Minimum recommended altitude for groundtarget attacks?

[Customizer171]

Hello!

I am having a great time playing this sim, but I have a problem when strafing targets on the ground.

Obviously it gets easier to hit the target when getting closer BUT it is also VERY easy to get too close, and collide with the ground, the target, a tree or something else.

I play in VR and don´t use any zoom and is not interested in start using it.

I wonder if there was any rules or recommendations about minimum safe altitude when strafing? Pretty sure there was. I wanna avoid making more holes in the ground but at the same time I want to take out the targets.

Do you have any recommendations?

How do you succeed in your strafing without killing yourself?

Any tips and tricks will be appreciated.   

[Dragon1-1]

Don't get target fixation. Minimum safe altitude is more or less up to you (it depends on what you're flying and your strafe angle), but the important part is, remember to break off. Don't use high angles unless you're comfortable with low ones, high angle is more accurate and can be effective against tanks, but it's harder to pull out from, and you need to fire from further away, so unless you're otherwise a good marksman you won't get the accuracy benefit. 

 

Also, don't fire from too close or too far. For air to ground, you want 300-400m of convergence. Fire a burst at convergence, then pull away. You'll need to learn how to use the reticle to determine your range in order to know where to shoot. Once you leave the convergence range, it's time to come off.

[69th_Mobile_BBQ]

Even though the targets are very small, I've found that zooming the view into the gunsight is an easy way to wipe yourself out.  Keep a wider field of view so you get a better 'feel' for when to pull up.

[Dragon1-1]

He said he's not using zoom, and quite frankly, in VR you don't need it. You just need to learn to spot vehicles on the ground, and to aim at them from a decent distance. 

 

Ultimately, it's important to remember that it's better to miss your shots than to hit the ground. It's also better to spray around the target a little than to hit it with your plane. Pinpoint accuracy is neither possible nor necessary, in most cases. 

[RossMarBow]

For germans you have to drop higher.

 

HvB on youtube has excellent videos regarding ground attack

[Customizer171]

On 6/5/2022 at 11:02 PM, Dragon1-1 said:

Don't get target fixation. Minimum safe altitude is more or less up to you (it depends on what you're flying and your strafe angle), but the important part is, remember to break off. Don't use high angles unless you're comfortable with low ones, high angle is more accurate and can be effective against tanks, but it's harder to pull out from, and you need to fire from further away, so unless you're otherwise a good marksman you won't get the accuracy benefit. 

 

Also, don't fire from too close or too far. For air to ground, you want 300-400m of convergence. Fire a burst at convergence, then pull away. You'll need to learn how to use the reticle to determine your range in order to know where to shoot. Once you leave the convergence range, it's time to come off.

 

Thanks for your advices.

I have practiced more now and I can see some improvements but I still make holes in the ground sometimes ?.

On 6/6/2022 at 1:11 AM, Dragon1-1 said:

He said he's not using zoom, and quite frankly, in VR you don't need it. You just need to learn to spot vehicles on the ground, and to aim at them from a decent distance. 

 

Ultimately, it's important to remember that it's better to miss your shots than to hit the ground. It's also better to spray around the target a little than to hit it with your plane. Pinpoint accuracy is neither possible nor necessary, in most cases. 

 

Yes, no zoom for me, but it sure is hard to spot those targets on the ground. I cheat sometimes using the map to locate them.

On 6/9/2022 at 7:07 AM, RossMarBow said:

For germans you have to drop higher.

 

HvB on youtube has excellent videos regarding ground attack

 

Thanks a lot for that tip ?

[Dragon1-1]

3 hours ago, Customizer171 said:

Yes, no zoom for me, but it sure is hard to spot those targets on the ground. I cheat sometimes using the map to locate them.

IRL, you'd have images from dedicated recon aircraft, radio directions from ground troops or convoy routes and timings stolen by the spies. So it's not cheating as much as you think. When you know roughly where to look, spotting the targets is much easier. Aircraft in WWII didn't typically wander around looking for something to shoot, they took off on a mission and attacked a specific target, or any targets found in a specific area. In either case, they knew where to look for them.

[Customizer171]

On 7/8/2022 at 11:54 PM, Dragon1-1 said:

IRL, you'd have images from dedicated recon aircraft, radio directions from ground troops or convoy routes and timings stolen by the spies. So it's not cheating as much as you think. When you know roughly where to look, spotting the targets is much easier. Aircraft in WWII didn't typically wander around looking for something to shoot, they took off on a mission and attacked a specific target, or any targets found in a specific area. In either case, they knew where to look for them.

 

That actually made me feel better!

Thanks ?

[Mtnbiker1998]

On 7/11/2022 at 1:46 PM, Customizer171 said:

 

That actually made me feel better!

Thanks ?

