Using 8 in guns

[apcampbell]

Any tricks to landing hits while using the 8 inchers as fire support for base captures?

[Lusche]

http://trainers.hitechcreations.com/bigguns/bigguns.htm

[LYNX]

Any tricks to landing hits while using the 8 inchers as fire support for base captures?

My favourite mannable the 8 inch isn't designed for kills.  It's for destruction.  Towns, ships, hangers, SB's and strats.  However, you may accure kills when shelling an enemy cv as the cons roll on it's deck or some times from the spawn hanger on a field / Vbase.  Odd PT boats are also accured.

The big secret to the 8 inch which most don't know is max zoom--->  Z+]]]]

[Yossarian]

I've read that webpage several times, but I still have trouble hitting specific targets, e.g. bomber hangers.

Do you have any hints on how to get those?

<S>

Yossarian

[Krusty]

It's hit or miss. Don't expect to take them out. AH has a 2d view with no depth perception. There's no double-lens rangefinders either, so you can't pinpoint targets and fire rounds on them. You can spend 30 minutes trying to range into a single hangar. I have, before. And more.

In that time, planes upping from the CV can take off, drop ord, get kills, die, and reup 5x or more.

Use bombs to kill specific stuff. Use 8" for town only. They're no good for anything else because of the lack of ranging and rangefinders and depth perception.

[BaldEagl]

As long as the CV is close enough to the base that you don't have to use full zoom you can see where your rounds are hitting (puffs of dust on land, splashes in water, and hit sprites on targets).  I use the clipboard map and click on it (that keeps your guns aimed at the exact same spot regardless of the ships movement), watch where my rounds land, then make small adjustments by clicking on the clipboard map again (with the map zoomed in fully).  This is inexact as it's hard to fine-tune this way but within 5-10 vollys I've usually got the target, then I just keep firing until it goes down and start over with another target.

At distances, you might get more than one round of shells off before the first ones hit.  I try not to fire until I'm sure I've seen the last rounds hit somewhere, or I fire a second volly to the same spot and adjust after the first hit but this means you have to adjust to the 1st, 3rd, 5th, etc. hits that you see.

Hope that helps.

[stroker71]

Look me up in the MA I'll show ya how to kill with SB's and 8" guns.  I feel I have gotten very good with them...not that it matters.  Killed an enemy cruiser at over 18k yesterday and then killed the cv before it got with in 13k of our CV.  Small hint:  Using SB and have a CV group coming into base.  Once you get range it closes at a 400 per time you fire.  Using sea mode it's easy to kill cv's at distance.  So using that if 2 cv's are closing you decrease by 800 per firing.  If you have a good video card you can see cv's at 24k and can start firing then.  I can't see my slashes in the water till it gets to 22k so makes ranging harder.   Good comunitcation between gunners is nice to...makes ranging very fast.   If I am firing from cv to cv I use sea mode.  If firing from cv to land I use land mode.  SB to CV I use sea mode.

Watch your rounds in relation to building around it.  If you firing from a moving position you need to lead your target.  It (like alot of things) takes practice.

Today after work had alittle bit of time so I jumped into a cv of the coast of A79 in Blue.  Only guy on CV and I downed all the hangers(VH,FH's, BH's) ammo, dar was already down, and 80% of the town in one pass.  No knights would come help so next pass I killed the rest of the town an re-killed all the hangers again...still no knights.  So I logged!

[goober69]

lol i went to a rook cv last night some where off to the side of the map and found an enemy cv right on top of it i mean like within 2k and crossing paths.  nothing was firing i dont know how this kind of thing happened so i jumped in the 8 inch and just sank alll of the eneme boats for fun.

[LYNX]

I've read that webpage several times, but I still have trouble hitting specific targets, e.g. bomber hangers.

Do you have any hints on how to get those?

<S>

Yossarian

First off 8 inch guns primary targets are cruisers then CV or Towns.  However, to answer your specific question it's much like Krusty said but here I can offer a couple of tips. 

1) Get your graphic detail and ground detail to max (left side).  The very opposite to that GV slider malarkey.  You want as much detail, computer power permitting, as possible.

2) Using max zoom on the map ..."Z+]]]]"  Click on the area of the field you know roughly where your target is, in land mode "W".  Stay in max zoom & put the map away.  Gun range will have to be within 14k-ish, depending on your graphics.  Fire a salvo and wait to see it impact.  You can mark the impact with the cursor.  Put cursor below where shells impacted not on it.  Adjust either left or right and fire again to get the line of the target.  Now the tricky part because there is no depth perception.  You fire long or short depending where you feel the rounds are hitting.  Experience will hone this ability.  If you see brown craters it's a very good sign your short.  If you don't see them your more than likely long.  Walk the salvos in.

3) It really helps to know the layout of the field especially where all mannable acks and strats are.  If your targeting the VH for an example and the system message reads "Barrack Destroyed" .....well you ain't far off.  Picture the layout and adjust. 

4) Salvo explosion throw up a plume of dirt and smoke from where they land on the ground however, if your on target the effect is visibly emanating from the roof of the hanger.  3 direct hits usually takes it out.

Once again though.....why on earth would you be shelling hangers if the towns up.  On many an occasion it can take ages to triangulate direct hits especially if there's heavy smoke and fires.  Having said that I have closed a few fields in my time

[Hoffman]

Since it is artillery you're chucking at them you could always do what r/l artillery really does and chuck a sensing round out there and then bracket the target in until you're dead on and then fire for effect.

To put it simply.

Round impacts.
Adjust left or right.  Then add/drop 400M depending on if you overshot or undershot it.
Second round impacts.
Left or right should be on target.  Then add/drop 300 depending on if you overshot or undershot. 
Third round impacts
If your left or right isn't on target by now. . .  Then add/drop 200. 
4th Round impacts.
Add/drop 100 and Fire for effect.
Seeing as how 8 inch naval guns are roughly equivalent to a 203MM Field Artillery piece they should have a kill/damage radius of ~ 100 Meters.  (Modern day howies of the 105-155MM variety have a kill radius of 100M if I remember correctly. Danger close artillery support is anything within 500M of you IIRC)



Did 8 inchers have VT in WWII?  Seeing as we have proximity fuses on 5 inchers it doesn't seem all too difficult for VT to have been developed for big guns in the same time period?  Any Field Artillery buffs out there?
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