White Lines, Green Lines, Blue Lines, Oh My!

[SmokinLoon]

When working with the convergence settings while in the hanger, I get a bit confused at times.  Perhaps it is due to the many different planes and the many different weapons and corresponding configurations a pilot can chose from.  But so far, this is what I've grasped, I think:

White lines are the secondary guns (the lesser caliber on multi-caliber planes).

Green lines are the primary guns (the larger more powerful caliber on multi-caliber planes).
Example: Spitfire Mk V = white lines for the four .303 cal and green lines for the dual 20mm cannons.

Blue lines are the auxiliary or supplementary guns to the primary guns (equal to or greater potency than primary guns).
Example: Fw190A-8 = two 8mm in cowl (secondary), two 13mm in inner wings (primary), and two 30mm in outer wings (auxiliary). 

I have a combo question and two ideas/thoughts.  First, is the assumption above correct?  Secondly, would anyone else agree that an identifier to the weapons mount locations would be of huge assistance when contemplating convergence?  Thirdly, what about a separate fire button for the auxiliary guns?  Why do we only have two fire buttons?  My initial thought is because that is the way it was in these WWII fighters.  Correct?  Or are we facing a coding issue of some sort? 

Here is my suggestion: Back in the hanger screen where the guns are labeled as they sit on the table or on the floor of the hanger, make the color of the letters/numbers the same as the lines of fire in the convergence window (currently all letters/numbers are green).  Or, while in the convergence window somehow label the weapons as they sit on the plane.  Me thinks the coding issues would be less of a bearcat to tackle if the color-coding was done out in the hanger room and not in the convergence window, though.  Ultimately, there is no way to tell which gun is where unless the player is an expert in WWII aircraft (most are not).

Oh, and the A6M5b has 3 different caliber of guns (dual 20mm, a single 13mm, and a single 7.7), but yet there are only 2 white lines and 2 green lines.  Oversight? Or was the 7.7mm Jap and the 13mm supposed to be on the same POI?  No biggie.  There are many other more important things that need to be hammered out prior to that being fixed (like the Mossi’s speed  ).

Thanks!

[Soulyss]

To my limited knowledge the color coding isn't representative of calibre of weapon.  Instead I believe the guns are merely paired up for calibratoin/convergence.  In the case of the A6M you would bore sight the guns to hit the same point in space at a set distance for both the 13mma and the 7mm weapon.  They would converge at that point during level flight.  For deflection shooting the different ballistics could come into play but the variance between those two weapons would be slight I believe.

Setting convergence is largely a matter of personal taste.  Most would agree to set wing mounted guns 400 yards and under.  Some people like to stagger the gun pairs to converge at different points others like to have them hit at all the same point in space, again it's mostly personal preference.  In the case of mixed armament planes where there are cannon and machine guns a lot of players do use two or even three buttons on the stick for weapons.  I fall into this myself I have separate buttons for primary, secondary and fire both.  Flying the 38 this allows me to drop my bombs or drop tanks, fire just my machine guns on low angle or tracking shots or bring the cannon into play for snapshots. 

[A8TOOL]

There are many different way to set the guns. i like my cannons out farther and MG closer. On my 50's I like to have two set at 375 or 400 and the out side wings set 25 yards closer......350 ,  375

[EskimoJoe]

There are many different way to set the guns. i like my cannons out farther and MG closer. On my 50's I like to have two set at 375 or 400 and the out side wings set 25 yards closer......350 ,  375

How does that work out for you? I have my inside guns set closer, and my outside guns farther, but it's the same setup for your 50's none-the-less.

[BarryBD]

Green lines are the primary guns (the larger more powerful caliber on multi-caliber planes).
Example: Spitfire Mk V = white lines for the four .303 cal and green lines for the dual 20mm cannons.

Wrong, for the spit anyway

The .303 are the main guns, 20mm gondolas are secondary

[BaldEagl]

Wrong, for the spit anyway

The .303 are the main guns, 20mm gondolas are secondary

There are no gondolas on any Spitfires. 

Cannons are always primary weapons on any cannon equiped ac.  Machine guns are always secondary weapons if the ac has cannons.

On American 6 gun packages, 4x.50 = primary, 2x.50 = secondary.  I'm not sure if the primarys are inside our out but I would expect inside.

[BarryBD]

OOOPS Hispano's that is....


