The Element

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3.1 Introduction

The 'Element' is a term used to describe two pilots flying to keep each other alive. This means that the two are moving tactically together, providing each other with certain advantages and disadvantages to keep the both of them safe. Should one of them fail, their partner will die and it won't be long until they share a similar fate. Thus- it is paramount that a group sticks to 'the element.'

Also, ACT (Air Combat Tactics) is used when more than two aircraft engage. All ACT is built on BFM tactics; the bottom-line in ACT is always to use your best 1-versus-1 tactics first - before you consider the other aircraft in the fight. For example, once you make a decision to kill a bandit out in front of you, fight your best 1-versus-1 offensive BFM to kill him - regardless of how many other bandits are in the area or what your wingman doing. The crucial parts of this example are making the decision to engage and deciding how long to stay in a turning fight. Trying to kill that bandit may be suicide if the air is filled with enemy jets and the engagements requires you to be anchored in a sustained turning flight. On the other hand, offensive BFM may require that you turn for only a few degrees to get a kill. The point is that ACT involves tactical decision. Once keep in mind that ACT is only an extension of single ship BFM.

3.2 The Pilots

In a Naval Squadron, twelve men and women dawn uniforms and fly their craft in the hopes they will achieve victory. Often times, these battles are not fought in large scale duels or shoot-outs, but in dogfighting. Dogfighting is the combat of two or more opposing fighters attempting to get a shot off on one another in the hopes they will destroy that target. These 'dog-fights' usually pertain to no more than five fighters at a time, though mass dog fights do come into play from time to time. This is because it is usually considered foolish to stay in a turning battle with a fighter for too long; otherwise other fighters can jump in and overwhelm you. This is where the element comes into play- the Lead and the Wingman. Say the Lead is engaged in a dogfight with an opposing fighter- should it remain just him and the enemy fighter, it’s only a question of skill when guessing the outcome. However, if the wingman jumps in- it’s now two-vs.-one, and everything has changed. The odds are now in your favor! Also, should you engage someone while your wingman stands guard, for those wanting to jump into the battle, they will be completely discouraged because your wingman could simply pick them off, giving you the chance to continue a turning battle for longer.

If you split off from your wingman or vice versa, you are more than likely going to end up dead. Those were just obvious examples of how a wingman can be beneficiary. In terms of the people though, you feel far more secure with someone at your side rather than attempting to fly solo. Thus, in order to keep people thinking they'll live to the next day, everyone in the VEN is assigned a wingman. You can find out who your wingman is by checking the roster and finding yourself first in whatever squadron you belong to. If you're an odd number, the person after you is your wingman. However, if you're an even number, you are the wingman and the one above you is the lead. A lot of times that doesn't really mean much, but for those who place you, this may mean that the other has either had more experience or shown themselves worthy of a lead position.

3.3 Flying the Element

When it comes to tactical understanding of an element, one might think it best to think about who has the heavier guns and armor. We here at the Vast Empire Naval Academy like to think of it as that game where you try to have your hand ending up on the top of the bat. For those of you who lifted a brow, allow me to continue-

In this game, one person starts out with there hand on the bottom, and then the opposing person puts their hand up next, right on top of the last person's hands. The two continue to climb the bat until they reach the top and there is only room for one hand. That's how you fly in the most basic sense- you constantly climb until you are in that perfect position. You go back and forth, swaying who's in control and seeing if you can get that perfect shot in. Most of the time though, the shots come down to how close you can get- that's one on one BFM that you probably just learned about. Let’s change it up-

You and your wingman are traveling head on toward an opposing pilot and their craft. In this scenario, you and your wingman are flying TIE Interceptors; the opposing fighter is an A-wing. Now, the A-wing currently has the choice at randomly firing into the middle of your element to see if he can break it up or maybe he can just cut and run. However, let’s say that the element decides to fly 'loose deuce', where they fly about ten to twenty times they're length from one another, perhaps more. What they've done now, is forced the enemy A-wing to attack one of them- not both. It is physically impossible for this particular A-wing to swivel both weapons in different directions, fire and avoid incoming fire from its enemies. This means that if it wants to stay in the battle, it has to go after one or the other and hope they can take it out before the wingman arrives. We'll say he picks the man on the right and takes a potshot, sending the Interceptor up to avoid its fire. Now, the A-wing pulls up with it and begins to fire; what happens to the wingman though? Quite obviously, he's going to jump right in behind him and start taking pot shots of his own to discourage the A-wing from continuing its fire on the pursued Interceptor. Now- what just happened there?

Here's how an element works- the two friendly fighters work the distance between them to create a certain advantage or to force their enemy to do something that would expose a weakness. In the scenario above, the A-wing was forced to choose one of the two Interceptors which eventually revealed his backside to the wingman who hadn't been picked up. That wasn't the only option though- that was the bait, sinker and pull way of doing things. Again- remember its a question of how they place themselves in coordination with their lead or vice versa. Now, same scenario, except this time the two interceptors are going to squeeze together in what is commonly called 'Diamond Formation.' Usually that refers to a flight, but the idea is the same here- combining the fire between the two of them and hitting a similar position on the craft or from the same angle, they're able to take it out together while the A-wing struggles to take out both at the same time. Now- those are just two examples of how two pilots are better than one and that placement gives you different abilities. There are other aspects like 'screening' that helps the element survive. In the case of 'screening', the wingman man pull out in front of their lead to throw off a target lock or accept some of the strafing fire, or who knows- maybe take a missile. I suppose that's a level of devotion pulled into question, but the main idea is that the pilot is protecting their wingman or vice versa. This could also be used to cut an enemy off from firing totally, meaning that the wingman will actually fly out of his way to cut across the path of the enemy fighter and prevent them from engaging in battle with their flight member.

