Howdy,
HOs. Like a lot of people I only get HOd if I am trying for one. BUT, I am not a furballer either. I am beginning to understand that most of the problems voiced over HO kills are from furballers who get into these tight turning bits of mayhem. Suddenly there is someone head on to them shooting and bang their dead. To address this complaint try this: Really talk to the other player about it. Analize that shot. In listening in when ever I can I feel that nearly 3/4 of the time the one who takes the shot and the one who gets hit are not seeing the same thing on their front ends. This is a lag issue. Here's the arithmatic. A good delay for me, I am on a dialup, is around 150 to 190 ms. That means everything my FE shows me happened between 1.5 and 1.9 tenths of a second ago. Add to that the delay of my opponent, who could be broadband at say 75ms or .75 tenths of a second, to a dialup like mine at 1.9 tenths. At the extreme, some of what I am seeing happened almost half a second before I ever see it. Now a tight turning furball looks to me like speeds are between stalling and 250 MPH (I could be off here because I am not a furballer but you get the idea). The question to understand is, just how much can happen in .4 seconds at those speeds? Things that two different Front Ends may show differently at different frames rates, etc etc ad nauseum. This little romp through numbers is the main reason I don't furball. I don't feel I can rely on what my computer is showing me at all! Hope this helps.
Buff guns.
OH I HATE THE UBER BUFF GUNNERY! But, when I really sit down and think about it I have to concede that it isn't the buffs guns. It's the gunners. More numbers, Bomber crewmen in the Eigth AF had a life expectancy of only 15 missions. Granted other AirForces weren't getting into harm's way as bad as the 8th and the life expectancy may have been a lot higher. But still, think of how little practice realy WWII gunners got at hitting moving targets, then compare that to the dyed-in-the-wool buff drivers in Aces High who might fly as many as 5 - 10 mission A DAY. And, while I hate the uber gunnery of Buffs and whine about it constantly I find myself forced to concede that sheer practice may account for most of that uberness, (uberness?... ew)
1.4k 6 shots.
I was so proud of myself when I made a shot like that. I have only done it once. It was with a P-38, using only the 50s and I nailed a pony dead at 1.4k. Heck of a shot if I do say so myself. But, Ya know, if he hadn't just been sittin there flying straight and level for 10 loooonnnggg seconds, I could not have done it. At 1.4k if you are watching, like you should be, you can DODGE tracers after they are fired. So if you are getting hit at those ranges all you have to do is wiggle just a little bit, and they will miss. With the hit modling in Aces High you only have to shift position a couple of feet and bullets miss you a lot. Even if you go back to what I said about HO's., and realize that those tracers you see may have been in flight .4 of a second before you see them, at 1.4k you still can have as much as 1/4 of a second to get out of the way of some one shooting at you.
As for what was possible? Any rifle caliber machine gun of wwII was capable of engaging area targets or large vehicular targets at 1500 to 2000 yards. The M2 browing heavy machinegun, (not really what I would call a rifle caliber mg at all) was extremely accurate, so accurate that several record setting sniper shots were made with one by ground troops in Korea and Vietnam. Those were issue M2s, mind you, not specialized, accurarized hybrids. The only thing special was that they had a scope mounted on them. The refernce for most of the accuracy of the Ma Duece comes mostly from "Marine Sniper" which is the story of Carlos Hathcock the Sniper who did so much during Vietnam. He hit one, or saw one cant remember off hand, with the M2 at over 1.2k, and he hit a man, not a machine with a 40 foot plus wing span. Shoot with the current M-60, I successfully engaged 1000 METER troop targets and those troop squad sillouettes are a lot smaller than an airplane. So the weapons systems are quite capable of the making the 1.4k hit on something as huge as an airplane. But seriously if you are watching someone out there. Just move a little bit once in a while. They will probably miss. And, if they have tracers on, you have time to dodge. Dont just sit there n die.
Hope this junk was helpfull.
