We all know this ...

A2A_only_project in the 1vs1 tournament (AB)

A2A_only_project participated in the "The way of the Ace" tournament stage three (1vs1, AB) after qualifying at the 2vs2 stage (with a small Golden Eagle profit) and achieved the goal of a top 100 place (rewards: "Duelist 1vs1" title and "Duelist" decal).

This was my first tournament,. I had passed on all earlier tournaments since I joined WT in 2014 ("Normandy Aces", "Wings of Glory" et cetera) because of travels and other real life reasons.

500 players (accounts) were qualified for the 3rd stage, and by my estimate about 300-350 of them were much, much, much, much, much!!! better than what you meet in most random AB matches. They made most random match players look like shoddily coded bots even more than before! There was hardly any tolerance for mistakes - even most tiny mistakes could not be survived.

There were some bugs in the tournament, but OMG, 190-200 fps! My system usually does no more than 50-70 fps in matches.

Here's a summary:

1st day: J2M2

I paid dearly trying to figure this mode out, learning much about what not to do before learning about what to do.

The J2M2 burns way too easily (same problem as in random matches), producing many rather random results.

My favourite air combat manoeuvre (ACM) was a tight loop (mostly upwards) after passing the opponent frontally. The results were inconsistent.

Finished the day in top 100.

2nd day: P-39N

Again, a day with many fires. The P-39N-0 isn't terribly prone to catch fire, but its American machinegun ammunition easily sets the target afire...
I got fixated on the occasional use of flaps in take-off setting for tighter turns, but overall the P-39 was no success either, finished the day in top 150 IIRC. Transition between steering by keyboard and steering by mouse aim for the shot was troublesome all too-often.

One interesting tactic was discovered, though:

I had stealth ammo for machineguns and used them for a surprise long range (opening fire at >1,200 m) head-on hits without firing the cannon. Switched to fire with all guns at 600-800 m only.

The cannon gives away its activity with tracers (unavoidable) and self destruct clouds (the HE shells explode after a certain distance producing a small black smoke cloud). Furthermore, the cannon makes the plane vibrate and thus the machinegun fire less accurate. This tactic worked a couple times, but didn't save the day.

Awfully many draws (both died, counted as defeat, but with hardly any rating change).

3rd day: Yak-1b

Finally admitted: I have a scissors problem. Cannot defeat anyone who's behind me in scissors, and rarely can break out of scissors by continued turning. Those who are next to me during scissors sometimes lose when I lower the landing gear, use landing flaps and reduce engine power to slow down.

Tested the Yak-1b in test flight to figure out turn times with different  flap settings after I had some unpleasant turnfights. Measured horizontal 360° turns at 1,100 m beginning with 400 kph were 32.7 seconds no flaps, 34.2 seconds combat flaps and 35.2 seconds takeoff flaps. I ceased to use flaps whenever I felt the dogfight would be about energy, not about dying in the next two seconds or not.

At the end of the day I felt somewhat confident I could end inside the top 100.

4th day: Bf 109F-4

I skipped this day, since I had no interest in the tactical problem of 'gun pods for head-on strength or no gun pods for better dogfighting?'.

5th day: Spitfire Mk.Vb/trop (the ugly Spitfire)

This Spitfire is known as a capable turnfighter, but by now I was so frustrated about my scissors problem (above rating 900) that I largely avoided dogfighting by killing (or dying or both) in the head-on phase.

Ammunition: "Stealth" 7 mm + "Air targets" 20 mm (which has no tracers, but a powerful punch), 800 m or no gun convergence at all.  I opened fire at greater ranges than ever before (often 1.5 km). Vibration during firing was a big issue. With 800 m gun convergence setting I attempted to first aim high and to the left or right of the target centre at first, then dead centre and below about 600 m low right or low left.

With "no" gun convergence setting I aimed  to the left or right of the centre at all times (also high then mid then low), but this was only good to train discipline in aiming to the left or right, which I often forgot when concentration was low.

