| Pilot Training Manual This manual is in 2 parts because of the numerous topics. Part 1 covers: First, the order of combat. Second, the Strike Fighter you will be piloting. Third, types of maneuvers. Part 2 covers: A review of Basic Fighter Combat Team Maneuvers, and finally Advanced Four Fighter Combat. It's a lot like drinking water from a fire hydrant, you get a drink but it almost rips your lips off. Take your time and experiment. Take pieces of information and try to figure out how they will work for you. Cut and paste what you need for a given situation. Remember variety is not only the spice of life, in this case, it may keep you alive. The 1st Fighter Group Sequence of Events: Onboard the ship Briefing by the CO Preflight Checks Assignments Scrambling the Fighters Combat Fighting Disposition of Personnel and Fighters Debriefing Onboard the ship - This is nothing more than finding out how many fighter pilots show up. Listing their names and rolling the dice for encounters. Briefing by Co - This is Mission Brief. What will the crew be required to do. Preflight Checks - This is where the pilots are given their aircraft status. This is the code to tell them what action they will have. 1. Check Weapons - Who will be injured. 2. Check Navigation - Which ship limps to the landing site 3. Check Shields- Which ship gets towed by a fighter escort. Who will support the tow 4. Check Engines - Who must punch out into space or land on a planet Who will rescue. 5. Check Communication - Who is left behind to get brought back later. Who will rescue later. Assignments - This tells them their code name, color and font designator. Scrambling the Fighters - This is where co gives them their final briefing. Combat Fighting - This is the actual combat fighting. Disposition of Personnel and Fighters - This is taking care of the casualties, escorting a fighter to the designated landing site, or trying to rescue a stranded pilot. Debriefing - This is the final briefing of the Sim by co. 1st Fighter Group - Strike Fighter Data About the ships: Any color scheme/ any name Type: Strike Fighter Mass: 1,927 Newtonian tones Length: 40.75 meters Accommodations: 1 crew and 3 passengers Power plant: One Zener Transwarp Warp Drive (prototype) One - 4series/parallel micro fusion impulse drive (prototype) Performance: rated Warp 9.6 Classified: actual obtained Warp 9.99 Armaments: Impact resistant Ablative Shielding Controlled by ISIS generation 2 computer Weapons: Nose mounted Photon torpedo cannon Capability - 7-torpedo spread - 4 firing before recharge Left and Right Side mounted Plasma Phasers Capacity - Long and Short range spread - 8 firing before recharge Standard Equipment: Transporter Capacity up to 1 short pallet of 14 graviton bombs Standard range Tractor Beam Rear mounted Capacity 2,200 Newtonian tones Standard range Survival capsule - 5 days rations and water for 4 people NOTE 1: Hold down the primary firing button gets the same effect as rapidly tapping the firing button, except you get a faster rate of fire by tapping. NOTE 2: Refraction time for recharge is a 6 count sequence. One one-thousand�etc. NOTE:3: Continuous firing of Phasers will melt down the barrels. Types of Maneuvers ATTACKS Lead Pursuit - FAST Defender increase closure on the target They are turning towards us I�M turning inside their flight path to close We�re at high Angle Off Target and pursuing 5 sec to Lock-on We have lock-on Firing Phaser burst Lag Pursuit- SLOW Defender Slowing to gain their rear hemisphere Drifting the nose for lag pursuit Hard turn 180 toward the target We have the underside of the bogey 5 sec to lock-on We have lock-on Firing ATTACKS Alley Oops- SAME SPEED Defender Quarter roll and pulling up Closing to zero Rolling toward bogey on left vector behind her Closing range for hot side pursuit 5 sec to lock-on We have lock-on Firing Rolling Scissors - HIGH SPEED OVERSHOOT The bogey�s pulling up Rolling towards our mid ship She got a high Tracking-Cross angle Good, she�s gonna overshoot Hold on, rolling 90 away on the vertical We�re at the top of the roll over and diving on the helix She�s in a lead roll with an average, out the pull down We�ve got good separation on the dive Closing range on target 5 sec to lock-on We have lock-on Firing DEFENSES Defensive Spiral - 1 CLOSE-IN AT OUR 6 We have a bogey at our 6 Hang on We�re making a very tight rolling scissor straight down. ::almost roll inverted:: Bogey�s following:: entering a vertical Descending rolling scissor:: Bogey in sight Lift vector horizontal..waiting �waiting�ahhhh We have nose - tail separation Closing range on target 5 sec to lock-on We have lock-on