Check out the Store: growling-sidewinder.creator-spring.com/ MORE BASIC CONCEPTS: ua-cam.com/video/Biphq8Bqe7I/v-deo.html&ab_channel=GrowlingSidewinder Hey guys, brought back this tacview because I feel like it explains a lot of concepts that might be useful to those of us new to air to air combat in DCS, I hope you guys found this useful and thank you for watching, if there are other concepts you'd like discussed let me know in the comments below and I'll see what we can about it. Thanks again, All the best.
@@GrowlingSidewinderI doesn’t even have a pc gamer so far but your videos is just amazing for who loves this amazing machines. I am watching all your videos and just bought a GPU for starting assembling my pc for someday enjoy this sim as you do. Tks a lot.
been playing combat sims since falcon 1.1 and just learned that chaff is more useful when the missile is below you due to the lack of ground clutter. makes total sense. One thing I think needs more explanation though is how you can abuse the missile's need for lead pursuit to make it run into obstacles like the ground. And how smaller changes in your heading can have large turns required for the missile, especially if you're fast - because it needs to pull more lead when you're fast. cheers!
he doesnt just tell you what to do, he tells you WHY you should do it and gives full examples with technical/mechanical background information for context. perfect teaching method.
I'll learn how to play DCS when I'm retired. It's so daunting, but at the same time would be great to understand so many of these concepts. Good simulators really have strong educational value.
and if there is a difference in performance between planes, like say MiG-21 against something like an F-14, then the plane that is objectively worse gets an AWACS or something
@GrowlingSidewinder I'm new to the channel, and finding it's becoming the highlight of my day/week when new videos are available. When I looked at the older videos, I found the tac-view and review awesome to watch as it gives me ideas for the stories I'm writing. Is there a reason why you stopped doing them? Do you think you could bring them back on occasion like this? Thank you for what you do! Smile and be happy!
I would love to bring them back from time to time but the reason I stopped is cuz I was constantly repeating the same concepts so I’ve reduced it to only doing it when there is something new or interesting to talk about.
@@GrowlingSidewinderRepeating the same concepts of crushing your opponent 🎉!! I know you don’t always win but when you do it’s “Double Kill Dominating” (voice from UNREAL TOURNAMENT)🏟️
@@GrowlingSidewinder even if there is nothing new to talk about, it might still be good to do them every once in a while. There will always be new viewers who never came across those older videos :)
@@GrowlingSidewinder That's a great choice. Thank you for the tac-reviews when they're there, and thank you for responding. Do you have a video that goes over the aircraft's user interface? I'm starting to learn how to read the radar and HUD when watching, but was curious if there's already a video. Don't have to take the time to link it as I'll find it if it's there. Thank you, and I hope you're having a wonderful Easter!
I just started dcs and I really appreciate these videos. Dcs is quite a lot when you just start out. Having these videos are such a big help. Thanks GS
Honestly, even with being familiar with most concepts covered it’s still always great watching these recaps and refreshers. Plus this one was done really well, good stuff.
Appreciate you taking the time to educate people instead of being all high-faluting like some of these "I've never actually flown a fighter but I'ma act like I have" players. Love your content!
humility is always the right answer and elitism is the cancer of any community. Hope to see that kind of crap phased out of the DCS community, its already gotten much better over the years.
Been watching for a few months and really liked all the videos. This one really helped solidify my understanding of the the things you say. Thanks a bunch!
Mate.... im no fighter plane enthusiast or anything.... but Ive watched all your vids.... very interesting!!! Thanks heaps for taking the time to explain...
You became a friend even if I don't know you or met you on dcs. But still, I feel it this way. Thanks for all the lessons you give, I find them very useful for my learning.
Oh my god yes an explanation video, love it! I‘ve been a long time viewer, but still I enjoyed this video and learned some awesome things through it. I hope this won’t stay a one-of-a-kind video and we will see some expanse to this new series! Keep up the great work, I love the videos
I would actually love to hear more about the logistics of a fighter. Usage of tanks and pylons/loadouts, route planning, force or divisions of force, weapon selection, etc. Basically what a ground army would plan as logistics, but from an aerial perspective.
