Can't Hit a Barn

[BluBerry]

I am having serious gunnery issues.  My last flight I was in a P51b 200 behind a 109 in pretty much straight and level flight.  He was moving around some but nothing crazy.  I ran out of ammo and only hit him a couple of times.  I had the sight on him, a little over him, a little under him, to both sides.   I don't understand how I could be that bad. 

Could network lag be the issue?  Any suggestions

When I first started playing this game I had gone through and changed the settings to my liking, one of the things I didn't realize that I had disabled was tracers. For the first year I flew in this game, I thought the tracers were so I could see enemies firing at me and I assumed that when I fired at them, they saw my "tracers" on their screen.

I think without tracers you learn much faster to feel the shot, what it should look like, how much lead feels right. For me I don't look at the gunsight to often anymore unless I'm dead 6 on someone. I normally just feel how we are about to fall in place and can judge the shot that way.

Once I found out I had the ability to use tracers myself, I realized I was much more wasteful with ammo and was no longer prone to getting in tight behind them for the kill, I would start shooting from angles that I didn't "feel" the shot from, knowing I could watch my tracers and then adjust based off what I saw.

When I first pick up a new plane I turn tracers off, if it is a plane I committed to learning I leave them off until I get to the point where I can "feel" the shot, I know what it should look like, can judge by the E state of the other plane how much lead I may need and can visualize where they are about to fly to, so I can have bullets waiting to meet them there.

I think there is a lot to be said for not using tracers while learning, if you get to fed up, simply switch them back on again.

my 2 cents.

[Rich46yo]

The biggest problem I have is just seeing the enemy plane if the terrain is in the background. Ive tried adjustments with the video but my eyes are old and not getting any younger. Already I have to wear glasses when I game.

[bustr]

Rich,

Zoom will help. Don't use it until the money shot against the ground clutter and even the ocean. Or if you use it to check for flaps out or relative angle relationship of the rudder to the wing in a turn.

Also, if you are using more than a dot for your reticle. Turn the alpha down. Slide it to the right until it's under the right hand boarder of the gunsight preview window. Then it will mostly only light up against the ground clutter but, you will be able to see motion through the reticle structures rather than the reticle being like looking through a bird cage canopy that you have to peek around. Test the alpha offline against the drones to see what I'm talking about. Then get down on the water and ground. It will surprise you how Hitech has coded this. It will be easier for your eyes to resolve the target, reticle, and background.

MntMan told me he would turn his alpha down until there was just a hint of something in the center of his reflector plate. That way he could see his tracers, his con, and his dot, without the dot distracting him. Messiah slides his alpha about half way between the right hand boarder of the gunsight preview window and the full right end of the alpha slider travel. Some of the problem stems from how busy your sight picture is, and over loading your visual input during key moments.

[wgbergman]

Rich,

Zoom will help. Don't use it until the money shot against the ground clutter and even the ocean. Or if you use it to check for flaps out or relative angle relationship of the rudder to the wing in a turn.

Also, if you are using more than a dot for your reticle. Turn the alpha down. Slide it to the right until it's under the right hand boarder of the gunsight preview window. Then it will mostly only light up against the ground clutter but, you will be able to see motion through the reticle structures rather than the reticle being like looking through a bird cage canopy that you have to peek around. Test the alpha offline against the drones to see what I'm talking about. Then get down on the water and ground. It will surprise you how Hitech has coded this. It will be easier for your eyes to resolve the target, reticle, and background.

MntMan told me he would turn his alpha down until there was just a hint of something in the center of his reflector plate. That way he could see his tracers, his con, and his dot, without the dot distracting him. Messiah slides his alpha about half way between the right hand boarder of the gunsight preview window and the full right end of the alpha slider travel. Some of the problem stems from how busy your sight picture is, and over loading your visual input during key moments.

I do not know what either the "alpha " or the gunsight preview window" are.

[bustr]

From the clipboard:

Options--->Preferences--->Gunsights

You pick an airplane, then a gunsight for it. There is a preview window of the gunsight you pick. Under the preview window is a slider for the alpha value of the gunsight background mask, or what you see called the gunsight reflector glass plate. The slider takes the place of the light bulb dial on real gunsights to allow you to brighten or dim the internal light bulb.

