Bomber troubleshooting

[shotgunneeley]

Hey yall, Im new to AH and just had some questions about the bombers. I figured that being new to such an in-depth game that I should focus on learning and training in one specific area: the bomber.

Most of my questions can probably be easily answered, but I was wondering if there was like a troubleshooting page where if you had a certain problem while flying a bomber, such as an engine on fire or a fuel tank leak, what do you do?

Also, in the off-line section, is there no way to get behind a gun position in a bomber without the bomber straying off by itself? Ive tried to use auto-pilot, but it just shuts off whenever I leave the pilots seat.

I think I understand how the bomb sight callibration works, but I havent had much time to practice. I guess what I need overall is just a good training session devoted to bomber tactics and maintenance. Thanks.

[Geary420]

If an engine catches fire or you begin leaking fuel there is nothing you can do.  The fire equals death, and the fuel will leak until that tank is empty.

The reason your autopilot is kicking off is most likely because of rudder inputs. You can still control the rudder from the gunner positions, so if you have a twisty stick you are probably giving it some input while you scan around with the gun.

[Marshal]

Also make sure you calibrate your stick. This will cause your plane to exit auto pilot.

[DoNKeY]

Hey yall, Im new to AH and just had some questions about the bombers. I figured that being new to such an in-depth game that I should focus on learning and training in one specific area: the bomber.

Most of my questions can probably be easily answered, but I was wondering if there was like a troubleshooting page where if you had a certain problem while flying a bomber, such as an engine on fire or a fuel tank leak, what do you do?

Also, in the off-line section, is there no way to get behind a gun position in a bomber without the bomber straying off by itself? Ive tried to use auto-pilot, but it just shuts off whenever I leave the pilots seat.

I think I understand how the bomb sight callibration works, but I havent had much time to practice. I guess what I need overall is just a good training session devoted to bomber tactics and maintenance. Thanks.

Hey shotgunneeley, how's it going?  There's a lot of information floating around on bombers.  Try going to the homepage here, then looking for the "Game Info" tab, and then click the "Need Training?" tab under that.  When you get to the trainers page, scroll down and look for the bomber tactics sub-category.  Hopefully that will help you some.

As its been stated, the plane leaving auto-pilot could be for a couple of reasons.  Try re-calibrating your stick and see if that helps.  You could also try mapping auto-level to a button on your stick to see if that helps.  Make sure it's auto-level though, and not the other "auto-pilots" such as auto-climb or Combat Trim. 

Fuels leaks and fires are somewhat different from each other.  Leaks you don't really have to worry about since bombers already carry a lot of fuel to begin with (you'll rarely need more then 50%, and usually 25 can be enough).  If you're running low on fuel though, and want to use the fuel in the tank that is leaking before it's all gone, use "Shift + F" (I believe it is that, I have it mapped to a button) to switch tanks until you get to the leaking one.  You can use "CTRL + D" to bring up your damage list, and the fuel tank that is red will be the one that is hit.  On your instrument panel, find your fuel gauge, and keep switching tanks under you bring up the tank that is the one that's leaking.  Fires on the other hand mean death for that bomber.  There is currently no way to put a fire out, and after a while, the fire will *explode* and you'll either blow up or lose a wing.  If you're in a bomber that losses a wing from an explosion like that (or a general attack) remember to jump back to the pilots seat before you bail out and get transported to whichever drone(s) you have left.  I've stayed in a gunners position on a dead falling bird while my drones continued on under attack wondering why I couldn't bail out and go protect them hehe

I'm not sure if you'll find any use for this, but to select certain engines on a multi-engine bomber, it's "Shift + 1" or "Shift + 2," etc, etc to select that engine, and then you can reduce/increase the manifold pressure for that engine and/or the RPM settings for that engine if you want to save fuel, or correct asymmetrical thrust due to an engine being out (although most of the time auto-level pilot" can keep you pretty much on course).

Calibration is pretty simple.  Press "F6" to go to the bombardiers site, and then follow the instructions with should be (I believe) on the upper left hand corner.  I think it's press 'U' and then hold down 'Y' and then press 'U' again.  The longer you hold down 'Y' the more accurate your bomb calibration is.  Also, be sure to calibrate a lot, especially before you drop, as differences in speed and altitude will affect you calibration if they have changed since the last calibration.  A loss in weight from a loss in bombs/ammo/and(or) ammo can cause you to go faster, messing up your calibration.  Also, calibrate with your bomb bay "O" open before you drop, as it will cause you to lose speed.  I'm not sure exactly, but I believe you can check to your speed from your bomb site view to the one your clipboard (esc) shows under "E6B" to see how close they are.  The closer they are, the more accurate a calibration you will get. 

You also have to " . (dot) commands" at your disposal.  ".salvo XX," which sets how many bombs will drop with each press of the bomb release, and ".delay xx," which sets how much time to elapse before you can effectively drop the next "salvo" of bombs.  So, If I have 12 100lbs aboard (and was hitting a city or something like that), and set it to ".salvo 2" and ".delay .95," then with each click of the "release" button, I would drop two 100lber's from each bomber, and could only release them at time intervals of .95 seconds from each other, no matter how fast I clicked the release.  That helps save bombs (since you're not dropping 3000lbs on the same building ) and helps you perfectly spread/space your ord apart from each other.

