Lesson 2: Gunnery

[Duckwing6]

As said in the previous post i'm trying to fly D-Hog... my gunnery is just about in the 5% range which is just not enough toget yor target disabled when it's aware that you're there...

so please post YOUR tips on (including Convergence and these kind of things):

THE ART OF AERIAL GUNNERY - OR HOW TO HIT A BARNDOOR

and also for completness:

HOW TO EVADE A GUYS BEST SHOT

Many Thanks in advance!


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Phillip "Duckwing6" Artweger
Flight Officer "E" Flight
Skeleton Crew

[This message has been edited by Duckwing6 (edited 03-20-2000).]

[Ghosth]

Well I'm no trainer, and I'm no pro. I get shot down more than I should. I also some days get a few kills.

Personally I like my conv out around 500.
Good shooting takes practise, since we have no H2H or offline drones I practised on bombers. (BTW Kieren has some great tips on how to line up those perfect bomber passes)

Nothing like getting in close to a big target to let you see what your hitting & how.
Of course that means you'll die to his guns sometimes also. Shrug, price of admission in my book.

Once you'r takeing the big boys down in a pass or 2, you should be ready to move on to the little guys. Course this is all my 2$ worth, agree, or not.

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Maj Ghosth
XO 332nd Flying Mongrels

[humble]

you'll get a lot of different thoughts on this one....here's mine:

In a hog set your conv at 275 (6x.50) or 325 (4x20mm) and only fire inside these ranges. At first you'll suffer but you'll learn to anticipate better and soon you'll get better shots.

[Sharky]

First I'm a horrible shot,

But that aside, set your convergance to a range the fits the guns.  I recommend 300 max for .50 cal and 250 max for cannon.  Next never pull the trigger until you are at or inside convergence.  And lastly don't shoot unless your sure your going to hit what your shooting at. (read no spray and pray)

Sharky

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You can run, but you just die tired.

[Fariz]

Hard to give an advice. That is what is gained by expirience and after some time you do not think how far the target is and how fast it is moving -- you just shoot. Just try and learn.

Also, the % depends on many things. Snipers are not very many around, normally guys with very high % of shooting is those who vulch a lot. It is much easier to put a shot on something standing on ground. Also, killing buffs increase that % for a simple reason -- buff is bigger and do not make turns.

On spit9 I used average of 30-35 hispanos for a one kill agaisnt the fighter, now, with less lethality it takes about 45-50. Do not pay attention on the ratio in your stats, pay attention how many your cannon ammo you use for a kill in a dogfight. When that number will increase it means you are gunning better.

Fariz, www.warriormage.com

[wells]

Don't use the zoom in view!  As much as I really like it, it doesn't work for me!  I couldn't hit anything.  I should've had a dozen or more kills that I didn't even get assists!  Stopped using it and I can hit those deflection shots.  To avoid being shot, you need to fly 'around' his gunsight.  In a tail chase, this means a barrel roll.  Give him a high angle deflection shot (keep him in your 3-9 line, like missile avoidance in a jet sim).  Just when he's gonna open up, do a split-s (point your opposite wingtip at him to present as small a target as you can).  That's about it, hope for the best!

[Spatula]

My formula on how to avoid getting hit:
1 Keep airspeed UP (200 ias min) - gives you more options. dive a bit if ya have to to get speed.
2 If i can i always try get con on my 2 or 10 and head stright (they'll almost always go for HO) at D1.3 commence easy break turn into them keeping your nose below the cons all the way (then if conditions permit hi yoyo over or chandelle to give chase. If my speed is up, i have never been killed by this manueve. Works a treat for hi-speed B&Z passes, and for co-alt merges.
3. If con goes over top to come in behind he will come down with alot of speed. You dont have the option to face him - you'll just loose E or get roped. Again make sure speed is at least 200, 240 is pretty good. Wait for con to get to about D1.4 or so and commence barrell roll, keeping nose low to keep up speed. If he tries to follow he'll either tear wings off (this has happened alot) or waste E trying to get you (which is no easy feat) if so the tables may soon turn     or he'll overshoot - you may get a snap shot oportunity. If he goes up without following you know your dealing with a cool customer, if ya confident or crazy (like me) keep pressing the fight - he'll run out of E eventually or you'll die. Or better option is to run like hell to friendlies.

