Zoom

[cleve]

I was wanting to ask the vets of the game what do you have your aerial zoom set at...what I mean is how close do you zoom to your targeting reticle when dogfighting. I zoom mine all the way in and was wondering if that was a good plan or is it causing me to lose situational awareness

[Lusche]

Originally posted by cleve
I was wanting to ask the vets of the game what do you have your aerial zoom set at...what I mean is how close do you zoom to your targeting reticle when dogfighting. I zoom mine all the way in and was wondering if that was a good plan or is it causing me to lose situational awareness

I almost never zoom in more than standard zoom, depending on plane don't even that far. In very close quarter dogfights I do not zoom at all.
To much zoom doesn't help your gunnery, but kills overall SA.
I use full zoom only for determining plane headings of far away cons and for occasionally long range sniping at buffs in Yak-T

[MWL]

Greetings,

  I am by no means a 'vet' or good at this game, however, I would offer the following advice.  Do not get in the habit of zooming in to shoot in a fighter or buff.  I did.  And have had to retrain myself to shoot.  

  I do zoom in to the maximum when shooting the Panzer Main Gun.

  By using zoom in a fighter, you lose the ability to react to the bad guys maneuvers.  He will 'flop' and be gone before you can zoom back out and you have lost sight of him.  You don't see the people around you.  You wind up getting jumped or kill shooting yourself as other people come in for a shot.

  Finally, I now shoot better (percentage wise) than I did with zoom.  Avoid the crutch early, learn to shoot without using it.

  Currently I only zoom in to see the airfields to line up for a drop or landing.  And even then, I don't stay zoomed long.

Regards,

[cleve]

Originally posted by MWL
Greetings,

  I am by no means a 'vet' or good at this game, however, I would offer the following advice.  Do not get in the habit of zooming in to shoot in a fighter or buff.  I did.  And have had to retrain myself to shoot.  

  I do zoom in to the maximum when shooting the Panzer Main Gun.

  By using zoom in a fighter, you lose the ability to react to the bad guys maneuvers.  He will 'flop' and be gone before you can zoom back out and you have lost sight of him.  You don't see the people around you.  You wind up getting jumped or kill shooting yourself as other people come in for a shot.

  Finally, I now shoot better (percentage wise) than I did with zoom.  Avoid the crutch early, learn to shoot without using it.

  Currently I only zoom in to see the airfields to line up for a drop or landing.  And even then, I don't stay zoomed long.

Regards,

LOL Well I certainly appreciate the advice and will start today on not using zoom anymore. I know it will be tough at first, but I have been getting pwned anyways so anything will be a improvement.

[Simaril]

Cleve --

I've been playing a fair bit O'time, and I'd encourage you to not give up on zoom completely. But, instead of using it to do targeting, I'd suggest using it like lusche said -- to see the target plane's angle of flight so you can react more easily.

I use zoom almost every sortie, but I click it on and off very very quickly. (I have it mapped to a pinky button.) In regular flight, I am at full zoom out so that primary view hat positions cover absolutely, completely, 100% of the visible sky. If you are cruising with a degree of zoom, its EXACTLY like trying to drive with binoculars stuck to your face...and you can see what kind of problems that would create!

Now, when I have a con that I'm trying to engage, and he's out a bit, my (over 40) eyes dont comfortably pick out the silhouette angle of the plane. I'll click zoom just long enough to see that he is angled, say, upwards and to the left with his canopy towards me. I'll click the zoom right off, and adjust flight for the intercept I have planned. I'll repeat as often as necessary to see what the booger is up to. Once he's close enough to see his angle and silhouette, there's no reason to zoom and I'm done with the button..til lnext time.

[BaldEagl]

I use zoom every flight.  I do not use my hat switch. I keep my right hand on the num pad for views which is what I got used to 11 years ago, therefor, I have zoom toggle mapped to my hat down.  

I switch it on and off as needed, keeping my thumb on it constantly in a fight.  I zoom so that I can see the entire windscreen frame (probably 60% zoom).  Full zoom disorients me and causes nose bounce (or at least i can see it at that zoom level).

I zoom out during most turning manouvers and for periodic SA checks and zoom in when I'm lined up for a shot, be that straight or crossing.

My hit rate has improved since I mapped zoom toggle to my stick.

[Latrobe]

I use zoom when the enemy is 600-800 out (I don't shoot when they're 1000 out unless flying level and I want them to turn) just to get a better view of which way they are going and what they are planning to do. I sometimes zoom when 200 out but rarley ever do. When in the heat of a dogfight I do tend to get so involved in the fight that I never zoom in so I can keep and eye out for the enemies buddies to come in and pick me off.

[sax]

The better shots don't zoom . I'd have to agree as lead shots
on zoom are difficult .
Leviathn doesn't use zoom to my knowledge and his gunnery
is freaky good .

[splitatom]

the default zoom is good for tail chases not turn fight i use mine all the time it helps aim at bomber engens

[Murdr]

I only used default zoom for aerial gunnery.  Even at that there are some types of shot where I don't use zoom at all.  My opinion is using much more than default is a bad idea.

[goober69]

personaly (and im not that great a shot but i have imrproved a lot my k/d is now around .90 something which is better than the .25 i had six months ago and k/s is about the same.)
i use a seperate look forward veiw on my up hat. when i go for the shot i press up on the hat and it zooms up a good bit and raises my head as hight as the sight will allow. some planes like the zero and typh/ temp, i am all the way up and use the cursor to shoot instead of the sight.
i rarely use zoom itself unless i am scanning for targets or a drop point for ord as its hard to see the ground objects with my computers graphic settings.
i like it this way cause it makes it easier to see the target over the nose and i dont get caught in zoom mode cause when i go to look around it goes back to my normal views.
but if i ever get a hots system ill probably change that as i will have a finger on zoom at all times instead of on my asd keys which i changed
A look down
s look up
d check six
say if im in a spit and i zoom up to look forward all i do is hit my q or w key which i also changed to slide my head over to the side.
been that way ever since i got the stick.

btw my normal look forward is mostly low and all the way back so i can see all my instruments and more sky to the right and left.

more of a personal choice thing really im sure u have a better machine than me lol but as murdr said anything more than default is probably detrimental.

[BaldEagl]

What's default zoom?  Just the normal view setting?

[Murdr]

Originally posted by BaldEagl
What's default zoom?  Just the normal view setting?

It's the default magnifacation level when you first toggle zoom after starting the game. Shift_Z is the command to return to default zoom level.

[Messiah]

100% preference.

[splitatom]

on mine default was z