Problem with guns?

[jpv4077]

I have been flying for a little while and I cant seem to get any better at shooting. It seems that no matter how many times I shoot at an enemy I dont get any hits. Even at close range and square in my sights, I just cant get any hits. But there doesnt seem to be a problem with me getting shot down-its getting frustrating. Its the same no matter what I am using plane, vehicle or boat. Does anybody have any tips or advice for me? Thanks.

[DamnedRen]

A couple of things come to mind.

1)Make sure your convergence is set to the distance you shoot at.

Many new folks don't realize normal max gun range is around 650 yards. Sure, you can put some rounds into guys at farther range and even sometimes hit a vital spot. But for a newby its very difficult to shoot at those distant ranges and the few commodities you have available for a sortie are gas and ammo. Don't waste them.  

I normally hold fire for shots between 200-300 yards. Because I wait to close I have my guns set for the rounds to converge at 300 yards. If your new you may have trouble getting that close so I'd suggest you set convergence at 450 yards and try shooting at that range to start. As you gain more experience dogfighting you will be able to reset your convergence for closer shooting.

2) Take unloaded shots. That means try and set up your shot so you are not pulling "G's". If you can get yourself aligned for without any stick pressure as you shoot then all the rounds will hit home. Practice setting up and taking "unloaded" shots.

3) After you set your convergence go into the training arena and get up in the air. Once up type /.target 650 then hit enter. A white target with red rings will appear in front of you. Get yourself aligned and shoot at it. See where the bullets go for the convergence you have set. Then change the distance to say 300 (/.target 300) and shoot. Note the difference in the bullet spread. Play with the distances and you will get a better feel for where your rounds really do hit.

To get rid of the target type /.target 0 then hit enter.
 
Hope this helps.

Ren

[acetnt]

Do Follow DamedRen advice  - know your convergence etc

but also remember that lag and ballistics means that you probably are not aiming at the right place. If the target is flying straight and you are directly behind him and within your convergence range then you can put your crosshairs exactly on the target. Normally I put my crosshairs a bit higher to compensate for the bullet ballistics as they slow down and drop.

Your have to know the kind of guns on your plane - for eg I would not bother firing the guns on an La5 greater that 400 yd normally.

And last little tip - do use the zoom key "Z" you can use the "[" and "]" to zoom in and zoom out and then use the F10 key to set your head position for zooming. This helped me the most. WHen I am almost ready to fire I zoom in before firing - it greatly improves my accuracy. Of course, be prepared to zoom out quickly if the guy has good ACM

This stuff worked for me. Hope it helps you also...

[najdorf]

I think your problem is that you are turning, following your oponent's moves and thus, even though your gunsight may be "painted" on target, your rounds don't land.  You need to remember that if you fire while turning, the rounds will be well below the nose of your plane by the time they get to the target, so if he is in your site, you are actually firing behind him.  To land rounds on a maneuvering target while you are maneuvering, you must turn inside the oponent, to the point you cant even see him because the nose of your plane obstructs your view and fire, the hit sprites usually show up even though you are looking thru your plane.  The problem is, if he reverses while you are in this position, you won't see him do it and you'll lose him.

Try getting him in this position, fire a quick burst and then flatten your turn to make sure hes still there,  If he's not reverse.

[SlapShot]

Also, when setting the convergence, you have wing mounted guns (F6F) and center-line guns (P-38) and how many guns.

Setting the convergence on an AC with center-line guns doesn't really accomplish much IMHO.

What I do with wing mounted guns, take for example the F6F, is the outside set of guns is set at 375 yds. The next set of guns (middle) is set at 400 yds and the inside set of guns is set at 425 yds.

This type of setup, at least for me, gives me crossing convergences of bullet streams and at the same time covers the kill zone from 375 to 425 yards.

Using the target command (.target xxx), the target will only be viewable while heading due north I believe.

