I am a relatively new player. I am increasingly frustrated to the point of just giving up when I see things that make no sense.
I thought I’d come here for clarification. Oh I fly exclusively World War Two aircraft.
I am repeatedly “Pilot Sniped” (I believe is the term) I actually would just call it a Pilot Kill, I don’t want to be denigrating at all.
But I keep getting these as a consistent thing at extreme ranges of over 1000 yards. I know WWII aircraft. I have been playing WWII flight sims since the 90s when Air Warrior and Warbirds were prominent in the online gaming world. The Last online WWII flight sim I paid a subscription for was Aces High, which still exists.
Therefore I KNOW what convergence is. I KNOW for a fact that a hit from a plane with wing mounted guns is virtually impossible at ranges beyond about 800. The bullets have spread out too far even with an extreme convergence of 600 yards.
So, since it happens consistently, I need to ask, "HOW are you folks making those shots. I can’t. with a target dead ahead of me at 800 with a p-38 and no wobble on the stick at ALL. MY bullets, which should be bored sighted out to about 1200 yards, spread out and nothing hits. Someone please tell me what’s going on?
It is really frustrating to play a “game” when I am consistently faced with the near reality that I am playing by different rules than others are to my disadvantage.
This won’t answer your question but I once had a conversation with a P-47 pilot about a time he shot down a Bf-109. His guns were converging well before the target so he gave it a bit of rudder and shot him down using the guns from just one wing. He did admit that it was more luck than anything else(I’m not so sure), but it just shows there are ways to get around convergence.
Burst fire more and don’t fixate on getting the kill. Head-on is a fools game, of literal chicken. If you’re hitting 800 meters in closing, you need to have already broken off…
Using central mounted guns like in a P-38 with 0.50 cals enables you (depending on speed difference) hits and crits up to 1.8 km. Even with wing mounted guns 1.8 km is possible if you use 800 meter convergence.
And even with my own potato aim in my IT P-47 D-30 (with AP-IT belt) it is no problem to score kills at ~ 1.4 km.
You might want to search for vertical targeting, with max convergence it affects bullet drop significantly.
HMG bullets vanish after 2 km travel distance (except Swedish 13.2, actually a cannon ), if you tailchase them gunners are able to score hits, crits and kills up to 2.4 km - depending on your relative speed.
As an experienced pilot i assume you are using a joystick. Have in mind that imho the only advantage of people flying with mouse is the easy aim due to artificially increased stability - as a joystick user (i fly nothing else) you should avoid headons. Setting up your joystick perfectly can take ages, look for joystick tutorials in this forum.
Getting pilot sniped very often is just an indicator that your crew skill stamina is too low.
500 matches in wt is not really a lot, optimize ur gunnery with test flights as you have usually a few friendly planes in the air, they won’t shoot back.
Have in mind that different shells of the same HMG/cannon have different velocities and ballistics.
Last one - use the replay function and analyze the trajectory of your bullets from the backward view of your chosen target.
Even in WT boolets don’t disappear at 800m. The game continues to plot their trajectory and they can still intersect a target. Just like in real life projectiles continue well past listed ranges, which is usually just tracer burnout or whatever is determined to be when its not economical to fire.
The vehicle guns mods and the maintenance crew skills have a effect on dispersion, which is more important than convergence. The game uses a lot of RNG to determine hits. When you are getting sniped a 1km, its because it was someone in a spaded plane with an aced crew. Or they got lucky. Also they know how to apply “Kentucky windage” .
As for getting “pilot sniped”, get your crew skills maxed as soon as you can, that will help cut down on that stuff to a degree. As for your convergence, that is personal preference thing and is going to prolly be a bit different for everyone. I play Air AB most of the time, so that is what I will be talking about, that mode. I AB you get a “lead indicator” that appears at about 700 - 750 meters, so I have my convergence set to 700 meters. This way I use that indicator more for ranging than actual aiming as it can vary a good deal to it’s “accuracy” on different planes you go after, as well as your guns & ammo type. Convergence, once set, affects ALL your planes that have wing mounted guns, not just each plane . . something to remember. The ranges and accuracy at range are exaggerated a good deal because, well . . . it’s a video game. There is a common thing here about going head on . . which is actually the 2nd worst move you can do, but it is going to happen as many players just lock on a target and fly straight towards it guns blazing and hope for the best . . I only mention this here because a longer convergence can help in those situations. But with some practice & experimenting you will find what works best for you. And ammo selection is kind of important as well, best not just use one belt type for everything. Look over each belt and the ammo it uses, penetration values & whether it can start a fire or not . . all variables to consider. A “Universal” belt can vary widely from plane to plane, gun to gun and nation to nation . . each belt type has variations, keen to look at that too.
Just a side note, the leading US P-51 Ace of the ETO had his convergence set to 150 yards . . . up close & personal you might say. But he was a barnstormer/stunt pilot before the war, so . . . at any rate . . doubt that would be helpful here in WT . . . lol
Good Luck!