Aiming

[The Fugitive]

OK, everyone knows it, but I'm going to say it...... my aim sucks ! ..ah feels good coming out of the clos.... never mind 

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" 

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 

[Ghosth]

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.

[Obie303]

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.

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

I hope this advice helps!   

Obie 

[The Fugitive]

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.

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!   

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!

[CAP1]

OK, everyone knows it, but I'm going to say it...... my aim sucks ! ..ah feels good coming out of the clos.... never mind 

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" 

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 

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.........

[BaldEagl]

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.     I learned my lesson.

Hope that helps for what it's worth.

[EnIgMaSpItPiLoT]

      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

[Spatula]

Get em slow, and get em turned so their full profile is exposed and you'll never have an easier shot.

[Patches1]

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>

[Ghosth]

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.

[The Fugitive]

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 

[Anaxogoras]

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 

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.

[ink]

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.

[Ghosth]

Actually when it switch's from 400 to 200 you are at 399. How fast it closes from there depends on closure speed.

[Patches1]

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!