Calculating Shooting Deflection

[mikeklim]

All,

Very late to the party, but I recently picked this up. I've gone through the tutorials and unlocked realistic difficulty. I've done a search here but I can't seem to find exactly how to properly calculate shooting deflection.

I generally know that I want shoot where the opponent's plane will be, not where he is, but I still find myself missing quite a bit. Is is generally a rule of the closer the better, i.e., make your target as big as possible in your gun sight? Is there some type of quick mental judgement using the site?

Thanks for any tips or referrals to other threads.

[Robotic Pope]

I use an abacus

Seriously, it takes practice. With expierence you kinda just know how far to lead. The hurricane is a good plane to use to practice deflection shots thanks to all that tracer.

Another tip is not to get too close behind your target if you only have wing mounted guns. You don't want your bullets passing the target before they have converged on your crosshairs. I forget the exact distance that the convergance is set at in this game though. I'm sure someone else knows.

[Korsakov829]

Best to get as close as possible, maybe 0.10km away. At that distance you don't really need to calculate deflection.

[bobbysocks]

you are going to run into 2 different problems here depending on the ac you are flying. if you use an ac with fuselage mounted guns its a little easier because its a "straight" shot so to speak. what you are shooting at is directly infront of you and you ONLY ( i say laughing) have to discover the deflection. so might be wiser to begin with one of those. 109 G6 is excellant so is a La 7. when you get into ac with wing mounted guns now you have factor in convergence like mr. pope said. the paths of the rounds from each wing will cross at a specific distance...kinda forming and X pattern. if you can place the ac you are after at the center of that X...then figure the deflection...you see it gets more complicated. likewise, if the convergence point is 200 meters (i believe this is true) and you are shooting at a plane 500 meters away...the bullets on both paths will go wide of their target. the faster the ac the more deflection you have to give. we got into a all 163 battle the other night and it was hard as hell to score a hit...the planes were just too darn fast. practice, practice, practice. the training missions are great for this. just pick a foe and attack from different angles and speeds. good luck.

[dkwookie]

In arcade and realistic you have a deflection guide in the HUD. This is the roving crosshair that tracks the AC you have target lock on. This is meant to give you your deflection target to shoot at but the problem is it's a bit off. If you aim your guns at this deflection target odds are you will miss.
What it is good for is guaging the target speed. I use that for guessing speed and use the target info onscreen for range then use an initial bust of fire to get the deflection zoned. I usually aim a plane and a half length ahead of the deflection crosshair then adjust visually using the first short burst to zone in.

After lots of practice it becomes second nature and before you realize it you will stop using the deflection guide and your first burst will be more accurate. If you head to sim mode where there is no HUD you will be adjusting your shots instinctively

[Robotic Pope]

Originally Posted by dkwookie

In arcade and realistic you have a deflection guide in the HUD. This is the roving crosshair that tracks the AC you have target lock on. This is meant to give you your deflection target to shoot at but the problem is it's a bit off. If you aim your guns at this deflection target odds are you will miss.
What it is good for is guaging the target speed. I use that for guessing speed and use the target info onscreen for range then use an initial bust of fire to get the deflection zoned. I usually aim a plane and a half length ahead of the deflection crosshair then adjust visually using the first short burst to zone in.

After lots of practice it becomes second nature and before you realize it you will stop using the deflection guide and your first burst will be more accurate. If you head to sim mode where there is no HUD you will be adjusting your shots instinctively

Its only in arcade that you get the deflection hinter. This is just useless to practice deflection in arcade if you fly in realistic and sim as the deflection you need in arcade is huge and unrealistic due to the supersonic speeds the planes fly at.

Proper deflection shooting is knowing were and when to fire. This doesn't happen in arcade because everybody is firing non stop trigger spamming with unlimited ammo. This isn't calculation, this is fire & sweep.

If you really want to get good at deflection shooting, do training on realistic or sim with limited ammo.

[dkwookie]

Originally Posted by Robotic Pope

Its only in arcade that you get the deflection hinter. This is just useless to practice deflection in arcade if you fly in realistic and sim as the deflection you need in arcade is huge and unrealistic due to the supersonic speeds the planes fly at.

Proper deflection shooting is knowing were and when to fire. This doesn't happen in arcade because everybody is firing non stop trigger spamming with unlimited ammo. This isn't calculation, this is fire & sweep.

If you really want to get good at deflection shooting, do training on realistic or sim with limited ammo.

Well some of the finest flyers on PS3 started in Arcade and learned the deflection angles there and took those skills onto Realistic and Sim where they picked up the angles very quickly so it cant be all fire & sweep. Actually the ammount of damage the planes take in Arcade means you need to keep adjusting your firing angles which makes it a good place to start.

[Robotic Pope]

Originally Posted by dkwookie

Well some of the finest flyers on PS3 started in Arcade and learned the deflection angles there and took those skills onto Realistic and Sim where they picked up the angles very quickly so it cant be all fire & sweep. Actually the ammount of damage the planes take in Arcade means you need to keep adjusting your firing angles which makes it a good place to start.

a.k.a. fire & sweep.

I'm talking about the type of deflection shooting skill you need in Boom & zoom type high speed attacks were the target is flying across your path and you get one split second chance to get the hits before you pass him by. And you only have a few seconds worth of ammo that you want to last multiple booms. That is were you need real deflection skill and practiced calculation of speed and distance.

[dkwookie]

Originally Posted by Robotic Pope

a.k.a. fire & sweep.

I'm talking about the type of deflection shooting skill you need in Boom & zoom type high speed attacks were the target is flying across your path and you get one split second chance to get the hits before you pass him by. And you only have a few seconds worth of ammo that you want to last multiple booms. That is were you need real deflection skill and practiced calculation of speed and distance.

I didn't realize the topic was related to BNZ deflection. But even then what I said still holds true that spending time in arcade or realistic with the guide (it is there in realistic too btw) will help you learn the angles, even BNZ angles. The speeds involved will mean adjusting to the slower speed in realistic but it only takes a couple of games to get used to that.

Anyway I am not arguing about game modes, only saying that if I was a new player who wanted to figure this stuff out I would start in arcade or realistic and use the guide reticle to get used to the angles

[SEE]

Firstly, any game lag will affect your deflection and there is little you can do about that. Secondly, firing whilst your plane is climbing ot diving, will affect your ordinance trajectory and will fire in an arc. If you are unsure, aim ahead and hold steady whilst your opponent flies into your guns. Short burts with guns that have significan recoil is better than long prolonged burts.

Unfortunately, there is no precise information regards the convergence of wing mounted guns in BOP. The default in IL2 (from which the flight modelling was taken) is 500m which is pretty high.

Distance of an ac in your sights is determined by the size of the ac in your sight ring. A Bf109 that is wing tip to wing tip in the circular sights of all UK fighters is approx. 100ft away. If the BF109 is wingtip to wingtip from the centre of your gunsights to the outer circle it is then approx. 200ft away. This was used by the pilot to gauge the deflection needed and the optimum firing point for the convergence of his guns. During the Battle of Britain, convergence was set to 200ft. A Heinkell that was wingtip to wingtip in his sight was 200ft away as it had approx. twice the wingspan of a BF109. Deflection is one of the most important skills but also relies on knowing the distance of enemy ac and the convergence of hs guns for maximum effect.