How useful are formations/escorts? -- Danger of Friendly Fire...

[Lupusy]

Flying in formation in great fun but I dont know how good its defensive qualities are...?

My greatest fear is the ease with which you can easily shoot down your own friends.. Allies in formation still suffer damage from friendly fire right? it's not like some fantasy rpg where your own AOE spells only hurt the enemy...

Also my second fear is that formations -- really are not that useful? After all, you are trying to hit enemies which are probably hidden by your allies....

finally escort fighters face the two problems above but maybe to a lesser extent. though its hard to stop your own turrets hitting your friends...


whats your experience with formations and escorts?...

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[Nightmouse]

Formation isn't actually meant to be used in combat, it's just a way to give the player some rest while someone else flies, but as soon as combat starts, you should break formation.

[stewcool]

Like night said but in my experience

I think they are useful to relax yes...Not useful in combat at all

And

The NPC make it look so easy dont they. (The capital ship formations)

The fighters break off formation and the caps stick together. Why cant
we do that.

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[John Keel]

As long as you don't have me flying lead in formations they are good to relax in. If you've got me, I'm liable to fly you into a planet/station/minefield/black hole/sun/interesting decoration at will.

Be warned. >.>

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A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin.
~H. L. Mencken

Levi Ripley // [Civilian]

[ProwlerPC]

I posted this once in S/D Tales on the subject.
It hasn't been put into practice, as it was just a story, but it would be something to start seeing if it could be done. Needs to be the same ships or else formation wouldn't hold well.

Incoming Transmission

To: S/D-Dog house and all agents
From: S/D-Felix
Subject: Formation tactics
Priority: High

Message reads:

I have been studying flight combat in Sirius. It is chaos at best. After researching ancient bits of information from mankinds history, I've noted that we lost tactical knowledge that gave superiority in ship to ship combat. I have here is the result of my studies and I feel it may give us an advantage over our bounties.

The Current state of Combat

The typical battle that occurs in Sirius is a swirling mess of space combat that involves many spacecraft in a tight combat box that doesn't give much room for teamwork.
Yes, fighters fly into the fight in defensive formations and attack target formations in a coordinated fashion, but once the fight goes past the initial merge it usually degenerates into a furball (with a few Aces hovering above waiting to harvest the odd plane that flies from it).
Pilots do try to help each other out, but since everyone is trying to engage as many of the enemy with each of the their aircraft it is usually only for the defensive purposes of a friend.
Teamwork is so non-existent that experienced pilots routinely go on patrol by themselves.

In the past fromation flying was developed to have an advantage over the chaos.
It increases defence, concentrates fire, and raises situational awareness.
(and for the economically minded, fuel consumption is improved meaning farther flights)
By far the most common formation, and the most practical for Sirius, is paired formations.
In each pair, one pilot would be the Lead or command plane charged with the actual shooting of the enemy, while the Wingman would serve to protect the lead and step in to shoot as required.

The Leader

The Leaders primary responsibility is navigation, prioritization of targets, selection of tactics, and shooting down the enemy.
His secondary responsibilities are communications with larger formations and other craft involved, and protecting the wingman.

The Wingman

The Wingmans primary responsibility is protecting the Leader by spotting the enemy, and keeping the enemy off of the Leaders tail.
His secondary responsibilities are navigation, communications, and engaging the enemy.
Roles should be established on the ground and held fast throughout combat, with the more experienced pilot being Leader and the junior pilot being Wingman.
If either the Leader or the Wingman experiences mechanical difficulty or is damaged in combat, both would return to base together whenever possible.
A lone, damaged fighter is easy pickings.

Since weve got more virtual experience in flying than most real WWII pilots had in actual aircraft, the dedicated roles of Leader and Wingman arent relevant.
We dont live together, train together (unless one is part of a dedicated squadron), and work out tactics on the ground.
We dont know each other, let alone trust each other, enough to take a strictly subordinate roll in the virtual skies.
We are going to make a few assumptions, however, about our fellow virtual pilot...

Hes COMPETENT. --Our comrade in the skies can tell the difference between friend and foe, can perform all basic and a few advanced maneuvers, and can hit the enemy with his guns ten percent of the time.
Hes not a complete JERK. --Our teammate isnt a mindless score hound looking to make a kill at any price, including intentionally blocking us to shoot down an enemy weve already crippled.
Hes not a MANIAC. --Weve all been maniacs online, flying heedlessly into situations that are disadvantageous, diving in on an easy kill on a crippled plane below us while healthy enemies are at the same or higher altitude, and seeking engagement when our planes are low on fuel, ammunition, and damaged.
If youre flying alone and not as part of a team, flying as a maniac is almost a given youve already adopted a suicidal tactical posture.