Firing Defensive 2 on 1 -High and Tight Two bogies at 10 and 8 Stalking for position on the 10 # 1 Pull nose up and lag roll to the right on #1 Lift vector slightly off to the left �.waiting�waiting Closing quick�5 sec to lock on We have lock on�� fire We have a kill on the #1 Break left and nose down on the verticle :oblique curl to the left: Get our nose to the sun and bear down on the #2 Bank into her and get astern Angle off the tail�.holding �. Closing range on target 5 sec to lock-on We have lock-on Firing The Tactics of Strike Fighter Combat An unauthorized combat Biography By Federation War Correspondent - Keleenka Pirroshky The Cardassian War with Bajor left devastation behind. It is estimated 6 billion people perished in the 40-year war. The Bajoran�s learned quickly to exchange their artistic creativity for lethality in the face of overwhelming odds. This is the tactics of one Bajoran. A Strike Fighter Ace named Gavic Casteclear. The Cardassian�s nicknamed him the Czar. CHAPTER ONE - The 6 Statutes of Fighter Combat -From one of his discussions with new pilot trainees.- The most important thing in combat is shooting. In order to get a chance to shoot you must understand the six basic statutes of combat. I will tell them to you so that you can remember them when you need them.. There are two kinds of fleet ships; fighters and targets. In a dogfight there is no second place. If you can�t see him, he can see you. There is no up or down only behind. Tailgating is legal and recommended. Conforming to conventional statutes will kill you. Shooting involves hitting a moving target from a moving platform with weapons that have a curved trajectory. He would then give them turns in a fighter simulator and shoot them down� again, and again. CHAPTER TWO - Weapons -From the Czar�s instructor PADD notes in the Bajoran Academy.- The purpose of a weapon is to impose lethality on an enemy. This is done by determining the distance and reckoning configuration you need. It is not complicated because your choices are limited. There are only two distances and reckonings for all the different types of weapons in a fleet�s arsenal. The distances are; long and short range . While the reckoning is on the beam dead reconning and on the horizontal spray reconning. This is important information to remember before you are in the target tracking arc (TAA) and the red lock-on light flashes. When you are in the TAA it is time to fire your weapon on the target, not try to decide which one to choose. Short-range weapons include Compression phasers, pulse phaser and disrupters. Long-range weapons include photon torpedoes, trillithium missiles and gravitic mines. There are five things to know about each weapon. What is the range? How is it mounted on the ship? What is the fire time? What is the recharge time? How is it sighted? Compression Phasers are short-range weapons. They are nose mounted. They have a single burst and slow recharge time. These phasers are on screen Line of Sight (LOS) display. The target must be in sight. Pulse Phasers are short-range weapons. They are mounted on either side of the ship. They have rapid bursts and slow recharge time. These phasers are on screen LOS or blind fire using manual override. The target can be cloaked. Disrupters are short-range weapons. They are also mounted on either side of the ship. They have single burst and fast recharge time. They can be either LOS or Blind fire using manual override. The target can be cloaked. Photon torpedoes are long-range weapons. They are mounted on the nose of the ship. They have spray burst and fast recharge time. The torpedoes are LOS nontracking weapons. Once fired they speed forward on a slightly curved trajectory until they hit something. Trillithium missiles are long-range weapons. They are mounted on either side of the ship. They are fired two at a time and load quickly. The missiles are tracking and, Fire and Forget. Once fired, they speed toward the target and can destroy anything up to and including a Galaxy class Cruiser. Gravitic mines are special weapons. They are mounted to launch pallets or delivered by transporter beam. The mines are Fire and Don�t Forget. The mines are an equal opportunity weapon. They stay where you leave them until someone careless gets too close to them and then they lock-on to that target, even if it�s you. The next important task after choosing a weapon is, hitting the target. Since weapons are mounted either on the nose or each side of the ship there are two ways to recon on a target; on the beam dead reconning and on the horizontal spray reconning.. For side mounted weapons: On the beam dead