I've worked my way to Squadron Commander over the last month by guessing and flying by the seat of my pants on my iPhone. Is there an "official" location for rules, ranks, points etc.? I'd like to take it to the next level but am a bit lost on some of the strategy and rules (I don't even know how to capture an enemy carrier). Thanks!

You are in the right place. Folks here are more than glad to help. If you are flying by the seat of your pants, you're doing it right.

Use the search function to find specific topics, but let me help with the carrier capture. Land on it with out getting shot down first or crashing. Once you land, you can stay for a maximum of 90 seconds. You will see the timer at the top ticking down. Take of before it hits 0 or you auto-crash. There are 2 bars at the top too that indicate if the carrier is captured by red or blue or is neutral. When it's moving you or somebody else is current sitting on the carrier.

Hope it helps and welcome to the forum.

If you can land in belly of carrier you opponent will have more difficulty shooting you. Another tip to help accumulate points is be sure and parachute when u r short down, this will help u retain your points for promotions.

Hi all, I'm in the same position as the op, what does it mean when it says "camping" when you are on a carrier. And why can't I win any head on battles, apart from the fact I'm not very good

Head ons just take time to master. Steady hand and good aim. Will take some practice and a lot of getting killed. Hang in there and you will get it.

Camping is when you are sitting on the carrier past the time you are supposed to take off. No biggy just don't let the timer run out or you crash. I sit till the last minute possible. 9 seconds is a good rule of thumb. Throttle up at 11 seconds or may be 10 then take off and repeat. Once the meter in the top center of the screen is pegged to blue go to the other carrier and try and do the same. If you see an enemy player close take off to defend then when the fight is over land again. Good luck to ya both and welcome to the game and forum.

In head-on fights, you will most assuredly die, a lot! Don't let this discourage you. Now some advice, use or don't.

Don't lay on the trigger. When I am going head to head with a new guy, he will almost always be spewing a steady stream of bullets. I'll duck up or down, left or right and follow that stream right to him. If you fly straight and level during a head-on you are much more likely to get hit. Trying moving slightly. If you are luck the guy you are facing will make the same mistakes I just mentioned. You'll get em every time.

This may be counter intuitive, but when approaching multiple targets, ALWAYS go for the the highest rank. Observe and learn. As a matter of fact always go after the highest rank in just a bout any situation. Watch them, learn them and learn from them.

Always ask questions in-game. You'll be surprised how much folks will help

Good luck,
PH

Thanks for that. Really enjoying this game even though I'm only becoming expert at taking off at the moment. I've died a fair few times doing that too.

Landing can be trained on "practice", without the need of going online.
And try using about 80% sensibility on control settings, because at 100% it will be too hard to aim, and above 80 the responsiveness is too low (and dont use the virtual joystick, unless you are one of the 0,1% of players that are good using it - use accelerometer controls).
About bombing: when you are carring a bomb, your plane flies slower, and its turns are slower too - so, if you want to fly faster and don't need to bomb anything (obviously during Capture the Carrier and Dogfight missions), I suggest you to drop the bomb as soon as you take off (be carefull not to release the bomb too early, or your plane will boooom).
And last and more important advice: don't lose your time shooting MOMs. They come in two "flavors":
a) The MEAN ones, because you can not defeat them unless you play for years (so, go for other squadron aces);
b) The OLD MEN (like me), because they are people that can't see anything on the screen, their hands shakes, so they can't even fly straight; they crashes a lot and, so, they doesn't worth your effort or your bullets - you may even be destroyed by other players while trying to waste your bullets on their ever-smoking planes...
To put it short, the real good targets are 111th Falcons, Black Eagles, Enigma, NLR, Kamikases, Wardogs, etc. (Remember: don't shoot MOM!)
A little secret: MOM squadron have the unique power of destroying your account if they don't like you, so behave! Don't tell this anyone!

Lol, I'll bear that in mind when I come across MOMs