I really wish Hitech would make that a slider\button\analog dial in the cockpit. And in the gunsight selection application turn the alpha slider into a resizing slider. From 32x32 to 512x512. If wishes were horses they once said....

[BnZs]

This is more esoteric than the other guys' advice, but it really helps...Just calm down. The less you really care about winning the fight or making the shot, the more able you are to win the fight or make the shot. Don't think "I'm gonna get him I'm gonna get him gonna get him" with your desire to get him unsettling your mind. And certainly don't think "I always miss" or things like that. Try to avoid thinking.

Those who master sports and skills have a certain psychological makeup: When the do something right in practice or competition, they get a charge out of it (but not to the point of unbalancing excitement) When they do it wrong, they generally try to feel nothing. Mentally beating yourself up or feeling any emotion when you fail really, that engraves failure in your mind instead of success.


You drink? Try maybe a shot or two before a sortie, depending on how big an old boy you are. Not enough to get drunk, just enough to be slightly buzzed and not really caring about this game. Also click over on "attack" if that helps you not care about the outcome. Do what it takes to get your mindset to "Okay, this doesn't matter, I'm just playing around and seeing what I can do" As soon as you start tasting success, that will start eliminating this "I can't hit anything" thought pattern you have going right now with "I can shoot well". When you can say that to yourself and really believe it, you'll be able to do it.

[The Fugitive]

Thats one of the reasons I love watching other peoples films. I like to slow the film down when they go for a shot. It makes it easier to "see" the site picture they are looking for. When they fire, if you pause the film, you can see the range the target is at, and how much lead they are pulling for the shot. Slow mo shows if they hit at convergence or not so you can see the hows and wheres of their shots.

I have a horrible aim that I have been working on for a long time. I don't get to play often enough to burn the site pictures into my mind. But using this technique I have been able to get my hit percentage from under 2% to maintain it over 4% and I'm am now flirting with getting it to stay over 5%.

Practice is still king, but "how" you learn sure does help too!

[Sunka]

The biggest problem I have is just seeing the enemy plane if the terrain is in the background. Ive tried adjustments with the video but my eyes are old and not getting any younger. Already I have to wear glasses when I game.

I have had this issue seance they did the big graphic update,my eyes are fine and i use a decent monitor ,but when planes get near the ground the color patterns and shading look to much the same (as the ground) to me.I have tried to lighten the gamma but that just washes everything out in white.

[Rich46yo]

Also, if you are using more than a dot for your reticle. Turn the alpha down. Slide it to the right until it's under the right hand boarder of the gunsight preview window. Then it will mostly only light up against the ground clutter but, you will be able to see motion through the reticle structures rather than the reticle being like looking through a bird cage canopy that you have to peek around

Thanks, Ill try that.

[morfiend]

  There's been alot of great advice given in this thread,but I find most players who have troubles shooting fall into 1 of 2 groups. 1st group are like me and have vission problems and are getting a little long in the tooth so the reflexes arent what they used to be.  This group is going to always have troubles,just the nature of the beast.

  The 2nd group dont have the first's problems they have another problem and it's the Joystick!  Usually I see guys shooting and their tail of the plane is bouncing up and down and left and right! Guess what that does to your guns? 1 or 2 degrees of movement of the tail makes the plane move around and this translates into the guns spraying all over the place.  It's simple to see the effect,use the dot target command and up a plane with lots of ammo,best done offline where you can increase the ammo count by a factor of 10 or more and you will see the bullet pattern and how much the rounds are spraying around.

  If the rounds seem to go left and right,then you need to adjust the rudder to stop the initial imputs and this should help with the side to side nose bounce!  If the rounds are going more up and down then the elevator is the culprit and you need to adjust it as well.  I find it's usually a combination of the 2 unless the player has rudder pedals as they dont impart any input when pulling the trigger!


   Just last week I worked with an "old" stick,he was having problems landing hits,I watched him shoot for awhile and saw he was having twist rudder inputs when pulling the trigger,some elevator also,after about 10 mins of adjusting and testing,he was liting me up all over the place!

  Of course....YMMV.


   

[Tinkles]

I am having serious gunnery issues.  My last flight I was in a P51b 200 behind a 109 in pretty much straight and level flight.  He was moving around some but nothing crazy.  I ran out of ammo and only hit him a couple of times.  I had the sight on him, a little over him, a little under him, to both sides.   I don't understand how I could be that bad. 

