Mig-15 Cockpit Photo now available here

Mig Alley Multiplayer Guide

Strategy for the Spring Offensive

The USAF found itself fighting right up in the north of Korea, very close to the Chinese border. This put it in a very disadvantageous position, as it was fighting at the Sabres' outer range limit and over enemy territory.

We are not about to do this. We will concentrate on targets close to the front line - hitting enemy supply depots and bridges to encourage a swift advance by U.N. ground forces. We aim to capture the enemy forward airbases within a week and then relocate our squadrons from their bases in the south.

Worthwhile targets for the first few days are:

• Wonju Supply Depot
• Pyontaek Supply Depot
• Suweon Supply Depot
• Yangyang Supply Dump
• Inje Road Bridge
• Seoul Marshalling Yards
• Close Air Support

The amount of Air Cover I send depends on the Mig threat and what I know of the current location of the Mig bases. I may add a BARCAP wave before the strike force to mix it up with the Migs and keep them occupied so the bombers can do their work.

I never send a Flak suppression flight. If there is a heavy flak environment why send more targets into it? The only concession I might make would be to replace F-51s with faster jet bombers to increase their chances of survival.

The aim is to allow the U.N. ground forces to creep slowly north by preventing the Reds from getting their supplies to the front.  It is no good hitting a high activity, high capacity target deep in the enemy rear - we won't affect the front much and we will lose a lot of aircraft.

Essentially the problem is that we will be hitting targets unprotected by the Migs. This can lead to boredom. However you are vastly outnumbered and given that the Reds can rotate a new squadron into the "University" any time they want we are not going to win by trying to clear the North Korean skies of Migs.

Sooner or later inexperienced commanders will be tempted to send a big strike against a major Mig base. It really isn't worth it. The best way to defeat the Red airforces is for our ground forces to capture the airbases or to get close enough for their status to be listed as "Contended" - no base commander wants artillery rounds falling on his flightline. Trying to pound them with the same heavy bombers the Migs were designed to kill is not the way to win.

The strategy is unglamourous - but it works. Creep forwards bombing the closest unprotected supply dumps, marshalling yards and bridges. And don't lose patience and throw it all away. There is enough work to be done for any pilot - Close Air Support, bridge bombing in the F-84E and escorts in the Sabre.
 
 

Extracts from "The F-86 v The MiG-15" by Sq.Ldr. W. Harbison RAF, 1952.
 

Tactics
 

• Your wingman is better than in any other flight sim I can think of. He will stay close to you and watch and, if necessary, clear your six. If he gets free he will find you and join up again. You can ask him to confirm your six is clear by pressing C. He should come back and tell you that you are clear. He may tell you that someone is behind you or you may just hear static. In this case your wingman is either dead or engaged in his own dogfight and is unable to see you.
• If you are on a Mig and want to check you are clear, don't use the keypad as this will break your padlock view. Simply press END to look behind you and when you release the key you will return to the padlocked view.
• Damage is area specific and the most vulnerable areas of your opponent are the cockpit and engine areas. You can kill him by just hitting the wings but it takes an awful lot longer and wastes ammunition. Get close enough to aim properly.
• The AI Migs are no good at very low level flight. OK, so it doesn't give you enough time to pull out of a spin yourself, but if you have a whole flight on your tail then drag them down low and a few may have unintentional violations of the air/ground interface (crash). 50% of UN losses in Korea were due to causes other than enemy action, so try to encourage your opponents to balance the statistics.
• The AI Mig pilot will also attempt to keep his energy as high as possible and many seem unwilling to drop below 220 knots. At this point they may extend to pick up speed again and you may be able to get behind them.
• If you have too many Migs on your tail and your wingman is nowhere in sight you may be forced to put your aircraft into a spin to lose them. This is a desperate tactic indeed - you make an easy target, you lose speed and if you don't have the altitude you can crash. But when nothing else works it's worth a try, as the Migs often overshoot.
• In a turning fight consider the use of flaps. Without them I was finding it very difficult to beat the AI Mig 15 on the Ace setting during the One on One Single Mission. I also thought that the sudden pitch up of the target Mig when I hit him was a bug. It wasn't - he had applied flaps. Use flaps in diving turns to get behind your target or to get out of a pursuer's gunsight. It makes all the difference between being out-turned and getting behind the Mig.
• Be wary of the Mig in a turning fight who suddenly levels out. You are very hard to hit while you are turning as your opponent has low muzzle velocity weapons and finds it hard to pull a lead turn for the shot. But as you follow your "easy" target out of a turn and into level flight you are setting yourself up for a Mig behind you. In a non-deflection shot a short burst from the Mig will rip your wings off. Check six.
• If you have been holed in one wing be aware that the wing will produce less lift. This means that you will turn slower if it is the outer wing in a turn and you will stall/spin at much higher speeds if it is the inside wing in a turn. In a slow turning fight it is generally best to turn "away" from the damaged wing, i.e. to the right if your left wing is damaged.
• If you are in a big furball it is seldom best to follow each Mig down to the kill. It is much better to seriously damage a Mig then move on to the next target. Smoking Migs and those losing fuel can pretty much be left to mop up at the end - otherwise the time you waste putting those last rounds into the target and the time you take climbing back to combat altitude may be the time it takes for the other Migs to gain the upper hand over your team mates.
• Remember that when turning at low level your wingman, if he is with you, may not be able to make the turn with you. If he is behind you, try not to go below 300 feet.
• Be aware that Migs can be camouflaged. So far I have seen the aluminium variety, the brown top/light blue underbelly and a green top, a natty white number with a red tail and, right at the end of the campaign, a bright crimson squadron. The brown and green ones can be hard to see when they get under you, so follow the padlock and manoeuvre so they are silhouetted against the sky.
• Some Migs will react very capably when you overshoot - I have overshot a smoking Mig only to have him blow me to bits at close range with his cannon. If you overshoot turn sharply at once.
• When bombing a bridge fly along it. This means you will have to worry much less about the fall line of the bombs. As long as you are not left or right you should hit one of the spans. AI pilots can attack "across" the bridge and often fail to hit it at all.

• The F8 view (Gun Cross) is the easiest for bombing or firing rockets.
• Flying Close Air Support (CAS): When you click on the Front Line Markers (orange) and find that either UN or Communists are attacking, simply click on Authorise. Then choose the Close Air Support mission. Fly the Mustang and follow the FAC to the target area. Either let him mark the target with smoke (works erratically) or use Padlock F3 to find and attack the targets. When you have dealt with them ask the FAC for more targets. I have hit infantry and artillery this way.
• Even without the FAC you can order your flight to attack ground targets using FAC commands 1 and 6 (Begin Your Run & Leave the Area).

Most of these settings refer to the GAME page of the preferences section. I find that using them increases my enjoyment of the game as well as the skill required to shoot down a Mig.

• Set the Target Size to low. This means it becomes harder to hit the target aircraft, so you spend more time getting into the right position. This is dangerous, of course, but it means you learn to dogfight much better
• Set the turbulence to on - this means that when you cross the tail of an enemy jet you get a bumpy ride. It is fun and increases the immersion.
• Set the enemy to maximum skill of course.
• Set the gunsight to realistic radar.
• Don't reload using the cheat. Make your shots count then bug out. Realistic and challenging.
• It isn't clear in the manual, but CONTROL and the keypad (grey) +/- keys will change your field of view. I go fully zoomed out for maximum SA.
• In the 3D map, pressing CONTROL M will show you the location of the enemy flights. It's a cheat, sure, but it saves so much time.