Planes Battlefield 1 Guide

Last update: 13 December 2016

Piloting planes is much more difficult than driving a tank. You need many hours to become confident in aerial combat. The versions of planes are meant for specific purposes, e.g. destroying bombers or planes. There are no worse or better variants to point out here.

Aerial combat

Fighters are responsible for keeping control over the skies. They are the fastest, most manoeuvrable and possess equipment specialized to destroy other planes. Attack planes have armaments which are only effective when attacking bombers, but when a fighter attacks, the pilot can only count on his gunner and other players. Similarly, the pilot of a bomber is also powerless in such a situation.

Fighter

Fighter duels will often revolve around dogfighting, where the two pilots will keep manoeuvring until one of them catches the enemy's back. If you are playing on a PC, go to the settings and bind "throttle up" to one of the buttons on the keyboard. Constantly dragging the mouse around the screen is very uncomfortable and ineffective.

The basic idea of dogfighting is to constantly make loops with your aircraft. If the fight begins after the planes pass each other, then the chances are even. Most of the time one plane is already behind the other, who has to lose the attacker. You will need to press the "throttle up" button practically all the time and only change the direction of flight. This way you will make a loop. They can be divided into vertical and horizontal. Concerning vertical loops, never perform them by going up, as gravity will slow you down and make your plane an easy target. While loops performed downwards are very useful in escape scenarios, as they will make you gain a lot of speed. Remember, that to make a downwards loop you need to have a sufficiently high altitude. While doing horizontal loops slow down your plane. This will make it go in a much tighter arc, allowing you to get behind the enemy's back.

When you attack a heavier plane with a fighter, do not try to get on his back, as you would in the case of another fighter. The best method of attacking bombers and attack planes is to hit and run. Fly up to a high altitude, gain a lot of speed and attack the enemy, then fly away in another direction. If you are both on the same altitude, try to attack the plane from such a direction, that the gunner will be unable to shoot back at you.

Attack plane

Attack planes are available in three variants: ground support, tank hunter and airship buster. Apart from the variant specific equipment (bombs and rockets), each of them is fielded with a powerful cannon, but the velocity of bullets, fire rate and time to overheat are not its strong sides. Due to these drawbacks, the attack plane is only effective when dealing with other heavy planes or very weak fighter pilots. The bombs available for this type of plane are its strongest side. If your team has air superiority, you can start bombing targets on the ground without any issues.

There are two seats in the attack plane. Apart from the pilot, the plane also has a gunner in the back, who has a LMG at his disposal. It is extremely effective when dealing with attacking fighters. The attack plane can be successfully flown without a gunner, but only in a situation where a teammate is flying a fighter, or the enemy team is neglecting air combat.

Bomber

Bombers can fit up to three players. The pilot has deadly bombs at his disposal, the front gunner operates a cannon, and the soldier in the back has access to a LMG. The flaws of the bomber lie within its size and low speed, which make it a very easy target for the enemy team. As the pilot, try to fly at least 100 meters above the ground. This will reduce the effectiveness of the bombs you drop, but you plane will be more difficult to hit with stationary AA weaponry.

Combat against other planes is mostly handled by the front and back gunners. If you are using the cannon, remember to aim slightly in front of the plane, and not at the plane. Fire in bursts and do not overheat the cannon.

Tips

Adjust the variant and version of the plane to the situation on the map. Before each respawn you can change the plane you fly. If the enemy team has players who know how to fly well, take a fighter equipped to destroy bombers. If once in a while an enemy plane shows up, use the fighter with explosive darts, but if you control the air space, use an attack plane or a bomber.

In the beginning of the game you have to locate enemy AA gun emplacements. They are usually placed in the far reaches of the map and near the bases of each team. Avoid these places if the enemy has control over them. Remember, that the maximum effective range of these cannons is 500 meters. If your allies capture a point defended by AA guns, then you can use that to your advantage and fly to that location with an enemy plane on your back, relying on a teammate to man the emplacement and shoot the enemy plane down.

Fly using the third person perspective. You can see much more of the area around you this way. Use the cockpit camera to aim and to look around freely. Always mark the targets you spot. This will help you if you lose sight of an enemy plane, as it will give your teammates a chance to destroy it, and you will be additionally rewarded points for spotting the target.

If you are flying alone in an attack plane or a bomber, you can change your seat to a gunner position, if an enemy fighter is attacking you. This is a risky strategy, but it could be the best thing to do in such a situation.

In the graphics settings set "mesh quality" to ultra. It does not affect the graphics card too much, and will be of major help when marking enemies on very large distances.