How to use the gunsight

No matter how many times I try, I struggle to score hits on enemy aircraft. How do you use the gunsight?

Do you give a target lead when in a turning or pitching pursuit?

It really differs from engagement to engagement.

-The Gyro Sight can computes the right lead angle from 200 - 800 yards, so you shouldn't have to lead for most engagements when using the Gyro reticle.

-When attacking different aircraft it will be most effective if you enter in the plane's wingspan. You can download this image for your kneeboard. To help you with the wingspans of various aircraft in DCS. I believe the wingspan dial is in feet.

-Once you have the wingspan set, you set the range dial until the diameter of the gyro sight coincides the wingspan of the enemy in front of you.

-At this point the sight will compute the correct lead angle after one second of track on the target. Assuming he is 200-800 yards away.

Some images that point out the dials I mention. Taken from the Official Manual

1. It's always good to have both sights on, the computing one and the static one which gives you a circle, a few lines, and a boresight crosshair. Press "1" to cycle through them.

2. Make sure you have the wingspan set for the computing sight (dial on top of the gunsight box) I think the wingspan of both German fighters is around 30 feet.

3. Use the range dial (twist throttle) to make the computing sight the same size and the enemies wingspan. You then have to track the enemy for a second or so to make sure the sight is stable. If the sight isn't stable it means you probably aren't in a stable pursuit curve and you'll most likely miss.

Personally, I actually use the fixed sight mostly, since it's what I'm used to. I tend to get more consistent and natural results with the fixed sight as I'm not focused on the little moving sight.

S!, hope that helps!

Flare

Also you have to take latency into account....

Which is why the gyro's useless for me and I just use the standard sight.

Yeah, the 1 second requirement is a long time in a dogfight. That is why I always use the boresight dot in conjunction with the gyro.

I have a really stupid question, because I'm good at those :D, how do you set the wingspan quickly and accurately? I have a TM Warthog HOTAS joystick, with the wingspan setting configured to left-right motion of the gray thumb hat. Because the sight's wingspan dial moves so quickly, setting the wingspan to close to what I want is always a fidgety struggle; so much so, that I generally set it on the ground while the engine is warming up and I have time to fidget around with it. Since I set the distance with the same thumb hat (forward-rearward motion), in the heat of battle it can occur that I accidentally mis-adjust the wingspan. This is a real PITA in the middle of a fight.

Is there any way to slow the motion of the wingspan setting (slow the repeat of holding the thumb hat)?

Is there any way to slow the motion of the wingspan setting (slow the repeat of holding the thumb hat)?

Have you tried putting some deadzone on the switch by going into the "Adjust Control" menu? I don't know if it will work but I would give it a try. Maybe also try setting the Curvature to a more smooth curve.

I have a really stupid question, because I'm good at those , how do you set the wingspan quickly and accurately?

Wingspan, set it on the ground no need to touch it again.Its the range you need to adjust in flight or leave at a said distance and use it as a guide.

Yeah, the 1 second requirement is a long time in a dogfight. That is why I always use the boresight dot in conjunction with the gyro.

heya gav - can you expand? Not sure I ever heard of the 1 second issue.... are you saying the latency between two clients makes it worse? Have you ever noticed a difference vs. AI?

I dont think I ever had any problem with the gyro - i use it to get my tracers either on target or "darn close" ... then a simple pitch will usually walk them where i want them.

Wingspan, set it on the ground no need to touch it again.Its the range you need to adjust in flight or leave at a said distance and use it as a guide.

Unless you engage a second aircraft with a different wingspan ;-)

Unless you engage a second aircraft with a different wingspan ;-)

Well mostly we're fighting 190/109 not that much of a difference in wingspan...

I like to use both sights. I don't mess with the range on the gyro sight, I just use it to get an idea of the deflection. I'll focus on the fixed sight and know that the bullets will travel along a line between it and the gyro sight.

This might be of some help

I like to use both sights. I don't mess with the range on the gyro sight, I just use it to get an idea of the deflection. I'll focus on the fixed sight and know that the bullets will travel along a line between it and the gyro sight.

I get what you're saying but you're kind of giving bad info to people. First off, you should be setting the correct range and use the sight to engage at that range. That's where your guns are zeroed and will do the most damage. Secondly, if you're doing high deflection shots, high g shots or short range, the gun sight is going to be off as far as the gyro is concerned.

This might be of some help

 

It's nitpicking, I know, but the Dora's wingspan is a little over 34' and the 109 is a little over 32.

It really differs from engagement to engagement.

 

-The Gyro Sight can computes the right lead angle from 200 - 800 yards, so you shouldn't have to lead for most engagements when using the Gyro reticle.

-When attacking different aircraft it will be most effective if you enter in the plane's wingspan. You can download this image for your kneeboard. To help you with the wingspans of various aircraft in DCS. I believe the wingspan dial is in feet.

-Once you have the wingspan set, you set the range dial until the diameter of the gyro sight coincides the wingspan of the enemy in front of you.

-At this point the sight will compute the correct lead angle after one second of track on the target. Assuming he is 200-800 yards away.

 

Some images that point out the dials I mention. Taken from the Official Manual

When I try to change the distance on the range dial, it goes from a minimum of "9" to a maximum of "2400". It won't go any lower than 9, even though it dial shows numbers down to "2". BTW, if you think that 9 is really a 6, it isn't. If I assume the the 2400 is really 800 feet, then the 9 must be 300 feet.

So, my question is, how do I get the dial to go down to between 6 and 7, to get to that 200 feet? Or, a little above 8, to give me the 250 that I'm use to in Cliffs of Dover.

When try to change the distance on the range dial, it goes from a minimum of "9" to a maximum of "2400". It won't go any lower than 9, even though it dial shows numbers down to "2". BTW, if you think that 9 is really a 6, it isn't. If I assume the the 2400 is really 800 feet, then the 9 must be 300 feet.

 

So, my question is, how do I get the dial to go down to between 6 and 7, to get to that 200 feet? Or, a little above 8, to give me the 250 that I'm use to in Cliffs of Dover.

You are definitely not used to 250ft of range. That is just 76m. You probably mean 250meters or yards right?

Not to mention that by changing the gunsight you do not change your convergence. So your effective range is still around 1000ft.

I myself set the gyro at 1000ft and 190's wing span. I know the 109 is smaller and that why I know when to shoot. And at close range it's just a bit of a reference.

Also make sure that the Gyro switch is ON. I was flying Red Rover, Red Rover multiple times and wondering why the sight was so useless. Realized that the Gyro was OFF. Once I switched on, it became much more useful.

As other have said, I've found the most useful combination in dogfighting to be the fixed + plus the active gyro sight. Since the gyro takes 1-1.5 sec to stabilize, you can often fire somewhere between the cross and the floating gyro sight and be reasonably assured of hits.