How do you calculate the MAR or NEZ (No Escape Zone)? Do you just generally set a rule that if an aircraft is at such an altitude, you avoid coming within such a distance? For instance, if hostile is at 15000 at mach 0.8, you should generally avoid coming within 20 NM of the hostile? I mean, is there a basic scale chart, or mathematical equation that can provide that determination? Also, should you assume the hostile is carrying the latest and greatest on board, or is there information/factors one can use to help determine how to establish their MAR and maintain combat dominance against the hostile?
So yes you should always assume he is carrying this best payload, unless you know for a fact what he is carrying (obvs in real life you wouldn’t) as for the ranges of the MAR you have to do “testing” to figure those out. And it’s the main reason why countries don’t release the real capabilities of their missiles because then the enemy can figure out the MARs and survive.
All the content recently has been so good, and this video stands out. As a casual viewer who used to kind of just watch to enjoy the planes shooting each other down but is now trying to get into dcs, videos like these are priceless. Thank you GS!
Good one buddy, i came from P3D, and i never flown a fighter jet, because of that i'm struggling in this sim and seeing this tutorial teached a lot, thx.
i have to say that your kind of education is the one i prefer. No long talking, just straight facts with a good explanation. Thx for taking care of your community and showing us your knowledge und your thoughts in the active battle. Keep going with your work, still love this channel. Viper out :)
Forgot how much I missed these... Also pleasantly reminded about all the knowledge of air combat and dog-fighting dynamics, terminology, and physics this channel has imparted on me over the years. In the end times, I will have an overall more detailed understanding of how to fight in the sky... and thus, will be one of the ones who volunteers to help fight the baddies in a crucial moment... all thanks to these videos... Thank you Growling Sidewinder.
I think the simplest answer to the question why GS's missiles hit while his opponents' don't is just because he's a better pilot. Usually. Sometimes it's also just luck.
Great examples for the New comers! I've been watching DCS for a while and actually know what missile should do, can't do, and what Jets can do and what they can't do. But it takes time to understand how everything works unless you are a major Military person. Not meaning in the military really but people that are very much interested in Military Stuff.
Thank you! Although I've never played this game and probably will never have the money for a PC to play this, or the time, I still appreciate your explanation and all of your content! Mahalo from Hilo, Hawaii!
I work with a couple of retired fighter pilots (one of them a Red Flag Aggressor), they love it when I drop in their cube and discuss the finer points of the Crank and Notch. 😎
Watching your video's for quite some time now, even from the days where you gave a lot of tacview insights, I still learned something new. The ground clutter and beam/chaff part was very insightfull. Thank you!
I've been watching your channel for years, always great content. DCS was too difficult for me but I love to learn the logic behind the maneuvers and watching the gorgeous visuals is great fun. Thanks for all the hard work, I really enjoy your channel.
Some other interesting concepts would be the process of detecting an opponent, differences between missile tracking (radar / IR), the need to assist the missile after it's been launched and the engagement range of different missile types.
Love your explanations dude. Gotta say and I'm not trying to blow wind up ya ass but you're a really good teacher and do it so chilled. Makes people want to hear and learn from you, ace job man.
Appreciate it, I've literally just found your channel and its not like I was never interested in this but not enough to know anything so this cleared up a lot of questions in my mind
So I guess the drag from the atmosphere is the missile's biggest problem, because if it wouldn't be you could climb and force the missile to trade speed for altitude. But when you dive the missile following you will trade altitude for speed which seems to be not enough to compensate for the denser air. Is the towed decoy modelled in DCS? I would like to see some F35 action with that.
Could you touch on the topic of radar multipathing and how that can be used to defend incoming missiles? And can you provide sources or places to research this concept?
This is really great! I enjoyed the tac view and wish they could be done more often because with only the cockpit view the whole context gets lost sometimes...thanks for the great explanation!
I love when you make these videos; I sometimes on stream react to your dogfights (I get loud and excited like a sports commentator) and I think I say stuff that nobody understands a lot, so this is super helpful to help me explain some stuff to them so they know why I go WOOOOO THRUST VECTORED HIM ASS RAHHHH
Great video, thanks! I understand the concept of using the increased drag from the denser air to bleed energy from opposing missiles, but by drawing them DOWN doesn’t gravity help maintain the missiles’ energy? Other than being outlined against the blue sky and opening yourself up to an easy radar silhouette, what about a rapid climb to force the missile to bleed energy overcoming gravity?
