Aces High Bulletin Board
Help and Support Forums => Help and Training => Topic started by: The Fugitive on October 03, 2008, 06:41:51 AM
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OK, everyone knows it, but I'm going to say it...... my aim sucks ! ..ah feels good coming out of the clos.... never mind :rolleyes:
I know my aim stinks, and I know the best ways to improve it is to practice, practice, practice. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, I have a life, and Aces High is only a hobby and untill I win the lottery, I only get 20-30 hours a month to fly. I really don't want to devote half of that time to shooting drones.
So I got to thinking, maybe its the shots I'm setting up that gives me the biggest problem. I feel that I can fly against the best of them, I just can't hit them. So what kind of shot are you setting up? Do you find yourself going for the same shot in every fight, or do you just take what you get or what the guy gives you?
In most cases I find that I saddle up and follow a guy until I can yank enough lead to throw some lead out there, slip back to a lag position to see results and rinse and repeat until the guy is dead, or a friendly comes in and "helps" :D
So what kind of shots do you set up? Which shots do you find easiest... other than the guy thats AFK, even I can hit those :P
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One simple answer sir.
Come to the TA, hang around until Texture, Kjetil, Lengro, Murdr or one of the other good sticks shows up.
Before you merge with him hit Control Tab to turn on the lead computing gunsight, then Tab again to select your target.
This will turn on the lead computing gunsight which is enabled in the TA.
This will show you roughly the correct lead at any given point or distance.
Roughly I say because if your banked more than 30 degrees it throws things off ballistic wise.
Come spend 15 minutes a couple times a week, then if you still have problems we'll get together and see what we can do to fix it.
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Hey there Fugi! First off.....I'm shocked! I figured being a member of the S.A.P.P. that you were a crack shot like Guppy. :D
I know that when it comes to actually hitting something, I have my convergence set very close. Nothing is set further out than 300. Most of my settings are around 250. I keep the Pony D at 300 because I tend to get more deflection shots when I BnZ.
So I guess the best answer would be to quote Walter Krupinski when he gave Erich Hartmann some advice: "Hey Bubi, get in closer."
This was directly from a military archive website:
SHOOTING
The rule was get close. Then get closer. When you are so close you are
afraid of a collision, get in closer. Only then open fire.
A later Ops Exec, Gerry Johnson (22 kill), normally an affable guy, would
become furious with pilots who damaged enemy aircraft or got only
"probables." He would ream a pilot's butt out in public in no uncertain
terms. "You outflew the bastard," he would shout. "You got close enough
to hit him, but you let him get away. The next time, ram your guns up his ass!"
The rest of the website is here: http://yarchive.net/mil/af_new_guinea.html (http://yarchive.net/mil/af_new_guinea.html)
I hope this advice helps! :aok
Obie
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One simple answer sir.
Come to the TA, hang around until Texture, Kjetil, Lengro, Murdr or one of the other good sticks shows up.
Before you merge with him hit Control Tab to turn on the lead computing gunsight, then Tab again to select your target.
This will turn on the lead computing gunsight which is enabled in the TA.
This will show you roughly the correct lead at any given point or distance.
Roughly I say because if your banked more than 30 degrees it throws things off ballistic wise.
Come spend 15 minutes a couple times a week, then if you still have problems we'll get together and see what we can do to fix it.
Thanks Ghost. I have spent hours and hours in the TA, though not much recently. I have used the LCS both off-line and in the TA. The only issue I have with that is I concentrate more on keeping the green cross hairs on the target than I do looking to see how much I'm leading the target by.
Hey there Fugi! First off.....I'm shocked! I figured being a member of the S.A.P.P. that you were a crack shot like Guppy. :D
I know that when it comes to actually hitting something, I have my convergence set very close. Nothing is set further out than 300. Most of my settings are around 250. I keep the Pony D at 300 because I tend to get more deflection shots when I BnZ.
I hope this advice helps! :aok
Obie
Thanks Neighbor ! :)
SAPP nights are where I have the biggest problem ! By the time I get lined up 3 other guys have already chewed up the target an spit them out!
