Enduring Confrontation

Enduring Confrontation (also known as "EC") is a separate game mode for aircraft in War Thunder. Unlike in traditional random battles, this mode allows you to join a battle at any time. You also have unlimited respawns, subject to certain rules. In EC, the emphasis is on the players’ ability to influence the situation on the battlefield.

Battles in EC occur as Events, so you can find this mode in the "Events and Tournaments" section underneath the "To Battle" button. EC is the primary game mode for aircraft in Simulator Battles, and a simplified version of it in Arcade Battles is the only separate game mode for helicopters. To join a battle in Enduring Confrontation, you can either wait in the general queue as you would in random battles, or call up a list of active rooms (ongoing battles) sorted by country and rank and, if there are available spots on a team, join your preferred side in that room. You can call up a list of rooms by pressing the button of the same name.

Main differences between Enduring Confrontation and random battles:

• Battles are longer. Every battle lasts up to 3 hours, ending earlier if one of the teams meets the conditions for winning. You don’t have to participate in the entire battle from beginning to end. Players can leave the battle and come back to it whenever they want (as long as there are free spots on their team), but you can’t change teams nor vehicle sets during a battle.
• In EC, players have more opportunities to alter the situation on the battlefield both directly and indirectly, and the distribution of power across both teams can change several times depending on the success of the players on one side or the other.

• There are various mechanics that are unique to EC, such as the front line and modular airfields.

Ranks in Enduring Confrontation

Every two days, a BR range set of 10 new ranges will be cyclically changed both for random battles and the room list in the lobby. The switching will be sequential between four sets of Battle Ratings:

	1.0	.3	.7	2.0	.3	.7	3.0	.3	.7	4.0	.3	.7	5.0	.3	.7	6.0	.3	.7	7.0	.3	.7	8.0	.3	.7	9.0	.3	.7	10.0	.3	.7	11.0	.3	.7	12.0	.3	.7	13.0	.3	.7
1	EC1				EC2					EC3				EC4				EC5				EC6				EC7				EC8				EC9				EC10
2	EC1				EC2				EC3				EC4				EC5				EC6				EC7				EC8				EC9				EC10
3	EC1			EC2				EC3				EC4				EC5				EC6				EC7				EC8				EC9			EC10			EC11
4	EC1			EC2			EC3				EC4				EC5				EC6				EC7				EC8				EC9			EC10			EC11

The current BR range is displayed in the events tab in game.

New Aircraft Security Deposit

In Enduring Confrontation you are not charged any funds to repair lost vehicles, but you do pay a security deposit in Silver Lions (SL) for each new aircraft you use in battle. The security deposit is charged the moment you press the "To Battle" button. If you keep your aircraft in one piece, perform a decent landing on an airfield, and get out of the aircraft, you won’t have to pay a security deposit next time you take off in that aircraft – you’ve already paid it. However, if you lose an aircraft, you’ll have to make another security deposit next time you take off in it. Security deposits are not refunded at the end of the match.

Requirements and Recommendations for Building Vehicle Sets

We recommend including aircraft of various types in a set (fighters, strike aircraft, bombers) in order to increase your tactical flexibility and allow you to withstand enemy aircraft and ground vehicles on the front line over the course of the battle, as well as for performing bombing runs against enemy bases and airfields. The mission will spawn ground units like pillboxes against which it is the best rockets, there are also carriers and ground bases which require bombs in order to cause any damage. A plane with good climb rate and armament like cannons should also be included to be able to intercept AI planes like attackers or bombers.

Conditions for Winning and Losing

To win a battle, a team must fulfill one of the following conditions:

1. Earn 150,000 victory points. The victory points for both teams are always displayed in the lower left corner of the screen when you are in the cockpit. Teams are awarded victory points for completing mission objectives and, to a lesser extent, for destroying enemy vehicles.

1. Destroy the airstrips, hangars, of all the enemy’s airfields. You can read more about airfield zones in the "Modular Airfields" section.
2. Victory is automatically awarded to the team that has earned the most victory points when the time limit for the battle ends (the limit for all battles in 3 hours).