reconning, aligns the side weapons to a short distance in front of the optimum combat firing range. Resulting in maximum lethal density at short range. On the horizontal spray reconning, adjusts each weapon site individually. Resulting in greater spray pattern. Even new pilots have a better chance of hitting their target. For nose mounted weapons: On the beam dead reconning, marks a distance beyond the optimum combat firing range to accommodate leading the target. Resulting in compact shot patterns at long distances. One the horizontal spray reconning marks a distance outward from the optimum combat firing range to afford a wider spread pattern for leading several targets. Resulting in a thinner concentration of fire over a wider pattern. Allowing even the new pilot to hit more targets in the first pass. -Whatever weapon you have the trick is to shoot the enemy on the first pass. CHAPTER THREE - The Basics of Combat -Excerpts from a conversation between the Czar and Admiral Dagmar concerning Cardassian combat tactics- The weapon is selected. The target lock-on flashes. What do you do? If this is the question you are asking take notes. There are 4 things that every pilot must know before getting into the pilot seat. The first and most important to know is whom you�re fighting. Understand the tactics of the enemy and fully exploit their weaknesses. The Cardassians are smooth with no extras. They turn smooth, they roll smooth, and they wait to fire until they are straight and level. The second thing to know is; you know nothing until you do it. Learn by doing. The more you die in the simulator the better you get in the sky. The third thing to know is; what you do best. It doesn�t matter if it�s a roll out, a box, or a koo maneuver. Do the one thing that you do well and do it a lot. The forth thing to know is; to win you must get behind the target. Fly your ship into the lock-on of other enemy ships with someone on your tail and let them open up on you. Whether you lag roll lazy around them, punch into an oblique curl, or drive the nose of your ship up on a high and tight, if you aren�t looking at the enemy in your screen�he�s looking at you in his. CHAPTER FOUR - The Czar�s Combat Strategy -Conversations with his wing men at the Cross Turn Ba1 1 on 1- Lt Monz: Counting Koo: The old man was in a one on one with a Cardassian fighter. He had belly side reversed and the fighter was behind on his dead six. When the fighter tried a lock-on the old man rolled nose up which was really down and rolled the ship in a lazy lag before the Cad could think upside down enough to figure out he was behind him. Playing Chicken Ensign Vasta: The Klingon Smoothing : There were two of them on him. Tvet was busy with one himself. These guys were good and the old man couldn�t shake them. So instead of trying again he heads for the moon and keeps the sun in their faces. Now one of those guys peeled off to cut across the old man�s bow. The old man waits to the last second and oblique around the moon with the #2 guy dead on his tail. The #1 guy is coming in at an angle across the old man�s bow. The #2 guy has the sun in his face and at the last minute the old man moves directly in the #1 guy�s path. He hold for a count of three and then rolls to the left. The #2 guy doesn�t even see what he ran into. Big vs. Small Capt Lt Musashi: David and Goliath : It was a Cardassian Destroyer. The old man had missed with the missiles. Lugin was out and Roth had phasers left. The old man got in close and hung in the blind spot until he could transport a pallet of mines onto the bridge of the Destroyer. Roth used his last charge of phasers on the bridge�.by the prophet the light filled the sky. Many vs. Big Lt Jg Roth: Trojan Horse: Admiral Dagmar had a cruiser that was torn to pieces. She wanted to get some use of it. So the old man convinced her to put darts inside and fly her around the Badlands waiting for a Destroyer to kill easy prey. The Cardassian Cruiser came instead. Just as they were fully committed to attack the old man scrambled the wing and launched them from the shuttle bays. I had a piece of that cruiser. Anything is a Weapon Major Kuzak: Alley Oops: I�ve been his wingman for two years and in that time I�ve seen him run out of weapons five or six times. So what does he do? He uses asteroid belts, moons, the enemies� own ships, tractor beams, and a comet trail. I�ve never seen him without something to use as a weapon. CHAPTER FIVE- The last time we met� (You are always talking about firing weapons. Tell me about flying. Isn�t that important?) He gave me a puzzled look, then said, �Pretty flying never won a war. It�s