1st in AW to hit a plane your bullet had to pass with in a 3 wingspan diameter circle. If it did, it was a hit, no matter if it really touched the plane structure or not.
2nd removing front angle shots changes the dynamics to give an advantage to turn fighting vs e fighting. And I am not talking about B&Z head ons.
Defeating a ropa dope suddenly becomes simple, All you have to do is have your plane facing him, and no worries mate, he cant hit you as he is coming down, and you are a stationary target ripe for the picking, but bullet proof.
Snap shots on scissors become useless.
HiTech
I remember coming to AH after playing AW for years. Toughest part of the transition was the gunnery difficulty vs AW. I had no idea the "hit circle" or whatever was that big in AW and that explains it lol. I used to run into folks in the merge when I first came here too because of the merge style most of us used (no collisions).
Please don't remove the ability to force an overshoot and whack some guy in a rolling scissors who just bounced me.
Please don't remove the ability to faceshoot one or two of the five guys i got tangled up with on the deck.
Please don't remove the ability to make front quarter passes on buffs (even if I'm not smart enough to do it most of the time).
I really don't understand wanting to change realistic gunnery (in terms of "if you can get bullets on a target they damage the target"). Seems to me like it's just a way to blame someone else for your mistake (getting in front of said guns). I hear folks really getting worked up over HO's, Hordes or some other "lame" behavior that somehow was the sole cause of them being shot down. Sounds like they are finding a way to justify being shot down by someone who they feel is clearly a much less talented player so it's either luck, hordes or just "lame" behavior in general. By its very nature the MA results in the possiblity of being shot down by anyone at anytime. That's part of the fun.
I guess after we put some shield or another on the front we need one on the bottom of the plane because it ain't fair since we can't see a enemy from the bottom. Then we'll need one on the sides because someone will get killed from that aspect...then we need some on the back because I might get killed there too.
Avoiding the HO is easy and finding out how to do it is easy. There are any number of comments in this thread alone giving advice on it. Some methods are good some not so good. I love to see some guy turn towards me and start firing from 1k away. That means easy fight...like not even try real hard to win cause it's so easy. Turning the fight your way in the intial merge vs an enemy going for the HO is easy...like dead in 1.5 turns easy many times. If your dying to them do some research and then practice what you read, find someone and go to the TA or DA and set it up.
One other thing...remember that lag makes things look slightly different on your computer vs their computer at times. So I'm gonna bet that unless it's one of those deals where your seeing rounds flying your way at 600-1k they may be seeing you trying to do an early turn and actually firing at your belly. By going to the DA or TA with someone and filming the encounters you can sometimes get a better idea of what works for you in your plane and what doesn't.