Nikyu Posted June 23, 2006 Share Posted June 23, 2006 1. I want to join a squadron, but it doesn't seem like there's much activity. 2. Some squadrons want pilots to have certain skills or levels. How do I get that? Is that in offline play? Does the new pilot creation in offline transfer to online? 3. I know from reading some posts that new skills seem to be a matter of play style choice, but what's a good skill for newbies? Thanks, Eric Jones Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartbert Posted June 24, 2006 Share Posted June 24, 2006 1. I'm not sure if that was a question or just an observation, but you are correct that there hasn't been a whole lot of activity with the squadrons. There will be a new feature in the upcoming expansion (but available to everyone) that will make it easier for squadron team-mates to fly together, so maybe that will help get people interested in squadrons. 2. Offline (or local) pilots cannot be transferred to online status. If you have an internet connection, there isn't much reason not to play online. The game works pretty much the same way either online or offline, but online pilots get the benefit of being ranked on the status boards, joining squadrons and play with (or against) other players. 3. Even though I programmed the game, there are a lot of guys on this board who are far better players than I, so I will leave it to them to give advice on skills. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamF7 Posted June 24, 2006 Share Posted June 24, 2006 Hi Nikyu! Heh, noob myself here, but I now have a handful of 200-400XP pilots, so here's what "worked" for me : Skills for New Pilots ===================== * What planes will your boys be flying? With my current cadre of Japanese pilots, I noted that almost ALL of their planes have the agility rating (Oscar, Nick, Zero). This skill is mostly used AFTER you are advantaged - SO....I saved and bought EVASIVE as my first skill. It's hard to fly mission after mission with NO skills, NO extra cards or goodies, but it feels SO nice once that first hunky 100xp skill IS bought! * Although expensive, many of the Japanse and Germans planes can REALLY benefit from Marksman. This makes those 1:2 and 1:1 fire cards useful even when neutral. The +1 damage of many of the German/Japanese planes REALLY makes this skill nice. This skill probably isn't worth much to Brits flying Hurris and Spits early on who start with Burst 2. * "I" believe the key to the game is card flow. If you are "pulling" more cards than the enemy, you have a HUGE advantage. Therefore, here are skills that I always feel are excellent : - Anticipation/Leader Advice - Quick Reflexes/Evasive/Shake Him Off * I'm also quite fond of Team Work, as this is an EXTRA card every turn for the wingie, and those wingie cards are "free". I haven't done it yet, but I can't WAIT to get Team Work on some of those late war US planes with wingie attack values of 3! Hoo Ahhh! * The skills above are ALWAYS useful, ALL the time, in EVERY game. A lot of the other skills, although nice, might not ever see play each and every game. Natural Pilot, Check Six are NICE, but what if you never take THAT much damage or you wingie is NEVER attacked? Of course, note with what I've said, the GREAT skills are VERY expensive, while the good skills are MUCH cheaper. Heh. You get what you pay for, I guess. * What's interesting, is that I THINK I might have discovered of late that overdoing ONE aspect might not be wise, either. My best Japanese pair have ALL of the extra card goodies: Anticipation/Leader Advice/Quick Reflexes/Evasive/Shake Him Off. Sounds great, eh? Well....I ALWAYS have tons of cards, but I'm finding that I end up DISCARDING most of them while trying to find the "right" card. At high altitude, it sure seems silly to be discarding 4-5 cards to draw "one" (only 1 HP at Hi Alt in my trusty Zero). Maybe I should have considered Redline in lieu of one of the above skills? Maybe... * For some odd reason, after a few thousand games, the AI seems to be schooling me HARD in the use of altitude changes as a killer strategy. Now that I'm at higher skill levels, I'm fighting AI with LOTS of the altitude skills: Power Dive/Stay With Him/ Shake him Off/Zoom Climb. When my Zeroes pull a Scissors and get a good pop in, on the following turn he climbs, forcing me to discard up to THREE cards now to follow. I swear, he immediately follows it with a Vertical Roll, forcing MORE discards from my hand. If I'm not careful when I choose to follow, all the sudden I'm facing a very angry P40 with 5 cards....and my zero has 2. Mr. P40 always seems to then LEAD with a scissors, which I swear is always the LAST card I just discarded to follow him. I'm now in trouble and feeling stupid. I'm learning the hard way to just "let them go" when the AI changes altitude when I'm advantaged and he has too many Altitude skills... Maybe pursuing the "altitude" skills is the way to go? It adds a whole new "dimension" (pun intended) to the fight. I think my next group of pilots (US), are going to try this route. Ugh, I'm not looking forward to those first few flights in the P36, however! SamF7 [ June 24, 2006, 06:42 PM: Message edited by: SamF7 ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mike Posted June 25, 2006 Share Posted June 25, 2006 It's been a while since I broke in a new pilot, but I used to find "Zoom climb" a really useful first skill - it's cheap and it can get you out of trouble by making hte other guy stay where he is 'cos he hasn't cards to discard to follow you or alternatively he gets rid of a lot of cards to follow you. Alos it means you can get the extra cards for starting at low altitudes and keep them when you climb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sixxkiller Posted June 26, 2006 Share Posted June 26, 2006 Reguarding Squadrons Well it has been awhile since we have had tournaments but when I can get back to having free time I think we are going to start doing them again. Squadrons will actually be a huge part of the next coming tournaments. We have to have some way of keeping Mistura from winning. But the new play feature will help immensely in setting up squadron based tournaments. But so would Brian's sending me a Ferrari Enzo which he has only promised telepathicly. But Dan could step in and help me out but he has been oddly silent. I am not sure if that means its on the way or if they are mad at me for not having all of the stuff done for the campaigns. I am hoping that it just got lost in the mail. But its also helpful for me in running the tournaments if you guys show interest. It doesnt take much to do them but my time is rather limited unless I have something that gets me excited. So if you guys get excited then I in turn will run them quite regularly. Anyway back to work so I can come back in July. -Ray CO of most of the squadrons and all around sexy guy (But sexier if I had my Enzo!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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