@@GrowlingSidewinder I should add that this will help me live more vicariously through your videos... not in a creepy way! The tac view was interesting in explaining what I have seen you do and talk about. Nice fast education.
Great idea!!👍 I had so much trouble getting weapons hot and radar on that i would try and ram the other jet, I got so pumped first time i pulled the trigger and shot the gun😅
Sure i missed a day, so day 14 of asking for yf23 interdiction/infiltration mission. Also awesome videos, makes the day go a little easier. Keep up the good work dude
Hitting a 90 degree notch against a pitbull missile seems like it would be a decreasing angle from 90 degree to the bandit because the missile starts turning to pursue you. So maybe you start turning back into the bandit to approximate the notch to the incoming missile.
One question, while going down puts the missile in denser air slows it down but would going up also be useful to make the missile fight against gravity its a thing I've been thinking about.
Attempting to outclimb a missile is generally a terrible idea. You need to have a deep understanding of the performance of the missile that was yeeted at you and how long you have to defend for before attempting to outclimb it. Notching, descending and turning cold are general far more advisable.
yes, it "works" to make it fight gravity but its no where near an effective force has drag and friction, also consider that as you climb to make it fight gravity, you are slowing down as you exchange gravity for Kinetic energy so you're making yourself an easier target to kill. This method works if the missiles energy state has already been defeated, but that case you can do whatever you like anyway the missile is already dead.
Check out the Store: growling-sidewinder.creator-spring.com/
MORE BASIC CONCEPTS: ua-cam.com/video/Biphq8Bqe7I/v-deo.html&ab_channel=GrowlingSidewinder
Hey guys, brought back this tacview because I feel like it explains a lot of concepts that might be useful to those of us new to air to air combat in DCS, I hope you guys found this useful and thank you for watching, if there are other concepts you'd like discussed let me know in the comments below and I'll see what we can about it. Thanks again, All the best.
Good idea GS, with your channel growing you may need to drop this video once a year.
So.. what you are trying to tell them is: gitgud.
@@C_P_B_C 👍😉
Having tacviews every couple of videos would be amazing for the channel man. We missed them 😅
Amazing video is always, very informative
@@Error-33 Ditto The tacviews would also be interesting for some of the ground attack missions.
Learned more in 10 min that hours of “dcs tutorials” thanks brother
Glad you found it useful man.
@@GrowlingSidewinderI doesn’t even have a pc gamer so far but your videos is just amazing for who loves this amazing machines. I am watching all your videos and just bought a GPU for starting assembling my pc for someday enjoy this sim as you do. Tks a lot.
been playing combat sims since falcon 1.1 and just learned that chaff is more useful when the missile is below you due to the lack of ground clutter. makes total sense. One thing I think needs more explanation though is how you can abuse the missile's need for lead pursuit to make it run into obstacles like the ground. And how smaller changes in your heading can have large turns required for the missile, especially if you're fast - because it needs to pull more lead when you're fast.
cheers!
6:19 Can we appreciate how well he drew that y with a mouse
he doesnt just tell you what to do, he tells you WHY you should do it and gives full examples with technical/mechanical background information for context. perfect teaching method.
This is an underrated observation.
Tacview feels nostalgic man
I miss the Tacview debrief.
Miss
I'll learn how to play DCS when I'm retired. It's so daunting, but at the same time would be great to understand so many of these concepts. Good simulators really have strong educational value.
You should spin a wheel with planes and dogfight them against each other
F-22 vs ME-262 could be happening then...
@@gabrielraveleau1798 ez me 262 win, as tech from the Germany back then is just the best
Gotcha :)
and if there is a difference in performance between planes, like say MiG-21 against something like an F-14, then the plane that is objectively worse gets an AWACS or something
Great idea
Wheel of Plane?
@GrowlingSidewinder
I'm new to the channel, and finding it's becoming the highlight of my day/week when new videos are available.
When I looked at the older videos, I found the tac-view and review awesome to watch as it gives me ideas for the stories I'm writing. Is there a reason why you stopped doing them? Do you think you could bring them back on occasion like this?
Thank you for what you do! Smile and be happy!
I would love to bring them back from time to time but the reason I stopped is cuz I was constantly repeating the same concepts so I’ve reduced it to only doing it when there is something new or interesting to talk about.