important to know the difference between pressing an attack and falling into a trap. I am talking about taking acceptable risk versus chances. Once the enemy is down move on. Lingering over a kill is begging a fresh enemy pilot to find you. It doesn�t matter who is piloting the other ship or who is the pilot to beat. A kill, is a kill, is a kill, and is a kill. It doesn�t matter how you go it. You got it. Nothing improves moral like a pilot�s kill. Landings are important. A landing is nothing more than a controlled crash. A good landing is one you wake up from. (tell me about the new snapshots?) He spit to one side. �Tracer shots for the purpose of tracking fire shots may give a new pilot a slightly better chance of hitting the first target only. Normally, we face more than one target. The flash of fire leads the other enemy ships directly to the shooter. And that�s just about the same as murder. I have advised Admiral Yurdin against using it. CHAPTER SIX - Space Station Mesada The final weeks of combat Admiral Yurdin ordered tracer fire for the darts. The kill rate for the Bajoran�s dropped by 76% and Bajoran losses were the heaviest of the war. The Czar was opposed to it. He argued against it and was busted to a Lt Jg for taking a swing at the fleet Admiral. Four days later Admiral Yurdin fled Mesada leaving the Czar and the last wing of Pt Darts to defend Bajor while pleading his case to the Federation. The Czar and his wing held 4 Cardassian Battle groups at bay for 6 weeks. In one battle Cardassian losses were estimated to be 60 to 1. The Bajorans had no fighter replacements. The Cardassians had sheer numbers. And in the end the Bajorans faced overwhelming odds. Out gunned and outmaneuvered they fought to the last man�. Sometimes you go for the tie Gavic CasteClear, Lt Jg Bajoran Strike Fighter Ace 625 kills, 390 assists Combat Tactics For Battleship Groups - Formation Leader�s Guide Jellicle Attack Matrix By Colonel T.Y. Fuller esq. Commander 33rd Battleship Group Battle group tactics are an improvement over the two-ship attack. The theory is the more ships engaging the enemy the greater the offensive outlook. They promote more firepower on the initial attack and reduce the chances of engaging an enemy with superior numbers. More is not always better. Increasing the size of a formation also has some disadvantages. There are some considerations. The larger the formation the more difficult to maneuver freely. Turns can become an exercise in avoiding mid space collisions. Low sound frequency distortion is amplified giving away ship positions. Large engagements with the enemy often degrade into a �Fur Ball�, every ship fighting independently without mutual support. Defensively this condition may be positive, offensively it leaves much to be desired. Formation leaders trade off maximum-performance capability to allow member ships to maintain their relative position. Formation leaders must carefully plan and execute each maneuver and always verify communications between ships before engaging the enemy. Stragglers are vulnerable. An enemy seldom allows a ship that becomes separated in melee the luxury of returning to formation. More is better but not much more. It is with these considerations in mind that the 4 Battleship Formation was developed. The follow are the basic formation weapons and tactics every formation leader must know instinctively thru practice, practice, and more practice. Every leader should know his ships and his commanders intimately. This type of formation was built for attack only. It�s a trade off. Quicker attacks mean limiting capability elsewhere. If you do your job right defense should be the enemies problem. There are 4 methods of attack, claw, bite, rake, and pounce. The Claws are long-range front mounted tractor grids with a narrow sound frequency pulse for gripping and pulling. The Bite is a long-range nose mounted low echo frequency torpedo for puncturing holes in shields and hulls. The Rakes are short-range belly mounted high frequency phaser bursts piercing enemy shields up to 50 meters The Pounce is a chain reaction Doppler phaser array traveling sequentially between 2 firing turrents and the enemy ship, which gains energy on each impact in multiples of 4 to the tenth power of sound. It strikes 4 times before recharging. A few words of caution. Check your ship�s belly because 98% of a battleship is below you. Always attack. The faint at heart die quickly. Never give them time to think only time to react. Strategy is nothing more than the business end of clever tactics. And clever tactics are something you think about after you have survived a busy day