How to fly Jets Battlefield 3 Air Combat Mini Guide

The pattern of complaints and comments I have seen is exactly what I went through and I have managed to realise that this progression phase is what separates true aviators from the rest of the crowed. I was very frustrated due to the fact that I knew I used to be a damn good pilot in BF2 and why I could not pull of the same standards in BF3. There were many times I wanted to give up because of having a horrible K/D ratio and I had many reasons for disliking the aviation role in BF3, and about every second day I promised myself that I will not continue flying because it will just ruin the game for me, but before I wiped my eyes out I would find myself sitting in the jet seat again.

Remember, flying a Jet is like placing a big red cross on your forehead showing everyone where you are, making you one of the easiest found targets in BF3. With this price paid, you need ridiculous evasive and offensive skills to survive and flourish at being a successful aerial combat veteran.

So there are a few tips I can give to all who are serious about taking onto the Jet roll in BF3 and the 1^st step is to get your wings. By getting your wings I mean to be able to have smooth neutral flying skills for aiming purposes to having ridiculous and extreme evasive manoeuvre skills to handle whatever the enemy can throw at you, whether it be AA, Igla’s stingers, choppers or ultimately Jets.

Now to be able to find your wings you need to decide what your control layout is going to be. It will be one of the following layouts, Keyboard and Mouse. Keyboard Only, Gamepad or Joystick. Personally I have tried them all in my BF2 days and I settled on getting myself a MS Sidewinder 2 Force feedback Joystick. Now you might ask which one is the best? Well, I am going to be very honest and say that I have noticed that the Keyboard Only players tend to have the advantage due to the fact that they have no limitation or hindrances when using keyboard keys to manoeuvre as well as there are no dead zones when using keyboards and mice. They also tend to be more responsive than Gamepads and Joysticks unless you have proper software for your peripherals that can alter your sensitivity levels.

To get back to the topic at hand, test all these layouts if possible until you feel what is right for you by starting off on an empty server where you can practice flying without too many interferences. This will be your practice arena for a day or two or more depending on how fast you can find your wings. Make sure that you are comfortable flying in both 1^st person and 3^rd person views if the server is not in Hard-core Mode. Also practice manoeuvring at different speeds so you can learn how fast you can turn at what speeds. Obviously trying to make the sharpest turn possible is to slow down completely when turning making sure to boost from time to time to maintain speed to keep on turning. Mastering this is imperative for both offence and evasive capabilities.

Once you start off your aviation role in BF3, most would have noticed that your wings are mounted with nothing more than just a puny machine gun… This puny gun will end up being one of your ultimate weapons by the time you hit your Jet Service Star and/or Jet Service Medal. Now, using your machine gun you are going to just have to do your best gunning at anything marked on your screen. I find that looking at my Minimap (press N to change zoom views) is the best at locating non- friendlies to start off with.

Once you have your flares unlocked, you stand a bit of better chance at surviving, unless your enemy is skilled at what he does. Skilled enemies know how and when to lock on to you to be sure to get their shot in at you, so your evasive capabilities are the only things you can rely on once your enemy has a lock on you while your flares are in reload state. The 1^st step is to try and evade the lock to be completed by either doing some low flying (watch out for those lamp posts) to try and break the enemy lock. Do not use your flares to break enemy locks. Spare them for once the enemy has actually fired the rockets at you. If your flares are in reload state and you have rockets on your 6, you can once again try and do some low flying or if possible, duck in behind a mountain or a hill. I find it quite successful to get my timing right and slow down completely behind one of the cruisers on Kharg Island to stop the missiles, and sometimes even the smaller boats on the sea. If there is nothing to use at that stage, you can also hit the afterburner and try and fly in a straight line until you hit the “out of bounds” area. Rockets seem to only go “so” far and it is possible to out fly them sometimes.

Once you have your heat seeking rockets unlocked, you can start locking onto other jets and get a few easier kills, that said, it once again depends on how skilled your enemy aviator is. Once you have a lock on your enemy jet, do not shoot those rockets off immediately. Use this time to determine your enemy’s skill. If he throws flares immediately, then this “may” indicate that he is not a skilled pilot. Slow down immediately after he has fired his flares, keep him in your view and wait for the next lock. You enemy now has no flares and you can fire your rockets with nothing but his evasive skills to save him.

Once your rockets are on their way to your flare-less enemy, the battle is not over. Make sure to switch back to your machine gun and continue gunning at the enemy until the vehicle is destroyed. Never assume that merely disabling your enemy jet means you are going to get the kill, or even destroy the jet at all for that matter J. My personal favourite is the extinguisher which is an unlock which allows you to bring your Jet back from the doomed state your enemy has left you after they fly off in a new direction J.

Persevere! Persevere! Persevere! Once you have all the unlocks for your Jet and you know how to use them,, things start to get easier… or so it seems. The fact is that by this time you will know which builds to use against your nemesis thus making you a skilled aviator due to the fact that you have practiced your skill and you are starting to understand flight dynamics, manoeuvres and ultimately, modern air combat.

I have watched many Youtube videos by very skilled pilots and there is not one video I agree with completely as each one has different preferences on their ultimate jet build layout. I also don’t expect that everyone agrees with my views either. Instead I have managed to learn how to use most of the weapons and would customise my build almost every round depending on who I am up against. Some say the rocket pods are useless, but a fellow mate in our community taught me otherwise. This mate rarely ends of a round where his K/D ratio is anything less than 3.0 when fighting with rocket pods.

Earlier I have mentioned that the machine gun you start off with could be you most ultimate weapon, let me explain. Once you are a skilled pilot, you will be capable of placing and maintaining your position behind an enemy Jet. With heat seeking rockets disabled, the enemy will not know of your presence unless you were spotted earlier by anyone else or if your enemy uses radar. This allows you to get your aim steady and gun the enemy down before they even have time to respond to initiate evasive manoeuvres. This is what I refer to as stealth combat and will leave your enemy very discouraged if killed like this a few times in a round.

There are still many factors of flight combat that I have not touched or mentioned in this article, and I will leave that for you to discover yourself, but with the few pointers I have highlighted in this article, you should be able to master them yourself and build your own skills to either evade and/or eliminate any threats. These can be anything from how to use air radar, beam scanning, ecm jammers guided missiles and much more.

I hope that this advice will help some discouraged aviators find their wings and pursue their Jet career with their own built skills.

May the Fridge be with you!

FridgeWheeL