In ut2004, the lightning gun is hitscan (instant hit), but it actually has a distance limit. If you make a map long enough (or even shoot across some onslaught maps) the bolt will simply stop at a distance. But while you may have experienced lag with the visual or hitsound or whatever, the shot itself is calculated instantly.
I don't see how lead times are really necessary in games that have relatively fast movement, since a smaller target is physically harder to aim at anyways. As you get further away whatever you're shooting at will be moving just as fast as up close, but will be fewer pixels' worth of target to put your crosshair on. I guess it all depends on the very specific details of the weapons, though (rates of fire, relative damage, ammo, etc etc). True ballistic trajectories would seem like a lot to calculate in really large-scale fights though... guess it depends on the server hardware.
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