You guys need to remember speed. The drones are flying slower than MA combat speeds. That's why practicing deflection shots greater than about 20 degrees to your line of travel do not translate into the MA. Ever wondered why you seem to miss short in the MA on many of your shots but, you nail them off line?
I've wished for player choose able drone patterns and variable speeds. A constant I've listened to for 12 years, is everyone can slay the drones offline. But, in the MA they are clueless and frustrated to heck as to why their gunnery won't transition with them to online. Very simple answer. Drones are flying 225-250 offline. MA combat is 300-450. The higher your speed, the more G force comes into play against your bullets when you make minor attitude corrections. At higher speeds your deflection lead allowances are much wider.
In the end, yes you need to throw yourself into MA combat as much as you can, win or loose. Ultimately the only way to learn the minutia of how speed effects your gunnery in MA deflection shooting. But, this being a computer game. HiTech could throw newbies a bone to help them feel like they have a chance. After all, in WW2, the AAF flunked you as a fighter pilot if you couldn't hit the broad side of a barn in fixed gunnery school. Either you put a pre determined percentage of your rounds into the tow target, or you got to fly cargo or bombers for the war.
