a dogfight (close air-to-air combat between two or more fighters), it’s a rare event one will be able to lock on with a missile just like that. Instead, the pilot will have to cut inside of the enemy’s turns, drawing closer and closer all the time so that shooting with the cannons will just depend on the pilot’s ability. This ability to ‘fly to the elbow’ requires what is called ‘turn-radius.’ Turn-radius is the craft’s ability to turn at a degree- will it be able to just turn around? Unlikely; rather it will make a wide turn or a sharper one depending on the turn-radius of the craft. Bombers will probably take much wider and longer turns than an Interceptor because of their structure and capabilities- but that’s what they are built for.

There are also missiles to consider though, and it is a very, very deadly option. However, the downfall to missiles is that the pilot only gets a certain amount on their fighter (four on the VEN Interceptors) and they can also be dangerous to the one firing them. So, to make sure the pilot deploying the missile isn’t taken out in a reign of fire and debris, they stay back a little ways. Keep in mind that just because we stay back a little ways doesn't mean we aren't right on the enemies tail- TIEs are specially made so that they have little surface area on the face that directs itself toward a fighter. This allows it to weave through debris and fire without much need to manuever since most of it will be picked up by the shields. With the tight turn radius, high speeds and incessant cannons, you will almost always see a TIE fighter right on somebodies hind quarters. When staying back like that though, the pilot must have a missile lock to actually deploy the missile. If they don’t and the pilot just fires without a lock- the missile can just go wherever, completely guided by the wind. This is called 'Dumb-firing' and is usually only used by bomber craft when attacking a particularly large site. Such actions in a fighter have been known to cause problems…

Note: While most dog fights and air combat are positioned so they don’t occur over a city or inhabited areas, sometimes accidents happen or circumstances are out of the VEN’s control so the battle finds its ways to commuter or heavy residential areas. A loose missile will not go over well with the family of the people that pilot kills. Immediate action can be taken against that pilot and they may very well be stripped of their rank and if the crime is heinous enough- execution is a possibility or at least imprisonment. The Imperials are notorious for their punishment, so this is to be avoided at all cost…

Back to the missiles, it isn’t that easy to just get a missile lock either. Of course, if the enemy was just flying in a straight line, it’d be as easy as clicking some buttons. But do you seriously think that a pilot being painted, (or located and locked on to), would just sit there and wait to be hit by a missile? Sure, they’d die quick, but they’d still be dead. So, they go into what are called ‘evasive maneuvers.’

Evasive maneuvers are all about getting the enemy off their tail and depriving them of that kill shot. Now, evasive maneuvers are for either cannons or missiles or really any weapon anyone can think of.

Note: Sometimes, when a pilot knows the game is up, they try a suicidal maneuver to actually collide with an enemy craft in the hopes it will do extensive damage to the enemy craft. That only happens if all chance of an emergency landing or ejection from the craft are out though…

Now- when the pilot notices that their foe is going into evasive maneuvers, he or she has to adjust to keep the enemy in his or her 'target reticule', or engagement zone. (Going outside the targeting reticule would be going outside the zone in which the missiles or cannons can follow.) In order to do this they pull further offensive maneuvers and the enemy attempts further defensive maneuvers, all of which can be found at-

Defensive and Offensive

As a final note- one must also consider that the enemy has power conversion options, where they can send energy from their ship to specific parts, such as engines, weapons or shields. Shields are probably where you'll see most attention brought to- this is a barrier around their craft that can absorb a certain amount of energy before damage can be taken to the hull, or the ship itself. That is pretty much the final factor you have to consider, because fully taking out another fighter is no easy task. Aquiring the target is one thing, taking it down is another. This is why its usually rare that 'aces' appear in the Navy. That's not only because taking another fighter down before they can disengage is difficult, but because of the chances of a fighter pilot in the Imperial Navy surviving are so slim.

The main idea of all of this is that when in engaging a target from behind the pilot wants to take their enemy down safely but efficiently. So, when writing about trying to ‘take down’ an enemy in battle, you must show that you are trying to get closer or farther away from them according to what type of shot you want to get off, but you must also present the angle at which you are going at. If one were to shoot a missile at fighter passing from ninety degrees, is it likely the missile will be able follow without missing and having to recover? Is it even possible to get a lock? Just keep in mind that the pilot has to have a good line of sight and a straight angle so the enemy doesn't escape because of vector and velocity. In otherwords- it needs to be a pretty straight shot. Cannons are something else entirely, but think with some common sense when writing about these. Chances are you won't just take a fighter out in a matter of seconds, it will be a true battle- you have engines, weapons, shields and turning battle to consider. So, in short- make it a battle.

For a more advanced understanding with very specific ideas in mind for certain events, you can look below at any of the fighter tactics. Please- these are used or your reference, so don't be bashful when looking into them and ask questions if you haven't quite understood something. These questions can be directed to the training staff or a commanding officer who should understand.

Advanced Fighter Tactics (AFT)

Here are some situations you'll probably find yourself in throughout your career in your navy, so make sure you understand them so you're alive to see the end of it.

One vs One Discusses the Offensive, Defensive and Head-On aspects of One-Vs-One battle. Often known as the base to AFT, this article should be read first since every single other is based off of it.

One vs Many Discusses the Offensive, Defensive and Head-On aspects of One-Vs-Many battle. Using what you learned in One-VS-One BFM, you'll find out how to engage multiple bogies and succeed.

The Element Discusses the Offensive, Defensive and Head-On aspects of Two-Vs-One and Two-Vs-Many battle. Here you have a wingman and the opportunity to engage your enemy longer in a far more feirce competition of will and stamina- read up to see how your element can overcome even the most bitter of rivals.

Flight vs Discusses the Offensive, Defensive and Head-On aspects of Flight-Vs-One and Flight-Vs-Many battle. The flight is often times thought of a minor squadron, often times functioning in almost the same way but with fewer numbers. Here you can see first hand how every move made at high speed can make you or break you and your group.

Ship Engagement A brief introduction and discussion on how larger ships can be pivotal in any battle. Fighters aren't the only forces in the game!