Mission Objectives, Explicit and Hidden

As in other game modes, there are special mission objectives in EC for which a team can earn victory points. They can be divided into "explicit" and "hidden" objectives. The difference is that explicit objectives are displayed in the list of current objectives on the map during battle, and hidden objectives are not (this is done in order to save space on the list and not fill it up with obvious objectives). In other words, hidden objectives are always in effect, so they aren’t listed on the objectives list, although they are still assumed to be there. Victory points are awarded for completing both explicit and hidden objectives.

Hidden objectives:

• Earn 150,000 points to win the battle.
• Find an enemy airfield – at the beginning of the battle, when the location of the enemy’s airfields is still unknown.
• Destroy the enemy airfield in a certain sector.
• Help win a skirmish in a certain sector – you can participate in destroying enemy ground vehicles in an active ground skirmish where one side is attacking, and the other is defending. There can be multiple active skirmishes at the same time in various sectors of the map (or even in the same sector, but in different directions). The attacking side in a skirmish is shown as an arrow on the map. The blue arrow is the allies’ attack, and the red arrow is the enemies’. The direction of the attack determines the kind of ground vehicles that will be used: the attacking side’s ground forces are represented by tanks and Howitzers, and the defending side is represented by light pillboxes and Howitzers.

Explicit objectives:

• Cover/destroy the allied/enemy spotter in a certain sector – this is a single AI aircraft that comes in from the allied team’s rear and flies around for a while above the enemy team’s territory at a certain altitude depending on battle rank. Its presence in the air makes it possible to discover objectives at greater distances.
• Cover/destroy the allied/enemy bombers/attack aircraft in a certain sector – this is a group of AI aircraft made up of 6 bombers or 9 attack aircraft covered by 2 AI fighters. The group comes in at a certain altitude from the allied team’s rear in order to complete a certain objective. The bombers’ target is always the enemy team’s base, and the attack aircraft’s target is the last active ground skirmish.
• Cover/destroy the allied/enemy vehicle column in a certain sector – this is a column of AI ground vehicles made up of tanks, trucks, and mobile AA guns. It advances from the allied team’s rear toward the front line. When it reaches its target sector, it increases the military presence of the allied team to the maximum in that sector. This leads to the generation of a land skirmish in which the attacking side is the team to which the column belongs. There can be up to 3 active convoys per team.
• Achieve air supremacy in a certain sector – capture an air sector that is adjacent to the front line. It is marked with a little circle with the letter A in the middle of one of the sectors on the map. The sector’s area fully corresponds to the sector on the map, and the air sector’s altitude is 6,000 metres. Only player-controlled aircraft count toward capture – AI vehicles don’t count. A limited amount of time is allotted to capture the sector. If one of the teams captures the sector, a land skirmish will be generated either in this sector or in one adjacent to it. The attacking side will be the team that achieved air supremacy.
• Destroy the enemy base in a certain sector – bomb the enemy base in the indicated sector. The base’s durability depends on the battle rank.
• Locate the enemy carrier - at the beginning of the battle, when the location of the enemy’s carrier is still unknown, available only on a few maps like Sicily or Tunisia.
• Destroy the enemy carrier - one carrier unit escorted by a few destroyers, all of them are moving, to be completed only the carrier unit needs to be destroyed, damaging or sinking destroyers does not do anything.

Discovering Objectives

In addition to the fact that mission objectives are conditionally divided into explicit and hidden, certain objectives need to be discovered in order to appear and become completable. Objectives will be discovered if an allied vehicle (either AI or player-controlled) finds itself next to them within a certain range, although players have a larger detection range than AI units do. The presence in the air of an allied spotter increases the detection range for both players and AI vehicles. Once an explicit objective has been discovered, all players on the team receive an on-screen notification, and the corresponding objective is added to the list of active objectives in the map window.

If a mission objective is discovered by players, the team is rewarded with a certain number of victory points (usually about 20% of the reward for completing the objective in question).