I still didn't figure out why aiming low was the right thing to do (even according to lead indicator) below 800 m or so.
The many draws felt like 1/3 to 1/2 of all matches because of my head-on focus with the Spitfire. Climbing from about 900 to above 1,300 rating mostly with head-on victories sure was no display of great ACM mastery, but hey, it worked!
Obviously, many opponents were not good in head-on fights.

The "Duelist" decal doesn't look nearly as cool as the Gladiator decals do!

Guns were disabled at the beginning of every battle, so one had two choices:

(1) Fly towards enemy, avoid head-on fires and seek decision by air combat manoeuvre. I did this on the first days in about half of my matches.

(2) Avoid a contact with disabled guns by turning 90°, climb (30° dropping to 20°), then turn towards enemy.

I attempted to memorise opponent names, against whom I won or failed and how (in order to seek head-on with against more successful dogfighters and seek to avoid head-on against more successful snipers).

Head-on behaviour of opponents:

Some were able to snipe at very long range, dodge, shoot for a split second, dodge again, shoot for a split second again and kill that way; highly annoying, but not a consistent performance by any opponent.

Many of those who wanted a decision by ACM attempted to pass below me. It was valuable to remember this, so next time I could shoot at them with lead (deflection shooting) instead of expecting them to engage me directly (which required to aim at them without lead).

Best fight scene:

The head-on was non-lethal for both, some turning, suddenly he's 600 m above me and I'm almost stalling (probably used flaps too much). I decided to dive, reload, he follows almost 800 m behind while shooting with tracers. I dive behind a high cliff, use the Spitfire's landing flaps at low altitude, pull up. I didn't get killed because his 20 mm was emptied already, suddenly I feel an opportunity for an Immelmann, Immelmann succeeds, aim, kill.

This was the only time I recovered from some huge mistake. Other times I was able to recover from small mistakes at most, since in this tournament even a single small ACM mistake was most often decisive.

Lesson learned:

I need to get (much) better at scissors.

I need to learn some weird style of turning which I observed.

A 1vs1 tournament can be a pain in the ass if you know after most lost matches which of your (in)actions was the mistake that led to the defeat.

My mouse is not very good at tiny movements, which makes precise aiming in the head-on phase unreliable.

Use short breaks to recover from a string of defeats and draws!

The timing and nature of meals influences the concentration very much during long gaming sessions, especially when the soda drank in between is sugar-free.

Pilot skill appears to be rock-scissors-paper in WT AB air combat. Some players rated much lower than me were mostly able to beat me, but would have been rated much higher if they hadn't struggled against others of similar rating.

Holy moly, many "LEGA" players were encountered among the top 200. At least one of them has very poor manners (and flies way too straight in a head-on without being a good shot!), though. MAMBA and NATO were encountered much as well.

Conclusion:

I usually succeed as a tactician with sure aim who makes fights unfair in his favour before accepting them in random matches (BnZ). 

Fair 1vs1 matches were a very different situation and it took a while to adapt, and I grew in skill this way.

A top 100 position (78th) amongst millions of players (and ten thousands who participated in the 2vs2 qualifying stage) was most satisfying. This original goal was met. More (top 50, maybe even top 20) can be achieved in a future 1vs1 tournament if the scissors weakness can be overcome.

Don't panic!

Pointing the nose

Absolute beginners look around by turning around. Later on, they discover the key for looking around with the mouse while flying straight (it's "c" for me).

Nevertheless, players usually dive towards a target 3 km ahead and 1 km low instead of staying high right till they really engage, 1-1.5 km away from the target. It's subconscious and you really shouldn't do it. Losing energy is one disadvantage, going to a less favourable position in case the target is killed early is another reason. You also become more vulnerable and a more likely target for other reds below. Finally, you announce your intention, warn your prey. If you stay high, he might conclude you don't want to engage him and might engage some blue plane. If you dive, he'll likely be aware and attempt to survive your attack.

This thing about not announcing your intentions is important on domination maps as well; you can capture airfields much easier if you don't announce your intent early. Never approach a defended airfield by flying straight, low or maybe even slow with lowered landing gear, parallel to the runway. Instead, pretend to be in air combat and approach the runway from an atypical direction. Shoot a bit if you have tracers. Lower the landing gear as late as possible, slow down with landing flaps, retract landing flaps before touchdown to avoid most of the ground effect and then touch down, only seconds after beginning to announce your intention. These few seconds are often the difference between airfield neutralization or not, airfield capture or mere neutralization or survival after capture or no survival.

