Situational Awareness
in Fighting Wings

Tips on Play:
Introduction

by J.D. Webster

Editor's Note: Last issue's article on Bf109 vs. Spitfire tactics went down pretty good with the readership. So here's another great article from Airpower #42 reprinted here courtesy of J.D. Webster. Read on.

Introduction

Over The Reich, has been available for well over three years and Achtung Spitfire! has been selling briskly since March of 1995. While both games have been praised for the richness and high level of detail they provide, and while most players have been quite enthusiastic about the game system overall, I have noticed that many of these same would-be fighter jocks are expressing some frustration at being unable to succeed consistently in their air battles. In many of the games I have watched, there is a distinct difference between the players that "kick-butt" and those that become "shootdowns" (who seem to be the majority).

The difference, which is obvious to me, has little to do with each players grasp of the rules, or in how to fly. In fact, most players are quite competent with the rules. The difference also has nothing to do with hardware either. We all know it's easy to be good in a Spitfire XIV against just about any other aircraft. Rather, the difference between the consistent winners, like tournament champion Dan Foxman, and those who just get lucky once in a while is situational awareness or "SA" in fighter parlance.

Importance of SA

In the real world fighter communities, pilots in the best air forces are taught about SA early on. They are given techniques on how to be situationally aware, and they practice improving and maintaining their SA each and every time they fly. Some SA, common-sense for example, is God-given, and some people have a little more of that than others. But in the fighter business, the ability to attain, and maintain, SA in the rapidly and violently - changing arena of air combat is mostly learned. It's an acquired skill, not a natural talent.

Those who learn to attain and keep SA well usually do much better than those who don't. Also, I might add that SA is always transient and fleeting and can be taken completely away from you in an instant! By the same token, a pilot who is well trained and keeps his cool under pressure can usually regain SA fairly quickly given a few proper and immediate cues (e.g., "Lead! There's one on your tail!!" - "Hey, I know what to do now! BREAK LIKE HELL!").

So What?: Big deal you say. You've heard this all before and you've read Mike Spick's book, The Ace Factor, which talks at length about SA and how the great aces had, and maintained, much better SA than average pilots. Just how does this apply to the Fighting Wings (FW) game system though? Am I implying that only players with natural SA can do well, and that the rest of us must accept our lot as occasional victors and more commonly as active members of the caterpillar club?

Of course not. As in the real world, having good SA in the FW games can, and must, be learned. SA in FW games also comes in a slightly different form than in the real world, but it is akin to what real fighter pilots must deal with.

Types of SA

SA comes from many sources and in many forms. The following is a discussion of the most easily identifiable ones and how they relate to us as gamers.

a) Inspirational SA: Sudden brilliant inspiration. in the heat of battle is one source of SA, but a very unreliable one. Waiting and hoping for sudden inspiration in the middle of an air combat will prove fatal more often than it will help.

This type of SA is quite transient and represented by the initiative die roll in the game. Game pilots with more experience have modifiers to help them win initiative rolls more often. However, you will never win regularly if you bet your gaming simply on winning initiative rolls. All gamers are equally good at flicking their wrists and tossing dice so this kind of SA is available to everyone and based on chance. Be thankful when you win initiative but don't bet your game on it.

b) Rehearsed SA: Operating withir a preconceived plan is the best way to maintain SA; but, come on, we're war. gamers, after all, and historians too.. just how long does any "plan" survive contact with the enemy? Not long, Yet, even when things are happening lefl and right and the situation is changing every game turn, encountering a rehearsed situation can mean instant SA attainment ("okay, I'm on my back, that jerry just crossed under me, yeah, I remember this, stick left, rudder left, throttle idle-there! Flushed the bastard right out in front").

This kind of SA comes from training and practice. Dar "Dragon" Foxman wins consistently not because he is lucky or brilliant, but, quite reasonably, because he has player a lot of FW games. Dan has been a playtester for the system since the design first started. He has seen just about every conceivable situation in the game and he has played a lot of different types of airplanes in those situa. tions. Because he has "been-there, done-that" so much, he is quicker to realize what the best moves to be used are.

This allows him to be thinking a game turn or two further ahead than his opponents. He is also quick to spot an opening or a tactical mistake by others I call this "rehearsed SA" and Dan has a lot of it. If you want to beat Dan, do some homework. Set up some 1 vs. 1, or 2 vs. 2 and solitaire them out, looking for the best moves anc countermoves.

c) Knowledge SA: Another source of SA, similar to rehearsed SA. Comes from being able to predict what your enemy can or will be able to do. This requires good knowledge of the enemy aircraft's capabilities. In a related vein, a pilot must always be aware of his own aircraft's envelope and stay within his own aircraft's limits. This type of SA requires that you at least study the different ADCs in the games a bit before playing. Look at the speed numbers, the power chart, the turn speeds and decel of your own and your opponent's aircraft (for the fun of it, I don't believe in keeping a copy of my opponent's ADC at my side when I play, but I do make some mental notes before a game and stick with them).

Knowledge SA works best in combination with rehearsed SA. For example: Say I'm in a late model Bf 109 and in the right rear arc of a Spitfire XIV who is breaking hard into me; gee, should I turn with him? Of course not, never turn with a Spitfire. Instead, if I have the speed, I'll pull up into a steep climb and position for an attack from above.

On the other hand, if my opponent was a P-47, I might turn, knowing that I can outpower him in the long run and wear his energy down. I must add that Dan Foxman has a lot of knowledge SA stored in him due to playtesting which helps him play well. If you want to play consistently good also, do a little home study before you next meet with your buddies.

d) Anticipatory SA: This is the hardest SA to develop in the game. Just for grins, lets pretend that I've practiced all sorts of escape and pursuit moves until I've become an expert at them, and I have photographic memory and have stored every aircraft's data card into some form of easily accessible mental file. Will I be able to beat Dan now?

Nope, at least not on a regular basis because Dan still has one other form of SA skill that is highly developed in game play. That is the ability to predict the "flow of the fight" and to position his aircraft to take advantage of that flow. I call this "anticipatory SA" and it is probably the one form of SA that most average players have never learned to develop or seldom think about. Most players are reactionaries. They can see the flow of a battle and react to it (Say! Everybody is breaking left. Okay, I better swing to the left as well and cut those bozos off), but, they don't really predict it. In fact, some players haven't even learned to see the flow of a fight vet and if they lose initiative once or twice they usually lose the scenario because they either inadvertently move their airplanes out of the flow of the fight, and/or out of mutual support, and/or make some other form of grievous mistake.

These guys are easy to identify as they usually act genuinely surprised when they do get spit out of the flow of a battle and some "fighthawker" (a plane hanging over the fight looking for such idiots) drops in on their tail a la Red Baron).

Reactionaries, on the other hand, can usually stay in the flow of the fight, but they become quite predictable and this predictability is their eventual downfall against players of the caliber of Dan Foxman. The neat thing about developing anticipatory SA is that not only will you be able to predict where players are headed in two or three turns, but you can also learn to manipulate the fight by anticipating your opponent's responses to your moves and changing battle flows to your advantage.

In other words, you can drive the fight toward something more to your liking. Its a very subtle art but I've seen Dan and others do it, and I try to accomplish the same thing myself when I play. Let's see if I can at least demonstrate the effects of anticipatory SA using these examples.

More Situational Awareness for Fighting Wings,

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