There was some recent concern expressed among pilots when the new 1.33.0.11 Readme was released, particularly this entry:

Aircraft Gun Convergence:
- audited all minimum convergence to be 100m (was up to 250m)
- convergence ranges standardized 100m to 800m

DOC takes a moment to explain what the actual change was and how it does NOT effectively alter the current gun convergence.

DOC: The code covers a convergence range of 0 - 800m (that's the entire range available)

Because setting 0 causes weird bugs to occur, the bottom end of that range (user selectable) has to be a positive integer (for confirmation look at a destroyers guns when range is set to 0).

Additionally, less than 50m is, we feel, ridiculous (we have tested it and even when set *AT* 50m the guns are only useful at 50m, with the target as little as 10 or 15 meters beyond that; the cross over post convergence point defeats you getting almost any hits on the target). The original coders that made all this, they chose 50m as the actual minimum (it trumps the 0->49m the base code would allow in the 0->800 full range of the base engine code).

However, there is a data line in every aircraft's data component file which clamps the minimum convergence you can use. While some were set to 150m, and a couple of others at 200m, this minimum convergence over rules any other minimum that the code otherwise allows.

The lowest in any aircraft data file was 100m. None were lower than that and ALL have this line in them. So while you were for years routinely setting .conv 75 you were getting 100m. In the case of those with 150m or 200m then THAT was as low as they would be able to be set to.

In the case of those that had 3 different settings (The Bell Mle.14a for example had 3 different minimums) unless you set the convergence at the high number (200m) you were prevented from getting all the guns to converge no matter what you chose.

This is clearly not very good. It means you cannot get a good concentration of gunfire although it does give a better shotgun effect at the cost of less bullets hitting the target.

We decided to standardize them to give all pilots feedback that is consistent in all planes, as well as better convergence functionality. We chose 100m because that was the lowest you had available for all these years.

The Bf109E-1 is a good example; because the weight of fire (only 4 x 7.9mm RCMGs) being light, players naturally set them short for the best firepower (as long as they weren't shooting at long ranges, which increases misses anyway). However the lowest you can set those is 150m, as this is the data minimum entered in it's component file.

The Bell Mle.14a had 1 setting for the RCMGs (100m) a different one for the .50's (150m) and another different one for the Hispano 20mm (200m). Not good unless you want one gun to hit and all the others to converge at a different range.

So now you can set any planes guns to all converge at anything from 100m to 800m. Some planes already followed this principle, eg: the Spitfire Mk.Ia had all guns minimums set at 100m.

Oh, final note: the "200m default" is just so that if you don't set a convergence yourself, this is what you will get in all planes and it actually represents not just the best average of short and long convergences but the average of the ranges used by actual operational squadrons in WWII (the RAF favored 225 yards in fact).

Late in the war the USAAF increased their convergence ranges because they had the K-14 lead computing gunsight and pilots at this time were being trained in gunnery that used 300 yards as their "best" range and 600 yards as their maximum effective range (with .50cal HMGs).

We expect some to struggle at first because they have both years of ingrained habits related to "how I get hits when I shoot" (deflection, both vertical and horizontal). Those that take a little time to understand what we have explained with this change, and spend even a little bit of time adapting to it, I suspect that the end result will be more kills and less damages. Expecting that improvement immediately might be a tad too much although I have no doubt some will achieve it.

Remember that in air combat, range from the target is always in flux, it is never constant. Picking a convergence that meets the most common "shooting distance" depends on the pilots style of flying and fighting (and shooting) and the shorter the range you pick the narrower your range of variation from the target.

The reason why 200m is most often given as the best average is that it works from 50m to 350m, or even 400m if you're good and steady and your target is steady as well.

What you gain doing ->this<- you probably lose when the target does . It's an eternal compromise.

Work with it, find the compromise that suits you best.