Map Window and Map

The map window is an essential helper to all players in Enduring Confrontation and provides a lot of useful information. The following information is displayed in the map window at all times:

• The current mission and location, as well as the time remaining until the end of the battle (in the upper left corner).
• Information on the vehicle set being used in the battle, including the status of aircraft, the cost to take off in each aircraft, and your current SP and SL.
• Current aircraft settings (these can be changed at an airfield prior to takeoff), including weapon loadout, equipped ammo belts, camouflage, frontal armament convergence, explosive delay, and remaining fuel.
• A list of active mission objectives.
• The chat window/battle log.
• The mission map.

The map of every EC location is divided into grid sectors of a fixed size:

• In EC missions with a map size of 64 x 64 km, the size of a map grid sector is 8,192 x 8,192 metres.
• In EC missions on location "Dover", the size of a map grid sector is 12,288 x 12,288 metres.
• In EC missions on location "Denmark", "Sinai", "Afghanistan", "Spain" and "Vietnam", the size of a map grid sector is 16,384 x 16,384 metres.

The map itself displays the following information in real time:

• Your current location and flight direction.
• The state of the front line.
• The location and status of discovered airfields. Your team’s airfields are always displayed, but you have to discover the other team’s airfields first.
• The location and integrity of bases that are currently active (if there are any).
• Air supremacy sector and status (if such an objective is active).
• The location of ground convoys that are currently active (if there are any).
• The location of ground skirmishes that are currently active (if there are any). The directions of attacks are shown as arrows, and allied and enemy ground vehicles are shown as markers.

Front Line

The front line is one of the unique game mechanics found in Enduring Confrontation missions. The front line extends along the borders of adjacent sectors of the map and unambiguously defines the side to which they belong. At the beginning of every battle the front line extends along the borders of the middle sectors of the map, but as the battle progresses, it shifts to one side or the other. Changes to the front line occur as a result of ground skirmishes fought by AI vehicles – a successful attack gives control over the current sector to the attacking side and moves the front line accordingly. Players can affect the outcome of ground skirmishes (and thus change the front line) by destroying the AI ground vehicles that are participating in them. If neither team interferes in a ground skirmish, it depends on the AI units who wins it, they can damage each other, also the ground battle can be attacked by the formation of AI attacker planes.

Influencing the front line during a battle: if, as the result of a shift in the front line, an airfield ends up within territory controlled by the enemy team, this airfield will cease to function. If, due to another shift in the front line, this airfield ends up back within allied territory, it will start working again.

You can read more about the front line in this Devblog.

Airfields and their Modules

All aircraft in EC spawn on airfields and return to them to reload and repair. Since battles in EC last a significant amount of time, airfields are a crucial strategic target – they directly affect the course of the battle.

In EC missions, airfields are distributed randomly on the map – when every new battle is generated, the server chooses depending on the map up to five potential airfield locations for each side. At the beginning of the battle, each team knows the location of their own airfields (they are displayed on the map), but they do not know the location of the enemy’s airfields. Enemy airfields can be discovered visually by being in the air at a sufficient altitude, but in order to get an airfield detected in this manner to appear on the map, you need to fly close enough to it (within a range of a few kilometres – altitude doesn’t matter). Just like other targets, airfields can be discovered by AI vehicles.

You can always see the status of allied and enemy airfields on the map. Additionally, the detection status and overall integrity of airfields are displayed in the top middle part of the screen, above the bar with the double victory point indicator – look for the circles above the inner edge of the corresponding indicator. Blue circles represent the status of allied airfields, and red ones represent the status of enemy airfields. The number of circles shows how many of a given team’s airfields have been discovered by the enemy. The degree to which they are colored in represents their integrity. By the same token, the number of blue circles shows how many allied airfields have been discovered by the enemy, and the number of red ones shows how many enemy airfields your allies have found. If there are no circles on one side or the other, this means that none of that team’s airfields have been discovered by the enemy yet.