Dive bombers with a suitable landing gear (no A-36 or B7A2) and dive bomber-typical dive brakes are particularly well-suited for this; simply dive, then capture. Hardly anyone expects someone flying at 2 km altitude to capture the airfield within 10 seconds.

Value of ground targets and victory conditions

Bomber players most often attempt to bomb the minibases (or "depots"), for these are the easiest to hit and they're convinced they yield the most reward.

A good player intent to win wouldn't waste time like that, but go after ground targets instead.

Both teams begin a match with a certain" ticket count". This may be 2,800 tickets, for example.

The teams usually have quantity of ground units (including boats and ships) that's equal to tickets divided by 100.

2,800 tickets ~ 28 ground targets. You win on such maps (NOT on the domination maps) either by annihilation of the other team, by destroying all ground forces, by destroying the minibases and airfield or by destroying a mix of ground targets and minibases.

The quickest and thus safest path to victory up to approx. BR 4.7 maps is to go after the ground targets only.

28 ground targets could be killed by 16 players within 3-4 minutes without anyone reloading, but hardly anybody plays the objectives. Instead, the wish their team "gl" as if winning was about luck, not about actually doing it yourself.

You can look at the "N" screen to see the current ticket count, and there you can observe the value of destroyed targets. The values are as follows:

• Heavy cruiser: 200 tickets
• A minibase: Depending on BR about 180-200 tickets
• Any other ship: 100 tickets
• Patrol boat: 100 tickets
• Tanks: 100 tickets
• Artillery: 100 tickets
• Armoured cars when they are mission critical ("blinking"): 100 tickets
• AAA when they are objectives ("blinking", but not airfield defences): 100 tickets
• non-objective ground forces: zero tickets
• aircraft kills: zero tickets 
• damaged, not yet destroyed airfields: zero tickets
• destroyed airfield: All tickets, reduced over time

All three minibases are worth at most as much as six tanks. But tanks kill each other on many maps, so you can save a blue tank worth 100 tickets if you kill an opposing tank before they kill each other in ground combat. That tank kill is then worth 200 tickets advantage to your team usually.

In short, to destroy a minibase takes multiple passes by a bomber up to about BR 4.x, and destroys at most as many tickets as a single mediocre pass over a group of tanks or destroyers. That's why it's a waste of time almost every time.

This changes in some matches BR 4.7 or higher. That's when Do 217 bombers appear in groups, and they can drop 4x 1000 kg bombs when upgraded. They are furthermore fast and somewhat agile - more able to reach rear red targets than Yer-2, Wellington and most other earlier bombers with 4,000 lbs or more.

There was an event a couple months ago where players suddenly wanted to win - almost all of them. Some incentive was given. The result was that many rushed to victory with the old bomber rush tactic that led to the addition of minibases in order to make 'victory by airfield kill' slower. Back then the best way to win was to have a couple quick-climbing bomber destroyers, a squad of Do217E or more of them, a handful B7A2 Ryusei as escort fighters and additional base bombers and a handful of players who actually killed a few ground targets. The usual ground strike match in those days saw both airfields killed. The winner was the team which had the airfield earlier or compensated for being slower by having killed more ground forces. Those few days made visible how to win Era IV "Ground strike" maps the quickest.

On lower-level "Ground strike" maps you better focus on killing ground targets ASAP - mass destruction! You may have a squad member or two who prefer air combat; they should pay attention to the "N" screen and prioritize those red pilots who've killed 5+ ground forces already or fly the best planes for the job (Su-2, A-20G, B-25J and the like).

The fundamental tactical philosophy on Ground strike and Assault maps

The match is usually a race in deleting the other team's tickets. Victory by annihilation ("The other team has lost all vehicles") is rather rare, particularly in Era III-IV.

