Can someone explain the practical difference between trailing and leading settings for projectile gunsights?
Trailing vs Leading Gunsights
- Thread starter BrewerGeorge
- Start date
From my point of view, I miss all the time with trailing gunsights but with leading gunsights I only miss most of the time which is an improvement I suppose. I really need to practice combat targetting more with FA off.
I have yet to come up with an actual reason for wanting trailing gunsights other than for pro-combat players who like to track targets by eye who like to know where their target was rather than might be. Or something like that.
As i understand it:
Trailing gunsights show where your shots are actually pointing in space. They do not account for "flight time" of teh bullets.
Leading gunsights show where your shots will arrive relative to the enemy ship, so they point at where your bullets will arrive rather than where they were actually pointing.
You can imagine the bullets traversing a parabola/curved path (relative to opponent ship), dependant on the speed & course of the enemy. The leading gunsight takes this "curved" path into account.
Bottom line: If you use leading gunsights and target the targetting reticle your bullets will intersect the enemy ship IF the enemy ship maintains its current speed and course. If you use trailing gunsights the bullets will intersect where the ship is now rather than where it is predicted to be.
I haven't tested this mind, this is just my assumption as to how they work.
Trailing gunsights show where your shots are actually pointing in space. They do not account for "flight time" of teh bullets.
Leading gunsights show where your shots will arrive relative to the enemy ship, so they point at where your bullets will arrive rather than where they were actually pointing.
You can imagine the bullets traversing a parabola/curved path (relative to opponent ship), dependant on the speed & course of the enemy. The leading gunsight takes this "curved" path into account.
Bottom line: If you use leading gunsights and target the targetting reticle your bullets will intersect the enemy ship IF the enemy ship maintains its current speed and course. If you use trailing gunsights the bullets will intersect where the ship is now rather than where it is predicted to be.
I haven't tested this mind, this is just my assumption as to how they work.
The only difference is where you aim in relation to a moving ship. With trailing, you aim at the ship itself, with leading you aim in front of the ship (where he'll be when the bullets get there). Either way your actual bullets will always lead the ship.
I find that if you want to use fixed beams along with projectile weapons you want trailing, as the beams fire in a straight line and you need to be aiming at the ship.
I find that if you want to use fixed beams along with projectile weapons you want trailing, as the beams fire in a straight line and you need to be aiming at the ship.
Leading is useful, because the aiming point is ahead of the target (because of slow projectile speed) and so you can see where your target will be flying.
On a mixed setup with lasers and projectiles it is better to change to trailing, because the aiming point is then directly on the target itself and you don't need to correct aim if you're switching between laser-fire and projectile-fire (laser is always on target). You loose the ability to easily see where the target is flying in this mode.
On a mixed setup with lasers and projectiles it is better to change to trailing, because the aiming point is then directly on the target itself and you don't need to correct aim if you're switching between laser-fire and projectile-fire (laser is always on target). You loose the ability to easily see where the target is flying in this mode.
ciger
Banned
it might be somewhat useful when running mix of lasers and projectiles, cant have both on target due to the need of leading shots for projectiles. so in this case trailing might offer a better solution in case someone doesn't want to run gimbals or turrets.
but for me i just lack the patience and skill to make trailing gunsights work for me.
but for me i just lack the patience and skill to make trailing gunsights work for me.
I was just about to add that using leading also gives an additional indication of where the ship is heading.
As far as I can tell, the aiming option DOES NOT change the path of the bullets. They always fire leading the target so as to intersect his current path (if using gimbals at least).
Leading shows where you have to aim to hit the locked target, trailing shows where the bullets will be by the time they've reached the locked target's range.
Leading = Aim at the sight which is ahead of the target
Trailing = Line sight up with target, this will be trailing behind where your ship is actually pointing.
Leading = Aim at the sight which is ahead of the target
Trailing = Line sight up with target, this will be trailing behind where your ship is actually pointing.
I prefer trailing as with leading you're looking at a sight in space ahead of the target ship so you're not watching the target. With trailing you're looking at where your shots would have gone so you're watching a historical sight so you're essentially lining up the sight with the target ship. When doing this you're more focussed on the target ship so you can react to it's changes of movement better.
As I fly using a mixture of fa off and on I prefer trailing when I am using something like fixed canons that have a longer travel time than other weapons. I seem better able to judge where they will go once fired.
I prefer trailing for the same reason but on the other side using slow weapons like cannon or plasma accelerator i registered more hits using leading targeting mode, since trailing can go off view with higher AOA.
Ok, these responses are making sense. What has been everyone's experience with leading/trailing in regards to actually being able to take a shot that's not blocked by your hardpoint placement - such as when you're in a climbing pursuit with cannons mounted underneath? I have the impression that a trailing sight will more often show when you can actually fire because the gun sight just seems to fall away if you can't fire. Whereas the leading sight will continue to show where you need to be pointing if you want to take the shot. Do you folks agree with that impression?
If that IS the case, I think it would reinforce the trailing-with-lasers, leading-with-projectile-only theories. So it would be keep the lasers on target and have the sight tell you when cannons can shoot.
If that IS the case, I think it would reinforce the trailing-with-lasers, leading-with-projectile-only theories. So it would be keep the lasers on target and have the sight tell you when cannons can shoot.
At first glance, you might have a point there. Just remember that lasers and rails do not enable the circle target designator in leading mode, since they're instantaneous hit weapons. As stated above by drcheck this might cause a problem since you must slew your target into your crosshairs in order for you to hit, not the leading indicator. On the other side, (i'm unable to test it now) as far as i can see, on leading, you might have an advantage with weapons mounted underneath while on a climbing pursuit, since you're pointing ahead of target and there's plenty of FOV for your under weapons. Better off with the "leading for slow projectile weapons, trailing for everything else" technique.
Play, experiment, understand and have fun. In case of targeting problems like i stated above, isolate your weapons in specific fire groups. Not handy but does the job. Plus, a decluttered crosshair with a single fire group (especially with fixed weapons) proves to be quite effective while aiming at subsystems.
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Ah so my assumption was completely wrong. Thanks for this, useful to know.
I had always figured i needed gimballed Mc when using a mixed laser/kinetic weapon load for exactly this reason, now I know better!
Totally agree about the cluttered cross hair. I'm using a mixture of fixed and gimballed at the moment, I HATE the way the dots block the target and some of them are wibbling around even when "on target". I'd much rather have a simple crosshair and have it change colour when the gimbals have a good solution.
Yup, i've noticed that a couple of times, definitely the main weakness with trailing.
Pretty much yes, at least when the target is moving quickly across your view. If you can reduce relative lateral velocity to zero, the aimpoints for both will converge.
It happens most often when you're playing "Chicken," though I wouldn't necessarily recommend that tactic.
