Author Topic: A non clever, hopefully non gamey gunnery practice tip :) (Read 953 times)

TweetyBird · « **on:** January 26, 2004, 05:34:48 PM »

Someone posted a good gunnery drill offline is to take your favorite plane, favorite fighting gas load, set the PlaneGunAmmoMult to 10, set the FuelBurnRateMult to .0010 and go up and shoot all the drones at every possible angle.

I though that might have the side effect of making one heavy on the trigger with all that ammo. A good way to prevent that would be to count the number of planes you are blowing up with all that ammo. It would tell you how many rounds per plane you were using.

Counting the planes could be a pain so here's the tip. Right after you run through the drill, exit AH and load the file HTC/AH/shift.txt
into a word processor. Use the search and replace tool to seach for "removed" replace with "anythingyouwant" and click replace all. The word processor should tell you how many instances were replaced which is the number of planes you bew up in the drill.
Beats counting.

If you change fields or fly to another field, the number won't be accurate (there will be 4 extra "removed" instances in the text file).

empty · « **Reply #1 on:** January 28, 2004, 09:02:29 PM »

I've done this. Another variation is to stay with the normal ammo load (x1) and see how many drones you can kill.

Another method I've used when helping folks out is to play as a "target-drone." Takes two people and can be done in the training arena.

Start flying straight and level. Don't start turning until the student is getting a lot of hits consistently.

Then fly level turns. I usually start with nice easy 1g standard turns. Once the student is getting consistent hits, start increasing the turn rate. I usually fly a spit IX as the target, it has a pretty good sustained turn rate.

The guy flying the "target" has to have pretty good flying skills to keep the situation standardized.

The process is intended to help develop the students "shooting-eye."

lasersailor184 · « **Reply #2 on:** January 29, 2004, 07:25:46 AM »

What I don't like about the drones above the field is that they will stay up if you knock off anything necessary.

Wadke · « **Reply #3 on:** January 29, 2004, 01:59:29 PM »

Another thing you can do:
This deals with convergence a lot more than gunnery but can help with those long range shots.

type .target (yardage...500yds. 100yds. etc.)
this brings up a target that you can practice shooting at

United · « **Reply #4 on:** January 29, 2004, 02:03:51 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Wadke
Another thing you can do:
This deals with convergence a lot more than gunnery but can help with those long range shots.

type .target (yardage...500yds. 100yds. etc.)
this brings up a target that you can practice shooting at

Thats great right there. Thanks for the post.

TweetyBird · « **Reply #5 on:** January 29, 2004, 06:24:17 PM »

Here's another idea. I noticed when trying to increase the number of planes blown up with a given ammo load, you tend to start taking shots closer in (like 100-150 yards). So perhaps using the throttle, stay 300-500 yards behind the plane and only take those shots - or maybe 4-600. Heck, for a real test, set the convergence to 650 and only take shots from 800 - 1000 yards. Those shots are a lot harder, and the number will increase because your aim is getting better and not because you're getting closer. I guess if you can make those shots, a 250 yard shot will seem tike hitting a duck in a barrel.

RTR · « **Reply #6 on:** January 29, 2004, 06:31:13 PM »

good idea's there Etch

turning tracers off also helped me. Forces you to learn/use your gunsight, and will save you some ammo. (stops you from walking your rounds into the target).

Cheers,
RTR

TweetyBird · « **Reply #7 on:** February 08, 2004, 12:02:20 AM »

>>good idea's there Etch

<<

Maybe, but I tend to think its a waste of time. After months of practicing gunnery offline, I see no benifits online. Offline, I can shoot down 25 drones on one Spit ammo load with straight 6 shots. I can shoot down 15, 400 out with about 30 degrees deflection. Online, it consistanly takes me a full ammo load to shoot down one plane. My conclusion is offline time is better spent online and that my gunnery will ALWAYS suck

Soda · « **Reply #8 on:** February 08, 2004, 10:39:47 AM »

One of they keys to improved shooting is to give yourself easier shooting situations. Long range shooting is not easy nor will it produce good shooting results for anyone. The loss of bullet energy, plus the larger grouping of rounds, tends to produce a shot-gun effect that negatively impacts your shooting and there is little you can do about that.

The main problem with the drones offline is they simply fly straight and give you plenty of time to get into "perfect" firing situations. In the MA the guy is trying to avoid so you don't have as much time to get into the proper position. You need to work on creating short-ranged, easier deflection shots in a short period of time. Some of this can be practiced offline but some of it comes from being able to read/predict your enemy online and adjust quickly in order to build good shooting situations.

TweetyBird · « **Reply #9 on:** February 08, 2004, 03:20:55 PM »

I think my biggest problem is flying the plane into a position that is better for seeing the target than it is for shooting the target.

At close range, it seems most times you see very little of the target as you shoot it. I'm whipping around and have this fantastic view of his 6, but my guns are in the wrong position - usually lower and off to the side of where they should be. By the time I bring them onto the target, the target has jinked or evaded is some way.

So where I thought it was a gunnery problem, I think you're right, its probably a maneuvering and visualization problem.