Every airfield is defended by ten anti-aircraft ground units, they spawn around the airfield and consist of three different types, short, medium, long range AAA units and units equipped with the ground-to-air missiles in high tier battles (EC6+). All those mentioned unit types respawn after certain amount of time when they are destroyed. The other type of units that defends them are two fighter planes circling above them, they attack every unit that gets close to the airfield and disengage when that attacking plane gets too far away from it. Those planes are being respawned after being destroyed and sometimes land on the airfield to refuel and rearm itself.

The airfields themselves have a modular structure in EC, i.e. they are heterogeneous. This is yet another unique feature of this mode. Every airfield represents a set of four modules, or damageable functional zones of varying size, configuration, and appearance. They include the airstrip, fuel warehouses, parking area (also the aircraft repair area), and the living quarters (this is where the crew is located). Each of these zones performs its own unique function, has its own level of durability, and does not intersect with the areas of the other zones. The durability of all modules depends on the rank of the EC mission, increasing from lower ranks to higher ones. A zone can only be damaged or destroyed if it is hit by a bomb within its own area. Bombs that miss zones or hit destroyed zones do not count. Damaged zones are repaired over time. The speed at which they are repaired depends on the condition of the living quarters.

Thanks to this mechanic, airfields cannot be completely destroyed during EC missions. It is only possible to temporarily disable their functionality – unlike in other aircraft game modes. However, destroying the airstrip and living quarters of all of a team’s airfields prevents the players on that team from bringing new aircraft into the battle and thus automatically leads to defeat.

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  Simulator Enduring Confrontation Airfield Damage Indicator in EC1-5 battles.
• 

  Simulator Enduring Confrontation Airfield Modules in EC1-5 battles.




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  Simulator Enduring Confrontation Airfield Modules in EC6-7 battles.
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  Alternate view of Jet-tier Dynamic Airfields. Shows the module location as it appears on the in-game map.

You can read more about airfield modules and their functions in this Devblog.

Additional information

Amount of bombs required to destroy bases in Enduring Confrontation for planes

Bomb type / USA	BR 1.0 - 2.0	BR 2.3 - 3.3	BR 3.7 - 4.7	BR 5.0 - 6.3	BR 6.7 - 7.7	BR 8.0+
100 lb AN-M30A1	4	6	9	14	19	22
250 lb AN-M57	3	4	6	9	12	14
250 lb LDGP Mk 81	3	4	6	9	12	14
300 lb H.E. M31	3	4	6	9	12	14
500 lb AN-M64A1	2	2	3	5	7	8
500 lb LDGP Mk 82	2	3	4	6	9	10
600 lb H.E. M32	2	2	4	5	7	8
750 lb M117 cone 45	1	2	3	4	6	7
750 lb M117 cone 90	1	2	3	4	6	7
1,000 lb AN-M65A1	1	1	2	3	4	5
1,000 lb AN-M65A1 Fin M129	1	1	2	3	4	5
1,000 lb LDGP Mk 83	1	2	2	4	5	5
1,000 lb Mk 13 Mod 0 Mine	1	1	1	2	2	3
1,600 lb AN-Mk 1	2	3	5	7	10	11
2,000 lb AN-M66A2 -	1	1	1	2	2	3
2,000 lb LDGP Mk 84	1	1	1	2	2	3
2,000 lb GBU-8*	1	1	1	2	2	3
2,000 lb GBU-15(V)1/B*	1	1	1	2	2	3
3,000 lb M118	1	1	1	1	2	2
4,000 lb AN-M56	1	1	1	1	1	2
MK 77 Mod 4 incendiary	1	1	2	3	4	4
MK 79 incendiary	1	1	2	3	4	4
BLU-1 incendiary	1	1	2	3	3	4
BLU-27/B incendiary	1	1	2	3	3	4