All of my guns are set at 325, and I try not to shot until I see that "200" marker show up. By concentrating on that rule, I've brought my hit % up from 2 to about 5 on an average now. I would like to get it closer to 10, with the amount of time I get to fly anything over 10 would only be a dream.
Thanks for the tips, keep them coming!
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OK, everyone knows it, but I'm going to say it...... my aim sucks ! ..ah feels good coming out of the clos.... never mind :rolleyes:
I know my aim stinks, and I know the best ways to improve it is to practice, practice, practice. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, I have a life, and Aces High is only a hobby and untill I win the lottery, I only get 20-30 hours a month to fly. I really don't want to devote half of that time to shooting drones.
So I got to thinking, maybe its the shots I'm setting up that gives me the biggest problem. I feel that I can fly against the best of them, I just can't hit them. So what kind of shot are you setting up? Do you find yourself going for the same shot in every fight, or do you just take what you get or what the guy gives you?
In most cases I find that I saddle up and follow a guy until I can yank enough lead to throw some lead out there, slip back to a lag position to see results and rinse and repeat until the guy is dead, or a friendly comes in and "helps" :D
So what kind of shots do you set up? Which shots do you find easiest... other than the guy thats AFK, even I can hit those :P
if i may add to this question?
if i survive the merge, i often have trouble aquiring somone's six. if i get their six, i can generally hang with them. i even managed to stay on a corsair when he dropped gear at only D200....which has caused me to overshoot in the past......but back to the merge. 9 out of 10 try to set up a ho type pass. i keep trying to not go for this kind of merge, but everytime i get set up to come past them, rather than at them, they turn into me, recreating the headon merge. i generally finally give up, and let em think they got what they want, and attempt to do a very very slight dive under em with a little slip added one way or the other. 99% of them will in that instance shoot.
so part of my question is how to set up a better merge? how about you ubersticks(i use that respectfully, not sarcastically)? when you end up in a 5-1 as often happens, i've seen some of you guys take out a couple of them, and manage to escape intact.
then finally, my time ingame is about the same as fugitives......and my gunnery also is very poor. on everything i fly, i set convergence to 400 yards, with the exception of the a6m's....i set them to 300, and the p38's, i set out to 650 since they're nose mounted.
thanks for reading guys.........
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I'm not sure what to tell you other than to keep practicing.
I'm not the best either but I'm usually in the 10% hit % range.
I've got convergence set to 650 on everything except the Russian and Japanese planes and the .303/Hispano combos on the ealier Spits. All of those are set to 400. Try banging 30mm spuds from 650 and you'll get your aim down fast :) ... I got it to a science flying the A8. That said most of my shots are from 400 or closer.
I've got zoom toggle mapped to my stick with zoom set at default (control-z). During a fight I toggle zoom constantly and am zoomed in about 98% of the time for my kill shot.
For the most part I take whatever shot my opponent gives me, be it a dead six, lead, profile or crossing shot. I do only take short bursts though; only long enough to depress the trigger then I let go. I also take extremely long shots if need be. Last camp I had several kills from 1000 yards with .50's. On those I'll burst until I hit then hold down the trigger for the kill.
I prefer to use lag pursuit in a knife fight and patiently await my opportunity for the perfect shot. It seems the opponent will almost always pull up for a full profile shot or level momentarily for the dead six shot. I might pull lead and burst for a moment but then pull immediately back into lag pursuit. Too many times I sprayed until I was out of ammo and then I got the perfect shot. :mad: I learned my lesson.
Hope that helps for what it's worth.
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I spent alot of time working on my aim when I first started this game 4 long years ago! If I see you ID in the TA Ill be happy to work with ya. Other Wise the people who helped me were Texture, kjetil, and 20mmrain Look for me or them My name is MeRcY :salute
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Get em slow, and get em turned so their full profile is exposed and you'll never have an easier shot.
