[klem]

Hi hegykc,

I've found it. Its old but I think its still relevant.

I would call your "cone of death" the "cone of impact", there's no "death" in hitting an empty wingroot and it would be a very lucky hit on a control cable in a fuselage with scattered shots (assuming the DM is that sophisticated).

With point harmonisation you have 2 possibilities, not 3. Hit or Miss. Hitting armour may not be too helpful but it is a Hit. Also, most hits are not from the 6 o'clock position, they are at some angle of deflection varying both horizontally and vertically. I usually try for a deflection shot on the canopy especially as the CoD 109s seem to fly on whether burning or hammered hard. Best way is to kill the pilot and I'll probably rake through the engine as I try. True you only need one or two pilot hits so a scatter can do it but point harmonisation will make sure of it at harmonisation range and against bombers you need concentated fire on engines, wing tanks etc.

By the way, with pure 200yd point harmonisation you get a scatter of about 5 feet (about 1.5m) from 150yds through point harmonisation out to 5 feet at 250 yds so you have the benefits of 'harmonised' setup through that range as you close and get closer.

Its a matter of personal choice but I prefer point harmonisation.

Did you know that the best shots in the RAF (like Sailor Malan) preferred point harmonisation at anything from 150 to 250 yards? A 4 feet square pattern harmonisation at 400yards was the official setting at the beginning of the war until it was changed to point harmonisation at 250 yds during the BoB. The thinking at first was that 4 feet square at 400 yds would give the average pilot a chance of hitting 'something' but it was found to be ineffective at bringing enemy aircraft down. They found that concentrated fire was necessary or too many escaped with only minor damage.

EDIT: In CoD damaged a/c aren't out of the war machine. The pilot just gets a new one.