[HeLLcAt]

Everything everyone else has said is basically right. Maybe if you work on your ACM your shooting would get better because of the situations you would get yourself into. Go offline and just shoot the drones for a couple ammo loads and go back online and I gaurantee that you will see a difference in your shooting. Get the feel for your bullets and I have my convergences on every plane except 262 set to 400. This is where most of my snapshot kills come into play. The close you are to an enemy the better, less hits kills them quicker and you are in better firing position. The convergences of 375 inside, 400 middle, and 425 outside might be your best bet. What plane do you fly? What planes give you the most trouble? Check out my website for shooting techniques. My site is http://aceshightraining.freewebspace.com. Also, I am not sure if I have the stuff about the shooting on my site, but if I don't email me and I have a document for you. Salute everyone!

[Ack-Ack]

The two things that can really help you is a proper convergence setting of wing mounted guns.  Like Slap pointed out, convergence on center-line guns (nose mounted guns) is unnecessary but vital with wing mounted guns.


The second thing that can help you is to fly with your tracers turned off.  One of the hardest things to learn and get good at is gunnery in here and turning off your tracers will actually help you improve your aim by forcing you to learn how to properly lead your target.  It will take about a week or so to get used to flying with tracers off but you'll see some definite improvement in your hit % once you get the hang of it.


Ack-Ack

[MaddogJoe]

All great points! It took me over a year to turn off my tracers. I figured how the heck am I going to hit anything if I don't know where the shots are going!! Trust me, it takes just a little bit of time, but you start concintrating on "where" you aim, instead of the tracers, and the most important thing IS where you aim right?  

Getting to an "unload" postion for a shot isn't easy in the MA. most times your too busy dodging the cherry pickers to set up a nice shot You can check out the Mafia's site http://webpages.charter.net/maddogjoe/index.html , click on Aces High Help then on Air to Air targetting. Its a pretty easy to understand write up on how much lead you need for a shot.

Hang in there, all it takes is practice !

Maddog Joe

[sax]

How far out are you shooting from?

[devious]

All my wing guns are at 425 yds. Centerline guns are set to 650, except the   Mk 108 where i "feel" the steep trajectory (low velocity) of the round will make you shoot over targets in the crosshairs when they're above 425 or so.

[SlapShot]

Am I wrong in assuming that staggering gun convergence and causing multiple converging streams is more deadly ? at least when it comes to .50 cal guns ...

[Phantom4]

I don't think convergence is modelled that precisely.  It seems that bullet energy is maximum at muzzle and decreases as a function of range (as it should), then cone size at tgt range is calculated and bullet strikes estimated by ??? (unknown formula) - concentrated hitting means more damage to individual components while a more spread zone gets you more hits overall.  If you are a good shot and like to pick apart individual pieces on a plane the all to one zone probably does more damage per second but it is harder to get a hit.  If you are a mediocre or poor shot (like me) - a spread gets you more overall damage but it seems to have hit them a bit more to do critical damage.  This is all conjecture on my part but that is the way it seems to me.  Maybe HiTech could shed some insight on how it is actually calculated but then that may be a "trade secret"

Phantom4

[MOSQ]

jvp,

Here's how I got the feel for aim:

1) Large yard
2) Garden Hose
3) Wife or Child who is too hot on a summer afternoon.

Turn on hose, tell wife to RUN ! in circles around you starting about 15 yards out. Aim right at her with spray from hose, notice how far the water falls behind her as she runs at various speeds. Compensate your lead till you are getting "hits".

Have her move in closer and run tighter circles. Notice the change in lead.

You have that feel which is equivalent to manning a field ack or Osty.

Now CHASE her as she runs various diameter circles and notice how much lead you need.

If you want to get really serious, use TWO hoses and model convergence settings by holding them out at different lengths from your body.

Finally, crash land laughing and have a cold adult beverage !

[empty]

Developing the shooting eye can be difficult, especially flying combat.  This is a bad time to learn something this important.

I usually take my new guys (and some of my old guys) into the training arena at least once a month to work gunnery.

Usually follows this type of format...

Fly straight and level, let the new guy shoot at you.

Once he starts to hit consistantly, add turns.

Fly a 1.5g circle (level), and let him shoot.

Fly a 2.0g circle (level)...

This doesn't cover all aspects, but it provides the new guys some confidence that they can score hits in this mode of flight.