Yes, Badboy really cleared things up here.. Now I know what was going on the other day also, when it was impossible to hit a thing for a few hours..
Was aming the same as usual but did not even land one little ping for quite some time, I believe the plane I was shooting at just was not where I thought it was..
Heard others had the same problems at the same time period, this was in DA a few days ago. Guess that was just lag issues then.
Lag doesn't effect gunnery like that, though.
If your FE see hits as a result of your shooting, the other guy tales damage a a result- even if he's not where he appears to be (which is all of the time).
The result here, is that if you fire at someone, and see hits, he gets damaged, but... He may take damage when he thinks there's no way you can hit him. The same goes for your end- if he shoots and hits the plane he sees on his screen, you'll take damage, even if from your end you were several degrees outside of where his guns were pointed.
The game is drawing itself based on the information your computer has on both of your positions.
Damage caused
by you, will be awarded based on what
your FE sees.
Damage caused
to you, will be awarded based on what
his FE sees.
This explains why sometimes you don't register hits on an HO pass, for example, until after you've passed the other guy. He hit you, so you took damage. But, due to lag, it took a little while for the information that you'd been hit to be sent by him and received by you.
It also explains how you can land on a CV, but see someone else land in mid-air out over the water. In his world, he's on the CV, and you're not. In essence, we're all playing separate games, we're just sharing information so it seems like we're all playing the same one.