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Fugitive...are you making allowance for bullet rise (i.e. the arc described by the bullet from its origin {your guns where the bullets begin} to convergence {where the rounds from all of your guns fall to meet} ?
The ballistics in AH are set up so that the bullets "fall" into the convergence, in an arc, not "rise" up to convergence, as in a straight line. Thus, with convergence set at 325 and holding fire until 200, your rounds may be rising above your target if you have your sight set right on the target (this is based upon a dead six shot upon a non-maneuvering enemy aircraft...if you are deflection shooting, and waiting until 200 to fire, and your sight is right on your target, and the target is maneuvering a bit, you may be firing high and behind your target).
This post is based upon 6 wing mounted .50 caliber machine guns only, and my preference to shoot close to, or at, convergence against fighters. Against bombers, I make no changes in convergence, I merely change tactics a bit (yes, I kill more bombers than fighters, so my hit % is usually high, but against fighters I still average about 8-10% in fighter mode).
From your original post it seems you have no problem "saddling up", or "flying to the six" of your opponent, so I have to deduce that you are shooting too late (200 vs 325) for your convergence setting and most of your rounds may be going high. I would suggest that if this is the case, and your flying style gets you this close to an opponents' six...you may want to pull your convergence in a bit to flatten out the arc your bullets are taking to the target and be patient enough to watch for the shot I think you are seeing, but missing due to convergence issues.
This just my opinion...
<S>
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When all fails, go back to basics.
Get in CLOSE, pull the trigger and hold it till he blows. Remember what that solution looked like.
Try to do it again with less ammo.
Keep your convergence and your shooting inside 300 until you have it down pat.
Then and only then experiment with moving farther out.
Also where shooting is concerned, pick a plane and stick with it.
Most of my problems are a direct result of plane jumping.
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Fugitive...are you making allowance for bullet rise (i.e. the arc described by the bullet from its origin {your guns where the bullets begin} to convergence {where the rounds from all of your guns fall to meet} ?
The ballistics in AH are set up so that the bullets "fall" into the convergence, in an arc, not "rise" up to convergence, as in a straight line. Thus, with convergence set at 325 and holding fire until 200, your rounds may be rising above your target if you have your sight set right on the target (this is based upon a dead six shot upon a non-maneuvering enemy aircraft...if you are deflection shooting, and waiting until 200 to fire, and your sight is right on your target, and the target is maneuvering a bit, you may be firing high and behind your target).
This post is based upon 6 wing mounted .50 caliber machine guns only, and my preference to shoot close to, or at, convergence against fighters. Against bombers, I make no changes in convergence, I merely change tactics a bit (yes, I kill more bombers than fighters, so my hit % is usually high, but against fighters I still average about 8-10% in fighter mode).
From your original post it seems you have no problem "saddling up", or "flying to the six" of your opponent, so I have to deduce that you are shooting too late (200 vs 325) for your convergence setting and most of your rounds may be going high. I would suggest that if this is the case, and your flying style gets you this close to an opponents' six...you may want to pull your convergence in a bit to flatten out the arc your bullets are taking to the target and be patient enough to watch for the shot I think you are seeing, but missing due to convergence issues.
This just my opinion...
<S>
I was always under the impression that when you see the icon range switch from 400 to 200, your at 300. When you are seeing 400, the range is something between 300-500, and seeing 200 is something between 100-300. I may be wrong, but that is what I'm basing my distance off of. 300-350 is a pretty common range for convergence, and the switch from 400 to 200 is a good maker to follow.
Trailing a runner, I can usually hit what I want to, but its the maneuvering shots I have a hard to with.
When all fails, go back to basics.
Get in CLOSE, pull the trigger and hold it till he blows. Remember what that solution looked like.
Try to do it again with less ammo.
Keep your convergence and your shooting inside 300 until you have it down pat.
Then and only then experiment with moving farther out.
Also where shooting is concerned, pick a plane and stick with it.