Bomb type / Germany	BR 1.0 - 2.0	BR 2.3 - 3.3	BR 3.7 - 4.7	BR 5.0 - 6.3	BR 6.7 - 7.7	BR 8.0+
10 kg SD10C	15	22	36	57	78	91
50 kg SC50JA	4	5	9	14	18	22
250 kg SC250JA	2	3	4	6	8	10
250 kg C250 Incendiary	1	1	2	3	4	4
500 kg PC500	2	3	5	8	11	13
500 kg C500 Incendiary	1	1	2	3	4	4
500 kg SC500K	1	2	3	4	5	6
1,000 kg SC1000L2	1	1	1	2	2	3
1,400 kg PC 1400 X (Fritz X)	1	1	2	3	4	5
1,600 kg PC1600	1	2	2	3	4	5
1,800 kg SC1800B	1	1	1	1	2	2
2,500 kg SC2500	1	1	1	1	1	1

Bomb type / USSR	BR 1.0 - 2.0	BR 2.3 - 3.3	BR 3.7 - 4.7	BR 5.0 - 6.3	BR 6.7 - 7.7	BR 8.0+
25 kg AO-25M-1	10	15	25	40	55	65
50 kg FAB-50sv	4	5	8	13	18	21
100 kg FAB-100sv	3	4	7	11	15	17
100 kg FAB-100M43	3	4	7	11	15	17
100 kg OFAB-100	3	4	7	10	14	17
250 kg FAB-250sv	2	3	4	6	8	10
250 kg FAB-250M-44	2	3	4	6	8	10
250 kg FAB-250M-46	2	3	4	6	8	10
250 kg FAB-250M-62	2	2	3	5	7	8
250 kg OFAB-250sv	2	3	5	7	10	11
500 kg FAB-500sv	1	1	2	3	4	4
500 kg FAB-500M-44	1	1	3	3	4	4
500 kg FAB-500M-46	1	1	2	3	4	4
500 kg FAB-500M-54	2	2	3	5	6	7
500 kg FAB-500M-62	1	1	2	3	4	4
500 kg KAB-500Kr*
500 kg KAB-500L*
1,000 kg FAB-1000	1	1	1	2	3	3
1,000 kg FAB-1000M-44	1	1	1	2	3	3
1,500 kg FAB-1500M-46	1	1	1	2	2	3
3,000 kg FAB-3000M-46	1	1	1	1	1	2
5,000 kg FAB-5000	1	1	1	1	1	1
ZB-360 incendiary	1	1	2	2	3	4
ZB-500 incendiary	1	1	2	2	3	4

Bomb type / UK	BR 1.0 - 2.0	BR 2.3 - 3.3	BR 3.7 - 4.7	BR 5.0 - 6.3	BR 6.7 - 7.7	BR 8.0+
250 lb G.P. Mk.IV	3	5	8	12	16	19
500 lb G.P. Mk.IV	3	4	6	9	12	14
500 lb H.E. M.C. Mk.II	3	4	6	9	12	14
540 lb Mk.M2	2	2	4	5	7	9
1,000 lb G.P. Mk.I	1	2	2	3	4	5
1,000 lb M.C. Mk.I	1	2	2	3	4	5
1,000 lb L.D H.E. M.C. Mk.1	1	1	2	3	4	4
1,000 lb H.E. M.C. Mk.13	1	2	2	3	4	5
546 kg Mk.13*	1	2	2	3	4	5
4,000 lb H.C. Mk.II	1	1	1	1	2	2
8,000 lb H.C. Mk.II	1	1	1	1	1	1
12,000 lb H.C. Mk.I	1	1	1	1	1	1

Bomb type / France	BR 1.0 - 2.0	BR 2.3 - 3.3	BR 3.7 - 4.7	BR 5.0 - 6.3	BR 6.7 - 7.7	BR 8.0+
50 kg D.T. No.2
50 kg G.A. MMN. 50	4	5	8	13	18	21
50 kg Type 61C
100 kg No.1	3	4	6	9	13	15
200 kg No.1	2	3	5	7	10	11
250 kg Matra 25E
250 kg SAMP Type 25	2	3	4	6	8	10
250 kg SAMP Mk 82	2	3	4	7	9	11
400 kg BGL-400*
400 kg SAMP Type 21	2	2	3	5	7	8
500 kg No.2	1	2	3	4	5	6
500 kg SAMP Mk 83	1	2	3	4	5	6
970 kg BGL-1000*
1,000 kg SAMP Mk 84

