A Great Keyboard & Mouse Keybinding; Ready For All high G turns, easy PSMs, tactical moves!

Sharing a great keybinding for me, I've got S rank in ACE difficulty among all missions in expert control thanks to it (it might just be luck...) It works well because the most useful keys are close to each other, which makes aircraft control very snappy, and I believe it outperforms joystick and controllers unless you are trying combine multiple PSMs, which are very, very poorly supported on keyboard

Game Menu

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High G turns

Just high G turn:
move your middle and ring finger a bit higher from WASD, press `2` & `Q`

High G turn while move camera toward enemy:

• High-profile key-caps (OEM, SA, KAT, Cherry): `2`, `Q` and `F`
  
• Midium/low-profile key-caps (XDA, KAM, DSA, G20, TEA, laptop): `2`, `Q` , `R`, while rebind `F→R`, `R (radar map toggle)→4`

Note: Your key-cap height impacts your keybinding due to comfortableness

High G turn with turning direction control:

• `2`, `Q`, and move mouse to that direction

High G turn, point camera toward enemy, meanwhile turn toward enemy:

• Combine `2`, `Q`, `F`/`F→R` and mouse control

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Note: You'll need this for multiplayer/ACE difficulty

Reverse high G turn:

• Hold `2` & `E`

Note: I use this to align EML/Laser-based/Gun-based weapon at difficult targets in close range, and in close range you don't really need to hold `F` or `R` to lock camera anymore

High-G-pre-turn during high speed (2000+mph):

• Hold `S` & `Q` to brake and turn, then normal high G turn as soon as your speed is lowered to ~1500mph

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Note: It depends, Su-57 can be at 1800mph, FALKEN must be <1500mph

Recover speed to extend high-G turn:

• Before stall, instead of cancel turning, just alternate your left middle finger from holding`2` to hold `W` (throttle)
  
• pick up some speed, then switch back to `2` again

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Note: It's not recommended to equip [ECU Software Update --- anti stall module] to extend your high G turn, because flying slow / straight makes you an easy target including campaign levels. (like tailgating the Arsenal Bird and ignoring 15 drones launching missile non-stop)

Other Functions

Autopilot and look around:
Alt, Z and move mouse around

Switch target during high G turn:
Temporarily release your ring finger from Q and press Tab, or look at "Multiplayer dogfight with PSMs"

No Shift Key

I didn't assign shift key here because it requires me/you to tilt left hand, instead of just moving the finger to press it, but the cost of tilting left hand is changing all other finger's position, plus when I've found that it makes pressing Alt, F, 4 and keys became difficult due to it's distance from them, therefore I don't recommend assign Shift key to any main functions

How to play

The idea is to use keyboard for hard, powerful maneuvers, then use mouse to make lighter adjustments, though you can still turn 180° just by using mouse while kicked on afterburner, and quickly click-and-release keyboard keys to make even lighter adjustments :)

Post Stall Maneuvers

Basic 360° PSM:

• 1. Slow down aircraft to a certain speed, usually <460mph, no angle limitations
  
• 2. Rapidly repeat-clicking "Q, 2, Q, 2, ..."
  
• 3. Hold Q and 2 right when PSM begins
  
• Note: The first few rapid clicks seems to trick the game which increases the availability of PSM to 100%, I was really happy to found out this though
  
• 3. Press W when aircraft speed is below 250mph, make sure aircraft speed is always more than 200mph so this PSM can continue to 360°

Sharp tactical turn (usually at 180°, when there's no missiles behind you):
4A. Turn Left/Right: Spin aircraft at an angle before doing Basic PSM
4B. Terminate PSM at wanted angle: Hold S until PSM stopped, then speed up with W to prevent stall

Advanced PSMs:
4C. Multiple back-flips: Instead of holding W throughout PSM, just repeat step 2 when each back-flip finishes. But I'm not sure how to make it smooth, maybe try step 4D-1 (Bind `Space` to secondary acceleration and hold `Space at some point`)
4D. Backward Retention-Flying: Not sure, but here's an theoretical solution:

• 4D-1. Bind `Space` to the Secondary Acceleration button next to the primary `W`
  
• 4D-2. Slow down aircraft to a certain speed, usually <460mph, no angle limitations
  
• 4D-3. Start the same normal PSM, but this time hold `Q`, `2`, `D` & `Space`, keep drag mouse upward or downward and cast some Belkan witchcrafts explicitly

Dogfight Sharp 180° turn:

• 1. First do high G turns to avoid missile
  
• 2. Make sure aircraft's back is facing low~down
  
• 3. Press S for a short period if speed if your and still too fast
  
• 4. Vegin basic PSM, terminate as 4B (Hold S until PSM stopped, then speed up with W to prevent stall)

Multiplayer dogfight with PSMs

1.Assign button "C", your left thumb as secondary camera focus lock-on

2.In cases that require more advanced PSMs, instead using your index finger from holding F, hold "C" as you are beginning to do more advanced PSMs, usually a dogfight sharp turn. Use mouse to aim at the same time

Note: This requires some practice, but now you have 3 fingers available to pull a PSM

Note: It still brings difficulty when you want to change target by press "TAB", or change radar by pressing "R" while doing all this, I'm trying to figure out a solution, for now, I think you can use "1" and "3" for secondary target selection and radar

