P A D L O C K 

A Detalied Explination...

The following explanation of how padlock works was originally posted by SlowHand, and
further edited by me. It is the best and most in-depth explanation of how padlock works I
have found. I can not stress how much the advantage is greater for a pilot (especially the YAK pilot because of all the turn-fights) who can effectively use the Fighter Ace padlock system.

Padlock view, has two main settings, "Enemy Padlock" (EP) or "Friendly Padlock" (FP). ---
Padlock has some *peculiarities* in how it works which take some getting used to. EP and
FP each have 3 commands which control the view, and it is important to learn how these work in order to use padlock effectively. It *is* possible that some of these commands are mapped to your joystick in a way that results in padlock working in a way that you do not quite expect or desire - so double check how your mapping is laid out - but it is quite easy to modify or correct those settings in the FA Joystick configuration menu: in Practice or after you hit "Fly Now" from a lobby, select "Options" from the 1st screen, then "Peripherals>Flight Command Setup> --- then double click with your mouse under the "keyboard" or the "joystick" column on whatever command you'd like to modify ... you'll then be prompted to enter the key or button to which you'd like the command to be mapped.


THE DEFAULT COMMANDS -- KEYBOARD

F4 ........ Activates Enemy Padlock View
Alt-F4 ... Activates Friendly Padlock view
E ......... causes Nearest enemy to be padlocked
W ........ causes nearest teammate to be padlocked
"comma" key ... moves EP or FP from current padlock to "Previous" padlock "period"
key .... moves EP or FP from current to "Next " padlock (This particular function is kind of
useless as 'next' or 'previous' is provided in no particular order...)

** Note that all of these commands may be "mapped" to your joystick/throttle buttons using the procedure I described above. Of course you have to have at least 6 free buttons to map them all separately.


NOTES ON USE:

ACTIVATING PADLOCK WITH F4 or ALT-F4: generally this will always take you back to the last target, enemy or friendly, that you had selected. However, if that target has either been downed or gone out-of-range (i.e. off the map when it is all the way zoomed out), you will lock onto some other target. *USUALLY,* but not always, this will be the "Nearest" target (Enemy or Friendly, depending on what mode you've selected).

PREVIOUS and NEXT commands: this will "cycle" you from the current padlocked target (again, friendly or enemy, depending on what mode you have selected) to other targets. Unfortunately, the "prev" and "next" commands currently do *NOT* cycle through the enemy or friends in order of "closeness" to you, though this is an improvement that is eagerly sought by many FA'ers in some future FA patch --- currently, the order may be alphabetical or the order in which people have recently "joined" the game, whether for the 1st time or by being "reincarnated" after a downing ... or it may be some other "order" that only the FA server (and its Masters) know. Never mind the order for now, just remember that you only get the "closest" friend or enemy for sure by using the "E" and "W" keys *in the appropriate padlock mode.*

CLOSEST ENEMY/FRIEND: if in EP mode, "E" will *always* lock you onto the nearest enemy, though some people have reported problems with this that seem to be either lag- or joystick-related. Likewise, if in FP mode, "W" will lock you onto the nearest teammate. One*IMPORTANT* thing to remember: if after selecting the "nearest enemy" (or activating padlock, F4, onto an enemy you had padlocked previously), that enemy gets downed, then you *MAY* find that you are still tracking that enemy as he/she falls to the ground. If all you care about is tracking the closest enemy, hit "E" and you *will* lock onto a live nearest enemy. If, on the other hand you were tracking some high padlock, beyond visual range, and you wish to see if it's still a "live" padlock, try hitting "prev" and then "next" to see if you come back to that same lock: if you do, it is still "alive."

DOUBLE MAPPING: another problem that I've encountered with friends' joystick set-ups, is when they have "activate EP" and other padlock commands mapped to the same joystick or throttle button. In particular, make sure you have "prev" and "next" separately mapped from "closest" enemy or friend (check using the procedure I discussed above) and, of course, each other. Also, sometimes they have "activate EP" double-mapped to "closest enemy." If you are primarily a deck furballer, this may be OK, but it can cause you to lose padlock on some enemy you are tracking if some other enemy is closer near your beam or rear. Ahhh, but now you've just gotten a clue that you may about to become a target. In any case, be aware of your padlock command layout and any double-mappings.

PRACTICING PADLOCK: the best way to get used to padlock is to mess around in Private Arcade, where results don't count. Try to grab a friend and have them fly around and above and below you out of visual range, and see what happens as you track them. Notice that when they are below you, the edge of the cockpit canopy will block your view, but you'll at least know the relative bearing of that enemy/friend by the direction relative to your 12 O'clock from which you are looking out of your cockpit --- you can then roll your wing tip down and sometimes get an idea of the padlocked target's position and height by seeing when the "fixed" point-of-view "rolls" up over the edge of the cockpit side and comes into view. Another good practice exercise is to get on your friend's six, get into padlock mode and follow him around *without leaving* padlock mode. Have your friend evade with sharp turns, barrel rolls, loops, and other altitude changes. Once you are able to follow someone around without leaving padlock, you are beginning to get the hang of it.