Responsibilities

Navigation

Thankfully we have Nav Maps
While the Leader is the one responsible for navigation (as the Wingman must follow him),
if one is separated it is useful to know where one is at and the direction of either the target or the base.
If youre the Wingman and the Leader is going the wrong way, tell him.
Leader should make sure the Wingman knows where they are going.
For the most part the wingman has his hands off as the Leader plots and follows waypoints.

Situational Awareness

The Leader is responsible primarily for the front, sides, and above the pair.
while the Wingman is responsible for the sides, the rear, above and below.
Both should check each others position constantly as well.
Primarily doesnt mean that the Leader doesnt "check six" or the Wingman doesnt scan above and to the front; it just means that each will spend a little more time scanning their zones.
The Leader is looking for something to kill; the Wingman is looking for whos trying to kill them.
In practice the Wingman can go in turret mode as the Leader is effectively the pilot of both aircraft and is maneuvering for the attack.
The wingman will be better able to release mines and CM at the appropriate time.(Of course Leader will drop CM when He/She hears incoming missile but the Wingman is watching their "6".
Against larger or tougher craft, the wingman can be a secondary front gunner by using a mini-razor after lead takes down shields or for just plain old concetrated fire. (One Craft or they are all in front)
In this set-up with the proper communication and practice 2 ships become one as dmg gets spread and when called for the firepower is concentrated.

****Note****

Different ship classes can make formation flying difficult, try to pair up in the same class ships, A bomber pair should be supported by a Fighter pair.

Communications

This will be interesting I'll throw in suggestions. These commands and terms will probably alter over time as they are modified, added or removed until a full practical set is created.

ABORT: Directive commentary to terminate. Applicable to a specific attack maneuver or entire mission
NAV CHECK: A request for bearing and distance to a given point. Generally used to confirm navigational accuracy
ANCHOR: Orbit at a specific point or location. Anchored to Norfolk (parked outside)
BANDIT: Known enemy aircraft. Only used when the contact is confirmed hostile.
BELLY CHECK: Directive commentary to instruct recipient to check for bandits underneath him.
BENT: Inoperative or "bent" system. 2 of my bucks are bent, or thrusters bent
BLIND: Lost visual contact with appropriate friendly aircraft. Generally means that the wingman lost sight of a flight lead. The opposite of this is VISUAL.
BOGEY: An unknown radar/visual contact
BOGEY DOPE: A request for information about a specific target or threat whats the bogey dope on that freighter?
BREAK: for a pair to brak formation, SPLIT would be larger formation splitiing up into pairs as we are splitting the formation to smaller ones.
BUG OUT: Separate from the engagement and head for a safe area or home.
BULLSEYE: A pre-briefed reference point. It is used to describe your position or that of the target. It's the waypoints really.
CLEAN: No radar contacts, i.e. your radar scope is clean
CLEARED: Requested action is approved
CLOSING: Bandit/bogey/target is decreasing its range
CONCEN: Concentrate fire on specified target.
CONTACT: Radar/IR contact; should include bearing, range, altitude (BRA), Bulls-eye, or geographic position information
CONTINUE: Continue present maneuver; does not imply clearance to engage or to shoot
ENGAGING: commiting oneself to combat against a Bandit (known enemy craft)
ENGAGED: Maneuvering with respect to a threat or target in order to kill or negate an attack (in combat)
FADED: Radar contact is lost or has "faded" from your radar display.
FENCE CHECK/FENCE IN/FENCE OUT: Set cockpit switches as appropriate to your location. Generally means to arm up weapons as you enter enemy territory and safe them as you proceed back to friendly airspace.
GORILLA: A large number of unknown contacts that appear to maneuver to a common objective. (big group)
GROUP: Radar Contacts that appear to operate together within approximately 3 Nm of each other.
HOME PLATE: Home base
KILL: Commit and kill specified target
LOCKED: Radar Lock on.
MERGE/ MERGED: Bandits and friendlies are in the visual arena
NO JOY: Lost or no visual contact with the target/bandit; opposite of TALLY
PICTURE: Situation briefing given by AWACS or GCI that provides a general tactical overview
POSIT: Request for a position report
PRESS: Continue the attack; mutual support will be maintained
SHOOTER: Aircraft that will employ ordnance or "shoot
SPITTER: (Direction) An Aircraft that has departed from the engagement
STATUS: Request for an individuals tactical situation; generally described as "offensive," "defensive," or "neutral
TALLY: Bandit in sight; opposite of "NO JOY."
VISUAL: Friendly aircraft in sight; opposite of "BLIND."
WINCHESTER: No ordnance remaining.

Of course I wouldn't expect all to be used this gives an idea though. We also already use some of these terms as they commonly known.We may even have multiple terms for the same thing already, which is OK if everyone knows.

Summary

This is by far not a comlete detailing of formation flying there are many forms of formations and how to use them to the best advantage but our Formation is limited to game mechanics.

The fundamental rules are simple:

Fight to live.

Dont be a jerk or a maniac.

Work as part of a team.

Transmission Ends

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