But I'm pretty sure that when I trigger primery guns the .303 go off

[SmokinLoon]

See what I mean, there appears to be no set standard.    If HTC would assign the correct color coded letters to the guns in the hanger room (green, blue, white), it would be far easier to see exactly what guns a player is working with while converging rather than guessing.

FWIW: I've set ALL of my cowl mounted or center mounted guns at 600m.  All of them.  Any of my wing mounted .30 cals get 325ft, my wing mounted .50 cal/13mm get 400ft, and any other caliber mounted in the wings get 400ft as well.  I try not to take shots beyond 400m just yet as I have still much to learn and experience.  So far, the only time distance has become a factor is when I'm trying to chase someone down and the range indicator says "600+" (and rising).        

[SmokinLoon]

Just ran a quick test: I have my primary/secondary wording mixed up and confused.

Spit IX and A6M2: primary is .303 Brits, secondary is 20mm Hispanos'.

Bf109G-6: primary is 13mm and secondary is the 20mm

Fw190A-8: primary = 13mm's and BOTH the 20mm and 30mm fire as secondary.  [Too bad 20mm and 30mm cant be split]

Mossi: primary is .303 Brits and secondary is 20mm.

Either way, I'd like to see a color coded system as to what gun is where on the plane.  Currently, a player really does not know until they get in game and listens to the sounds and watches the ammo counter as to what gun is where.  By then, it is too late (unless they re-start and re-calibrate convergence).  Best way to do that is in the hanger room, IMO.  Color code the wording with white, green, and blue. 

[SlapShot]

For .50cal planes ... F6F, FM2, P-51, P-47, F4U ...

Set ALL guns to the same distance. A lot of people who occasionally fly these .50 only machines complain of only getting assists ... well that is due to poor convergence or staggered convergence in my opinion.

On a .50 cal plane, you want all your lead going to the same spot. When you shoot a plane in that "sweet spot" it will rip planes apart almost as easily as any cannon plane.

I have all my guns set to 400 and I have no problem taking down planes from 200 out to 600 out and can inflict damage from 800 to 1000 out. If I fire within the 375 to 400 distance ... the .50 cals shred the crap out of anything in its path.

Another thing that one has to remember when shooting the .50 cals is to not be stingy when pulling the trigger ... don't use short bursts like you would when shooting cannons .... lay the lead rope out there and smack 'em with it.

Personally ... I don't really care what is primary or secondary ... I only care about how much ammo I have. If there are bullets in the hopper, then I am going to use them one way or another ... primary or secondary makes no difference to me.

[Ack-Ack]

This one of the main reasons I fly a plane with nose mounted guns.  I don't have to worry my pretty little head about all that convergence stuff. 


ack-ack

[SlapShot]

This one of the main reasons I fly a plane with nose mounted guns.  I don't have to worry my pretty little head about all that convergence stuff. 


ack-ack

Would you still use the convergence on the P-38 for "dropoff" ?

[Ack-Ack]

Would you still use the convergence on the P-38 for "dropoff" ?

I don't adjust my convergence at all, haven't touched it in the P-38 since I've been playing and is set to whatever the default is.

There is some debate as to whether or not the convergence settings take drop off into account.  From what I've seen and the testing I've done off line a few years ago, setting convergence at 400 yards is no different than setting it at the max convergence setting. 

I know some will swear up and down setting convergence does make a difference in the P-38 but honestly I've never seen it, especially when it comes to rounds dropping off.  YMMV.


ack-ack

[morfiend]

As I understand it,there are 2 conv. to consider,horizontal and verticle.
Horizontal conv. takes into account were the bullets cross,ie in wing mounted guns.
 Verticle conv. affects were the rounds cross your piper,so on a nose mounted gun
if you set say 300 conv. then the rounds should be at piper center at 300 yards.
Wing mounted guns will both cross paths and be at center of piper at conv. distance.

 How does this affect your aim?? well if nose mounted guns are set to say 500 yards,any plane less than 500d you'll have to aim abit low,any plane further away and you aim abit higher to account for the drop.

 Ack Ack this isnt meant to prove or disprove what you've said. It was meant to explain conv. as I know it...
 I could be wrong,often I am.

[Soulyss]

From what I understand the convergence is where the bullet stream crosses the piper @ a given range.  In theory this would mean there is a vertical component to convergence that would change the angle the rounds leave the gun. Whether that difference actually translates to anything in AH is another question.  I would imagine that it makes a slight difference in the stick inputs to pull lead but I would be a little surprised if it routinely resulting in the difference of a tracking shot connecting or not.