Bomb type / Sweden	BR 1.0 - 2.0	BR 2.3 - 3.3	BR 3.7 - 4.7	BR 5.0 - 6.3	BR 6.7 - 7.7	BR 8.0+
mb m/37AT	4	5	8	13	18	21
sb m/42	8	12	20	31	42	50
sb m/47	8	11	19	29	40	47
Model 1938 (50 kg)	4	5	8	13	18	21
Model 1938 (100 kg)	3	4	7	11	15	17
sb m/61	3	4	7	10	14	16
m/71
mb m/40	2	3	4	7	9	11
mb m/50	1	2	3	4	6	7
mb m/41	1	2	3	4	6	6
mb m/56	1	2	2	3	4	5
mb m/50 (600 kg)	1	1	1	2	3	3
Brandbomb m/58 (incendiary)	1	1	2	3	4	4

Bomb type / Israel	BR 1.0 - 2.0	BR 2.3 - 3.3	BR 3.7 - 4.7	BR 5.0 - 6.3	BR 6.7 - 7.7	BR 8.0+
Mk.2 (incendiary)	1	1	2	3	4	4
SD50	6	9	15	23	32	38
SD70	5	7	11	17	23	27
100/50 kg G.P.	2	3	5	8	11	13
250/50 kg G.P.	2	2	4	5	7	9
360/50 kg G.P.	1	2	3	4	6	7
500/50 kg G.P.	1	1	2	3	4	4

Bomb type / China	BR 1.0 - 2.0	BR 2.3 - 3.3	BR 3.7 - 4.7	BR 5.0 - 6.3	BR 6.7 - 7.7	BR 8.0+
Type 250-2	2	3	5	7	10	12
Type 250-3	2	3	5	7	10	12
Type 500-3	1	2	3	4	6	7
Type 500-4	1	1	2	3	4	4

List of available maps in Enduring Confrontation

Map	Size	Sector size	Has naval units	Bases
Afghanistan	128 x 128 km	16,384 x 16,384 m	No	5
Bulge	64 x 64 km	8,192 x 8,192 m	No	2
Denmark	128 x 128 km	16,384 x 16,384 m	Yes	5
Dover Strait	86 x 86 km	12,288 x 12,288 m	Yes	2
Khalkhin Gol	64 x 64 km	8,192 x 8,192 m	No	2
Korsun	64 x 64 km	8,192 x 8,192 m	No	2
Kursk	64 x 64 km	8,192 x 8,192 m	No	3
Maginot Line	64 x 64 km	8,192 x 8,192 m	No	5
Port Moresby	64 x 64 km	8,192 x 8,192 m	Yes	2
Rocky Canyon	128 x 128 km	16,384 x 16,384 m	No	5
Ruhr	64 x 64 km	8,192 x 8,192 m	No	2
Sicily	64 x 64 km	8,192 x 8,192 m	Yes	5
Sinai	128 x 128 km	16,384 x 16,384 m	No	5
Smolensk	128 x 128 km	16,384 x 16,384 m	No	5
Spain	128 x 128 km	16,384 x 16,384 m	No	5
Stalingrad	64 x 64 km	8,192 x 8,192 m	No	2
Tunisia	64 x 64 km	8,192 x 8,192 m	Yes	2
Vietnam	128 x 128 km	16,384 x 16,384 m	No	2
Winter Stalingrad	64 x 64 km	8,192 x 8,192 m	No	2
Zhengzhou	64 x 64 km	8,192 x 8,192 m	No	5
Zhengzhou (1946)	64 x 64 km	8,192 x 8,192 m	No	5

Communications

Unlike Air Arcade and Realistic battles sim players have a very limited overview of where their allies and enemies are. If you sit on the runway and watch a friendly plane take off you'll see that their name tag disappears when they get 900m away. Identifying friend from foe at great distances can be a challenge but there are several ways that players have adopted to help with this.