Having said all this i must have a pretty lead filled bellybutton by now    

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Supreme Mega-Overlord Spatula

"...perfect for serving"
   

=357th Pony Express=

[This message has been edited by Spatula (edited 03-21-2000).]

[This message has been edited by Spatula (edited 03-21-2000).]

[humble]

I don't think you'll ever avoid an opponent's "best shot". The real key is making him work for it. I've found that chopped throttle neg G evasives are the best for me. A couple hi speed positive G evasives followed by a chopped throttle neg G move to redout usually give you a chance. Especially near ground/mountains where you can get someone to redout while in a dive and on the gas. Nothing like waking up nose down 2.5 from a mountain and in compression

[Jekyll]

 

Give him a high angle deflection shot (keep him in your 3-9 line, like missile avoidance in a jet sim). Just when he's gonna open up, do a split-s (point your opposite wingtip at him to present as small a target as you can).

And to make his shot even harder, once you're inverted, instead of doing a straight split S, barrel roll towards him keeping your wingtip on the enemy aircraft.  

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C.O. Phoenix Squadron
www.users.bigpond.com/afinlayson/index.htm
'feel the heat .......'

[Wraith]

Avoidance:
Though I still have to get used to the FM here, this has helped me in all sims:

WEAVE! WEAVE! Think of it as SLOOOOW Scissors, dont bank hard, do it softly, and change your plane often (nose up, nose down).
When your 6 is closes in to 300 or 200, then is when you put your rudder to one side, bank your plane to the opposite side of the rudder and PULL a hard horizontal corkscrew.

Oftenly, they will overshoot, giving you a nice clean shot at their 6 for a few secs (you will be LOW on E at this point).

The only catch is that you have to do the last step when your opponent is banked to the opposite direction as you are (that's why you weave a bit, to get him to do that).. otherwise, if the other guy is good or is prepared for this, he will be able to mimic and follow you.

Gunnery:
Deflection.... accept no substitutes.  

[Lephturn]

Great tips above.  

I have one thing that I do with the D Hog in terms of convergence that I found works very well.

I set the convergence of the 3 sets of fifties at progresively longer ranges starting at the outside set and working in.  I set the outside bank to 325, the middle bank to 350, and the inside bank to 375.  I find this lets me hit hard at any range between 300 and 400.  The additional benefit is that when you do it this way you "cross the streams" from each wing bank at a closer point, say around 150, so you have mini-convergence points for each wing  in close.  This allows me to keep my convergence a bit farther out, and still have good killing power for those up-close and personal shots.

This is what works for me, but it is best to do your own testing if you can and see what works best for you.  Experiment with shorter ranges and try holding your fire more if your gunnery percentage is very low.  You will find that in the course of testing, you will learn a bunch about your gunnery as well.  Grab a trainer in the TA and we'll play targets for ya.  

A note about zoom view:  Don't use it to deflection shoot, use it to see a target's aspect at range and to make those long dead-six shots.  The best use of the zoom view is to see what direction a target is moving at longer range to help setup your attack.  I'll also use it when somebody is running from me, and I need to take a shot at longer range on that very thin dead-six aspect ange.  Don't use zoom for any kind of deflection shooting as it throws your judgement off and you will be more likely to miss IMHO.

The D Hog is a real challenge, but I find it very rewarding to fly.  One benefit of the D is that it has an absolute PILE of ammo.  That is good in the sense that you can spray some ammo around on those low-percentage shots without worrying about it too much.  It's bad because it gives you bad habits and you find you will be taking shots you shouldn't, and burning E when you do it.  If you want to improve your gunnery try flying the Spit for a couple of weeks and use nothing but the cannons.  Then go back to the D Hog and be surprised at how many kills you can get in a sortie.  

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Lephturn - Chief Trainer
A member of The Flying Pigs
Visit Lephturn's Aerodrome for AH news, resources, and training data.
 http://users.andara.com/~sconrad/


"MY P-47 is a pretty good ship
And she took a round coming 'cross the Channel last trip
I was thinking 'bout my baby and lettin' her rip
Always got me through so far
Well they can ship me all over this great big world
But I'll never find nothing like my North End girl
I'm taking her home with me one day, sir
Soon as we win this war"
 - Steve Earl