Tracers

[Lusche]

I'm one of those players doing very good in the shooting department in AH.

Without tracers, I suck.

I tried it several times in my AH career, for extended periods each. And regardless of being noob or vet, I always had the same experience: When I shut off my tracers, nothing happened at first, I was hitting just about the same at all ranges.
But after 1-2 days a slow degradation started. And the more days passed, the worse my aim got. An this despite flying the same rides with same settings for several hours a day. Without tracers, I start to lose my mental sight picture somehow, even if I hit at first.
And after maybe a week (that's been like 30 hours game time), my ability to hit dropped to a third or even less the level it had been before.

So for short times I can switch tracers off, but I had never any real benefit in terms of hitting from it, but an ever accelerating decline, both by perception as well as very measurably by hit %. I absolutely do need tracers on to keep my aim consistent over time.

[Krupinski]

I just did. As did a few others. The tracers are a distraction and take concentration away from the sight picture. And really, how often to you teach people to use tracers as a means of becoming a better shot in your professional "instructor" position? Just curious.


Maybe its because you havent tried it enough in "most" of your ten years or so. And I do use nose mounted rides in games, and yes that would certainly make a difference but doesnt change the fact there will still be a considerable amount of distraction even on wing mounted rides. Since you brought it up, I do fire at ranges up to 1000 and get hits 80% of the time. NO it doesnt show in my hit%, and as an "instructor" you should be able to figure that out.

Curious...  Data to show this?

Curious...  Data to show otherwise?


Curious, in all your years as an "instructor" how many of them did you spend in a ww2 fighter aircraft teaching aerial gunnery?

You obviously don't know the difference between opinion and fact.

[GNucks]

IRL at a range you can see the results of your mistakes. Where your shots are landing on the paper, or if they're not hitting the paper you can see the dust puffs on the berm behind it. When firing at a moving target with nothing but air behind it you cannot diagnose your errors, you can only confirm your hits with the sprites.

With practice I have found myself able to ignore the tracers and focus on the target and look for sprites when I'm making simple tracking shots, when BnZ'ing for instance. When I'm trying to make a shot while we're doing like a 45 degree bank turn or so (for some reason I almost always miss my first shot on these) the tracers help me correct because I get the feedback. Maybe one day I'll be confident enough to turn them off, but I don't even know if I will because I like being able to use low percentage shots just to get a guy's attention who's about to kill my wingman.

[muzik]

NM

[AWwrgwy]

In Real Life, were there pilots who chose to loadout without tracers?  Were they even allowed to make that choice?

56th FG used tracers to signify to the pilot that he was about out of ammo. 10 or 20 tracers in a row before the last 200 rounds. Otherwise, no tracers.

It was up to the pilot's preference.

I don't know if it's mental or what but I seem to hit with 30mms easier with tracers off.

No Tracers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nveifeh6rYc

I thought tracers showed over 30mm whether you turn them off or not?



wrongway

[JOACH1M]

I thought tracers showed over 30mm whether you turn them off or not?



wrongway

no, only time when tracers show when you have them off is in tanks and your bomber drones

[Krupinski]

56th FG used tracers to signify to the pilot that he was about out of ammo. 10 or 20 tracers in a row before the last 200 rounds. Otherwise, no tracers.

It was up to the pilot's preference.

I thought tracers showed over 30mm whether you turn them off or not?



wrongway

That's a confusing question, really. You can turn tracers off for 30mms but the YakT and P39 37mms cannot be turned off, while the IL2s 37mms and the Hurricanes 40mms can be.

[Pawz]

To be honest I turn mine off so I can see.

[IrishOne]

i don't really know which way is best, but i can't shoot with tracers on.    they distract me i guess.   i've been flying with no tracers since i learned i could turn them off like 5 years ago.

[guncrasher]

I shoot with tracers on, but I dont look at them.  i pay more attention to the hit sprites and only look at tracers if I miss and only to adjust my aim.  about 10-20% of my rounds go into making the other guy nervous by shooting so he can see tracers going all around him/her while in turn fiting.  with one exception, i dont use cannon in this manner those I save for the sure hits  .

as for the people who say tracers improved their percentages, that is misleading.  most likely now you only shoot when you have a sure hit. as I have seen some of you guys do.  How do I know if you're shooting when your tracers are off, you ask.  mg/taters/20mm sounds.  some of you shoot very little.

semp

[BERN1]

question: with tracers off should your guns hit harder?
seems like the tracers would be replaced with live rounds making your guns more effective.

[Sunka]

 

question: with tracers off should your guns hit harder?
seems like the tracers would be replaced with live rounds making your guns more effective.

 Hit harder? no.

[AWwrgwy]

question: with tracers off should your guns hit harder?
seems like the tracers would be replaced with live rounds making your guns more effective.

A tracer is still a bullet....


wrongway

[jamdive]

I think both of these statements have merit.

Trapshooters know how to use the sight on their shotgun. Most "shotgun" shooters don't.

I put a scope on mine. I can really slaughter the ducks now.....

[GNucks]

As wrongway said, tracers are just regular rounds with phosphorus on the end that's ignited when fired. They don't take up more space or hit with less force. I'd hate to cite Wiki, but here we go:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracer_ammunition