Tracers

[DeadStik]

So why exactly do some people prefer tracers off? When is it ever beneficial to not see your stream?

[Jayhawk]

When your enemy can't see your stream either. 

[caldera]

Because the other guy can't see them either.  You can't dodge what you can't see.

[Yeager]

We hold this truth to be self evident.

[GNucks]

At one point my gunnery became pretty instinctive so the only downside to turning them off was not being able to mark enemy positions for GV's and not being able to use them to get a guy to turn off of a buddy. Otherwise I was able to shoot guys down and they wouldn't know I was attacking them until the bullets were already hitting them, them floppy Spit16's are a lot easier to hit when they're flying level thinking nobody's firing at them.

Soon enough though, I just lost it and couldn't hit a thing. Eventually resorted to turning it back on.

If you've got your sound levels right and you're paying attention you can hear guys shooting at you anyway, but you still don't know which side of the canopy the rounds are flying past  

[RoGenT]

I have mine off so no one can see how really bad of a shot I actually am 

[JOACH1M]

People turn them off and try HO alot more because the enemy can't see the tracers

[DeadStik]

This is the only reason I could think of. Thanks for the clarification, guys!

[hitech]

Your gunnery can also improve with out tracers. With tracers people tend to adjust constantly. With out it becomes more like instinct/ shot gun shooting and you hold a steady lead instead of watching tracers.

At least thats the way it works for me.

HiTech

[james]

p 51, tracers off, convergence on all guns 300.  Even in the B model it kills them before they can really react. 
 

[Sunka]

All though i like using my tracers to snapshot just over someones canopy that I'm chasing, and they tend to turn.

[mtnman]

Personally I think turning tracers off is one of the most over-hyped aspects of aerial gunnery in the game.

If there's an actual advantage, it's that your opponent can't see your misses.  And really, that's only an advantage if your gunnery is so bad you can't hit someone who's unaware of your presence.  

If your gunnery is so bad you can't hit someone who's unaware of your presence, you need feedback to allow you to correct your aim.  You only have that if your tracers are on.  Tracers may very well allow you to correct your aim before he can react anyway, even if they alert him to your presence...

How do you learn anything in life?  With feedback.  With feedback, you know.  Without it, you guess.  When learning something, is it better to have the facts, or just a guess?

Throw a rock straight up in the air, and shoot at it with a .22.  We'll assume you missed it.  Did you miss it to the left/right, high or low?  How do you know, since you have no feedback?  Now, correct for that mistake with your next shot.  If you missed low, aim higher, etc.  But wait, how do you know if you shot low?  Maybe you think you shot low, so you aim higher, but in actuality, you may have initially missed it to the right...  How will your "guess" of where you missed help you?  What if you think you missed a foot low, so correct for it, but you really missed 6" or 18" low?

Even if you eventually hit it, what have you learned?  Nothing.  You just randomly hit the stone.  You got lucky.  You didn't learn (for example) that you have a tendency to aim low...

Now, try the same exercise with tracers...  Shoot at the rock, but miss low.  Now, do you know you missed low?  Yup.  Do you know you missed low by 12", vs 6" or 18"?  Yup.  Can you intelligently correct for it?  Yup. Over the course of a day's shooting, can you learn that you have a tendency to miss in a particular way (low, or to the right maybe?).  Yup.  Can you begin to correct for that tendency?  Yup.  Are you learning with "facts"?  Yup...

In AH though, you don't always have a target in the same position, offering the same shot scenario.  You need to learn a myriad of angles, leads, etc...  How will you learn quicker?  With feedback.

With tracers off, the only feedback you get is for hits.  Those are the shots you really don't need feedback for...  Imagine if you were in school, and you only got feedback on tests where you scored 100%.

Imagine throwing a ball, but not being able to see it in flight.  If you miss the glove, or the basket, or whatever, how do you correct for it for the next throw?  You don't...  You can only guess...

[Raphael]

i lieave it turned on because it is beaultiful to watch! 

[gyrene81]

Personally I think turning tracers off is one of the most over-hyped aspects of aerial gunnery in the game.

If there's an actual advantage, it's that your opponent can't see your misses.  And really, that's only an advantage if your gunnery is so bad you can't hit someone who's unaware of your presence. 

If your gunnery is so bad you can't hit someone who's unaware of your presence, you need feedback to allow you to correct your aim.  You only have that if your tracers are on.  Tracers may very well allow you to correct your aim before he can react anyway, even if they alert him to your presence...
*snip*

aside from the fact that you used some poor examples about learning to shoot...the feedback you get in ah is seeing the hit sprites on the target without the tracers distracting you...some people tend to pay too much attention to the tracers and either over compensate when they shouldn't or think they are getting hits when they aren't. i suck at shooting anyway but...it can be a good learning tool if you want to increase your hit percentage, mainly because you're not so prone to taking 1000 yard shots, you tend to try for much closer range high percentage shots, and you have to watch your target alignment in the gunsight more...but that only applies to people who aren't gaming the game.

[BigR]

over the years i have done long stints with and without tracers. My overall hit percentage with and without is pretty much the same. I go with what looks cooler, so I leave them on. I also like being able to mark GVs for other people.