Author Topic: Gunnery? (Read 679 times)

bockko · « **on:** April 23, 2003, 02:01:16 PM »

Ifluff'n y'all don't mind, 'kin you ace types share your secrets for better air to air gunnery? I seem to be stuck at hitting between 5% and 7%, but have not been able to get much past that %. This campaign not sure what my % is, forgot to select attack on a few missions and shot lotsa ammo at ground targets

. What convergence do you prefer for mg's and/or cannons? Best way to estimate lead angle? What do use for max effective range? oh, one more q: is the trajectory for the C205 cannons much worse that on other planes?

Anyway, thanks for any insights!

akak · « **Reply #1 on:** April 23, 2003, 03:09:19 PM »

Turn off your tracers and in about a week or less your hit % will increase because you've been forced to learn how to judge the lead angles better.

Ack-Ack

Drano · « **Reply #2 on:** April 23, 2003, 03:57:12 PM »

Like AKAK said--turn off your tracers. You want to get a better handle on concentrating where your pipper should be in relation to the plane to get better at gunnery. With tracers you'll have a tendency to want to fly the tracers into the target. Plus if you're a bad shot and miss you've just given your NME a heads up and he may break turn and ruin your shot. He can see your tracers too.

Convergence depends on what weapons and how they're located on the plane. Nose mounted stuff I usually set it to max range (650 yds). That usually gives a nice narrow pattern. On wing mounted guns that depends again on whether you're talking cannons or machine guns. Cannons tend to shoot with a much more arc'd trajectory than MG's and are effective at a much shorter range(especially the german ones). I generally have MG's set to converge at 300 and cannon at 250.

You can see how your shells will hit at a given range by bringing up the practice target offline. Do that by typing < .target_XXX >(without the <>'s) in the text buffer replacing the "XXX"'s with the desired range. The target will always be co-alt with you and to your north. To turn it off put the range to zero. Using the target you can see how changing your convergence will affect your shot pattern at different ranges and for different weapons.

Going back to the tracers thing. Best is to practice offline on the drones with no tracers. Take passes from different angles and note how much you have to lead them with your pipper to get hits. Don't bother with trying to kill them--hitting is what you're after. After a while you'll get the hang of it. Another thing you can do is go to the Training Arena. There ammo load is increased but lethality is greatly reduced. Ballistics are all the same. This way you can practice shooting at planes doing something other than flying a nice wide flat circle. Just concentrate on getting hit sprites.

One tip I'll give you on gunnery itself is to dicipline yourself in shooting at close range rather than farther out. I almost never fire beyond about 250 yards. Most times I'm much closer than that. (of course I also have a tendency to fly into my kills but that's another story LOL) I like to ensure that when I'm pressing the trigger I'm gonna get a hit and not just spray all over the place hoping I will. Getting in closer is all the difference. Its helped me get from a 6-9% shooter to a 10-12% shooter. Gunnery is about the only stat I give a crap about. I figure if I'm getting hits I must be doing something right. Patience is key.

I'm not much on high deflection shots. Its something I've never gotten the hang of even tho I've done this for a long while so I don't bother shooting them. I'll just be patient and work on getting around to the NME's 6 and take THE shot rather than taking A shot and hoping I connect.

I don't bother with fancy gunsights either. I use a single red dot during the day and a white dot when it gets dark.

Good luck.

Drano

snocone · « **Reply #3 on:** April 23, 2003, 06:09:00 PM »

just one other thing, bullets do not affect your hit % against ground targets, only ordanance (bombs and rockets). it does of course affect your % if your ground target is an enemy vehicle, hope this helps

bockko · « **Reply #4 on:** April 23, 2003, 06:47:09 PM »

thks for the responses gentlemen

. I have had tracers off before but never stuck with it. They are off again, this time I will have to shoot my way through to proficiency. I think last time i had tracers off I was trying a new joystick (oops, bad combo lol). I fly with AGalland alot (squaddie) and his accuracy has been up as high as 15% so I must try to get mine up as well. I do take many snap shots, a few hit, many miss.

Thnks!

MutleyBR · « **Reply #5 on:** April 23, 2003, 06:50:28 PM »

Hi bockko!
I'd suggest reading a thread named "Gunnery Training/Exercises" started by RightFOOT on 11-24-2002.
Then, use the "Search" feature of this forum and do a search on "Gunnery Training" or just "gunnery" and you'll find a lot of good avice on the subject.
Hope this helps!

Gryffin · « **Reply #6 on:** April 24, 2003, 12:50:42 AM »

Bockko, go offline and shoot up the drones!!

You can edit the offline settings so that you have lots of ammo and unlimited fuel. I also like to reduce the ammo effectiveness, so that it only does 0.2 times the damage that it would do in the MA. This means that you have to land 5 times as many hits to get the kill. (Once you can regularly get the kill in one pass with your chosen ride using these settings, you will find it a LOT easier to score kills in the MA).

Then just fly around the fields shooting at the drones from as many different angles and at as many different speeds that you can.

When I first started playing Aces High, I did this for about half an hour pretty much every day for a couple of months. Nowadays I will do it 2-3 times per week, usually just before I go online.

The other thing to keep in mind is that you should pick a plane and stick to it for a while when you are still learning to shoot accurately, as each plane has different characteristics, like the way they respond to roll while you are aiming, the view over the nose, etc etc.

When I first started playing my hit % was crap, but lately it is around 18-20%, which I believe is because of consistent practice.

Good luck, and be persistant, and you will get there!

BigMax · « **Reply #7 on:** April 24, 2003, 05:28:42 AM »

I prefer to correct poor gunnery with tracers "on" so I can see where I am missing. With them "off" you do gain an element of surprise, but I think I'd rather fix it first. But what Drano said is gospel... If you are consistently shooting farhter than D250, you should work ACM so you can get closer. The only time I shoot farther is clearing a wingy, a roped baddie that is hanging, or pursuing a straight and level flier.... I set my convergence to 200 to 400 depending on the plane and the roll I am going to use it in... Get closer is the best advice, do that & you'll make a huge improvement.

CYasUp!

Eagler · « **Reply #8 on:** April 24, 2003, 07:15:16 AM »

turn on friendly icons only - force you to get real close

fly IL2 or FB IL2 for about a month - when you can hit/damage in there, AH is a breeze

Jospe2 · « **Reply #9 on:** April 24, 2003, 08:32:59 AM »

Eagler , noted your IL comments. I bought FB IL2 and cant get my CH stick or rudders to work. The only movement I get is when I push the toe brake. I selected the JS in the set-up but still nojoy

Any ideas ?

Also, do you adjust your own prop pitch and S-charger ? I cant wait to mess with that stuff.

Jospe

Eagler · « **Reply #10 on:** April 24, 2003, 08:57:47 AM »

I use a X45 with ch pro rudders

Have to set axis in the hardware setup in the game itself, for all the rest I use a Saitek profile

haven't messed with engine management, hard enough without it