Most of my problems are a direct result of plane jumping.
theres the rub isn't it, being an "old fart" "remembering" is one one of the first things to go! LOL!
if i may add to this question?
if i survive the merge, i often have trouble aquiring somone's six. if i get their six, i can generally hang with them. i even managed to stay on a corsair when he dropped gear at only D200....which has caused me to overshoot in the past......but back to the merge. 9 out of 10 try to set up a ho type pass. i keep trying to not go for this kind of merge, but everytime i get set up to come past them, rather than at them, they turn into me, recreating the headon merge. i generally finally give up, and let em think they got what they want, and attempt to do a very very slight dive under em with a little slip added one way or the other. 99% of them will in that instance shoot.
so part of my question is how to set up a better merge? how about you ubersticks(i use that respectfully, not sarcastically)? when you end up in a 5-1 as often happens, i've seen some of you guys take out a couple of them, and manage to escape intact.
then finally, my time ingame is about the same as fugitives......and my gunnery also is very poor. on everything i fly, i set convergence to 400 yards, with the exception of the a6m's....i set them to 300, and the p38's, i set out to 650 since they're nose mounted.
thanks for reading guys.........
Two things on a merge, first avoiding turning into a HO situation. If you have the choice keep your self 10-15 off to one side of the enemy as he bears down on ya. Start turning in at 1000-1200 out and you that much ahead on the first turn. Second thing after the merge, you know that most often the enemy is going to pull as hard as he can back into you (keep an eye on him just in case he's one of those guys that don't, then you are in for a fight), so knowing "where" he is going give you the advantage of doing a wider turn, or a big yo-yo or which even maneuver gets you in a better position for the next merge.
In a multi target fight (5 -1) the trick is to make yourself small and wait for your shot. Keep as many in view as possible, and roll your plan to give the smallest profile when one of them is shooting. In most of those TnB fights there are a bunch of small over shoots. Knowing which way a guy is coming in, add your roll, and knowing the most likely exit path gives you the opertunity for a shot. Those who aim well use that opertunity to kill, others like us use it to just waste ammo :)
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So what kind of shots do you set up? Which shots do you find easiest... other than the guy thats AFK, even I can hit those :P
I have a decent gunnery %, was a little more than 13% last tour, so I figure I can contribute a little.
The kind of shots I set up depend entirely on the aircraft I'm flying and its armament. The aircraft I fly don't turn so well, so I almost never saddle up on a bandit. That actually explains why you struggle with gunnery, because when you've saddled up the bandit gets desperate and does everything they can make you miss. Rather, most of the guys I shoot down don't squirm too much because they don't realize the danger or think a break turn is enough (think Spits and N1Ks).
If I'm in the 109K-4, I get a lot of kills lobbing taters out in front of a bandit that's executed a defensive break turn. I get a few kills roping, too.
With the 20mm armed 109s I have to land a sustained burst to bring down a bandit. Again, since most of my targets assume they can turn to safety, I get a lot of kills by cashing in altitude for a good instantaneous turn rate to set up a tracking shot. If I miss or if the bandit does a split-s, I don't follow.
Some of the shots that allow for the greatest hit % are clearing friendlies, or "picking" if you must call it that. It's very hard to shoot down someone who's only focused on you, only focused on evading your shots, but someone target fixated on your squad mate is usually holding still to try to line up a shot themselves.
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i so agree with OP, i cant hit crap!!!!!
my hit % is like 4, ive gotten it up to 5%, but no higher, although some days i cant seem to miss,
those days are far and few between.
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Actually when it switch's from 400 to 200 you are at 399. How fast it closes from there depends on closure speed.
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I think Spatula answered your question best; Ghosth amplified it, and Anaxogoras gave a great example in the first sentence of his second paragraph, "The kind of shots I set up depend entirely on the aircraft I'm flying and its armament" , I just wanted to make sure you understood how the ballistics work in AH (and apparently you do), and BaldEagl touched upon the lead factor.