Call outs

New players to EC might be confused why there is a stream of friendly call outs for players to 'follow me'. This is simply the defacto method of communicating your location. Use the 'Radio messages for team' wheel to select T + 4 + 1 and you'll ping your position on the map for a few seconds and put your grid and altitude in the chat box. Use the common controls and add this to a hotkey since you will need to use it regularly. Players commonly use it as a method of 'pinging' each other. If you see a nearby plane which you are unsure of, you should ping your location. Ideally an ally should see you're close and reply with their own T41. Quickly checking their altitude compared with yours tells you who they are. If they are at 3000m and you see someone on the deck, you have a potential enemy close by and an ally above.

You can also mark the map with a potential target. This lets other allies know that there is something close that is not responding to t41 call outs. If you see another player has marked your approx location with a map mark, reply with a T41. There is nothing more frustrating than chasing a friendly bomber half way across the map while they ignore their team. Some players will vent that frustration by team killing non communicative players... so use your hotkey!

The second hotkey you should have ready is 'air alert' or T61. This gives an audible alert of a planes location by local bearing and altitude. It is not 100% reliable in sim, it should work by pointing your nose at a contact and pressing the hotkey but it often identifies planes in other directions instead. If you and a single ally are on a cap and an enemy approaches it's useful to let them know you have company.

The third hotkey is 'cover me/need backup' or T42. You should only really use this when you're in trouble or over matched. If you are chasing someone or behind an enemy concentrate on killing them instead of calling for help you don't need. If you're in a 2v1, use the hotkey. Someone might be close to help out, but don't spam it on every encounter... other players get tired of racing across the map only to see you dispatch the surveillance aircraft. The one time you should 100% use it is when you die. 95% of the time your allies will appear dead on the kill field after never calling for help or announcing their location. If you want to win games you need to tell your team where the enemies are. So as you spiral towards the ground with no tail, call out for help regardless before bailing from the plane. Allies get your location and altitude and the kill feed then gives your killers plane type. Useful information for revenge attacks.

T41 should be used liberally and often, with one exception. There is no need to use while you're on or near an airfield.

Note : Friendly AI will obviously not respond to call outs, so check objectives before you chase down every plane.

Bomber call outs

In order to efficiently bomb the minibases in game ideally player will state their intentions by first flying towards their target base and then marking it/them on the map followed by marking their location with t41. This call out is NOT a reservation, only a courtesy announcement. A different bomber who is close can and will still bomb that base, but a bomber who is behind you will see where you are heading and that they will be unable to reach the same base before you destroy it, so can now change targets. Experienced players will not complain about team mates bombing 'their bases' but understand that marking a base is not a reservation.

Note: It is generally not needed to announce your intention to attack a ground battle/convoy, since it is unlikely you will kill it in one sortie. Besides, bases are far easier points.

Smoke

Smoke trails can be another useful way of quickly communicating, especially if you're flying in a squad and using discord. It's far easier to spot a long stream of colour coming from an ally than a tiny dot. Player who are actively capping a point can use smoke to help keep track of who is who as they circle the cap, especially if they are all at max altitude (Note : you will stop capping a point if you exceed approx 5,000m). Be aware that enemy players can also quickly figure out where you are, so watch your six!

Note : Smoke can be a useful defensive measure. If you are out of ammunition but being chased closely by an enemy your only option is to retreat to rearm, however a stream of smoke into an enemies windshield can only help to ruin their aim. If you fly between trees and building you can also occasionally get them to crash. If you dive into a ravine or river while dropping your smoke and change direction this can be enough to lose some players.

