Ballistics/gunnery in AH2

[straffo]

After a week playing AHII exclusively I ended to the conclusion that gunnery is not different at all.

I'm used to it now and I feel no difference with AH1, I tried AH1 again last night and didn't noticed the change ...

[Adogg]

Originally posted by GtoRA2
Hitting with the LA7 seems harder to me, and I flew it alot in AH1 and didnt have to much trouble killing in it.

I've noticed a marked improvement in my La7 gunnery. Now that might be because of the situations I've been in or the fact that I use the 3 shVaks not the two.

Head-Ons are harder to execute.

[fluffy]

Practicing offline seemed at first to indicate to me that a bit more lead was needed.  But I'm not so sure now. I think that the differences in the graphics, and also perhaps more refined hit bubbles make gunnery seem harder at first. Not seeing hits through the dash make tight turning shots much harder, but obviously more realistic (read "Bud" Anderson's account of making just such a shot in his autobiography).

I also think that because my framerates are lower, the hit sprites don't always show because of their very short duration.  For example, from a spit I fired a short burst at a P47 which was banked right and in plane-form at ~300 yards.  I saw only a single hit flash on his left wing tip, and then his plane exploded. I have seen parts fall off other aircraft I have fired at without seeing any hit flashes at all.  I often land kills I wasn't aware of in AH2 (much less often in AH1), and can only attribute it to aircraft I'd fired on and thought I had missed actually having been damaged.  Or maybe there are just more people lawndarting under my plane in AH2.

Eventually I'd like to see hit flashes that act more like puffs of vapour, (as they often appear in real gun camera footage). As such, these little puffs of smoke hang stationary in the air at the point of impact, rather than floating along with the plane.

[Kweassa]

I use the 3 shVaks not the two.

 Minor correction; the 3 gun loadout are the Beresin B-20 cannons. They supposed to be better tahn ShVAKs..

[Kweassa]

After a week playing AHII exclusively I ended to the conclusion that gunnery is not different at all.

I'm used to it now and I feel no difference with AH1, I tried AH1 again last night and didn't noticed the change ...

 That's because u never fired at anything further than 400yards in the first place, straffo

[straffo]

Perhaps

So far even if I thought it was not a good idea it appear that I was wrong
It make evasive more efficient and fights are more fun, but the beta arena is as today not like the MA so I don't know what will be the future ...

[gofaster]

I can't hit a barn in a 109, and started a thread of my own to say so!

[Gruuug]

Originally posted by Kweassa


* Change in FM

 The subtle changes in the FM effects how a pilot micro-manages his plane. In my case, I've quit using combat trim completely, because the CT seems to react slower to various changes than it used to in AH1. Maybe the average pilot who uses CT, receive some penalty in fine aiming.

 Another change is how the stalls develop in AH2. A hard stick pull nearing the edge of envelope, with a sudden rudder input, will put your plane through a 'wobbling' stall rarely ever experienced before in AH1.

 Knowing such tendencies, it seems that many people pull less lead than they used to - in AH1, in a stable platform like the Spit for instance, one could very briefly yank the stick with some rudder and force a shot in, and then immediately set stick to neutral to stop stalling. In AH2, that will give you a flat spin.

This one is huge for those of us that like to fight twisty-turny fights.  You HAVE to be very gentle on your rudder, maybe even dampen it or add dead zones so you don't accidently engage it at the wrong time.    Combined with the "hidden" hits behind your cowling during a tight turn it really changes how you perform up close with nimble aircraft.

Add to the list a noticeable change in torque-steering that will potentially throw you into a spin or stall with sudden throttle ups/downs and its a whole different experience.

And fun when you get used to it.....

[Soda]

The blind over-nose shots sure are different, I've had several situations where I blasted someone on high deflection and had to break off, only to get the kill message later.. obviously I've hit them harder than I could see.  Also, the long range sprayers, without the feedback of big hit-sprites, tend to be less effective.

Overall I tend to agree with Kwessa though, it's probably a combination of factors that has made the difference but you are less likely to notice them if you typical shot range was <300 vs. >400.

People will adjust though, it'll just take time.

-Soda

[Ghosth]

Well I am adjusting, and I still like what I see.

HO's are much less common & easier to duck. Harder to hit.

Lead shots while possible are much more difficult to be sure if you hit or not.

So if I have ammo I'll try them, but once ammo gets under half I get a LOT more conservative.  This is a good thing IMO.

3 kill sorties are starting to happen for me fairly regular. & I'm seeing a lot more 4 & 5 kill sorties for other people.

[gofaster]

I think I've gotten the 109 gunnery down.

First thing I did was turn off tracers.  The smoke trails in my face were blinding me!

Second, I avoided rudder input in fights.  Go straight in, close to d200, then fire.  I was never much of a marksman to begin with, so getting in close is a big help.

One thing I noticed is that I can raise my head higher in the 109s now than I could in AH1.  I had imported my settings from AH1 into AH2 and didn't bother to see if I could raise my head higher until last night.  I did, and I started seeing more kills.

It also seems to me that that 109F's guns package is more lethal now than it used to be.  2x7.7mm and 1x20mm are sufficient to knock down a F4U with a short burst now.  Also, 2x13mm and 1x20mm in a G6 are enough to knock down a pair of Lancasters and a P-47 now.  Just make sure you get in close, because I was having trouble landing hits outside d400 unless I was dead-six o'clock on the target.

[BenDover]

I thought i was chasing a 109 last night.....git only ended up flying past me off my right wing.

Judging by the fact he didn't fire I'm guessing he didn't know we were about to joust either.

[TDeacon]

My normal (bad) gunnery is no worse in AH2, and in fact I am getting better with practice.  I have actually shot down people with deflection shots recently.  

Only things which make it harder are:

1)  The very dark water combined with the darker gunsight glass (both of which are not realistic in my opinion and hopefully will be fixed in due course).  

2)  The increased difficulty in seeing hits at long range.  However, with practice, this is less important, I think.

BTW, guys, how common was it in WWII for pilots to shoot down maneuvering fighters at long range?  Not very.

[50cals]

I was finally flying late last night after getting a new PC , 2.7ghz celeron 256mb ram 40gig HD , FX5200 128mb video card.

I do notice big differences in gunnery compared to AH1 , but i think it is a learning curve and will get used to it in time. I would like to see the icons for enemy's above the plane just like the friendlys are. Also the friendly icon range acts just like AH1 , as you gain you see the increments   600,599,598,597 .......   but the enemy planes i noticed jump from 1k,800,600,400    or in 50 yd increments, not actually incremental.

I think this has been throwing my shooting off.  HTC please change the icon range act like the friendly ones. Just as they are in AH1.

I still think there is alot of work that could be done to make the game less video intensive. There are alot of great video intensive games that dont eat ur system up like AH2.  This new video card and this pc  , Im still getting low fps and have the 2 video sliders at max performance in the game settings , away from bases i get 50- 60 + fps.   When i check cntl I  > it shows only less than 40mb of my 128mb active,    so why is the game not taking advantage of this new video card and most of its 128mb onboard ram ???

I'd hate to think I spent all this money for nothing.  All my other games run sweeeeeet on this system. Call of Duty, Battlefield  with all the settings on MAX.   I hope you get to a point of quality and compatibility that will let everyone enjoy the game at the level it should be.

Therz my 2cents

50cals
Nightmares VMF-101

[hitech]

50cals, the max settings are totaly arbitrary at the moment. I wouldn't think anyone could run at them set at full. Basicly I just will lower what max is.

HiTech