(I)

The planes with a quick bomb reload, a very large bomb (bombers, most attackers) and rocket load (P-47D) and the few well-known planes with good enough armour-piercing shells or bullets to kill tanks are the ones who cause almost all of this ticket destruction. The exception to this are the Era I-II maps with armoured cars and other rather soft targets as objectives.

(II)  

The fighters' job is to buy time, to enable the offensive part of the team to do its job at whatever is its (usually embarrassingly slow) speed. They need to defend against the other team's offensive players first and foremost.

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Many bomber players - especially those who fly crap bombers like the mostly worthless Wellingtons or PBYs - believe that it's the fighter players' job to defend them. But to defend them usually is impossible, at least without neglecting the defence. Bomber players should thus focus on using capable bombers, since the success of their offensive actions depends on themselves more than on anything else. Offensive success isn't about luck, and not the responsibility of fighters. It's the responsibility of bomber players, and they fail by default if they make a crappy choice on the aircraft selection screen.

There are also a few bomber players who don't think that offensive is their job, and then proceed to seek air kills. B-25J, Pe-2, Ju 87D-5, B7A2 and since the last patch also SB2C players are especially prone to this (there are also a few Blenheim and SB2M pilots with a weird interest in turnfighting).

I have sympathy for the B7A2s in this regard, since their bomb load (800 kg) is less important than their BnZ capability. B7A2s are excellent escort fighters with a secondary capability to knock out a couple pillboxes from high altitude.

Nevertheless, almost every bomber player who's chasing red bombers over the blue half of the map wastes his bombing capability and should have played a fighter instead.

There's one tiny exception; red bombers may fly high above blue territory and be able to win the battle soon by an airfield kill. A respawning player will then want to intercept them ASAP, but the only way to do this in time might be some plane starting at the bomber spawn point. That's when Pe-2s loaded with rockets, B-25Js or B7A2s may be a fine, match saving choice.

Ship killing

Preferable loads in AB for ship and boat kills (forget about torpedoes!):

• Heavy cruiser: Two 1,000 lb or 500 kg bombs
• Light cruiser: One 1,000 lb or 500 kg bomb
• Destroyer: Two 127 mm rockets or one 500 lb bomb or one 250 kg bomb
• Cargo ships, Landing ships: One 127 mm rocket or one 100 kg bomb 
• Patrol boats: Use of autocannons or heavy machineguns, horizontally
• Landing craft: Use of autocannons or heavy machineguns

A fine bomb-dropping technique is simply to aim with the aiming circle in "F4" view and to drop in a shallow dive (20-40°) at the bow, on the ship's centreline. The ship is moving forward, and will often be hit dead centre by the time the bomb arrives.

My rocket attacks are typically the required amount of rockets + sometimes one additional one, fired from low altitude (rather horizontally).

In either case, watch out! Destroyers have masts that must not be rammed. The bomb explosions can hit your plane if you fly too low as well.

Groups of four or five destroyers (as on the "Crater" map) have great AAA firepower. Avoid flying in a straight line or flying slowly. Reload your bombs behind a nearby mountain (particularly on the "Crater" map). Three destroyers can be hit with reasonable accuracy in one pass, turn a few seconds after this pass for a second pass if you have enough bombs.

The best ship killer aside from bombers and attackers with their quick bomb reload is the P-47D series: A P-47D can have up to 2x 1,000 lb bombs, 1x 500 lb bomb and 10x 127 mm (5") rockets. This can kill an amazing up to eight destroyers without a reload. An AD-2 carries more, but it's slower. A F6F comes close (2x 1,000 lb + 6x 127 mm ~ five destroyers).

This is enough for any group of ships other than on the "Merchant Fleet" map.

The "Merchant Fleet" map is a challenging one for ship killing, since the stationary convoy is right below the reds' fighter spawn point. I advise to use the P-47D with a good load (3x 500 lb + 10x rockets), climb and avoid the main fighter clash. When spawning in the south, climb westward. When spawning in the North, climb to South-West. Pretend you're a fighter, and in case a fighter intercepts you, signal your attention and accept a head-on fight. Once close to the fleet, dive and drop one bomb on a destroyer each, then turn around to deliver each one rocket to a cargo ship.