Good old convergence post

[Noir]

Hello you wannabee and sunday only aces,

I was asking myself, what's your convergence ? I used 400 in AH1 cause at this distance in AH1 you were deadmeat due to laser gun, but now with the nose bouncing, gun dispersion and approx. icons, most 400 shots are not that easy, so I decided to switch to 300.

300 works really good, you can see it works good when the nmy pilot dies with a few pings, best happend to me yesterday I shot an IL2's tail with 1/10 sec 50cal burst (50 cal works surprinzingly good on IL2)

On the spit9 I put the 50cals to 500 for runners and 20mm's to 300 for when I catch em.

On the 109 (and all planes with cowl or nose guns) whats the convergence to use ? does it really matters looking at the gun separation ? do the 30mm shoot different with 300 conv or 650 conv ? anyone knows ? willl wilbuz step in on make use 2 pages lecture about the 109 ?

[mipoikel]

AH1 it was 500-600


AH2 250

[Wilbus]

Depends on planes really. In the Ki84 I have it set to 225 yards for both cannons and MG's. This is about the range I usually shoot at though often I fire even closer.  

For 50 cal planes, which I don't fly much, I have em set between 300 and 350, sometimes one pair at 300, next at 325 and the last pair at 350. Using the inner guns furthest out to make dispersion less. (Hardly any difference IF any).

190's I just brought the 20's up to 300 again, also trying 350 for them but think that 300 is max distance really for any MG151. While they can of course cause dammage at longer distances aswell the disperions is greater and usually a waste of ammo (more dependant on ones aim then on dispersion).

The discussion about nose mounted guns has always been a hot debate. Convergence does effect nose mounted guns, most notably in the height/trajectory.

Set convergence at 150 for the 109 cowl guns and shoot at 600 yards the bullets will spread out more then if you have them set to 600 yards convergence. However the difference isn't all that great and I sugest setting them to the same convergence as your other nose mopunted gun.

If you do have the cowl guns set to 200 and the 30mm set to 600 (or 20mm) there is a big chance of the cannon to overshoot your target if you're in close. If you set both guns to same convergence they will both hit "in the center" at that distance.

What the cannon (30mm specially) in the 109's could gain from a long distance convergence is that they aim a bit up at close distance, that MAY make some deflection shooting easier as you need to pull less lead but it will also force you to aim bellow targets close to you if they aren't pulling turns (such as a scissor fight where you take a shot when they roll over to the next direction).

I often see people saying "I have my convergence at 400-500". Think about this, how often do you yourself get kills at 400-500 yards in AH2? In AH 800 yard kills were common, very common specially from 50 cal and Hispanos. In AH2 the large majority of kills happen bellow 400, well bellow 400 often but people keep flying with convergence at 400+.

Also think about this, how often do you take 400+ yard shots and hit good? Not very often though it happens, I killed an LA7 from 600-800 yards with a 30mm shot a few weeks back, purly luck as I lobbed away a few 30's. Doesn't matter if you are right at target with 30mm at that distance as it will come down to dispersion, sometimes they may hit but usually not.

So, what distances do you often shoot at? Don't set your guns to kill runners or scare runners, set your guns to whatever distance you fire at most often and find that you hit the enemy most often. P51/P47 and other B&Z planes, set it further out as you may open up already at 400 or even 500 yards if you come in fast.

In turnfighters such as spits and ki84 set it in close, afterall a turnfight is often a very close combat fight.

[Noir]

Ok, I will try for a closer convergence and see what happens, but I don't really turnfight those days, except when I'm ganged badly, and then no way I can get deflection shots closer that 3-400.

BTW those days we don't see huge turning planes furballs like we did in AH1, and I think its related to the FM, wich doesn't allow eternal E like it used to, even best turning fighters will stall at a certain point, so everyone tries to bnz, even in zero before coming to the turns.

