I agree with Wilbus and SageFIN.
I think it has got to do with damage modelling rather than
gun damage. A plane can be shot up real bad, but it does not
necessarily mean structural failure. Powerful 20mms might
blow large chunks off the fuselage, but it won't necessarily
mean this damage will destroy a whole section of the plane
that is hit, throwing it off the flight path completely and
destroying the plane due to immediate crash.
Most of the gun-cam footage or historic photos I have seen
records fires, damaged or dead engine,occasional destruction
of wing or blowing up as the main factor of target plane
being destroyed.. rather than sawing off a whole vital section
and rendering the plane totally inoperable.
This sort of simplified damage model is what I think the main
reason behind those instances of '1-ping Hispano deaths' or
'700 yard 4-cannon spray and pray' deaths. In these instances
it is no doubt possible that a stray, lucky 20mm shot can hit
and seriously damage a plane, but the damage would be more like
a small section torn off from the vertical stabilizer or rudder,
elevators punctured and etc. This sort of damage would put the
enemy out of the game, but it still would probably let the
plane fly and hold together with the pilot inside struggling and
cursing. The real problem would come when the pilot tries to land
his plane after he escapes. Currently, in these instances, a
Hispano cannon bird would land one or two lucky pings at the tail
section(in many instances these areas never even pinged before)
and would just totally saw it off. The vertical/horizontal stabs,
or two elevators totally off, or a ping at the wing root totally
knocking it off.
The solution lies in better damage modelling. With better damage
modelling introduced, I predict taking a well aimed shot for
enough time would destroy the plane. The 600~800 yard spraying
so common with planes with guns that are able to hit up to very
far distances would cause distruptive handling for the guy who
is hit, but the plane would be able to limp away with speed..
the real problem coming in the landing sequence.
The case of a good contending flight game IL-2 demonstrates this.
Shots from out of critical range do land some successful hits,
possibly destroying parts of tail or puncturing areas of the wing.
But these sort of hits never ever just knock a plane outta the
sky like hitting a pin with a bowling ball. Only when an enemy
plane is well within range(in AH, it would be about 50~200 yards)
a destructive shot comes. And even in these cases the reason for
being shot down is heavy damage to the engine, fires starting,
control surfaces damaged and plane inoperable.. structural failure
like wing blown off is rare(unless it is 30~37mm guns).
Most common deaths I have experienced is from desperate maneuvers
with badly damaged planes causing a stall and augering, or fuel
leaking and catching fire.
And contrary to popular belief, the guns aren't undermodelled either,
judging from my experience. It just won't go down if guns are fired
like in AH. Quick snapshots never kill planes(they do kill the
pilot quite many times, however), wild shots from 200~300 meters
don't blow a plane, few 20mm pings don't instantly knock off a
wing. Only if you give it a good chase, take concentration and
shoot carefully will the plane go down.
When these sort of damage modelling is introduced in AH, I can
say with confidence the people complaining about Spits and N1K2s
would greatly diminish. The guns won't be destructive enough
with sphisticated damage modelling. 400~500 yard shots would rarely
award someone a kill. The slow plane it is, planes like Spits would
have to land a real good shot within real good range to kill
someone. And being able to take more damage than before, a faster
plane would have better chance to stay alive till the seperation
(but of course, quite badly tattered).
And no, this is not a Luft Whining thread. The 'penalty'(if it is
to be considered a penalty) applies the same to LW birds. Just that
pilots who mainly used LW birds are more familiar with getting in
close range to fire a shot, that they won't notice that much of a
difference.
Better damage modelling. The single largest request I have
for AH and HTC.