So picture this: get your target equalized in energy state, or better yet, lower in energy and get them to turn planform (Spatula), get in close, under 300, or less (Ghosth), know the aircraft you are flying and its armament (Anaxogoras) and the ballistic properties of your armament (patches) and when you see this picture, estimate your lead (BaldEagl), put your sight at your estimated lead and fire! Film all encounters and review the film from all sides. This is the best description I can give verbally (with regards to the information posted herein) to the sight picture you must see before you fire.
Just how you get to this sight picture is dependent upon how well you know the aircraft you are flying, the aircraft against which you are flying, your individual flying abilities versus your opponents', and your SA versus your opponents' SA. I was taught that my objective was to out fly my opponent...that guns only decided who out flew whom...and it is to this end that I fly. Plan your flight! This begins with a study of the map, a good approach to the target area, a good analysis of the target area once arrived, and then a selection of a target. Once you've selected a target, double check your SA to make sure you can engage and get out, and then...out fly your opponent and use the sight picture mentioned above to settle the score.
If you miss, you can always blame it on net lag and packet loss, which is what I do! :) Or! Better yet, reset for the second shot (for which you planned ahead of time just in case you missed the first one) and nail that sucker! :D
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Great info here, but I think a few accidental inaccuracies.
1- The bullets do fly an arched trajectory, as they should. However, they don't necessarily shoot high before they reach convergence, and "fall" into the bulls-eye at convergence. They may do this with guns mounted at or near eye-level, as in some of the nose-mounted planes. However, with wing mounted guns I haven't found any planes that follow that rule. That's due to the fact that the guns are mounted so much lower than eye-level with wing-mounts. On an F4U, for example, the guns are mounted roughly 5 feet below the pilot's eye level. In order for the visual effect of having the bullets rise above eye-level and "fall" into the target at convergence, they'd need to rise more than 5 feet at some point before convergence, and then "fall" into the target. That's a huge arch. In reality, .50's probably don't have more than a 5-10 INCH arc at the mentioned convergence of 325yds, which means your rounds will actually hit low before reaching convergence... For example, if the firing distance is 10 feet, your rounds will hit about 5 feet low (in the F4U). 1/2 way to convergence distance, you'll still be roughly 2 1/2 feet low. This can be seen if you use the .target. If your bullets actually hit HIGH at any point (in level flight) it would be right BEYOND convergence, but would be minimally high (inches), and very hard to detect in the game. I could post some diagrams to show this if needed. For comparison- My .270 hits about 3" high at 100yds, and is sighted in at 200yds. At 500yds, it hits about 24 inches low (from memory, I'm too tired to look it up in my notes...) Total trajectory arch in 500yds is roughly 2 1/2 feet. It only "hits high" because the space between my eye-level and the gun barrel is so small. If I fired the gun from a standing position, with my big toe on the trigger and the gun on the ground, hitting the 200yd bulls eye, the bullet would never make it up to my eye-level, let alone come above it and "fall" into the target.
Firing slower projectiles (cannons) from near eye-level will increase the odds of having the projectile rise above eye-level before reaching convergence, as will stretching the convergence point out as far as possible.
2- The actual distance when the counter switches from D400-D200 is 299yds, not 399yds. D200 encompasses the space 100-299 yds from the pilot.
Another point when it comes to worrying about hit%. Group size increases with range, even if convergence settings are altered. The further the bullets fly, the larger the bullet group gets. For example- set convergence to 300yds, and fire at a target 300 yds out. Now do the same with convergence set to 600yds, and fire at a 600 yd target. The 600 yd test will yield a larger diameter group than the 300 yd test. Super-impose those two groups over the back of an airplane, and you'll see that hitting a plane "dead-on" at 600 yds, with convergence set at 600 yds will yield far fewer hits than doing the same at 300yds with convergence set to 300yds. So, even if your aim is "spot-on", hitting a target at 300yds, with convergence set to 300yds, will give you a higher hit% than doing the same at 600yds, with 600yd convergence. I could post diagrams of that too, (but probably not today) if needed.
MtnMan
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Another thing to try is turn tracers off. This does 2 things.
