Posted by: Hobo ***MOL***

Posted on: 10:26:11 11/05/98

Message: Ok, after flying 2.5 for awhile and leting it settle to a more stable mode (I.E. patches), here are some comments, thoughts, and questions.

1) For over a year I've had VERY few disco's (less than 5) and a minimum amount of yellow beacons. Since 2.5 came out I get many yellows and have disco'd about 5 or 6 times. I've tried the WB's ping utility but it doesn't seem to matter which route I take. Anyone else see this get worse?

2) Landing touchdowns are much bouncier than before. I feel like I'm flying a Cub with big old balloon tires. :-) Takes some getting used to but I'm finally starting to groove the touchdowns better.

3) Once you touchdown and are braking I've found the braking is much more realistic. I know a lot of people hate the brakes now but they do seems to work similar to "normal" tail dragger fighters. This is based on many years of flying radio controlled scale model planes. Real world may be different but I suspect it's not a lot. Also, I haven't flown any of the tricycle gear planes yet since 2.5 came out. They should be way different from the tail draggers. The real key to using the brakes on tail draggers is to use your elevator. As you start to brake, pull up elevator to keep the plane from nosing over. Experiement and you will find you can keep the nose level and come to a stop without problems. If you really want to stop quick, just bring the gear up while braking and you'll belly skid to a stop.

4) I've seen my gunnery % increase in planes with cannon. Used to be that in planes with MG only I would be around 20% and planes with cannon I would be around 10%. I've found that in 2.5 my cannon gunnery is now about 15% and getting better daily. Here's what works for me:

First, when I fire cannon, I ONLY fire cannon. I don't use MG with cannon. I save the MG for the ride home, mainly for defense. The reason for this is gravity.

Second, used to be that I had trouble seeing the red cannon tracers. Now, using the WB's color utility I've changed the red cannon tracers to yellow and I'm able to see them better. This allows me to adjust my aim better.

As far as setups go, I'm finding that by turning the roll rate down a little around my j-stick center seems to help also. But I'd like to know how the best pilots setup their roll, yaw, and elevator rates. Any experts out there that can explain in detail how this part of the setup works and what works best for smooth, accurate gunnery? Does the setup routine actually lower the overall input rates or is it more of an exponetial rate adjustment?

Also I'd like to know how you guys with really good gunnery and k/d ratios do it. What do you do different than what I'm doing? Am I even on the right track? What about you trainers? Give us your input. Everyone's help and ideas would be appreciated by many, many pilots.

Thanks,

Hobo ***MOL***

Posted by: bjh

Posted on: 13:30:15 11/05/98

Message: I have to agree wholeheartedly Hobo, red tracers are very difficult to see in most situations. I've switched to bright green tracers which I find I can see much better. Before I'd always have to use cannon only on mixed gun planes because I couldn't get feedback on the big guns. The yellow tracers dominated my vision.

Now on mixed gun planes I can at least consider using mg's with cannon as the green dominates the yellow which is what I most want to see! I've also left the primes yellow so I can tell when I've forgotten to switch to cannon or dual guns on my main trigger.

-bjh--

(up over 20% shooting and loving it)

Posted by: DocDoom

Posted on: 20:17:25 11/05/98

Message:

: Now on mixed gun planes I can at least consider using mg's with cannon as the green dominates the yellow which is what I most want to see! I've also left the primes yellow so I can tell when I've forgotten to switch to cannon or dual guns on my main trigger.

: -bjh--

: (up over 20% shooting and loving it)

I would have thought the absense of big thumping cannon sounds and hearing just pissy little machine guns was a dead giveaway ;)

(it is when I forget !)

Doc.

Posted by: Dnil Maj. 900th Bloody Jaguars

Posted on: 10:47:28 11/05/98

Message: Before the patch the brakes were MUCH better, yea it was kinda stupid to nose over at 5mph but after the patch its like some freakin arcade game, an imaginary nose wheel pops out and WON'T let you nose over, try it, it wont happen just freakin stupid now. I prefered the old pre patch brakes once i got used to it. That and the d10 pings are really the only thing driving me nuts.

Dnil

Posted by: Bugjam - VMF-58 Wildcards

Posted on: 10:33:31 11/05/98

Message: : Second, used to be that I had trouble seeing the red cannon tracers. Now, using the WB's color utility I've changed the red cannon tracers to yellow and I'm able to see them better. This allows me to adjust my aim better.

I have the same problem... I can't see RED cannon tracers! Someone pls tell more about this WB color utility!!!

Thanks, Bug

Posted by: hobo ***MOL***

Posted on: 11:12:05 11/05/98

Message: : : Second, used to be that I had trouble seeing the red cannon tracers. Now, using the WB's color utility I've changed the red cannon tracers to yellow and I'm able to see them better. This allows me to adjust my aim better.

: I have the same problem... I can't see RED cannon tracers! Someone pls tell more about this WB color utility!!!

: Thanks, Bug

Go to WB's setup (from main menu) and choose the "colors" tab. You'll see an area with 4 sliders for changing the colors of your primary and secondary gun tracers. Change it to your preference and hit "apply". Works great!

Hobo