tracers

[Lusche]

Could someone tell me were you check your accuracy.

You can find your fighter hit% in your scores (On this website: Community -> Scores -> Pilot Score)

But you should be aware that not only pure aiming skill influences that number, but also what kind of planes you fly, what you did attack (killing bombers boosts your hit%) and even what style you are flying.

So if you want to check your progress, better fly the same plane for a while.

[BaldEagl]

I leave them on.  I like to see where my bullets are going.  I was ~20% hit rate last camp.

[Anaxogoras]

Wow, thank you for so many informed responses.  I like ghosth's idea of trying to the computing gunsight in the TA, partly because I've never tried it at all!

Ditto to the one who said they don't like it when their opponent is not using tracers.

[RTHolmes]

... also (assuming its modelled properly) it should give you 25% more useful ammo too. eg. 240 20mm in a spit vs 192 + 48 tracers. got to be good

[Lusche]

... also (assuming its modelled properly) it should give you 25% more useful ammo too. eg. 240 20mm in a spit vs 192 + 48 tracers. got to be good

 

Why should tracer ammo have been "not useful" ?

[Bronk]

I did that at three different occasions during my AH career.

It did not work.

Every time I did it, I was fine first. I had no trouble hitting with the same accuracy the first sorties. But gradually, but steadily, my ability to hit began to decline, instead of improving as one may think. After a few days constant practice / fighting without tracers, I'm almost not able to hit anything anymore. It's getting worse from sortie to sortie.

It seems I definitely need the tracer feedback to keep my "mental image" necessary for gunning. And I guess i'm not the only one, so I am opposing the generalization "Tracers off will help you". It may, or it may not.

Huh sounds almost exactly like my experience with tracers off.

[Yknurd]

... also (assuming its modelled properly) it should give you 25% more useful ammo too. eg. 240 20mm in a spit vs 192 + 48 tracers. got to be good

Someone isn't thinking correctly.

I thought tracers were normal rounds but with paint on the actual bullet.  Therefore, they do damage just as a "normal" round would.

[Toof]

Tracer rounds do have an incendiary property to them, what it is escapes me at the moment (possibly a Tungsten coating, not sure). I wouldn't imagine them being any less effective than normal rounds. If anything, I'd imagine them to be -more- effective. An incendiary round hitting a fuel tank = *pop*. As far as the game's ballistic properties of the rounds, I can't think of any reason to model the tracers differently.

ie. they're the same bullets.

a8toof

[1Boner]

aren't tracer rounds just regular rounds coated with phosphorous?

[mtnman]

Flying with tracers off will force you to learn how to lead with your gunsight rather than with your tracers.  It usually takes about a week or so to get used to having the tracers off. 


ack-ack

I agree.  Just as turning off your gunsight would force you to learn how to lead with your tracers rather than your sight.  I just don't see the benefit to learning that is greater than using your tracers.  From a technical standpoint, your sight only shows you where your bullets would hit if you fire while  your wings are straight and level, at 1G, and fire at a target at the same distance as your convergence.  ANY deviation from that will make your bullets hit somewhere other than where your sight would lead you to believe.  So for the vast majority of shots fired in the MA, the gunsight is not telling the "truth".  Using your sight while inverted, for example, should make your bullets hit 6-10 FEET low,  even "at convergence" while using the tracers to direct your rounds onto the target still works fine inverted...

The tracers still give a basic idea of where your rounds are going, regardless of your planes attitude, G-load, etc.  This would seem to show the tracers should be more helpful than a gunsight.

I actually tend to ignore the sight AND the tracers while I shoot, and concentrate on the target instead.  When I have trouble hitting, I tend to watch the tracers and adjust accordingly.  This seems to work well, especially considering I generally need to move my sight OFF the target in order to get my tracers and other rounds ON the target.

Interesting discussion...

MtnMan

[Getback]

I mix it up, I turn them off almost always when I'm in a field ack. Not sense in giving your position away. I also like to turn them off in the WW. That way they don't think you are shooting at them. In a plane it just depends. Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't.

[Soulyss]

Without the tracers in the picture you begin to get a feel for what sight pictures will yield results.   It's not a matter of whether the tracers actually would fly to where the piper is during manuvers, but more of the notion that I know if I place the piper in this certain point in space relative to the target I know I'll score hits. 

When you start to memorize these sight pictures it more or less takes away the need to use the tracer.  I will get to where I think I need to be, fire a quick burst to see if I get hits, if I do I hammer off a longer burst to get the kill, if I don't I move the piper based on whether I think I'm ahead or behind the target and fire another burst.  It's really the same process if the tracers where there.  I get a feel for the lead required and you start to recognize scenarios when you see them and know where to put the piper to get results. 

With that in mind and the benefits of not giving away your position if the target is unaware (I'm a bad shot so this is a big plus for me) and how annoying I find it to fight someone who doesn't use tracers I don't really see any reason to use them.  I think it really comes down to personal preference,  try it one way then the other, just make sure to stick to it for a couple weeks at least I'd say to really see which one you perfer.

[SlapShot]

That's because toolsheds don't try to evade!

 

[Lusche]

Without the tracers in the picture you begin to get a feel for what sight pictures will yield results. 

No.
Without the tracers I will gradually lose my feel, until I cant't hit anything anymore after a week.

[SlapShot]

Well it adds a surprise factor. If your target starts to evade your lack of tracers can turn against you.

Well ... I don't usually use the "surprise" tactic(s) ... I am more of an "I'm right here" .. in your face kind of flyer.

Plus with the tracers flying by ... you can also see them squirming in their seats which usually results in a "panic" move which is usually the wrong move that leads to their demise.

I sight with both the pipper and with the tracers ... so I get the best of both worlds.