GAU-8 against infantry

[Hoggorm]

Hi,

 

I've just tried the Operation Bactria multiplayer mission:

 

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=89051

 

Here I was tasked at taking out some infantry using rockets and guns.

 

The rockets took out a few, however the GAU-8 did very little damage. After several runs and depleting all my 1200 HEI rounds I had only killed three soldiers...

 

Watching the Tacview recording later I see that both my wingman and I hit several infantry on each pass. Tacview reports everything from 2 to 213 (!) hits on a soldier without killing him!

 

This is also the same as seen when flying one of the quick single player missions where a couple of trucks and some infantry are standing next to each other. It is basically impossible to take out the infantry with guns!

 

Is there an effective way to use the GAU-8 on infantry, or is this just wasting time and ammo?

[TurboHog]

What a coincidence. I played Bactria yesterday too with a friend. The UK flight task with the ambush from the tree line. There are like 60 soldiers. Did some gun passes but after spending 500 rounds I decided to use a Jdam. The gun rounds performed not as expected.

[Namenlos Ein]

Watching the Tacview recording later I see that both my wingman and I hit several infantry on each pass. Tacview reports everything from 2 to 213 (!) hits on a soldier without killing him!

A-10C Warthog vs. zombies.

 

[alexbap]

Bactria is one of my favourites too.

When I play it with my mates and we decide to employ guns against infantry we can usually kill more than 20 each so I guess you just have to train your aim. And we come RTB always with some shells left.

3 to 4 kills are done with one single pass and if they are lined this number is much higher.

Sorry, but GAU-8 has no problem in this game.

[Hamblue]

Here's what it should look like. The Ai infantry should be soiling themselves like the boys in this video:

[WildBillKelsoe]

or this?

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pp_KUc3suWE&oref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com.eg%2Furl%3Fsa%3Dt%26rct%3Dj%26q%3D%26esrc%3Ds%26source%3Dweb%26cd%3D1%26ved%3D0CDYQtwIwAA%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.youtube.com%252Fwatch%253Fv%253Dpp_KUc3suWE%26ei%3DfG3YUIeMFI3LtAbUk4H4BQ%26usg%3DAFQjCNE7BvzgeK7v32J7CHkRuKa_RFwTTg%26bvm%3Dbv.1355534169%2Cd.Yms

[Megagoth1702]

A-10C Warthog vs. zombies.

 

 

 

Another retarded movie. Everyone is hopping on the zombie train hoping to make a buck.

 

 

@ Topic - engage from 4 miles out, not kidding. Look for the soldiers in your TGP, it's tough but possible. Then go out to 6 miles, turn around,engage from 4-3 miles, half a second burst. Watch these bullets spread and cover a great area.

 

Also - in bactria you are loaded with explosive gun rounds. Do NOT change your gun ammo at the mission start:

 

1 - there is a bug that gives you a bugged reticle http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=96577

2 - the combat mix ammo has very little explosive rounds. And armor piercing rounds don't do splash damage to infantry.

 

I had no problems finding myself a few grouped targets and engaging them from 3-4 miles gave me a nice area coverage.

 

I agree though that the AI currently behaves very boss-like. They dont give a shit about everything exploding around them, haha.

[Hoggorm]

... so I guess you just have to train your aim.

 

Well. As mentioned in the first post at least one soldier was hit 213 times according to Tacview, so I guess the aim is good enough...

 

Please see the attached Tacview recording at 16:42:47 for example...

Tacview-20121223-211632.zip

[Hoggorm]

Then go out to 6 miles, turn around,engage from 4-3 miles, half a second burst. Watch these bullets spread and cover a great area.

 

I'll try this at the next opportunity :) Thanks

[Megagoth1702]

I'll try this at the next opportunity :) Thanks

 

Of course you can use longer bursts but ... If you got the time and are not familiar with such long range shooting, don't waste the ammo. :p

 

If you get the chance, report back. :) Kinda curious if what works for me also works for you.

[Dusty Rhodes]

Turn the PAC off for better bullet dispersal. All in the Video section of the main page for ED. Training video made by Matt on the Big Ass Gun.

[Megagoth1702]

Turn the PAC off for better bullet dispersal. All in the Video section of the main page for ED. Training video made by Matt on the Big Ass Gun.

 

Nah man, if you are targeting your TGP spot which is looking at some soldiers, you should use PAC, otherwise your bullets will go all over the place if you shoot from 4-3 miles, nowhere close to the target.

[Dusty Rhodes]

That is the point. It disperses the rounds in an area to hit more targets. Matt explains it in the video the same way I am saying.

[Megagoth1702]

From 3-4 miles a 10 infantry group is not bigger than the small dot in the pipper itself. How is it supposed to hit anything, if you start putting the pipper all over the place, especially if you HAVE a specific target that you want to hit?

 

Link to Matt's video?

[Madone]

I concurr with the first post, I played some of my own mission with infantry and sometimes I need to come very close and make 3 or 4 passes to kill 1 or 2 survivors even if I really lead my rain on him! Same problem when playing the instant actions, me and my wingman need to waste 4 passes to kill a poor guy! It's like there was no blast implemented, I always use the HEI ammo only since I like to create "Afghanistan conflict" missions with only infantry and light vehicles.