1. Forces you to get in closer
2. Doesn't alert your opponent to your firing, giving you more time to get the hit.
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Another thing to try is turn tracers off. This does 2 things.
1. Forces you to get in closer
2. Doesn't alert your opponent to your firing, giving you more time to get the hit.
I agree with this philosophy. The only problem is that if your gunnery skills already stink, you have a more difficult time adjusting your angle of attack. If the tracer are on, it's easier to compensate for the bullet drop. Thus you decrease the waste of precious ammo.
Here's a thought that somebody may know. Are the tracers in AH for every round or is it every other round or seven rounds, etc. etc?
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I leave tracers one because it's much easier to scare a bandit off a friendly.
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I'm also mot a fan of tracers off, but that's just my opinion. I don't believe it helps you learn to shoot better, but I'll agree once in a while it "surprises" your opponent.
I get "surprised" like that at least once or twice per year, hehe! I generally know when I'm giving my opponent a shot, and couldn't care less about whether he uses tracers or not. (Actually, being fired upon, I think I'd prefer he NOT have his tracers on. That way, when he misses, he won't know where to correct, and that may be all I need to change the outcome in my favor, hehe!)
MtnMan
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I agree with this philosophy. The only problem is that if your gunnery skills already stink, you have a more difficult time adjusting your angle of attack. If the tracer are on, it's easier to compensate for the bullet drop. Thus you decrease the waste of precious ammo.
Here's a thought that somebody may know. Are the tracers in AH for every round or is it every other round or seven rounds, etc. etc?
I think thats what I'm looking for. I have tried both with tracers on, and off. I know to get close, I understand the ballistics, but I think my biggest problem is "site pictures". As an "old guy", and with my limited time to fly these days I don't remember those pictures very well. So the question comes down to "do you guys with decent hit percentages find yourself going for a certain "angle of attack"? Do you look to set up crossing shots more often than not? Do you speed more time saddling up and when you have the room yank on the stick to get the lead (placing your target under your nose) and fire a burst? What is your shot routine?
Thanks for all the replies so far, while I don't think we have found my solution, you all have made some great points that may help others.
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I think thats what I'm looking for. I have tried both with tracers on, and off. I know to get close, I understand the ballistics, but I think my biggest problem is "site pictures". As an "old guy", and with my limited time to fly these days I don't remember those pictures very well. So the question comes down to "do you guys with decent hit percentages find yourself going for a certain "angle of attack"? Do you look to set up crossing shots more often than not? Do you speed more time saddling up and when you have the room yank on the stick to get the lead (placing your target under your nose) and fire a burst? What is your shot routine?
Thanks for all the replies so far, while I don't think we have found my solution, you all have made some great points that may help others.
based on this question, i don't know if this will help or not.......
but if i'm just trying to wait for that "perfect shot", it's normally when he goes up. for some reason, i have trouble pulling the right lead in a horizontal turn. i try adjusting slightly with rudders if i'm going high or low, but often shoot behind my target. when i think i've adjusted enough, i end up above and in front. but eventually, the guy in front ALWAYS goes up. i don't know why. but i don't know HOW many people i've kilt at the top of their loops. i just follow em up, and they always give me a good target from about the 1 to the 10 of the loops top.
i just don't know what angle of attack this would really be considered.
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i say the kind of shot i love most to get even though it can be tough in planes with guns that fire slowly (30,mm) and some 20's as compared to a hispano.
i love a 90 degree angle off tail crossing shot in full planeform T looks like crossing the t
it can be fairly simple to hit if you see it coming before hand and hold the trigger at the right time as he passes in front of you. no short burst there.i spray and hope to nail a canopy
only real problem is if the guy knows what hes doing and rolls his plane to the side showing you a lower profile, the difuculty increases tenfold, at least for me it does.