@@GrowlingSidewinderRepeating the same concepts of crushing your opponent 🎉!! I know you don’t always win but when you do it’s “Double Kill Dominating” (voice from UNREAL TOURNAMENT)🏟️
@@GrowlingSidewinder even if there is nothing new to talk about, it might still be good to do them every once in a while. There will always be new viewers who never came across those older videos :)
@@joostvisser6508 Isn't that exactly what this video is?
@@GrowlingSidewinder That's a great choice. Thank you for the tac-reviews when they're there, and thank you for responding.
Do you have a video that goes over the aircraft's user interface? I'm starting to learn how to read the radar and HUD when watching, but was curious if there's already a video. Don't have to take the time to link it as I'll find it if it's there.
Thank you, and I hope you're having a wonderful Easter!
I just started dcs and I really appreciate these videos. Dcs is quite a lot when you just start out. Having these videos are such a big help. Thanks GS
my pleasure, glad you found it useful.
Honestly, even with being familiar with most concepts covered it’s still always great watching these recaps and refreshers. Plus this one was done really well, good stuff.
I'm always learning something from the tac view. You could have talked about this dogfight for an hour and I still would have watched it.
Hell yeah! TacView is back!
This video made a lot of videos made by fighter pilots make way more sense, thanks for posting this!
My pleasure glad you found it useful.
Appreciate you taking the time to educate people instead of being all high-faluting like some of these "I've never actually flown a fighter but I'ma act like I have" players. Love your content!
humility is always the right answer and elitism is the cancer of any community. Hope to see that kind of crap phased out of the DCS community, its already gotten much better over the years.
Been watching for a few months and really liked all the videos. This one really helped solidify my understanding of the the things you say. Thanks a bunch!
Glad you found it useful, thank you for watching.
Mate.... im no fighter plane enthusiast or anything.... but Ive watched all your vids.... very interesting!!! Thanks heaps for taking the time to explain...
Thank YOU for watching. Much Love.
You became a friend even if I don't know you or met you on dcs. But still, I feel it this way. Thanks for all the lessons you give, I find them very useful for my learning.
My pleasure, thank you for watching and I'm glad you found it useful, Much Love.
Oh my god yes an explanation video, love it! I‘ve been a long time viewer, but still I enjoyed this video and learned some awesome things through it. I hope this won’t stay a one-of-a-kind video and we will see some expanse to this new series! Keep up the great work, I love the videos
I would actually love to hear more about the logistics of a fighter. Usage of tanks and pylons/loadouts, route planning, force or divisions of force, weapon selection, etc. Basically what a ground army would plan as logistics, but from an aerial perspective.
I’m only passingly familiar with the terms and tactics so, even being a long time viewer, these videos help a ton. Keep up the great content!
How do you calculate the MAR or NEZ (No Escape Zone)? Do you just generally set a rule that if an aircraft is at such an altitude, you avoid coming within such a distance? For instance, if hostile is at 15000 at mach 0.8, you should generally avoid coming within 20 NM of the hostile? I mean, is there a basic scale chart, or mathematical equation that can provide that determination? Also, should you assume the hostile is carrying the latest and greatest on board, or is there information/factors one can use to help determine how to establish their MAR and maintain combat dominance against the hostile?
So yes you should always assume he is carrying this best payload, unless you know for a fact what he is carrying (obvs in real life you wouldn’t) as for the ranges of the MAR you have to do “testing” to figure those out. And it’s the main reason why countries don’t release the real capabilities of their missiles because then the enemy can figure out the MARs and survive.
@@GrowlingSidewinderAlex Hollings touched on this concept in his AIM 260 missile video too
I missed the Tacview.. I appreciate this.
All the content recently has been so good, and this video stands out. As a casual viewer who used to kind of just watch to enjoy the planes shooting each other down but is now trying to get into dcs, videos like these are priceless. Thank you GS!
Good one buddy, i came from P3D, and i never flown a fighter jet, because of that i'm struggling in this sim and seeing this tutorial teached a lot, thx.
my pleasure, glad you found it useful man.
i have to say that your kind of education is the one i prefer. No long talking, just straight facts with a good explanation. Thx for taking care of your community and showing us your knowledge und your thoughts in the active battle. Keep going with your work, still love this channel. Viper out :)
That was a really easy to understand explanation my man, thank you.
