Synchronized guns

[+LloydNB 212]

A question for those who have played around with guns.

 

Now I know when you set up a gun's data.ini file one of the factors to set is the rate of fire.  When you set up the aircraft the setting for the gun can include that it is synchronized. 

 

So, does making the gun synchronized actually change (ie lower) the rate of fire? Or is just for effect so you don't shoot your propeller off and the same weight of shot still goes down range?

 

 

[Wrench 9,847]

Lloyd, I moved this from the KB to where people might actually see it...

 

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to the best of my knowledge, based on some tweeks Crusader provided for the Bf-109s, it does NOT change the rate of fire or anything else.

[+Geezer 3,569]

Snippets from a PM on the subject:

 

Geezer: The 30/303 rounds fired in WW1 could devastate early aircraft, but lost effectiveness when fired at more modern aircraft with metal structures and improved systems.  The Osprey pub CR42 Versus Gladiator points out that early production batches of both aircraft had self-sealing fuel tanks, but lacked pilot armor or bullet resistant windshields.  Unless you got lucky and hit vital parts, such as pilot/fuel valve/oil pump/etc, you had to pour a LARGE number of rifle caliber bullets into a CR42/Gladiator to bring one down. 

 

If an experienced pilot closed to WW1 gunnery range - less than 100 meters - he could probably hit vital parts.  Many historical accounts suggest that is what happened - one careful burst and the target went down.  But you had to get CLOSE.  Again, the 1940 desert war was more like WW1 than WW2.

 

While still a novice with TW data files, it looks to me like there is no good way to simulate the effectiveness of short range gunfire as opposed to long range gunfire.  Any ideas?

 

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LloydNB: From memory there may be a way to reflect the effect of firing from close and long range by changing the stability of the guns in the data files.  I think that the 303s on a Hurricane produce a cone of fire that is less effective at range and this done through the vibration caused by firing.  That vibration means that not every bullet flies down the same path as the one before it, no mater how steady the aircraft is in flight. But I might be wrong.

 

The cone seems to be determined by the accuracy set for the gun. Higher accuracy produces a smaller cone.

 

I've been thinking that one of the reasons that early fighters seem too effective in the game is how synchronized gun fire is (or rather isn't) represented.  You set the rate of fire for each type of gun and then in the aircraft data.ini file you set that a particular gun station is synchronized.

 

Problem is that setting a gun as synchronized doesn't seem to effect the rate of fire and it should lower it significantly.  Important for CR42s that fire through the prop arc. To get the 12.7mm Breda-SAFAT to fire at the correct rate it might be necessary to produce gun.data entries for a synchronized version.

 

As a guide, I have seen a reference to the wing mounted guns on the Gladiator firing at 2.5 times the rate of the CR42's synchronized guns.

 

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Geezer: Woodman's Early Aircraft Armament touches on the rate of fire problem in several places that describe the various synchronization systems used in WW1.  While the different systems used by different countries varied in efficiency, they were all similar in that they were an interface between the engine and the guns. 

 

The synchronization systems didn't regulate the rate of fire, the propeller speed did because the guns had to shoot between the spinning propeller blades.  The higher the engine rpm, the higher the rate of fire with efficient systems - the inefficient systems arbitrarily limited the rate of fire regardless of engine rpm.  The introduction of three-bladed props in the 1930s sometimes slowed down the rates of fire because of the "extra" prop blade.

 

At the end of the day, we may have to just arbitrarily reduce the rate of fire of some aircraft?  Does anyone know of a file tweak that varies machine gun rate of fire?

Edited March 6, 2015 by Geezer

[+Crusader 2,101]

Using the Synchronized=TRUE function in the data ini is reducing the ROF by 10% or something like that.

Easy to test actually, if you have 2 guns, remove Synchronized=TRUE on one gun, then go shooting.. level flight, no stunts to prevent jams

The ammo on the gun with Synchronized=TRUE will last longer.