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Fugitive, my accuracy isnt the greatest, but i can place shots well in times of need. I never look for a certain "shot" due to the fact that it seems even the most basic and expectible shots are always different. Many of kills this month (and probably half the reason my accuracy is what it is) is because my Squadmates are roping the target, while im diving in. I give the target some extra lead to allow for bullet drop, thier climb, my dive, my E vs. his, many different things. However, when im 1-1 I have just overtime gotten an idea of lead in my head, say a 200yd shot with .50's at 400 is about 3/4, or half inch, give or take about a 1/4 inch, and i lay out enough lead to kill him 2 times over if i have the shot, otherwise i lay out enough to (hopefully) wound his strengths vs mine. in no way am i saying to listen to me, or not listen to me, as thats your choice, however i am saying this is how i do it, try it if you please. anyway, just my imput sir, <S>! hope this helps a whisker if ya try it!
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Great info here, but I think a few accidental inaccuracies.
1- The bullets do fly an arched trajectory, as they should. However, they don't necessarily shoot high before they reach convergence, and "fall" into the bulls-eye at convergence. They may do this with guns mounted at or near eye-level, as in some of the nose-mounted planes. However, with wing mounted guns I haven't found any planes that follow that rule. That's due to the fact that the guns are mounted so much lower than eye-level with wing-mounts. On an F4U, for example, the guns are mounted roughly 5 feet below the pilot's eye level. In order for the visual effect of having the bullets rise above eye-level and "fall" into the target at convergence, they'd need to rise more than 5 feet at some point before convergence, and then "fall" into the target. That's a huge arch. In reality, .50's probably don't have more than a 5-10 INCH arc at the mentioned convergence of 325yds, which means your rounds will actually hit low before reaching convergence... For example, if the firing distance is 10 feet, your rounds will hit about 5 feet low (in the F4U). 1/2 way to convergence distance, you'll still be roughly 2 1/2 feet low. This can be seen if you use the .target. If your bullets actually hit HIGH at any point (in level flight) it would be right BEYOND convergence, but would be minimally high (inches), and very hard to detect in the game. I could post some diagrams to show this if needed. For comparison- My .270 hits about 3" high at 100yds, and is sighted in at 200yds. At 500yds, it hits about 24 inches low (from memory, I'm too tired to look it up in my notes...) Total trajectory arch in 500yds is roughly 2 1/2 feet. It only "hits high" because the space between my eye-level and the gun barrel is so small. If I fired the gun from a standing position, with my big toe on the trigger and the gun on the ground, hitting the 200yd bulls eye, the bullet would never make it up to my eye-level, let alone come above it and "fall" into the target.
Firing slower projectiles (cannons) from near eye-level will increase the odds of having the projectile rise above eye-level before reaching convergence, as will stretching the convergence point out as far as possible.
2- The actual distance when the counter switches from D400-D200 is 299yds, not 399yds. D200 encompasses the space 100-299 yds from the pilot.
Another point when it comes to worrying about hit%. Group size increases with range, even if convergence settings are altered. The further the bullets fly, the larger the bullet group gets. For example- set convergence to 300yds, and fire at a target 300 yds out. Now do the same with convergence set to 600yds, and fire at a 600 yd target. The 600 yd test will yield a larger diameter group than the 300 yd test. Super-impose those two groups over the back of an airplane, and you'll see that hitting a plane "dead-on" at 600 yds, with convergence set at 600 yds will yield far fewer hits than doing the same at 300yds with convergence set to 300yds. So, even if your aim is "spot-on", hitting a target at 300yds, with convergence set to 300yds, will give you a higher hit% than doing the same at 600yds, with 600yd convergence. I could post diagrams of that too, (but probably not today) if needed.
MtnMan
didn't murdr post a diagram showing this somewhere?