Could network lag be the issue?  Any suggestions

I can't hit a barn either.. because I normally don't aim at them 

Do you recall what types of planes you encounter quite often or need practice on hitting/finding the weakpoints? For example: I counter 109k4s and f6fs quite often, so in offline mode I made two of the drones a 109k4 and an f6f. Practicing at different angles, speeds etc.  I trained myself by "mastering the round" as I call it.  For example, if you want to be good in the p51 with gunnery, then fly only planes with 50 cals. The trajectory is the same from plane to plane, as long as the round is the same caliber/gun type (if not mistaken).

I use my experience from 'mastering' 50cal trajectory on my 30mm aiming, while putting a slight change to it. Which so far, as improved my accuracy dramatically, you all are in for a treat when I get back online 


Fly offline, and shoot at a b17 or b24, aim for specific engines at varying distances with tracers on.  Then after that, when you think you have the hang of it, turn tracers off.  If you are able to hit where you want with tracers off, then you're doing something right  . Another thing I did, was make sure that your gunsight (if you use any other than the default) is the same for all the planes you fly that use the same caliber. That way it is easier to learn.   

Also, what fugitive mentioned, film your sorties (with tracers on so you can see where your rounds are going) and observe them later. There are many things you can pick up easily watching a film, that you totally missed while in the 'heat of the moment' in 'battle'.

Hope this helps.

<S>

[wgbergman]

Lots of good stuff here. Thanks to all.

[Kingpin]

Lots of good stuff here. Thanks to all.

Here's a link to another recent thread specifically about gunnery that you will likely find helpful.
http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,354354.15.html

Please note on Page 2 where I talk about using the .target command.  I think this is a useful tool for learning gunnery and just for routine practice.  I specifically used it to teach a better understanding of the bullet stream (firing at different ranges) AND most importantly the effect of maneuvering (G-load and "nose-bounce") on the bullet pattern (as Morf mentions above).

I know it's more fun to fire at airplanes and watch pieces come off, but the nice thing about firing at the target is that you see what your bullet pattern looks like, especially the bullets that would miss an airplane.  That is the primary purpose of the "shoot around the clock" exercise I explain in that thread.  The idea is to fire and maneuver, so you can see how big your bullet spread  is.  This allows you to address issues (stick scaling, trim, convergence, etc.) and provides a way to practicing with visual feedback on getting your bullet pattern tighter and tighter (and thus your firing more accurate and effective).  This exercise helps develop a feel for anticipating and "relaxing into the shot" while creating a habit of firing while unloaded.  I still use it as a warm up exercise, especially when flying different aircraft types.

Good gunnery takes lots of practice and constantly working at it.  I feel there are some good practice tips in the thread I linked to above.

<S>
Ryno

[Kingpin]

Here's a link to another recent thread specifically about gunnery that you will likely find helpful.
http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,354354.15.html

Please note on Page 2 where I talk about using the .target command.  I think this is a useful tool for learning gunnery.  It's also good just for routine practice.  I specifically used it to teach a better understanding of the bullet stream (firing at different ranges) AND most importantly the effect of maneuvering (G-load and "nose-bounce") on the bullet pattern (as Morf mentions above).

I know it's more fun to fire at airplanes and watch pieces come off, but the nice thing about firing at the target is that you see what your bullet pattern looks like, especially the bullets that would miss an airplane.  That is the primary purpose of the "shoot around the clock" exercise I explain in that thread.  The idea is to fire and maneuver, so you can see how big your bullet spread  is.  This allows you to address setup issues you may have (like stick scaling, trim, convergence, etc.) and is a great way to practice with visual feedback on getting your bullet pattern tighter and tighter (and thus your firing more accurate and effective).  This exercise helps develop a feel for anticipating and "relaxing into the shot" while creating a habit of firing while unloaded.  I still use it as a warm up exercise, especially when flying different aircraft types.

Good gunnery takes lots of practice and constantly working at it.  I feel there are some good practice tips in the thread I linked to above.

<S>
Ryno

[McShark]

Also a nice writup

http://www.jg-51.com/topsecret/gunnery.pdf