Happy1 said:
Would some1 pls DETAIL THE STEP BY STEP means as to how to be able to shoot the 5" guns, from the beginning to the very end?
PART 15" vs. PlanesIf you hunt birds with a shotgun, you'll have an advantage here because that's what this is like. You fire individual shots without tracers so you have to aim each shot with what you think is the right amount of lead and hope for the best. The trick, therefore, is learning the proper amount of lead.
You shoot at planes in direct mode, which gives you the quickest turret movement. There is also land gunner mode, which automatically keeps the guns aimed to hit the point you click on the clipboard map regardless of ship motion, without you having to touch the stick at all. And finally, there's sea gunner mode, which gives you very slow, very precise turret movement to make fine adjustments vs. slow-moving targets like nme CVs. So if you don't know how to get into these different modes, or if you don't have keys assigned to them yet, go into the Setup/Controls/Keymap/Gunner screen and take a look.
Anyway, back to killing planes....
To start with, go offline, get in a CV's forward twin 5" mount, and shoot at the drones. Don't zoom in, but put the crosshairs about 1" to 1-1/4" ahead and about 1/8" above the target (as measured on your screen), hold side pressure on the stick to track around matching the target's speed, and hold the trigger down for non-stop firing. You'll know when you're on target because you'll see the shells burst. They have proximity fuses so unless you're close, you see nothing at all. Vary the crosshair's position relative to the target until you start to see puffs. Then tweak your aim some more until the puffs are right on, or just an RCH in front of, the target. Remember what this amount of lead looks like and repeat on the next drone. Just remember, the target is 2-2.5k away, so the shell takes a long time to get there. When you see a burst, it's for the shell you fired 2 or 3 shots ago, not the one you just shot.
Keep doing this offline skeet-shooting until the drones don't stand a chance. You should easily be able to kill a drone with 1-4 shots max once you get the hang of this. Of course, you're not the center of their circle, so at different points around your arc you need a different amount of lead and more or less elevation. Get so you can slaughter the drones at any point of the compass without having to move the guns more than 10^ left or right.
You should get several things out of this. The most important thing is that you can extrapolate your knowledge of the lead required for 90^ shots at slow targets at 2-2.5k to shoot the variety of online targets and usually hit them. Second, you will see that the shells do more damage the closer they burst to the target. Not only that, shells that burst in front do the most damage, then shells directly in line with the target, and shells behind the least. So it's better to lead too much than too little. 1 very close burst right in front of a fighter will usually kill it, whereas 2 might be needed right on it, and 3-4 right behind hit. You can also sometimes get direct hits instead of proximity bursts, which of course are instant death

.
Shooting online is often easier than hitting drones. After all, the targets you really have to worry about are those coming right at your ship. These are zero-deflection shots, so you just have to aim a bit high at longer range, drop to an RCH high at 2.5k or so, and then aim dead on closer in. All bursts will be right in front of the target, so they do the most damage.
The real artistry, therefore, comes in when shooting at high-alt buffs or fighters that aren't attacking your ship. This is where your drone experience pays off handsomely. Observe the target's range and judge its speed and deflection, and adjust your anti-drone aim accordingly. If you can slaughter drones in 1-4 shots every time, then you should hit a fair number of online crossing targets. Even at very long range. I've killed MANY nmes that were just dots in the far distance
High-alt buffs are harder to hit because the AI puffy acks confuse the issue--it's hard to tell which bursts, if any, are yours. The main way to tell yours from the AI's is that the AI's shots appear in periodic bunches of 4-6 simultaneous bursts, so if you see any bursts between these AI barrages, they're either yours or those of another 5" gunner. To tell that difference, and to help you find your bursts (if any) amongst the AI barrage, fire single shots and wait to observe results before firing again. Count about 3-5 seconds after you shoot, depending on the buffs' alt. That's about when you should see your burst, assuming you're close enough. Keep doing this until you see a burst you're reasonably sure is yours, then keep that aim and go into rapid fire.
NOTE: You need to adjust your head position in the 5" gun. The default position is inside the metal box so you can't see any direction but forward. However, it's possible to move your head around to see around or over this box in all directions. This makes it much easier to spot new targets and get on them quickly. Also keep an eye on what the AI tracer acks are doing and use them to point you in the right direction.
5" vs. PTsThis shouldn't be legal, it's such a slaughter

. The only hard part is beating the other 5" gunners to the kill.
PTs are total sitting ducks with almost no visible relative motion relative to your POV. If they're close enough to give icons, you just line up left-right directly over them and match the range readout on your screen for the gun elevation to the icon range, or perhaps 100-200 yards further. Then just hold the trigger down and you'll smother the PT under a storm of black puffs.
If the PT is further out so it's just a dot, it's usually close to a spawn point. Quickly shift into land gunner mode and click on the spawn point that looks closest to the target. Let the guns aim themselves there and fire a shot. Observe where it lands (counting seconds again to help tell your shells from other gunners'), then move the stick and fire another shot. Repeat until on target and the PT dies. You can stay in land mode or switch back to direct, or even go into sea mode. I like to go back to direct in case an nme plane shows up before I kill the PT. You have to lead PTs at this distance, however, because of the motion of your own ship. Aim a bit off target in the direction your ship is moving relative to the target. IOW, if your ship is moving left-to-right, aim a bit right of the target.
It helps to be zoomed way in with your view so you can tell overs from shorts easier. But at long range, where you have to aim the guns up a lot, zooming in keeps you from seeing the water and the target. To get around this, shift into panning view (F8). This uncouples your LOS from your LOF, so you can leave the guns pointed up while looking down at the horizon. NOTE: this trick is also essential in naval battles, when manning shore guns, and when using GVs to shell fields from very long range.
You also need to have a fair idea of the time of flight of shells at fairly long ranges. Practice offline in land mode by clicking at points at various distances from your ship and timing how long it takes your shell to land. This is extremely important in naval battles with many gunners firing on both sides. It's the only way to tell your splashes from theirs.
You can also spawn-camp PTs (or GVs, for that matter) in land mode. Just click on the spawn point, let go of the stick, let the guns aim themselves, and hold the trigger down. You've got 5000 rounds so don't worry about running out. This quickly discourages even the most suicidal of PT dweebs.
To Be Continued....