Getting one-shot knocked out of my plane over and over sux

[optOut]

The first volley of bullets keeps knocking me out of the plane. Sometimes by the same opponent multiple times a match. What even is this? You can't convince me their aim is that pro-level that their first shot always kills.

[chaos4u]

I dont fly so my experience may not be the same but i see this often on the ground from spaa.
its just a couple *tinks* from what seems like a glancing shot or a brief burst. and bam my entire crew is dead. the replay shows a single bullet hitting one person and the entire crew is dead. very weird.

I think its bug hopefully it will be fixed.

[Futuristic Hexagon]

Sometimes it's what it takes. Even in high tier, I found a well placed deflection shot can result in a pilotsnipe.

Out of interest, what planes are often taking you out, and how much do you have invested in Vitality? Also what are you flying that it happens? Having a block or two should help reduce pilotsnipes significantly.

[CanadianOperator]

it does suck to get knocked out, but sadly it is just a bug most of the time. ive had times when my gunners in the back get knocked out and it says my entire crew knocked out and i lose control

[Chaoslink]

Originally posted by chaos4u:

I dont fly so my experience may not be the same but i see this often on the ground from spaa.
its just a couple *tinks* from what seems like a glancing shot or a brief burst. and bam my entire crew is dead. the replay shows a single bullet hitting one person and the entire crew is dead. very weird.

I think its bug hopefully it will be fixed.

In this case you only see the bullet that finished you off, so the one crew getting killed was the last one necessary to finish you off. The rest of the crew would have been finished off by other rounds not shown in the kill cam.

[Chaoslink]

If you’re doing head on engagements, their aim very much CAN be that good as it isn’t hard to aim in head ons like that. If the opponent has higher caliber AP or HE rounds and your cockpit isn’t well armored against shrapnel, pilot snipes are common. The proper way to handle a head on engagement is to fire a short burst then break off. Either you win the fight right there or you at least damage them well enough that you have the advantage in the dogfight afterwards. You never want to just keep flying at them until the opponent is marked as dead.

A good pilot doesn’t just aim to hit, they aim for specific parts of your plane to hit. If you’re under the impression that aiming that carefully isn’t reasonably possible, you’ve simply not been flying long enough.

[Futuristic Hexagon]

Originally posted by CanadianOperator:

it does suck to get knocked out, but sadly it is just a bug most of the time. ive had times when my gunners in the back get knocked out and it says my entire crew knocked out and i lose control

That's likely not a bug as much as it's the bullet literally traveling through the entire plane and hitting the pilots.

Planes actually have a super thin skin that can allow most armor piercing rounds to continue traveling. Even bombers. Not too sure if they modeled the bulkheads or how well they did for planes that have it.

If it's happening in mixed battles, I could see it being a bug by having the kill condition of only one crew member to be considered k/o.

[9imperator8]

You can be pilotsniped by any caliber gun. If you rise the vitality crew skill, you can survive a shot or two of a low caliber machinegun (7.62, 7.7, 7.92...). How ever a 20mm or larger is able to annihilate your whole plane with just one hit (depending on ammo type and where it hits).

[BataviusRex]

Increase the pilots vitality and dont hold so still for them to snipe you. the real problem is that stupid "plane burnt down" function because it literally doesn't mean anything when the pilot is alive, the guns still shoot, and the plane is still airborne.

[uɐɐılʎʇs]

Originally posted by alarik98:

You can be pilotsniped by any caliber gun. If you rise the vitality crew skill, you can survive a shot or two of a low caliber machinegun (7.62, 7.7, 7.92...). How ever a 20mm or larger is able to annihilate your whole plane with just one hit (depending on ammo type and where it hits).

Not only that but 'first volley' just makes it sound like a few shots, and not the possible mass amount of lead something like a p47 can fire holding trigger for just a second.

[9imperator8]

Originally posted by uɐɐılʎʇs:

Originally posted by alarik98:

You can be pilotsniped by any caliber gun. If you rise the vitality crew skill, you can survive a shot or two of a low caliber machinegun (7.62, 7.7, 7.92...). How ever a 20mm or larger is able to annihilate your whole plane with just one hit (depending on ammo type and where it hits).

Not only that but 'first volley' just makes it sound like a few shots, and not the possible mass amount of lead something like a p47 can fire holding trigger for just a second.

Or something like the Stuka with the machinegun gunpods...

[optOut]

Let's just ignore skill, bugs, and luck for the moment. Why is there a mechanic for KO'ing a pilot? Why was this considered a good idea? If you want to claim "realism" then I'll counter with the mode I play is "arcade."

[Z-40]

Originally posted by optOut:

Let's just ignore skill, bugs, and luck for the moment. Why is there a mechanic for KO'ing a pilot? Why was this considered a good idea? If you want to claim "realism" then I'll counter with the mode I play is "arcade."

Wanna know why? Because the vietcong KO'd Huey Pilots through their Windshield in Vietnam back in the day with AK47's, thats why.

[optOut]

Yes, I see that you claimed "realism." Sure, why not. But should that be a feature in arcade mode?

[optOut]

And let's not forget my original complaint, that sometimes there would be an opponent that could single-volley KO me multiple times during an arcade match. Is that pilot cheating? I don't know. Should KO be a feature in arcade? Well, you can probably guess my stance on that. No, I don't think KO should be a feature in arcade.

I'm done with War Thunder. This is like a post-mortem. The only thing that might drag me back into it is scuttling the KO mechanic - at least within arcade mode. At least to me, it seems to be an exploitable mechanic that would far surpass the natural talent of real pilots on an average basis.

[CaptainSpacetime]

If you're in a position to get "pilot sniped" you've lost the fight already though, so really doesn't matter? Instead of hitting the pilot your wing could get blown off or whatever; are wings getting blown off in one volley super unfair too??