Here are a few other options you might have for an attack in an element against a single other opponent-

Execute the right/left arm of a bracket : A bracket is a pincer move used by fighters to intercept a bandit formation from two sides and is usually executed outside of 15 miles. The idea of a bracket is to give the bandit two choices - both of which are lethal. Be advised that when you execute a bracket, you will lose a visual on your wingman. Another thing to keep in mind during a bracket is that you should not attempt a bracket if the aspect is less than 160deg at 20 miles. If you try at a lower target aspect, one arm of your bracket will not get outside the bandit.

Drag left/right: The drag command, also called a "pump" by fighter pilots, is used to decoy the enemy and have him engage a fighter which is leaving the fight. Normally this is done so that another fighter can get an easy shot at an enemy formation. The above figure shows a drag maneuver. There is one very important thing to remember about a drag: It must be initiated before you get within 10 miles of the bandit. If you try to drag inside this range, you risk getting speared with an enemy medium range missile.

Disengage: The disengage command is used when you want to "get out of Dodge." You see your escape window closing down and you want to separate from the fight, you can direct your wingman to separate using the disengage command. The figure above shows a situation where this might occur.

Engage: When you direct your wingman to engage, you are asking him to enter a turning fight with the closest bandit.

Moving on- how might an element do against another element or more? This is where the true skill of the pilots comes in. New scenario: two interceptors and three a-wings. Again- its a head on collision and there's a lot of picking and choosing going on before hand. Say the two interceptors decide to stay together on this one while the three A-wings spread out. Upon closing distance, the two Interceptors open up onto the center A-wing, doing as much damage as possible, and in this case- enough to destroy the A-wing because of its low shielding. That's a best case scenario, because then it turns back into a two vs. two where it all depends on which element reaches a single pilot first. However, maybe the Interceptors were unable to kill that center A-wing: now they have to turn back around and get caught in the fray of the other two A-wings getting themselves in good positions. Basically- you're screwed. That or you act quickly and it turns into another intense dog-fight of who can get a close shot.

Let's back-up, though: now we're going to have the two Interceptors stick together but also have the A-wings pack it in as well. The two groups go head to head, playing chicken with each other though one groups is obviously greater than the other. Eventually, either the Interceptors would break down and separate from the fire, or the A-wings would. What I'm trying to show you is basic strategy when it comes to flying. There are many things to take into account besides these very, very basic principles. For instance, in the last scenario where each group was tucked in tight, who would have lasted the longest if they'd just sat there and blasted each other? The VEN TIE interceptors have pretty good shields while the A-wings only have light armor to protect them from a few glances, but the As have a faster firing rate and are more accurate. However, shields vs. no shields is almost always going to win, so the likeliness that the A-wing trio would have held was minimal, and one probably would have exploded and ignited the others, easily damaging them if not destroying the entire team. That's how easy it is to write strategy- just focus on what is obviously an advantage and take into account as many factors as you can, all the while revealing the short comings of the plan. What I did was gave you Post Battle Analysis where I showed what could have happened. That's just another writing technique though- it all comes down to how creative you are and how detailed you can make the fights. If you can make it feel as if its really happening- you've done beyond what we've come to expect from our writers. If its just 'we shot this, and we shot that'- we need a little work.

Also, yet another option, would involve missiles. While it was mentioned that blowing a missile out of the air in a head-on-head battle is fairly simple, it was also mentioned that all aspect angles can make it more difficult to hit and the missile will be able to close range. Chances are, three A-wings will get to a missile fairly easy, however, should your missiles be all aspect and your element spreads out into loose deuce very quickly or they stay tight and jump off to one side of the A-wing trio, those all-aspect missiles will probably get fairly close. What happens? If one gets through, it'll be similar to what would happen in the case of cannons, but if they don't, there are still concussion waves to consider. The shock sent through the air can disorient the fighters, possibly causing collisions within their flight, or they can even do shield damage, so don't forget about your missiles.

What you need to remember is that Two-Vs-Many fighting can become a lot like one-vs.-many fighting. Who knows when you're wingman will be taken out by a weapon on the ground or lose you in the midst of battle and end up getting blown away! Thus, the best position to be in is usually one where you're committing to Offensive BFM rather than having to stage certain events in order to even out the odds. Really, you just need to remember your best one-vs.-one BFM: remember to deal with the immediate threat rather than trying to take everyone at once. But that's basic strategy- closing the ranks or widening them to provide your group with certain benefits while exploiting the weakness of the enemy. Further answers to questions or a more in depth understanding of what was just spoken about can be found with your Training officer or most Operators.