I can't hit anything, point blank or otherwise. I have been saddled up on an nme 6 at d300 & shot my whole ammo load & never touched the thing.
d300 is still way too far. With 50cal armed planes with multiple guns it would be worth to try one~two streaks of tracking shots to 'walk the tracer' up to the target, but if you're in a plane with center-line armament with lower ammo load that requires higher precision, I suggest you go inside 200yards.
Also, since the 'hit resolution' changed, a lot of the rounds which previously in AH1 would have hit, now misses at dead-6 angles. Direct 6 attacks might seem a good angle to shoot, but it also presents the lowest targetting area, and a lot of the shots are dumped into the void. This one time I actually saw two streaks of tracers from my 109 machine guns each pass on the left and the right side of the horizontal stab at an enemy plane at "0" distance.
Another thing I've recently noticed, is the planes are much more effected in gunnery when they move about in the roll axis. The yaw axis is temporarily destabilized immediately after a roll, and that amounts to a momentary unccordinated flight - it might seem the enemy plane is on target, but your rounds fly sideways(relatively) due to the sideslip, and miss.
You have to maneuver, work rudders to coordinate, and then fire. Obviously seems to be the reason why jinking maneuvers seem to be much more effective than AH1, during evasives.
So essentially IMO, there are two approaches now:
a) the first one is like Schaden suggested, setting a longer convergence and micro-managing the plane to hit the target at all distances. This is for the experts, or with planes armed with multiple HMGs. Or, with planes with higher ammo load like the N1K2 or the 190, which can leisurely spend high ammo loads at whim.
b) the second one, is literally "point blank" range, "0 distance" shot. Close in as much as you can, and manage a flightpath with least movement, but clever enough to intercept the target's flight path.. and when the enemy maneuvers, fire a low-deflection angle shot at very close range(when the counter is at "200" or less..) as the enemy 'swooshes' through your gunsight.
This is typically effective with cannon armed planes with centerline armament, or planes with very powerful snapshot capabilities like the 190. (also, it's pretty much the only way I can hit anything with a MK108 now..)
..
ps) You might have noticed that the 190 is the plane which is suited for both a) and b).... the relative rise in effectivity of its firepower, may be the one of the reasons it is become so popular of late.
