Improve your aiming/marksman skills

[hegykc]

Units of measurement int the pictures are yards. If the game uses meters, convert.
No. 1 guns are inboard, as per the mustang charts.

I can correct these to be as in the game, but later..

[AirHog71]

Originally Posted by hegykc

Units of measurement int the pictures are yards. If the game uses meters, convert.
No. 1 guns are inboard, as per the mustang charts.

I can correct these to be as in the game, but later..

Thanks for providing this.

Mastiff has made a point though about confusion, the top chart is in yards, the below P-51 chart is in feet, it would be better to convert everything to feet I think.

150 yards = 450 ft

[hegykc]

So what does the game use for distance? meters?

[klem]

Originally Posted by hegykc

So what does the game use for distance? meters?

Metres.

I set my RAF sights to 200 yards (183m in the guns setting page). I set that as both horizontal and vertical convergence for point harmonisation of all guns at 200yds (183m).

If I miss, I miss. But you get a close scatter within a few feet up to about 50yds either side of harmonisation and it seems quite effective against bombers if not those pesky tungsten armoured 109s

I have a ballistics spreadsheet for all the guns in IL-2 '46 somewhere based on RL values but in the end it came down to KISS.

[hegykc]

Here's the "cone of death" for one point convergence vs. the harmonized one:

Preferably pilots who are flying online for a while now, and know their kill ratio and skill level.

[hegykc]

Originally Posted by klem

Metres.
I have a ballistics spreadsheet for all the guns in IL-2 '46 somewhere based on RL values but in the end it came down to KISS.

If you could share those that would be great.

The thing is,

with a "one point" convergence you have 3 possibilities : hit, miss, or hit armor. So you have like 33% chance of doing some damage.
With a harmonized 3-4 times larger pattern in all the 3 possibilities you'll hit something: you either hit and then some, miss but still hit something, or hit armor but also hit something else. So you have "100%" chance of doing some damage.
Even if you don't instantly blow them to pieces they still have a long way home. And even if they get back to base, they're still damaged and out of the war machine.

As you can see on the "death cone", with one point convergence you can waste a whole burst on the back plate armor. While with the harmonization you'll always hit something. And you only need one tank, one oil or gas line, one control cable etc...

How it will transfer into COD, we'll have to test and see.

[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.

[hegykc]

Thanks for the file.

Cone of death is an expression I've read. It's not mine, nor describing this pattern as being more deadly.
And I don't won't to re-invent the wheel here. I would gladly calculate the convergences according to official harmonization charts, but I haven't found any for WWII RAF.
Also, US standard is 1000 feet convergence. But when you look at the charts, you see that it's not just one setting.

So I thought it might be a similar setup with the RAF. The .50 caliber being more destructive is a solid point and I agree, you can afford to spread them out.
Wish I had official harmonization charts for RAF.

If you can point me to a quote saying the best shots proffered single point harmonization I would be very interested. And, of course they would, I mean the best shots could do with a single bullet.

This is for the guys that are having trouble hitting their targets.

Also your numbers are a little off. Browning .303 has a 4.2 mill dispersion cone, so at 150 yards you get a 1.9 feet scatter, and at 250 yards a 3.2 feet scatter.

Anyway, it's out. If it fails, there's always tweaking, if that fails, back to default.