Target identification : Radar

Planes with radar IFF (Identify Friend or Foe) appear in game at BR 8.3 which makes finding enemies much easier, but you NEED to understand the basics. Player should realise that although radar is very useful it is akin to walking around a dark forest with a flash light. It can help you spot a predator quicker, but also announces your location to anything with eyes. As such it should be used with consideration each time. A player that leave their radar on permanently will quickly suspect the other players are cheating but it's simply a case of the more experienced player using their RWR to track enemies, using ground clutter to avoid detection and catching them unaware.

Note : Standard SRC Radars with IFF show friendly targets as 2 horizontals bars or = on the screen. All other targets, including enemy planes, chaff, bombs, missiles, rockets show as a single horizontal line or - . Read this again, understand it and stop shooting down friendlies.

If a radar doesn't have IFF everything will show as a single horizontal line. Use T41!

Early radars CAN be unreliable, so friendlies may appear as a single line on the first sweep and then turn into a double line on the next sweep. Be aware of this before you fire a hasty shot. If you team kill the penalties are a huge amount of SL and on the second kill you will be permanently removed from the match.

Learn how IFF works before you bring your premium jet into EC!

Target identification : Pre Radar

Sim EC can be frustrating for new players since finding someone to kill can be challenging. You might want to start off doing some low rank bombing runs and getting used to the game mode. Use the call outs, mark planes on the map, land, get shot down and get some rewards. Bombing can be fun but shooting down planes is much better.

Kill Feed :

Watch the kill feed. Players attacking ground targets appear here and you can often find someone attacking a nearby battle. They can often be distracted as they loop over the battle and may not notice you sneak up behind them. If you spawn in and see players have lots of ground unit kills you can guess what they like doing and where they will be. Killed players will often just return to the same spot to finish the battle.

If a player kills a friendly AI bomber you can get their location by checking the objectives list. It will tell you their grid location. Bombers spawn in a group of half a dozen or so, with 2 fighter escorts. If you see another plane flying up behind them you are looking at an enemy 99% of the time. They will circle the map or fly off the edge, so keep an eye on them.

Friendly attackers also fly as a group before diving on battle they're flying towards. Watch for people chasing them.

If 2 planes are circling in the friendly surveillance plane grid 1 will be an enemy.

If you see a player shooting at another player nearby you're watching a dogfight and should head that way. If someone appears on the kill feed when you see an explosion you know who won, and who lost. If you saw your team mate die you have a guaranteed target.

If you see a friendly die on the kill feed, check your six and look around quickly for a burning plane. The enemy that killed him will probably be close.

Caps:

If the cap is turning red you have an obvious target identified but many player don't realise that if you also get on the cap point and the cap circle continues filling in there are 2 or more enemies on the cap with you. Similarly if you're the only player capping and the circle freezes there is ONE enemy with you. If it starts decreasing you now have 2 players to deal with. Watch the circle!

Note : You can join the cap at the last second and gain an easy 200 points. If you wish to gain the max of 600 points you need to remain on the cap for the entire time and have it constantly fill. If an enemy flies across the cap for a short time you won't gain max points. If the cap is only slightly filled you should let it reset to empty and recap for full points. 600 point is 86% max rewards!

Note : solo capping takes 3 minutes.

Player fighters flock to cap points so are always a good spot for fighting!

Friendly AI:

Friendly ships always fire on enemy planes so follow the tracer fire.

Enemy players approaching your airfields will cause the icon to start flashing and the ground defences to open up. If you're nearby you have a distracted enemy.

Ground battles will fire on both teams since they both have SPAA but you can sometimes see tracer fire worth checking out. Convoys are usually single team only, but are best avoided unless you're actively attacking them, so unlikely to reveal an enemy, but it is possible.

Minibases:

Enemy bomber usually head to the nearest minibase, so you should make a mental note of where the bases are and keep checking. If you see 1 get damaged nearby, turn and look for the plane. It might be high up.

If you spot a plane heading from the enemy side directly towards a base you have a 99% chance it will bomb it. Chase it down but DONT follow it too closely when it's bombing... you can get caught in the blast too. Stay low, let him bomb and when he turns for home pop up and shoot the top of his canopy.