GETTING STARTED WITH FIGHTER PILOTS
How do I get started? Well you need a pilot. Like always, it's recommended to have one infantry at all times. Don't level your first character up and make him a pilot without having someone else to make you money! Pilots can not join encounter or skirmish battles! Also, not every assault game will have planes in them.
- Why don't all games have planes?
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- Planes will be in a match if an assault team commander (rank 12+) sends one of his assault teams to the match you are in, or a staged battle that is set up with planes in it.
US
Currently Available to troops in theater:
- Reconaissance Planes: Curtiss O-52 Owl
- Fighter Planes: Curtiss P-40N Warhawk
- Heavy Fighter Planes: Lockheed P-38 Lightning
- Transport Planes: Douglas C-47 Skytrain
Germany
Currently Available to troops in theater:
- Reconaissance Planes: Henschel HS 126 B-1
- Fighter Planes: Messerschmitt Bf 109E-4
- Heavy Fighter Planes: Messerschmitt Me 410 B-2
- Transport Planes: Junkers Ju 52/3m
Soviet Union
Currently Available to troops in theater:
- Reconaissance Planes: Polikarpov R-Z
- Fighter Planes: Yakovlev Yak-9B
- Heavy Fighter Planes: Petlyakov Pe-3bis
- Transport Planes: Douglas C-47 Skytrain (Lend-lease)
Flying Tips
Flying takes some time to get used to. You will need to get familiar with the different controls, such as your basic steering controls, your bomb key, your primary fire, your secondary fire and your free look key.
- Always hold left and right click when at close range in a dogfight, or when shooting down paratrooper planes. If you are far away, cannon ammo is precious, so missing is losing you more money than machine gun ammo, especially with custom rounds.
General Flying
In the latest version, there are three control modes, mouse, legacy and (input needed).
Mouse
This mode allows you to primarily use your mouse to fly around. Aim where you would like to go and you will go this way. In this mode, all attack controls are the same, W manually increases throttle, S decreases throttle.
Legacy
- Roll and Pitch: mouse
- Rudder: A for left, D for right
- Acceleration: W to increase power, S to decrease
- Bomb: space bar
- Primary (MG): left click
- Secondary (cannon): right click
- Pan key: shift
- Debug Controls: ctrl
(unknown third control mode)
How to drop Bombs?
- Bombing takes some practice. When you are planning to bomb, dive at an angle at the target, and approximately right as the target is aligned with the nose of your plane in the dive, drop the bomb. Don't drop bombs when you are very low to the ground, or you will kill yourself. Know your vehicles, and observe where they are coming from because the triangle markers sometimes don't show up and you might accidentally team kill. Don't forget to lead the target if it is moving, and dive at where it will be, and remember the time it may take for the bomb to hit the ground. Where you drop the bomb will determine how much damage you do to the target. If you directly hit the target, you will yield the biggest damage to the target, and the further from the target the bomb lands, the less damage it will do.
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What kind of ammunition should I use?
- Bf109 high-explosive cannon rounds were recommended by the last author, so it is assumed that they would recommend for any plane for reasons suggested below. They are extremely good at killing infantry, due to their splash damage. If you use the APCR rounds, they will destroy planes, and other vehicles, insanely fast, however don't be fooled, using these against tanks is hard unless using a plane like the P-38 lightning due to the inaccuracy, and if you are in a starter plane use bombs since .30 cal guns cannot penetrate any armour.. With the Rommel build HE shells are extremely good at dogfights, they provide quick neutralisation of an enemy pilot. If you know you are going into a battle against tanks, you might want to equip those APCR rounds instead of the HE rounds, due to armour penetration differences, just make sure you are a good shot. Here is why the old author used the HE rounds:
However, using HE rounds provides fewer points than shooting down the plane (rather than just getting the points for killing the pilot you get extra points for destroying the plane!). I see a Paratrooper plane in the air, can I shoot it?
- Definitely. Just make sure it's not your own team's plane. German transport planes have a lot of yellow on them and a signature triple propeller while the US have white stripss on the wings, the Soviets' lend-lease C-47 looks a lot like the US', however there are no white stripes but green ones. The US' will show up with a blue triangle when playing with them. Know your plane, don't kill your own team's planes! As a side note, if the enemy has paratroopers and you have planes, fly behind the plane and troll away! You will get a lot of XP for plane kills.
I keep getting harassed by Anti-Aircraft (AA) guns fire. What can I do?
- The easiest solution to AA is to alert someone on the ground to their presence and hope they can take care of it for you. AA is incredible vulnerable to ground attack since the person inside the AA is generally scoping out a plane and cannot see the person walking up behind them for an easy head shot. Sometimes that assistance is not forthcoming/possible depending on how deep in their lines the AA is. In this case some people prefer to gun run the AA and try and shoot the person out of it, the P-38 Lightning is very good at this. Try to fly in from the sun and shoot your machine gun at them. However, if you aren't good at manoeuvring, bombing will put your plane at less risk and won't expend anything you pay for. Bombing makes more economical sense but sandbags are currently pretty bomb-proof. Landing the bomb just outside of the AA's sandbags walls (if they have those) won't do anything. To land the bomb inside such a small target takes practice. Your best bet is usually dive bombing as you can judge the trajectories more easily but if you practice a fly-by bomb (release from a horizontal plane) you can get good at those too! However you engage AA it is imperative that you deal with it quickly as they can take off vital health from your plane that you may need in the next dog-fight.
I keep on losing dog fights. What can I do?
- Compared to other squads in Heroes & Generals, planes is perhaps mostly based on teamwork and it can be necessary for survival. Being followed by one plane is hard enough to deal with. Being followed by two or more is impossible and will result in your planes destruction/your death. To prevent this its important that other pilots pay attention to the situation in the skies and intervene if they notice someone being followed. This way you can deter tailing of your friendly pilot and also ruin the enemy pilots day. So working in teams is really the best way to ensure victory in dog fights and control of the skies. On the other hand if you're stuck in one-on-one dog fights and you are struggling then try just to either do the famous sharp turn to attempt to evade as one will eventually face the other and get an easy kill, or if this doesn't work, practice some Evasive Flying Maneuvers.
- 1. Fly low and fast through difficult to follow terrain (through trees, under bridges if you're feeling fancy) and hope the other pilot loses their bottle and crashes or pulls away.
- 2. Try lead them towards you and slow down so they sail past.
- 3. Pull high/low when circling each other to suddenly drop out their sight line.
- 4. Drop a bomb that makes it look like you've bailed out (you'd be surprised how often that works)
- 5. If you're at high altitude try to perform a downward Immelman (Dive, turn the opposite direction then level out), Your planes larger profile will be exposed for a very brief moment, and your cockpit will not be exposed. Your chaser may not follow through, and the extra speed will allow you to quickly turn and possibly get behind them.
- Try anything and only bail out as a last resort. I've seen lots of pilots bail out as soon as they start being :followed. This is a waste of valuable planes and is just poor play. You could turn the tables or cause a mid-air :collision on their team and then you have the upper hand! Don't give up 'til you have to!