Forgot how much I missed these... Also pleasantly reminded about all the knowledge of air combat and dog-fighting dynamics, terminology, and physics this channel has imparted on me over the years. In the end times, I will have an overall more detailed understanding of how to fight in the sky... and thus, will be one of the ones who volunteers to help fight the baddies in a crucial moment... all thanks to these videos... Thank you Growling Sidewinder.
Best explanation of Notch, Crank and MAR I have seen, thank you so much!
great for newbies to the channel but also for those of us who've been here much longer but are a bit thick.
I can relate to the thick crowd 😄
I was just thinking to myself the other night that I miss the tac view videos and here we are 😄
Notch: ground clutter, Beam: Chaff.
I really appreciate how clearly you explain these concepts. I would love to see one of these videos for WW2 aircraft!
I don't even have a PC that can run DCS and I love these videos. I had no idea of the limits of fighter jets or the importance of energy management.
I think the simplest answer to the question why GS's missiles hit while his opponents' don't is just because he's a better pilot. Usually. Sometimes it's also just luck.
This is the single most valuable video I've watched on air combat. I would happy hear the other 35 minutes you left out :D
Really enjoyed the breakdown of everything. I feel like i have a good understanding of all the tactics you use now!
Thank you brother. I learnt much more things in just 10 minutes from you.
my pleasure thank you for watching, Much love.
Great examples for the New comers! I've been watching DCS for a while and actually know what missile should do, can't do, and what Jets can do and what they can't do. But it takes time to understand how everything works unless you are a major Military person. Not meaning in the military really but people that are very much interested in Military Stuff.
Such an informative video, I'd like to see more of these.
This tutorial was great! I'd love to see more in the future.
Thank you! Although I've never played this game and probably will never have the money for a PC to play this, or the time, I still appreciate your explanation and all of your content! Mahalo from Hilo, Hawaii!
I work with a couple of retired fighter pilots (one of them a Red Flag Aggressor), they love it when I drop in their cube and discuss the finer points of the Crank and Notch. 😎
Watching your video's for quite some time now, even from the days where you gave a lot of tacview insights, I still learned something new. The ground clutter and beam/chaff part was very insightfull. Thank you!
I've been watching your channel for years, always great content. DCS was too difficult for me but I love to learn the logic behind the maneuvers and watching the gorgeous visuals is great fun. Thanks for all the hard work, I really enjoy your channel.
Thank you for the quick lesson on air combat. Now your other videos make more sense.
Some other interesting concepts would be the process of detecting an opponent, differences between missile tracking (radar / IR), the need to assist the missile after it's been launched and the engagement range of different missile types.
Love your explanations dude. Gotta say and I'm not trying to blow wind up ya ass but you're a really good teacher and do it so chilled.
Makes people want to hear and learn from you, ace job man.
appreciate you man thank you, glad people find the info useful/interesting.
@@GrowlingSidewinder 🤘
Appreciate it, I've literally just found your channel and its not like I was never interested in this but not enough to know anything so this cleared up a lot of questions in my mind
Yeah, but did you "Jam the WEZ"?!? 😉😁🤭
Great video, another GS classic! I miss those Tacview commentaries of yours.
👍🏻👏🏻💪🏻😓🍻🍻🙋🏼♂️
I’m glad you revisited this for the newcomers
Great video. Thanks for taking the time to talk about it.
Always good to see Tac View. Such a great learning experience.
So I guess the drag from the atmosphere is the missile's biggest problem, because if it wouldn't be you could climb and force the missile to trade speed for altitude. But when you dive the missile following you will trade altitude for speed which seems to be not enough to compensate for the denser air.
Is the towed decoy modelled in DCS? I would like to see some F35 action with that.
Yes it is modelled but I think only for the f18
@@GrowlingSidewinder Seeing it on the F-18 would be nice too!
Could you touch on the topic of radar multipathing and how that can be used to defend incoming missiles? And can you provide sources or places to research this concept?
Good job on the explanations! It will assist many new pilots who view it.
Awesome, we need more of this brother!
This is really great! I enjoyed the tac view and wish they could be done more often because with only the cockpit view the whole context gets lost sometimes...thanks for the great explanation!
That was a great explanation for what we hear thank you
Yes! More of this please!! Thank you
You need to do more of these. VERY useful
Excellent content! Thank you for teaching these concepts!
