Color-coded hit sprites

[Brakechk]

I had the same problem so I switched to the K4.  I can tell the difference much easier now because 30mm hit sprites look like large pieces of metal falling off the airplane.

I wonder if this has something to do with settings?  I've noticed in the K4 that my mg hits look like sprites at far range or puffs of smoke at shorter distances.  The 30mm for me however looks like a small explosion when it hits...even at 400yds (which is a total luck shot for me with 30mm).  The difference is really obvious on my computer which is sort of in the low to medium range in terms of power.  Most of my video settings are fairly low.

[Brakechk]

While I wouldn't be in the habit of telling someone the best way of doing things, especially not if you have good results, I would say that excluding the .303s from a burst on the enemy will mean a decrease in critical damage, especially on snapshots.

Ditto....many times all I get is one chance and generally it is a very short burst.  I want that to be as effective as possible, so much so that it negates the any advantage I get from knowing with certainty which rounds are the tracers I'm seeing by only firing cannons.  I do normally keep my shots in the D200 range or just as it flips to D400 (300 yds) so varying ballistics aren't that big a deal. 

Just a couple mgs alone are more than capable of damaging the engine, taking control surfaces or wounding/killing the pilot (or just shaking them up a little), even on planes like the K4 or Ki-84.  So I shoot em all, even though I have primary and secondary mapped independantly.  The exception is the longer shots at 600-800 to try to get a plane to turn.

As a side note I remember seeing a film of Leviathn just busting enemies in a D3a with one short burst by shooting wings off at close range.  While that is more the exception than the rule gunnery effectiveness is more about accuracy, range, convergence and shot placement than big guns alone.  It is possible to be effective with lightly armed planes.

[macleod01]

I'm not at all defending having it in the game itself, though I wouldn't be opposed to it.  I'm calling out your comparison of it to "in-flight pickups".

How realistic are hit sprites or distance indicators to begin with?  Ammo counters?

What if color-coded was changed to hit-sprite size/detail?  I.e., each type of ammunition has a sprite sized based on its shell diameter?

All in all, I would like to see the option to turn it on/off in a film. 

HT has always said that he is willing to make concessions to reality in order to make the game more playable. Distance counters are the perfect example. As for Hit sprites? Watch a film of ww2 air combat. You will see debris coming off when it gets hit.

Ammo counters were installed on several planes in WW2, if i remember correctly the 190 had them along with many others.

Differant size of hitsprites I have no problem with. But where would a bright pink flash come from? At what point does that help game play when, as a feature in filmview, it will do the job just as well.

I am not saying that i don't want it. I just don't want in the MA. Put it in the filmview and I am happy.

[Stellaris]

Related, and maybe this would be a different post, but I'd like it if I could turn tracers on and off in the film viewer independently of the front end.