fighting. The Simple Chase. A four-ship formation with staged intervals over 1 parsec and to the left of the Flight leaders ship. Once a solo enemy is cut from the formation the flight leader begins the chase. The purpose is to pursue and worry the enemy into maneuvering further from their formation. Trading off the chase ship position periodically to continually herding the enemy ship toward a site where it can be cornered and forced to surrender. The Stooge Decoy. Use a crippled ship who would probably be as helpless as she looks, if half the Formation was not keeping a jealous eye on her from the sun. The Rake, Rake... two sets of ships on the attack. They cruises outside the periphery of the Fur Ball remaining in a defensive posture and alert for bogey�s exiting the fight. When enemy ships leave they strafe the ships opening up with Rake Bursts across the mid ship. Diving in pairs of two until the enemy ships are disable. Bite, Bite, Claw Attack. The flight leader negates any attack, keeping the four bogeys on the same side of the ship if at all possible. Once the threat has been neutralized an attack is made on the #2 bogey. It should be planned so the final turn can be made in the direction of the first bogey. But only as long as the four bogey�s can be kept on the strong side of the ship. The flight leader should break off the attack and switch the bogeys before allowing himself to be sandwiched. The success hinges on having sighted the bogeys at the critical times and guiding your other three ships into Bite range as the battle is engaged. Once the enemy ships have been bitten it is time for your formation to Claw them into the Rake position under the belly of your ships. Finish them quickly. If there is four enemy ships present. There will be others soon. Four Battleship Pincer Attack. The flight leader sends the second ship to begin to turn an enemy formation toward the nose of your formation by speeding ahead and showing a rake attack. When the enemy is fully engaged on the second ship the rest of the formation falls to the rear hemisphere of the enemy formations and begins the Claw attack to bring the ships into first Bite range, and then rake range. The Wild-Goose Vs A maneuver for patrol with the formation. Space the ships at wider intervals than normal. And use visual cross-cover. Letting the elements trail each other when substantial maneuvering is required. It allows Tail-end Charlie to break off and begin an attack on an enemy formation while the Flight leader arranges the ships into position for a rear hemisphere attack. The Shwarm Attack. This formation allows both the wingmen to maintain a loose position on the leader. Weaving back and forth to check the rear quarter. Once the formation is engaged, they stay together falling into the trail position for hit-and-run attacks, or break off with another set of enemy and draw them into the battle. Trying to initiate a mid space collision between the enemy ships. The Infamous Ball of Yarn attack. The Flight Leader Rakes the enemy ships and runs. When the enemy ships pursue the Lead ship bring the enemy midships in front of the formation where the other three ships are waiting to pounce. The Play-With-It-Until-We-Are-Sure-It-Is-Dead... Maneuver the formation to a position where each ships swats the enemy.back and forth until it explodes. The Pounce and Bite. The formation falls on a Dreadnaught and begins coordinated strafing runs using the Claw attack matrix. These attacks continue until the mammoth is subdued and crippled sufficiently to permit a Rake -Bite attack. Control of Battleship Sweeps. Command, control and communication are the key elements is this attack. The formation identifies and engages high-value hostile targets while avoiding potential threats. This is done by simultaneous engagement on enemy Cruiser formations. Once the cruisers are committed the formation redeploys for a more aggressive, offensive attack with a nasty surprise by linking Claw pulses into a short range grid and containing the cruisers for other Friendly formations to finish off. The first and most important requisite for the destruction of the enemy is the achievement of space superiority against the Dreadnaughts. Nothing else matters. Without neutralizing their combat power nothing will be left to defend. The second and final thought. Never attack without an advantage. There is no such thing as defensive strategy. You are either attacking or losing. Never underestimate the element of surprise. Press the attack and when you think you�ve got it then presses the attack. BACK TO THE ACADEMY |
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