Problem with keyboard dogfight

1.According to pro player's video, I've discovered that you have to keep jet engine on full, or half power when dogfighting, that's the key to perform a bunch of PSMs in a row, or begin another PSM right in middle of one.
This means keyboard players would never be able to against any controller player who can do PSMs, unless ACE Combat cares, because keyboard players are not even able to keep holding on W throughout a single PSM, eventhough they can just turn W into a cycle switch
Infact, keyboard & mouse PSMs are so badly supported that some moves are impossible, but I guess that can be done by masking/mapping your keyboard and mouse as a controller, and that might be able to make everything so much easier

Note: People might think "Just use controller then", in that case, you sure can use the controller, but keyboard and mouse is what most people can have, and these people also deserve to have some fun, so I decide to stuck with keyboard control and improvise it

[Antithesis]

Or just get an xbox controller. Come on guys. This game is much better played with a gamepad. Don't be silly.

[Overlord]

Screenshots in the guide are not zoomable. Stema displays error. It is impossible to read hotkeys from the smaller thumbnail :/

[Phenix85]

bit late but the controls I do

W/S: Pitch
A/D: Roll
Q/E: Yaw
Left Click: Accelerate
Right Click: Decelerate
Side mouse button: Focus Target
Space: Missile
C: Gun
Scroll: Change weapon
Tab: change target
F24: Auto Pilot (who uses this?)
F25: Flares (I don't use flares)
R: Radar
C: Freelook

[DefinitelyNotABot]

This setup allows for comfortable PSM fighting that I've spent dozens of hours doing, and easy gameplay with consistent S ranks on all ace difficulty levels. It also translates extremely well to keyboard-only controls if you ever want to play the PS2 Ace Combat games on an emulator.

For a short guide on how to use it, just hold left mouse when in a dogfight and use the other keybinds to shoot the target down. When attempting a PSM, release movements keys for a moment then hold space and press the movement keys you want, followed by applying shift to throw your throttle to full.

[DefinitelyNotABot]

Ey chief, I know this guide is old as hell, but if you're still playing I gotta share a keybinds setup because yours seems rough to play.

Left Hand:
W/S Pitch
A/D Roll
Q/E Yaw
Shift/Ctrl Accelerate/Decelerate
Space Accelerate+Decelerate
Z Autopilot
V Change View
F Flares
R Switch Radar
Tab Switch Target
C Freelook

Right Hand:
Left Click (Hold) Highlight Target
Right Click Fire Missile
Scroll Down Cycle Weapon
Middle Mouse Fire Machine Gun
(Side mouse if
Available)

Mouse Sensitivity: Aircraft Controls set to minimum to allow for negligible mouse input for maneuvering.

High-G Turn Settings: Type A

[Petrichor~]

@Lorofish I assigned A, D as yaw mostly for the conventional WASD key instinct, and used it for advanced control, and because your mouse could move temporarily, it plays a role at positioning aircraft to where to begin a turn, and then just hold Q until turning is done.

For the firing method, I designated Mouse L & R for gun & missiles/sp-weapons because you can't place them in their individual slot and switch them one-by-one, if so I could reserve the Mouse R button for other use such as free-look (and it's very convenient in battlefield 4)

This key binding do introduce a problem by holding F to focus camera on enemy, it uses the index finger so D, E could not be used ergonomically, I tried to assign C as cam focus for thumb but it doesn't work for me; maybe using X as cam focus for thumb, and F for flare is better.

I haven't been playing this game for likely a year now, tho

[Lorofish]

Interesting key choices, why assign keys for yaw but not roll? I also don't see the problem with shift key - normally you would have your middle three fingers on WASD, so the little finger is not doing anything unless you use the shift/ctrl (which I use for accelerate and decelerate). I am new to AC so would be interested in your thinking behind.

Personally I go with:

Little finger
Left Shift - Accelerate
Left Control - Decelerate

Middle 3 fingers
W - Pitch Down
S - Pitch Up
A - Roll Left
D - Roll Right
Q - Yaw Left
E - Yaw Right
2 - High-G Turn Key
F - Flare

Thumb
Space - SP Weapon
Left ALT - Switch Targets

Right hand
Left mouse click - Fire MG
Mouse wheel - Switch Weapons
Right mouse click - Navigating Camera

[spartan343]

noice, but i still stick with the usual Battlefield™ 3, 4, and 1 default flight keys.

[Pulkanat]

edit: Num5 to pitch up

[Pulkanat]

Hey!
This one seems to work fine for me but I think I'm not doing fine with PSM's or I don't have any practice yet i dunno;

W - Accelerate
S - Decelerate
A - Yaw Left
D - Yaw Right
X - Accel + Decel (High-G Turn Key)
Num8 - Pitch Down
Num2 - Pitch Up
Num4 - Roll Left
Num6 - Roll Right
Num0 - Fire
Num7 - Switch Targets
Num9 - Switch Weapons
Arrow Keys - Navigating Camera

In my case I can pull of PSM's with pressing X + S + Num2 rapidly and it does fine, but if you need to control camera while doing a PSM too.. well, I think I'm in a trouble then :D