50 Cals

[Patches1]

Hello, Folks,

I've just a curiosity question for our present TOD; has anyone met with any unusual, or out of the ordinary difficulty in downing aircraft whilst flying 50 cal armed planes?

Perhaps I have hit a plateau...but something is different this TOD from the last TOD. I've run several different virus programs looking to see if my machine is giving me problems, and I've got my processes down to 22 whilst running XP Pro, which is normal for me. I don't run my virus program whilst I play Aces High, and my net connection seems to be OK...both Variance and Host Queue time are flat and I get a fairly steady 72 frames per second on my monitor.

I'm running:

Processor :  Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU     E6750  @ 2.66GHz
Memory : 1024MB(Speed -)
Mother Board : MS-7350
Windows Version : Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 3
Monitor : Plug and Play Monitor (ViewSonic VG900b) run at 1280x1024 with 1024 Max Texture Size and Anti-Aliasing at 1/4 less than Max
Video Adapter : NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GTS
Mouse :  Microsoft PS/2 Mouse
Keyboard :  Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard


Last TOD I had a 3.34 K/D in Fighter Mode and a 10.38 hit percentage with 81 kills and 20 assists; but so far, this TOD,  I've a 0.95 K/D and a 7.89 hit percentage with 18 kills and 16 assists. This TOD I saddle up and hammer another aircraft and it seems to absorb 50 cals without taking much damage, yet I take what registers as a single hit to me...and I'm in the Tower.

I'm not complaining (well, not much), mind you...I'm mostly curious.

Thank you for your time.  <S>

[Krusty]

Could be your ISP? Could be you turned V-Sync on? (Should be "OFF" or you get rubber bullets).

Just a couple thoughts.

[gyrene81]

i think you have that backwards krusty...v-sync should be enabled and "program controlled".

[BigR]

You really have not flown enough this tour to really say one way or another. Fly some more and everything should average out. 50cals are working just fine for me.

[Krusty]

i think you have that backwards krusty...v-sync should be enabled and "program controlled".

D'oh, you're right!

Sorry, set it to "ON"!

[james]

I get the same thing lately as well. I'll light a target up and it laughs at me. I use a p 51 and shoot at convergence alot as well. From the paper planes of the zeke to the f6f  sometimes i'll not even scratch the paint this tour with the 50 cal's.

[coombz]

only flown w/ 50 cals for like 3 or 4 sorties this tour I think...but didn't notice any problems in the a-hog, business as usual

[Vinkman]

I wouldn;t say it tour specific for me. Seems like when I fly. If I'm on during off peak hours, and when there is low trafic in my sector, then I see every hit sprite animated, and every bullet counts. It turns out I'm an excellent shot at these times.  My first estimate and burst usally produces lots of sprite and  adjustment is not necassary.
During Peak hours, and when sector traffic is high, I can't get it sprites, and record little damage on what I feel are sure kill shots. I make numerous adjustments and can't get sprites or damage.

Like you, I check ping times and they are in the 50 msec range, which should be fine. I can accept that with inernet gaming, this is just the way it is. But it seems to me there are some who never have rubber bullets. They show up to the peak hours, high traffic, fuballs and kill the same 7 guys on 1 ammo load they do during off peak, and low traffic.

I wonder if there are router settings or regional differences [isp-to-htc server] differences that count for some of the more phenominal shooting by some players during peak hour and high traffic? Just because I'd hate to think my I.T. ignorance is causing me avoidable frustration.

If it's unavoidable...then I can just deal with it and play through it. 

[Ack-Ack]

I don't have any issues with killing anything with .50 calibers either during peak or off hours, just need to make sure that you're hitting the plane in areas where your burst will cause the most damage. 

ack-ack

[Rob52240]

I only have issues downing heavy allied bombers with 50 cal.  For everything else they seem to be adequate.

[RTHolmes]

looking briefly at your specs the culprit might be sounds.

the most common .50 birds have 6x or 8x .50s and they all have high ROF. thats a fair bit of processing for onboard sound, especially if you are using a stereo soundpack. soundcards are cheap and remove most of the sound processing burden from your CPU.

next RAM, you have 1GB. XP even with trimmed to 21 proc will use almost 1/4 of that. if your 8600 is a 512MB, there goes another 512MB of RAM leaving you only ~256MB to run AH in. all your sounds use RAM, so you can take a chunk off for them too (again could be a big chunk if you have a soundpack installed.)

on my unstressed system AH typically uses ~512MB RAM just for itself.

IMO if everything else is ok as you report (ISP, router etc) the best bet, if you can afford to, is get a soundcard and some RAM (2GB min for XP, 4GB better), both are a cheap way to eliminate possible bottlenecks in your system for AH

edit: 8x .50s generates alot of hit sprites too (assuming your gunnery isnt as bad as mine ) soundcard and RAM may also help with this too.

[Ack-Ack]

I only have issues downing heavy allied bombers with 50 cal.  For everything else they seem to be adequate.

Against any heavy Allied bomber you need to target either the wing root or engines.

ack-ack

[Tank-Ace]

I would suggest you try flying cannon armed planes, and planes with 7.92mm caliber guns. That will give you a grounds for comparison. If the percieved 'problem' is consistent with all weapons, either its just you, or your system/connection is giving you trouble somewhere (possibly sound, as others have noted).

Based purely on effectiveness, not ease of use, you should HATE the 7.92's, find 4x .50's adequete if a bit wanting, 6x .50's more than adequete, enjoy the 20mm's, and adore the 30mm's.

Against any heavy Allied bomber you need to target either the wing root or engines.

I've always had rather poor luck against bombers. Would you either post some specifics for each bomber here, or PM me them?

[Rob52240]

Against any heavy Allied bomber you need to target either the wing root or engines.

ack-ack

Yeah no kidding.  Back when I was still a noob I was in a pony and emptied all guns into some other noob in 3 Lancs but only downed one and damaged the other two. 
A squaddie pointed out that shooting up a fuselage on big planes doesn't do much good and I felt a bit ignorant for not thinking about that when I was shooting (probably because I'd developed the less effective and more dangerous Kill the tailgunners tactic on my own).

[Tyrannis]

Ive had some problems where is seems like my .50 rounds go right threw an enemy plane, yet do no damage to them.

At first i thought it was lag, but my frame rate is at a steady 59. and my net status looked normal.

ive done many  faces lately from this. i mean, i know my aim is bad. but not THAT bad.


I need to film it and turn it in.