Land Sea Gunnery

[4462]

I'm trying to figure out Land Sea Gunnery and have a few questions.

I've watched several videos and that brought even more questions.    I do understand the selection of direct fire for targets under 3k distance, Sea and Land.  I've programmed controllers for all three modes and also for Land / Sea back, forward, left and right.   I've programmed a Zoom Toggle, Zoom In and Zoom Out.

When in Land or Sea Mode, with the clipboard closed, I do get the small yellow stadia or ranging sight and when targeting Land via the map, I can see the gun is linked to that area.    Here are some of my questions:

1.  Zoom In and Out only appears to work in external view when looking at the ship.   Zoom Toggle doesn't appear to do anything.   Am I missing something here?

2.  In a Youtube video by Challenger "The Bishop Navy Presents: Fleet Operations", He appears to be zoomed in on targets when in Land / Sea mode, and he uses his mouse to align the white crosshair over the stadia.  I use Track IR, and that crosshair goes where ever I look.   I don't seem to be able to:  Get into the gunsight (my view is external and not zoomed).  The stadia and crosshairs are so small that I can't read the numbers, even on a 43 inch monitor.  What do I need to do to get into the sight and Zoom?

3.  I programmed controls for functions:  Land / Sea Up, Down, Left and Right.   Are these functions for small changes in aiming versus using the stick for gross change or the only option available when in Land / Sea mode?

Thanks very much.

Specter

[bustr]

I use TR and don't worry about the Mil cross.

If you want the cross centered with TR, spawn into the gun, don't move your head or the gun and hit shift or ctrl Q. That is the best you will get it aligned. Land mode, unless you are 8k or closer to land, or shooting at shore batteries, click on the CBM to hit land targets. And in land mode for some reason it trys to auto target so, click on the CBM to get it in the right direction. And sea mode, you will only be able to view the enemy ships to about 18-19k away due to the haze. So the yellow hash ladder is your aim and lead guide.

TR and zoom in the 5 or 8 inch gun, test offline and see if once you have the modes enabled, that you can hit zoom and control it with the [] keys. In the 8 inch guns you used to be able to control them with your mouse. That was way too accurate, since AH3 I have to use my joystick. In AH2 using my mouse and zoom, I could pop planes spawning on the CV deck in an 8 inch.

[Kingpin]

What Buster said about making sure you have your zoom keys and zoom toggle mapped correctly is important.  See if you can zoom with the bracket keys [].

Also be aware that if you have your zoom set all the way out (default) when you toggle zoom on it will appear to do nothing (because you are zoomed all the way out).  Zoom in with the bracket keys (or what you have mapped for that) and then toggle between them to ensure it is working.

Pro-tip on using Zoom: Zooming in and out (or toggling on and off) can be very useful when you have multiple people in 5" or 8" gun positions all firing at the same target.  If you are zoomed all the way in, it is often hard to tell which falling rounds are yours, making it hard to adjust your fire correctly.  To help with this, zoom out (or toggle zoom off) as you fire and watch the path of your outgoing rounds until they are close to the target, then zoom/toggle all the way in to see where your rounds hit.  This will help you more accurately assess the fall of your rounds and adjust range/lead accordingly.  This is particularly useful in Ship vs. Ship combat where adjusting lead and range are critical.  It is also helpful when firing at the same town/field, so you can adjust your fire to work a different part of town or field objects from other gunners.

Hope this helps!

<S>

[Kingpin]

p.s.  I too simply use my stick to adjust fire.  Small movements are key.  I use the range numbers at the upper left in land/sea mode to measure my adjustments.  Once I have the the right range, I can target the rear flight deck on CV's to kill aircraft taking off. 

[4462]

Thanks guys.  I'm going to try it online.  It looks as though I was missing the [] keys to zoom.

Thank you again.

Specter

[Owlblink]

Great advice everyone!

When you guys are shooting at an airfield or the like, do you first zoom in on the clipboard map to get it to thr general area, and then work with small lat/long adjustments to get the specific objects down?

[Kingpin]

When you guys are shooting at an airfield or the like, do you first zoom in on the clipboard map to get it to thr general area, and then work with small lat/long adjustments to get the specific objects down?

Yes.  This works especially well for "one hit" targets like town buildings, ack guns, radar or ords bunkers.  But personally I find that targets like hangers, which require multiple hits, are much harder to get without being able to see them, because you don't really know if you are hitting them until it is destroyed.

[1ijac]

When I can see the objects, I use land mode.  I do this because I can move the yellow grid around and once you hit the object, then you don't need to move the grid much at all even though the cv is moving.  where you have the grid set is auto adjusted for distance as the ship moves.

[ML52]

I understand the yellow grid is a rangefinding aide but what is the white crossed grid for?