Gunnery Question

[blur]

I’m a neophyte to this great sim and I have a question concerning gunnery on a moving target. They way I understand it is superelevation and lead are completely independent of each other which means that the target aspect angle (ground track) is not considered at all by the ballistic computer. What this means is that a target moving perpendicular to the gunner in a constant radius circle would be ideal for lead calculation purposes. Anything thing else will be imprecise.

To put a long story short if I’m trying to shoot a target with a HEAT shell at 2500 meters that’s moving quickly away from me going from left to right I have to guess?

[3Star]

Yes. If aiming at a vehicle coming to you at an angle, you want to aim at the bottom of its front slope. If going away from you at an angle, you want to aim at the turret roof. That gets you the 'lead' on the vertical component. I don't know how it works for the Leo.

NTM

[RecceDG]

You've got the gist of it - lead systems use rate of change (or average rate of change) of turret angle at the current range setting with the currently selected ammo to work out lead compensation, so targets who are closing or extending distance while simultaniously tracking laterally aren't taken into account by the ballistic computer.

The saving grace is that most targets are reasonably large, and most rounds reasonably fast, such that a properly aimed round (centre of visible mass) will still land on target. It may not hit the *aim point* on the target, but you should still get it.

At longer ranges with slower rounds (or with faster vehicles) it can help to put the aiming mark nearer the front edge of the target rather than at centre of visible mass as is the usual practice.

Another important technique is to *keep tracking the target* when the round is in flight, observe the fall of shot, and then aim off accordingly. If the round lands one target width behind the target with a center of visible mass aim point, then relase, aim off one target width ahead of the target, track at this hold point for a second, and fire.

Another technique, especially in the defensive, is to know the ranges to various reference points in your arc, know the time of flight of your round, and know how long it takes the target to cover the ground between a given reference point and the aim point. This works especially well when the target is likely to follow a particular track (like a road) - aim at point A, and when the target reaches point B, fire.

With practice, this becomes second nature.

DG

[Gibsonm]

Should we start lobbying for Gun Aiming Posts and Range Cards!

Maybe even Range Tables for semi indirect shooting?

Perhaps I should get some rack?

[RecceDG]

Life will not be complete until we have traverse indicators and gun clinometers for semi-indirect HESH shoots. :)

DG

[blur]

Thanks for the quick replies. I was wondering if theoretically the ballistic computer had enough information to combine both superelevation and lead adjustments together in order to track any type of target movement. Perhaps even a system where you would lase several times in order to pinpoint a target’s movement. It would save on expending extra shells. In any case, I’m sure that someone far more knowledgeable than me has looked into this problem. Maybe it wasn’t considered practical to implement a system of greater complexity.

[flyboy]

Just give me a crunchie with a range pole.