[DREDIOCK]

Originally posted by Wilbus
.Think about this, how often do you yourself get kills at 400-500 yards in AH2? In AH 800 yard kills were common, very common specially from 50 cal and Hispanos. In AH2 the large majority of kills happen bellow 400, well bellow 400 often but people keep flying with convergence at 400+.

Routinely at 350-400 thats pretty much where I get the majority of my kills

So, what distances do you often shoot at? Don't set your guns to kill runners or scare runners, set your guns to whatever distance you fire at most often  

This is good advice. I think alot of people open fire when they think they have a good shot by the plane and not the Icon.
Make a mental note as to what distance you usually open up at the most and set your convergance accordingly.

I keep mine anywhere between 300-450 depending on how the game is running.
Yes depending on how the game is running.
I dont know if its lag or what but some nights a 300  shot is just bang bang boom and other nights I wont hit for watermelon at 300 but if I set it to 400 or higher it once again becomes routine.

Lately since the latest update. The game has been running so irratically. That among the other problems Im seeing, (saw a P51 flying at me backwards the other night when I thought and logic would dictate was going forward) That I find Im missing by what woud normally be simple and routine shots yet I was routinely hitting and getting kills at 500-600 out.

And since last update Im finding that if Im hitting them at 200 Im ending up colliding with them.
Since last update I've probably collided with more planes from behind then I have in the entire time Ive been here combined.

But problems witht he game are the things for another thread.
Main thing is. Find what range you like to shoot at and set convergance accordingly to within 50

[Delirium]

I fly a P38 usually, but I have MG set at 400 and the cannon at 450 when I fly the Lightning.

Oh, and tracers off...  if you're a bad shot, you'll get a second shot because they won't know you're there. Even if they do know, they don't know you have the angles because of the persistant lag issues.

[DipStick]

AH1 was 650.
AH2 is 225.

I actually had better hit % in AH1.

Go figure...

[Wilbus]

DipStic, most people had better hit % in AH I believe, the planes were larger, easier to hit. Better now, seems as if though actually need to hit a surface now. Before it seemed as if bullets that got close were counted hit (although that was probarly not the case).

[Noir]

gun dispersion didn't help, icons, and the flight model changed also, making the stall shots and high speed shots WAY harder

[AKFokerFoder+]

I set everything to 400.

No ryhme or reason, it just seems to work OK for me.

But I am not one of the crack shots in the game.  My gunnery in Air to Air is only about %8 hits.

[Wilbus]

That hit % is well above average AKFokerFoder.

I am pendeling around 11.5-12.5 now a days. Will see if it gets better next tour now when I've had help to stop nose bouncing by alot and I am getting my gunnery back.

[Bruno]

There is no 'special convergence'.

What you should do is film your gun passes and then watch them to figure out what range you typically tend to up fire at. Set convergence to suit you rather then trying to adapt to what others may set.

This will give a base point to start setting convergence. You can then make adjustments from there.

Asking 'what the other guy sets convergence at' is pointless because each person varies. You want to make yourself as 'comfortable' as possible. Typically I would never look at the 'icon' to decide when to fire, I mostly relied on instinct.

The best thing to do is match your convergence to what ever range you tend to open fire at.

Now if you want to know the best effective range (range at which you expect to land lethal hits at) then it varies with the gun as well. Normally the closer the better. However, in the competitive nature of the AH main the better you become at landing longer range shots (400 or so) the quicker you can build up kills and the less problems you will have with things like 'kill stealing' etc...

[Ack-Ack]

Whatever the defaul convergence is set at is what I've been using.  One of the nice things about the Lightning is not having to worry about silly things like convergence or torque.



ack-ack

[Mitchell]

For me I put TnB planes at 200 and BnZ planes at 350
and for nose mounted guns I put them all at 400.
I'm not sure if it will work for everyone but it does for me
12.344% here

 I always try to shoot close, even in BnZ I'll only start shooting at about 350 and in TnB at about 200 . rebember your convergence and shoot only at that range(exept nose mounted guns)

[SkyChimp]

<-had 10% hit with 38g with 500