Tracers/No tracers

[B@tfinkV]

^ never knew that. congrats on gettin married smellirium

[WaRLoCkL]

I fly with Tracers on, ususally if i miss with the first birst i can see how i need to correct, unlike without having them u play the guessing game.

I also use tracers as a tactice, if the plane is faster than me i will throw some lead out there and hopefully force him to turn just like i want him to, remember control the fight. i use my tracers to control the fight. making them turn when i want to.

I have actually found that whatever side u send your tracers most people turn the opposite way to avoid;) really easy to kill them when i know which way they are going to break

[duddini]

I'm trying them off. I find it hard to differentiate my hit sprites (few as they are) from the tracer rounds.

[Patches1]

The point of my post was not to differentiate between tracers being on, or tracers being off, but rather to focus upon the sight picture you see before firing. At this point, tracers on, or off, are not even a factor!

First off, it doesn't matter if you have tracers on, or off, if you don't first know how to fly somewhat well.

Secondly, convergence is an issue with your sight picture (what aircraft do you fly).

Thirdly, you need to know about sight alignment...and the ballistics of the rounds you are firing.

Fourth...trigger control: don't jerk the trigger...squuuueeeezzze it. Yes, even in this game...if you jerk the trigger...you'll be off a bit.

Take the time to learn your sight picture in the Training Arena.

Just some thoughts....

[A320]

the tracers is an unrealistic thing to have in AH since in real life tracers were on, no way to turn them "off" yet it is helpful to turn them off not to alert the enemy

[Simaril]

Actually, I recall reading that some units DID ask for them to be removed from their belts, so in effect they were turned off. I'm also remembering that the unit had an increase in kills. (Take that with some salt -- there are days I dont remember where I left my keys!)

Now, about in game tracers -- I flew for several years with them off, because I couldnt keep my eyes from following the bright streaks instead of watching the relationship between the pipper and the target.

Unfortunately, I hit a hard "tracers off" plateau and about stopped improving my gunnery at all. I could hit the shots I "knew", but couldnt learn what I was doing wrong on the rest of them...so I have them back on. This time, though, I'm mentally disciplined enough that my focus remains on actual targeting data (pipper position, degree of lead, target aspect/angle of flight, target size/distance, target speed  -- and yeah, you HAVE to take al lthat into consideration to know where to fire). The tracers let me see immediately what I did wrong with a shot I missed, so I have been "learning" new shots. I agree with Murdr, though, that I'd prefer them off once I've improved my gunnery enough to consolidate the new shots into the "automatic" zone.


So for me, the answer to the tracer question is Yes, No, and Sometimes.  Don't let yourself use tracers as a substitute for aiming -- but otherwise, use whatever setting helps your game at the moment.

[A320]

that would have been interesting if in fact tracers would  have been removed

[Vudak]

Originally posted by Simaril

Unfortunately, I hit a hard "tracers off" plateau and about stopped improving my gunnery at all. I could hit the shots I "knew", but couldnt learn what I was doing wrong on the rest of them...so I have them back on. This time, though, I'm mentally disciplined enough that my focus remains on actual targeting data (pipper position, degree of lead, target aspect/angle of flight, target size/distance, target speed  -- and yeah, you HAVE to take al lthat into consideration to know where to fire). The tracers let me see immediately what I did wrong with a shot I missed, so I have been "learning" new shots. I agree with Murdr, though, that I'd prefer them off once I've improved my gunnery enough to consolidate the new shots into the "automatic" zone.

That's interesting...  I might be having the same problem...  Perhaps I'll have to turn them on for a few months to figure some things out.  I never thought of it that way, thanks

[Old Sport]

I seem to recall reading that at least one US unit loaded tracers at the end of their belts to let the pilots know they were getting low on ammo. There were no ammo counters and there was a need to conserve a little ammo for the trip back to base.

I fly tracers off. I would recommend that for a while to at least force you to learn sight picture/alignment, but after that, as pointed out above, there are sometimes advantages to tracers.

[Gianlupo]

Definitely tracers off!

As Murdr said, you have a lot of advantages and, IMO, no disadvantage at all. Lusche, maybe your aim goes bad when you turn them off because you fly many planes with different weapon ballistics.. honestly mine just improved when I turned them off, and went bad when I started flying another plane, the K4. EDIT: in fact, I'm considering turning them back on, to get a fell for that dang cannon... I never had such a loving hate for a weapon! /EDIT

I'm really mad at people who don't have tracers off and don't shoot at point blank range... usually, when I approach an unaware target, from behind and below, on his blind six spot, I close distance as much as I can to kill him with a well placed tater..... and I have the whole thing spoiled by some noob that begins spraying at my target from 800/600 yards, with tracers flying everywhere!!!!!

[Ghosth]

Gianlupo leave the tracers off, drop into the TA, turn on the lead computing gunsight. Shoot off your mg ammo, so you have a single cross left showing you lead for the tater gun.

Now fly around for a couple hours behind various planes as they turn, loop, etc.

[Lusche]

Originally posted by Gianlupo
Lusche, maybe your aim goes bad when you turn them off because you fly many planes with different weapon ballistics

I would have said I have now more or less used to the different weapons (all set to same convergence) and I was flying that different planes from that start of the "no tracers" period, and like I said before, a few days it was all ok.
But to eleminate that possible error source, the last time I did this experiment was when I was flying the 109F-4 almost exclusively for 2 weeks (about 300 kills).
First everything was fine, then it went rapidly downhill.
Especially with high angle shots at medium distances and up, I simply wasn't able to correct my fire as I could not see anymore how I was missing my enemy with my first short burst. First days a rather stable 20%, then rapidly dropping down to 12%.
At that point I pulled the emergency break because it was gettin worse day by day.

Nowadays I switch tracers off only for a few single flights per tour.