cannon range: game vs reallife

[DoraNine]

I think some folks (not saying you guys) are thinking that convergence is a range where your rounds do the most damage. Sure -- I'd agree that a 20mm or 30mm round would do more damage the closer the target is due to velocity (if thats even a consideration in this game) -- but convergence is the point where all of your ordinance meets, and I haven't seen any of this in Arcade or Realistic modes. I may be wrong -- but it still makes for interesting conversation -- and the "video game crowd" may read this thread and learn something cool about aerial gunnery.

I'll admit -- I've only played Sim twice -- and got mauled by guys who I never even saw So, you guys may be right about convergence being a part of that mode.

[InfiniteStates]

I have to agree with DoraNine - there is either no convergence at all, or it is "cheated" rather than done properly. There's no perceptible difference in shooting a target at range in realistic or simulator, so I very much doubt that it applies to one and not the other.

There's at least a couple of ways convergence could be implemented:

1) Doing it properly. i.e. giving each gun on each plane an angular offset. This would have the benefit of a visual pay off of seeing your tracer round condense at the convergence point and then fanning out like a shotgun blast there after. It also has the advantage that the damage model would deal with it as it is and that kills would be genuinely easier because you could potential put all your bullets into the same part of the target. From a development point of view, however, this is the least favourable option as it is high maintenance and more prone to breaking for any plane.

2) Cheating. i.e. modifying each bullet's damage multiplier based on distance travelled. A system like this, or that can accommodate this, may well be in place already if the game models kinetic energy loss on the bullets. The downsides of this approach are that the tracers don't visibly converge, and the target impacts can't simulate convergence because the bullets will have a greater spread than they should. This can be compensated for by exaggerating the damage scale though. The benfit of this approach, from a development point of view, is that every bullet fired from every plane can be passed through the same function, so it is zero maintenance and easy to tweak on a global scale.

[Doktorwzzerd]

Originally Posted by DoraNine

I think some folks (not saying you guys) are thinking that convergence is a range where your rounds do the most damage. Sure -- I'd agree that a 20mm or 30mm round would do more damage the closer the target is due to velocity (if thats even a consideration in this game) -- but convergence is the point where all of your ordinance meets, and I haven't seen any of this in Arcade or Realistic modes. I may be wrong -- but it still makes for interesting conversation -- and the "video game crowd" may read this thread and learn something cool about aerial gunnery.

I'll admit -- I've only played Sim twice -- and got mauled by guys who I never even saw So, you guys may be right about convergence being a part of that mode.

No Dora, we are thinking of the area around the convergence zone as doing more damage because all of your rounds are hitting where you are aiming. At any rate this debate is moot as Anton has already commented about there being a convergence zone. Of course I am only talking about sim.

Think about it, for your outboard guns, how would there not be, unless your bullets were magical? If the went straight and perpendicular to your wings, you would never hit anything.

BTW play more sim!

[Robotic Pope]

There may be a convergence for the wing mounted guns, but this doesn't stop the bloody 30mm nose cannon on the 109g-6 from killing me from over 3000ft behind me??!!

The bullits must be rocket powered because they never seem to deviate as they should after energy is lost.

[Ju-87]

There is definitely convergence and bullet drop, even on arcade difficulty. Just fly absolutely level and fire while zooming and you'll see.

If the bullets themselves lose energy and get weaker by distance is a more interesting question imo. Sometimes I feel like I can't do any damage at all from 1000-1500 meters despite hitting my target. Of course this may simply be because only one or two bullets actually hit, but it would be cool with a definite answer to this.

[jkerr419]

TRC Thank you!!! Those were some good fights the last few nights.

And for the record I was going for convergance not effectiveness. While it would be nice to know their effective range... getting really close to my target before shooting has taken that part out of the equation.

[Doktorwzzerd]

Originally Posted by jkerr419

TRC While it would be nice to know their effective range... getting really close to my target before shooting has taken that part out of the equation.

Yeah, I forget who said it, but I remember reading a top WW2 ace advising to get as close as you think you can get without crashing, then get even closer before you open fire.

[jkerr419]

That's my rule now.... If I think I'm too close I get closer! That little change in tactics has done wonders for my game. I went from 2 to 3 kills a game to 6+. Though you have to be careful as to avoid the falming wreck you jsut created.