50 cal damage upped

[Jed]

My convergence is already at 300,  and I respectfully disagree

[Karnak]

In real life the biggest killer of aeroplanes was fire, in AH the biggest killer is dismemberment. I think that's reason for the leathality gap between machineguns and cannon in AH.

The gap is actually a little bit smaller in AH than the US Navy said it was in WWII.

People, for whatever reason, just cannot accept that 20mm cannons are really that much better than 12.7mm machine guns.

[Vudu15]

Fly a Mk. 1 Hurricane for a day and then go back to any .50 cal armed plane. Night and day.even the little ki43 will eat folks alive with only a pair and good convergence and shot placement.

[Randy1]

I set the P47, eight gun package at 325, all other 50 cal packages at 300.  The P38 without canon is pretty good but without an alt advantage closing to 300 is the problem with so many faster planes in the game.  So you have to pick those that have slowed down.

Closing too 300 is good advice if you can close.

[artik]

People, for whatever reason, just cannot accept that 20mm cannons are really that much better than 12.7mm machine guns.

I think it is a part of the culture... USA players think that US planes like P-51D are the best AH planes... British would say the Spitfire XIV or XVI is the best, German would likely select 109K or 190D (or Me 262 which was truly significant) and of course Russian would favor the La-7 or Yak-3.

It is a part of the ethos we all were grown on.

And each of them would be right in his own unique way.

There are many stories about how effective the 6x.50' cal was... Because it was the weapon of USAF and it was effective in its context mostly because USAF hadn't have to deal with bombers and was able to achieve air superiority.

You can't have a game with 90% US player base and not have the .50' cal to be as good as possible. However you should remember that stories tend to favor thous  who was on the winning side...

[Fox]

I believe the .50 cal damage is modeled based on kinetic energy.  Using generic .50 cal ballistics from a stationary rifle, the kinetic energy drops in half somewhere around 600 yards.  The same round fired from a moving plane will loose energy at a different rate, but not sure how much different compared to stationary. 

When I first started I used to shoot at long range with the .50 cal armed planes and was somewhat frustrated by the apparent lack of damage produced.  Per suggestions from some old timers I reduced the convergence and began shooting at shorter ranges.  The combination of more bullets hitting (due to shooting at convergence) and the shorter range (more damage produced due to higher ke) made a big difference for me.

[FLOOB]

When I said machine guns I wasn't just talking about 50cals. When the incendiary effects are neutered then the only factor left is destructive force, that gives both 50cals and cannon a distinct advantage.

[Tinkles]

I think it is a part of the culture... USA players think that US planes like P-51D are the best AH planes... British would say the Spitfire XIV or XVI is the best, German would likely select 109K or 190D (or Me 262 which was truly significant) and of course Russian would favor the La-7 or Yak-3.

It is a part of the ethos we all were grown on.

And each of them would be right in his own unique way.

There are many stories about how effective the 6x.50' cal was... Because it was the weapon of USAF and it was effective in its context mostly because USAF hadn't have to deal with bombers and was able to achieve air superiority.

You can't have a game with 90% US player base and not have the .50' cal to be as good as possible. However you should remember that stories tend to favor thous  who was on the winning side...

I'm US and I fly German planes mostly

Some of my relatives who have watched me play Aces High have commented on the 50 cal, sometimes when bombers would take so many hits or fighters even.  Then another relative would bring up how bombers would land frequently with quite a few parts missing.  It was quite the debate at my house!

At first I thought it wasn't 'up to the fame' up the real life 50 cal.  Then I got good at it, and that changed my perspective drastically.  If you know where to aim, you can kill enemies with a handful of rounds.  I recall getting a kill on a seafire in my f6f when I had less than 20 rounds left, got the pilot. I'm sitting there screaming my head off on VOX.. only to remember my mic didn't work!    

 

[Jed]

Many excellent points brought up.... 

[smoe]

If a 50 cal hits penetrates a wing spar the wing will be weakened enough to snap off.

[Bruv119]

Sounds to me like someone needs to go Pony Bravo flying.  All guns set to 300.   When you can get +5 kills every run go back to 6 or 8 50cals and laugh at yourself. 

It is the best gunnery platform in game IMO.   

[TwinBoom]

My convergence is already at 300,  and I respectfully disagree

250 is the magic setting info source pulled from a ww2 combat pilot in a

I was at 300 until hearing about this interview switched to 250 noticed they sliced like butta!

But play ur own game

[icepac]

I set 50s way out because they are the longest ranged commonly found gun in the game and use them to tickle people at d1000 into turning.

The only convergence "merging" I work on is in the vertical and try to make sure the bullets are grouped at both long range and medium range.

Super close range shooting on a long convergence setup doesn't seem to be a problem.

[bustr]

First, if you gents accept Hitech uses the physics for the various guns in our aircraft right out of the manuals. Then here is what the AN\M2 .50 cal in American fighters is limited by.

By 1200ft or 400yds, the round has lost 2\3 of it's kinetic penetration ability. By 1200ft the drop due to gravity and air resistance is 4ft. Beyond 1200ft because of the rounds slow down, gravity, and dispersion makes the round inaccurate the farther past 1200ft it goes. Between 1200 and 1600 the drop is to 6ft with increasing dispersion. It will be a given that individuals can adjust to this with their convergence set out beyond 333yds. That means they have a knack inside of 400 to focusing the stream from one wing as their primary onto a con at close range.

But, since this is a general discussion and we are not all waving the looky here I'm an exception to a rule flag. This conversation begs to what players in the game understand are the limitations of the AN\M2 ballistics in AtA combat. AAF fixed gunnery training beat those limitations into the pilots heads to help them not waist their efforts and lives in combat. I'm assuming the OP is looking for some general guidelines that Hitech appears to be taking directly from the WW2 manuals.

AN\M2 .50cal were harmonized generally 250-333 yards due to the kinetic, drop, and dispersion limitations by 1200ft. Gun camera footage general showed kills inside of 1200ft as the rule. WW2 was not won by looky me exceptions to the rules of physics the way we push them in our computer program. 

[Karnak]

If a 50 cal hits penetrates a wing spar the wing will be weakened enough to snap off.

On what airplane and what G loading?

A single spar hit at 1G loading would not break most WWII fighter's wings.

The only hit Johnnie Johnson ever took was from a head on with an Fw19o. His Spit IX took a 20mm hit to the wing spar near the wing root which caused the wing to bend back a bit and caused the Spit to be a write off, but the wing didn't fail and he flew back to base and landed normally.