Less maneuvering (and invincible) AI for gunnery practice?

[von_Michelstamm]

Wanting to practice my basic deflection shooting more. Are there any missions around, (or Is it possible) to use mission editor to make the AI:

1) invincible

2) fly within an altitude range, I.e some mild maneuvering but no annoying split S or diving to the deck

3) fly at a specific speed

 

thanks!

[Hr_Rossi]

should not be a problem, set up a friendly unit to fire on it. just put it on a course and alt you like.... dont know about the invincible thing, never looked for it

 

[Thad]

Salutations,

 

1. Yes

2. Partial. They can be made to fly at specific altitudes. They can be assigned a Low, Normal, High and Ace AI quality settings. One can't prohibit specific flight maneuvers.

3. Yes, until engaged anyway.

 

Edited August 15, 2019 by Thad

[von_Michelstamm]

Brilliant, esp using a friendly unit. Should be able to do almost all of the angles by determining how quickly he's supposed to go to what altitude or heading, no?

Will be nice for friendly-but-destroyable bombers to practice rockets, and taking out IL2 radiators, etc. as well.

 

Ooh, and a string of destroyable friendlies flying towards me to practice head-ons...
 

Edited August 15, 2019 by von_Michelstamm

[Gambit21]

5 hours ago, von_Michelstamm said:

Should be able to do almost all of the angles by determining how quickly he's supposed to go to what altitude or heading, no?

 

Don't overthink it.

It needs to be instinctive, and the only way to get there us practice...not calculating angles and speed.

[von_Michelstamm]

16 hours ago, Gambit21 said:

 

Don't overthink it.

It needs to be instinctive, and the only way to get there us practice...not calculating angles and speed.

Disagree, partially.
Instinct is best, but it's inevitable from practice. What I've found is through simple trial and error I memorized a *couple* of semi-reliable sight pictures (i.e, "put the ball on the birds shoulders when you can't see its head"). I say semi-reliable since there's much more to it than that, namely speed, which changes the sight picture.
Actually studying speeds and angles doesn't need to be complicated — it just gives you a whole collection of pre-made sight pictures and a system connecting them.
Then, you take those and use them as the basis for building instinct.

 

A little chart I made based on @SYN_Requiem‘s  awesome vid. Obviously the sabilizer part is still WIP.
It's quite helpful:

 

Edited August 16, 2019 by von_Michelstamm

[Gambit21]

Well - if it works for you.

My personal experience is that most shots are fleeting, instinctive snapshots, with no time to think. (Obvious exceptions occur)

 

So I’ve pulled trigger and put a burst into his cowl or wing before I’ve had time to consider it. I might be doing a yo yo and anticipating a snapshot in a few seconds, but when it comes it’s purely instinctual.

 

Shooting a bomber etc is a different story.

Anyway, that’s just my experience. YMMV.

[von_Michelstamm]

3 hours ago, Gambit21 said:

 

So I’ve pulled trigger and put a burst into his cowl or wing before I’ve had time to consider it. I might be doing a yo yo and anticipating a snapshot in a few seconds, but when it comes it’s purely instinctual.

 

 

Sure, i do it too. But i've determined the times i miss snapshots, its because I'm reading a 20% angle as a 30% and I'm blasting at him in the wrong place in my sight, or reading him correctly for 400kph but aiming as if he was going 200kph, and then wondering why "I'm having an off day." 
Even more frustrating and common is when it's a brief spell between maneuvers and I miss on the difference between 0, 5 and 10 upwards or downwards and I'm wondering why "the hit detection and damage model" is broken ?

And when I hit a snapshot, i'm probably using more ammo than i should because i'm just firing earlier and leaving more room for error...
 

Edited August 16, 2019 by von_Michelstamm

[Gambit21]

6 hours ago, von_Michelstamm said:

And when I hit a snapshot, i'm probably using more ammo than i should because i'm just firing earlier and leaving more room for error...
 

 

...just to clarify, when I say 'snapshot' I mean a very short, instinctive, no time to think burst. 1/4 to half a second'ish.

Under no circumstance have I've never thought "20 degrees, 30 degrees" etc. If I'm feeling unsure I shoot a pattern to cover the range by firing a short burst and pulling my nose along his path to cover my bases.

Thus he get's hit whether he's at 10 degrees or 20 degrees. I try to calculate and pull my nose in such a fashion that the entire, (hopefully short) burst intersects with the aircraft.

Right now I'm not in practice and would be lucky to score a hit from 0 degrees.

 

[von_Michelstamm]

14 hours ago, Gambit21 said:

 

...just to clarify, when I say 'snapshot' I mean a very short, instinctive, no time to think burst. 1/4 to half a second'ish.

Under no circumstance have I've never thought "20 degrees, 30 degrees" etc. If I'm feeling unsure I shoot a pattern to cover the range by firing a short burst and pulling my nose along his path to cover my bases.

Thus he get's hit whether he's at 10 degrees or 20 degrees. I try to calculate and pull my nose in such a fashion that the entire, (hopefully short) burst intersects with the aircraft.

Right now I'm not in practice and would be lucky to score a hit from 0 degrees.

 

That’s what I mean by snapshot too. My point is the angles give one a sight picture, which is what you look for subconsciously when you find your fingers squeezing off a shot.

knowing what sight pictures give hits is a shortcut to avoid spending hours trying to define them. Basically a starting point.

From there, hours more practice makes it intuitive

Edited August 17, 2019 by von_Michelstamm

[Raptorattacker]

On 8/16/2019 at 1:39 AM, Gambit21 said:

Don't overthink it.

I totally agree. Too much to think can be a dangerous thing!!

[fiddlinjim]

On 8/15/2019 at 12:09 PM, von_Michelstamm said:

Wanting to practice my basic deflection shooting more. Are there any missions around, (or Is it possible) to use mission editor to make the AI:

1) invincible

2) fly within an altitude range, I.e some mild maneuvering but no annoying split S or diving to the deck

3) fly at a specific speed

 

thanks!

This will probably draw a lot of disparaging comments, however this is how I  practice my shooting.

Select a mission having a bunch of friendlys like those offered by Jade Monkey, drop into the rear position of your flight and start shooting them down.

The flight will continue to fly straight and level while you blast away however make sure you have unlimited ammo. 

They just crash and burn while never realizing that there is a traitor in their midst.

No need to set up your own special missions and do all sorts of work.  

After you finish killing them all,  just  restart your mission and you are back in the continuing good graces of the flight and still a valued team member.  LOL