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if i may add to this question?
if i survive the merge, i often have trouble aquiring somone's six. if i get their six, i can generally hang with them. i even managed to stay on a corsair when he dropped gear at only D200....which has caused me to overshoot in the past......but back to the merge. 9 out of 10 try to set up a ho type pass. i keep trying to not go for this kind of merge, but everytime i get set up to come past them, rather than at them, they turn into me, recreating the headon merge. i generally finally give up, and let em think they got what they want, and attempt to do a very very slight dive under em with a little slip added one way or the other. 99% of them will in that instance shoot.
so part of my question is how to set up a better merge? how about you ubersticks(i use that respectfully, not sarcastically)? when you end up in a 5-1 as often happens, i've seen some of you guys take out a couple of them, and manage to escape intact.
then finally, my time ingame is about the same as fugitives......and my gunnery also is very poor. on everything i fly, i set convergence to 400 yards, with the exception of the a6m's....i set them to 300, and the p38's, i set out to 650 since they're nose mounted.
thanks for reading guys.........
in a fight you have to do 2 things:
1 - survive
2 - shot your opponent down
When the opponent's a good stick forget the second fight point, fly as smart possible trying to avoid his line of fire if possible with vertical manouvres. Fly trying to keep your energy instead to vaste it using rudder and all your surface controls just to get a shot (maybe), he will try to aim at you -> bigger energy loss, wich will give you in short time a little energy andvantage to spend in an attack (ofcourse depending on your opponent plane).
It happened already that, after a cold merge I started to do himmelmans (avoiding the HO after the first merge) and without care too much on my opponent i did 2 more Himmelman just watching my E and my speed to do it without stall. This way gad me about 2-300ft advantage on an opponent who was only trying to get my plane on his gunsight loosing his energy.
Have fun!
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Leave it to Mtnman to clear the mud! :D
My apologies for not being clear in my post. I simply wanted to make sure that the original poster understood that bullets don't fly "flat" to their target and that the "arc" of the bullet needs to be taken into account when firing. Mtnman has clarified this superbly and has delineated the "arc" vs "flat" trajectory in Aces High..
As an example...my 30'06 will fire 1" high at 100 yards, but will continue to rise and then drop total of about 56" into the black at about 1,000 yards from the muzzle...on a good day...all things being perfect...no wind...breathing correctly...sight picture, sight alignment...trigger squeeze...etc...
So...if you wish a perfect sight picture of your opponent in Aces High, you must first understand and see the sight picture of the weapons platform you are flying, understand its ballistics and fly to that end, and be able to fly your chosen aircraft to its advantage over your adversaries.
I think much has been advanced about how to shoot...and what you might see before you shoot...
But I think your original question was..."how do I set up my shot"...and my best answer is to learn to fly to it! I was taught that ACM ( Air Combat Manuevering) was the means to the end, and that gunnery (sight picture) proved who out flew whom.
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Fugitive, with the 38 gun combo, IMHO, there's no need to wait til 200 icon to pull the trigger. Those guns are plety lethal as soon as 400 icon shows, even earlier with a steady gun solution. It may not raise your hit % to fire at 400 but you'll be getting some of those kills your SAPP bro's are currently Bogarting from you. :salute
Tracers/no tracers: There are arguments for both I suppose. Tracers serve me nicely for shooting at buffs. Since I begin shooting at buffs farther away(800 yards) if my initial rounds miss it's nice to have the tracers show me where they are going.
I personally don't get the "leave tracers off so you can surprise people" line of thought. If I'm shootin at someone who doesn't know I'm there, I'm not missing.
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Thanks for all the replies. I guess what I as looking for is a screen shot or two with a big arrow and the words "SHOOT HERE" ! :D
I know that there really is no substitute for practice. I guess I'll just have to do the best I can for now until I win the lottery and can quit my job.
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<-------------- SHOOT HERE
Everyone else does
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Kazaa's gunnery rundown.
1: Setting my mouse/stick just right. I make sure I have enough scaling to make that smooth transition through the band.
2: The gun sight I use is key for me, I currently use the default one but scaled down to give myself better reference to the horizontal and vertical axis.
3: Don't always pull lead on the target unless you have full view of him. If he's under your nose then I will always pull/shoot/release to see where my tracers are going and repeat if missed. Most of the time the 1st tap is always a guide.
4: I tend to shoot in one second bursts.
5: D200-D400 is optimal for me.
6: My convergence in the Spitfire is set to 375.
7: The larger the cross section the easier the shot.
I hope that helps.