The HEI are supposed to have a blast effect about 10 meters, I don't like to see the target still standing fine after 3 passes on him, he should be crawling in pieces at least!!

[159th_Viper]

No obvious issues with latest build so wait for next patch and revisit if necessary.

 

Test just ran with 20 M249 soldiers scattered around in an area-size 60m x 90m. Disabled PAC, ran in and from 2.5nm sent 230 HEI rounds in their general direction.

 

12 fatalities.

[Dusty Rhodes]

Sorry should have put up the link to the training vid: http://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/video/wh-training/

[Evil.Bonsai]

From 3-4 miles a 10 infantry group is not bigger than the small dot in the pipper itself. How is it supposed to hit anything, if you start putting the pipper all over the place, especially if you HAVE a specific target that you want to hit?

 

Link to Matt's video?

 

at 3-4 km, never mind miles, you really should not be pulling that trigger on ANYTHING.

[Hoggorm]

No obvious issues with latest build so wait for next patch and revisit if necessary.

 

Does this mean that the GAU-8 has been modified in the upcoming patch?

 

Test just ran with 20 M249 soldiers scattered around in an area-size 60m x 90m. Disabled PAC, ran in and from 2.5nm sent 230 HEI rounds in their general direction.

 

12 fatalities.

 

Sounds fair enough. But how many runs did you have to do before all targets were taken out? If you took out the last 8 in run number two, that sounds good. If you had to run in several times hitting no more than one or two, there still is a problem...

 

I'm sure the GAU is way more effective against infantry than what it is in the sim as of today..?

[159th_Viper]

Does this mean that the GAU-8 has been modified in the upcoming patch?

 

Cannot say - I have not ran the same test with 7570.

 

But how many runs did you have to do before all targets were taken out?

 

Above test was just one run. I did not return to pick off the survivors - the eight that was left scattered out of the 60m x 90m test area.

 

 

If you took out the last 8 in run number two, that sounds good.

 

As said, zero chance of that happening, In-SIM as well as RL. They scattered and went defensive.

 

I'm sure the GAU is way more effective against infantry than what it is in the sim as of today..?

 

You over-estimate the damage. Also greatly depends on the surface you are firing into. Sand vs Rock and so on and so on.

[Megagoth1702]

at 3-4 km, never mind miles, you really should not be pulling that trigger on ANYTHING.

 

I would love some realism based information on that.

 

I mean - if you know 100% there is NOTHING on the spot that you are firing at besides enemy troops and you DO want that big spread, why not engage from further away?

 

No chance of collateral damage because it's 100% confirmed there is nothing there. No chance of friendly fire because "...".

 

So yeah. Would love some input on that.

[Evil.Bonsai]

I would love some realism based information on that.

 

I mean - if you know 100% there is NOTHING on the spot that you are firing at besides enemy troops and you DO want that big spread, why not engage from further away?

 

No chance of collateral damage because it's 100% confirmed there is nothing there. No chance of friendly fire because "...".

 

So yeah. Would love some input on that.

 

If you're shooting in a vacuum, sure. But that long distance is made of air, which will seriously degrade performance. At 3-4 miles, might as well just drop rocks on them, because by the time those bullets reach that far, pretty much all their energy will have been expended getting there.

 

Effective range is about 1 mile. Better to fire at <1 mile

 

http://www.military.cz/usa/air/in_service/weapons/cannons/gau8/gau8_en.htm

Edited December 27, 2012 by Evil.Bonsai

[Jona33]

HE will still do some damage no doubt.

[SkateZilla]

weird, i use HEI and 1 second burst from Angels 3 about 1 mile out (using TGP to Set SPI on HUD to Target), I can take out anything not armoured within a 40-50 foot radius.

[ishtmail]

If you're shooting in a vacuum, sure. But that long distance is made of air, which will seriously degrade performance. At 3-4 miles, might as well just drop rocks on them, because by the time those bullets reach that far, pretty much all their energy will have been expended getting there.

 

Effective range is about 1 mile. Better to fire at <1 mile

 

http://www.military.cz/usa/air/in_service/weapons/cannons/gau8/gau8_en.htm

Effective range is effective because of accuracy, not because of individual bullet energy. If a bullet reaches a target at 3 miles away, it's still flying fast enough to kill any person, maybe even punch through a lightly armored vehicle. If a bullet slows down to the point of 'throwing rocks', it would also fall like a rock.

 

 

 

There are several cases of stray bullets killing someone during festivals, when people are shooting in the air. Those bullets fly in the air (approximately vertically), slow down to a halt at a certain distance from the ground (about a mile high), and then go back down. If some unlucky person is standing in its way, he gets killed dead.

And that's a bullet that started with ZERO speed at ONE MILE HIGH. All its speed and energy came exclusively from gravity.

 

And with A10C, you're shooting GAU-8 at a DOWNWARD angle. So, any speed it loses due to friction with air, it also gains due to earth's gravity field (G is for gravity, meaning acceleration of about 10 metres per second squared, when in freefall). And it's not starting with zero speed, muzzle velocity is close to the speed of sound (add to that the speed of the aircraft itself!).