This was incredibly insightful. Thanks.
That was pretty darn good. Best channel imo
Ive already learned all of this from you, I clicked like and watched just because its a GS Video!
I miss the Tacview days
Requesting Su-57 vs J-20.
I love when you make these videos; I sometimes on stream react to your dogfights (I get loud and excited like a sports commentator) and I think I say stuff that nobody understands a lot, so this is super helpful to help me explain some stuff to them so they know why I go WOOOOO THRUST VECTORED HIM ASS RAHHHH
As a rifleman, seeing an Apache, a cobra gunship or an A-10 circling overhead, giving air cover, would give me a throbbing
Well, A-10 can also give you friendly fire...
@@kwkfortythree39 so can field artillery
Learned a lot from this video. Thanks for sharing GS.
Thank you! All new info for me. Way cool.
Excellent overview/summary
Why isn't there a program on the plane that simply algorithmically implements the maximal missle energy bleed course (for the incoming missle type)?
Great video, thanks! I understand the concept of using the increased drag from the denser air to bleed energy from opposing missiles, but by drawing them DOWN doesn’t gravity help maintain the missiles’ energy? Other than being outlined against the blue sky and opening yourself up to an easy radar silhouette, what about a rapid climb to force the missile to bleed energy overcoming gravity?
Got the same thoughts. When you drag the missile to the deck and then pull up again, the missile shouldn't have enough energy to follow you?
Gravity is one of the weakest forces in physics.
Awesome explanation. Thank you!
Thanks man! Great video!!!
THANKS!
my pleasure sir
@@GrowlingSidewinder I should add that this will help me live more vicariously through your videos... not in a creepy way! The tac view was interesting in explaining what I have seen you do and talk about. Nice fast education.
Thanks for the refresher
Right On
Great idea!!👍 I had so much trouble getting weapons hot and radar on that i would try and ram the other jet, I got so pumped first time i pulled the trigger and shot the gun😅
Fantastic content as always brother thank you
That was a neat explanation GS thanks a lot......!
nice refresher
Sure i missed a day, so day 14 of asking for yf23 interdiction/infiltration mission. Also awesome videos, makes the day go a little easier. Keep up the good work dude
This is really informative
excellent video you should do more of these.
Well explained. Loved it❤
Very cool. That explains quite well how/why you defeated their missiles. Why yours managed to hit? Which part of the defensive sequence did they fail?
They failed to identify and stay outside of the MAR. They should have shot their missiles and turned away at the edge of the MAR.
Thanks, love in depth analysis from you. I think you forgot the links to your other resources.
hello, the other video is in the pinned commnet.
Hitting a 90 degree notch against a pitbull missile seems like it would be a decreasing angle from 90 degree to the bandit because the missile starts turning to pursue you. So maybe you start turning back into the bandit to approximate the notch to the incoming missile.
One question, while going down puts the missile in denser air slows it down but would going up also be useful to make the missile fight against gravity its a thing I've been thinking about.
Attempting to outclimb a missile is generally a terrible idea. You need to have a deep understanding of the performance of the missile that was yeeted at you and how long you have to defend for before attempting to outclimb it. Notching, descending and turning cold are general far more advisable.
yes, it "works" to make it fight gravity but its no where near an effective force has drag and friction, also consider that as you climb to make it fight gravity, you are slowing down as you exchange gravity for Kinetic energy so you're making yourself an easier target to kill. This method works if the missiles energy state has already been defeated, but that case you can do whatever you like anyway the missile is already dead.
How do you know how big the MAR adjusts?? Like if you dont know what missile is being shot at you?
You assume he is carrying the best missile he can carry and defend according to that.
thank you very much brother...... god bless you
Yeah.... seems easy with your explanation!
I came back in DCS few days ago and... well not that easy in fact. 😅
Thanks any way for your work!
Just in time while I’m starting dcs
When you stated using variables I was waiting for a complicated equation.
Great explanation thank you !
You should have joined air force. Would have been a great pilot.
Thank you for guiding people here.
Knowledge alone doesnt make a good pilot. Skill, healthiness and fitness play big roles too in the assessment beside of other things.
If you drag the missile down and then climb back up again wouldn't that bleed even more of the missiles energy? Having to climb by inertia alone?
2 uploads in 1 day? hell yeah.
That is an awesome explanation!