Real life also has a lot higher resolution than even the best VR headsets on the market. There is no reason not to use zoom and its certainly not more "cheaty" than looking at a magic map

[Customizer171]

6 minutes ago, Mtnbiker1998 said:

Real life also has a lot higher resolution than even the best VR headsets on the market. There is no reason not to use zoom and its certainly not more "cheaty" than looking at a magic map

 

That is true!

I don't think it would feel natural to use zoom, but to be honest, I haven't tried it yet.

However, I don't think it is more "cheaty" than using the map, I just don't want to use it.

Happy flying! 

[Knarley-Bob]

If you know that you'll be strafing ground targets, I like to max out my convergence. Your bullets will converge further out, hopefully blowing up the target sooner. One doesn't always have to see the target explode to destroy it either. It takes a while to get used to when to pull out, practice makes perfect. (Still working on that one myself.)

KB

Strafing armor doesn't work so well either, best to find something a tad "softer".

Edited July 13, 2022 by Knarley-Bob

[Dragon1-1]

Note that if you do that, you need really good marksmanship to land those long shots. It is certainly an option, but I like to get a little closer. Long convergence is something I use with centerline guns.

[Knarley-Bob]

On my screen, if I can tell what I'm shooting, I'll probably fly into it. Strafing the line of cannon seems to work better than trying to hit a single one, same with a convoy. I guess landing back at base is better than plowing into a target for me. A longer convergence lets me pull out sooner seeing is how your fire power is concentrated further out.

Seems to work for me, but then again that's just me........give it a shot, if it doesn't seem to help, what can I say?

KB

[Customizer171]

22 hours ago, Knarley-Bob said:

If you know that you'll be strafing ground targets, I like to max out my convergence. Your bullets will converge further out, hopefully blowing up the target sooner. One doesn't always have to see the target explode to destroy it either. It takes a while to get used to when to pull out, practice makes perfect. (Still working on that one myself.)

KB

Strafing armor doesn't work so well either, best to find something a tad "softer".

 

I mostly fly aircrafts with centerlines guns when doing groundattack, but thanks for your advice.

1 hour ago, Knarley-Bob said:

On my screen, if I can tell what I'm shooting, I'll probably fly into it. Strafing the line of cannon seems to work better than trying to hit a single one, same with a convoy. I guess landing back at base is better than plowing into a target for me. A longer convergence lets me pull out sooner seeing is how your fire power is concentrated further out.

Seems to work for me, but then again that's just me........give it a shot, if it doesn't seem to help, what can I say?

KB

 

I will give it a try, to open fire at a greater distance but at the same time I don't want to be too far away and only waste ammo.

Like you said, practice makes perfect and I already see huge improvement ?

[Knarley-Bob]

I use the icons so far. When it gets to 1.1 or smaller you will be in range. A steep dive at this point is trouble.

Using center mounted guns, the convergence isn't as important, the guns are already pretty close together.

Hop on the "Quick missions" single plane, put down lots of ground targets and 'go hunting'....kinda fun......and good practice.

Same with dropping bombs for practice.

KB

[Customizer171]

7 hours ago, Knarley-Bob said:

I use the icons so far. When it gets to 1.1 or smaller you will be in range. A steep dive at this point is trouble.

Using center mounted guns, the convergence isn't as important, the guns are already pretty close together.

Hop on the "Quick missions" single plane, put down lots of ground targets and 'go hunting'....kinda fun......and good practice.

Same with dropping bombs for practice.

KB

 

I use no icons, but the map, to find the general area of my targets. It's not showing the distance as accurate as the icons, but I prefer it that way.

So far I only play Single player in Quick Missions and I love it!!!

What a great game this is?

[Traffic]

Your convergence dictates how far up you can engage ground targets. Personally, I prefer 450m for US and RAF aircraft, using .50s and Hispanos. .50s have very little drop to them due to high muzzle velocity. And that that, Im able to engage a ground target at around 1500 feet in altitude, destroy whatever I was shooting at, and pull out around 900 feet. With Luftwaffe cannons, they have significant drop to them so it pretty much varies between aircraft and what type of weapon you're firing. 

 

For me, 450m - 500m for ground pounding and 300-350 for air to air is the sweet spot. 

[Customizer171]

On 7/15/2022 at 7:29 PM, BBAS_Traffic-241 said:

Im able to engage a ground target at around 1500 feet in altitude, destroy whatever I was shooting at, and pull out around 900 feet. 

 

Thanks, that was the kind of figures I was looking for.

I usually pull up much lower than this and that is my problem.

Can you please tell me an estimated angle of the dive, you have in the attack?

[jollyjack]

IMO that depends a lot on aircraft type...

[Customizer171]

3 hours ago, jollyjack said:

IMO that depends a lot on aircraft type...

 

I mostly fly Bf109, 110 and FW 190