Also, view this site, and you can read up on the various bombers.http://members.shaw.ca/soda_p/models.htm

That's under the main page, "Community," "Useful Links." 

Have fun with the bombers .

donkey

[shotgunneeley]

Wow, thanks alot for the info guys! Im a Battlefield 1942 fan and not used to all of this complexity. I got like 40 pages of notes and diagrams in a folder tryin to make sense of it all, hehe. Anyway, I have a Saitek ST290 PRO joystick with the twisty rudder control, so would it work if I changed my gun turret controls to like my mouse or something? Hmmm I figured that there was a lot of steps you could take to combat damage to your aircraft, like shutting down an engine thats on fire to put the fire out, but I guess not. Thanks for the help and Ill just keep on experimenting. 

[DoNKeY]

Anyway, I have a Saitek ST290 PRO joystick with the twisty rudder control, so would it work if I changed my gun turret controls to like my mouse or something?

It should work out that when you jump into a turret position, you can manurer it using your joysticks "X" and "Y" axis's (? axi axises??), like if you were using elevator and aileron in an airplane, and then us the twisty part (the "Z" axis") for rudders if you want to use them.  You shouldn't have to program your mouse or anything extra.  Just jump in a turret and move your joystick around to aim

donkey

[Halo46]

I had problems with rudder input while gunning when I first started. I remapped the jopystick to mode 4 without rudder input. Eventually I learned to control the twist and now use it to stear as I fight off those pesky fighters.

Usually flaps are not needed for take off. It is important they are up to climb.

Remember to use normal power settings (check E6B) once at your target altitude which will help with calibration and also helps keep you from losing your drones in turns.

Begin your initial calibration at least at the edge of the radar ring of the base you are targeting to allow sufficient time for things to settle down.

To add to Donkeys info on fuel, if you start getting low you can stop two engines and throttle down to conserve gas after a fuel leak (use all that tank first...just remember to keep an eye on it or shift to auto-select when your engines stop). Start them back up on final approach for landing.

When flying in formation with others, I find it easiest to set auto-pilot, change to the nose gun, press f-3, and use the rudder to make course adjustments.

Lots of little things can be done to improve your missions; altitude, route, fuel/bomb load out, thoughro knowledge of target hardness and bomb lethality, using zoom and external views, combat manuevering while under attack are just a few. Have fun and welcome aboard. There are some dedicated buff drivers online, hookup with one and I am sure you will learn many little secrets.

[Bosch232]

There are some dedicated buff drivers online

And we love bombing stuff to dust...   

[fastfed]

The STUPIDEST PART OF THIS GAME!!!

When an engine catches fire, ITS OVER AND YOU DIE!!!

They did so much to this game to make it great, despite it being 100 years old, they really screwed up when it comes to certain damage modeling, its not that hard to add in an engine catching fire, and each plane having a certain speed to hit and time to maintain that speed and the fire should GO OUT!!!

Its the most annoying part of this game!

[shotgunneeley]

   What would really be cool, (and this goes back to my original question), is a way to fix problems with your aircraft when they happen. Such as if an engine catches fire, then you could simply turn off that engine and the fuel should stop feeding the fire. But go past half the engines on fire, then theres just nothing more you can do, (crash 'n burn). Its just that I know that back in WW2 they had some sort of "damage control system" that would help keep the aircraft in the air longer and even possibly make it back to base.
   Its a double edged sword, though, because you have to maintain a balance between the defending bombers and the attacking fighters/AA. In this game, a bomber should have a chance to defend itself and make it out of a fight alive as a fighter/AA should have an equal chance to kill the bomber. I know skill level and connection speed are big factors in deciding the winner of a dogfight, but if that balance has already been reached then in my opinion it would be best to just leave it as is.

[Hazard69]

The STUPIDEST PART OF THIS GAME!!!

When an engine catches fire, ITS OVER AND YOU DIE!!!

The stupidest part of this game is that ENGINE fires ARE NOT MODELLED.

The fire that IS modelled is a FUEL TANK FIRE. Don't think you can do much to extinguish burning fuel without a CO2 system. If it were an engine fire, then yes you could cut fuel supply (i.e. shut down engine, and then pick up speed to wiff it out, or try to anyway. Planes equipped with fire extinguishers could use them to put fires out. If the fire did not go out then it could spread and result in a fuel tank fire which we have today. On single engine aircraft an engine fire could be a contributor to a pilot wound if left unchecked.
With so many possibilities, it is a damn shame engine fires are not modelled.

[goober69]

what i do is that i never turn the plane with my stick from pilot position once i get to altitude. i always use the rudder from a gunner position this way i never lose my drones and make e saving/ easy turns.
i would recomend this method of lining up for target as its much easier to maintain your speed/alt by turning this way.

 i also use f3 mode exclusivly when turning/ looking around (its there so why not use it) i even use it when under attack so i can more easily see the enemy after his pass and keep eyes on him/her/it in fact im rarely even in the cock pitat all unless im checking my altitude or rpm/throttle settings or bombs remaining. for the rest i use e6b.


i also bomb at full throttle at full top speed and no lower than 15k feet if i can help it or if im not in a hurry. the higher you go the less chance of interception and the faster you are the easier it is to get out of dodge when someone does manage to climb up to you. (giving you time to release the rest of your bombs or go guns defensive.) i usualy start my attack run from a sector out to have time to stabalize and get up to full speed then i extend about a sector to start my second pass. once empty and if planes are trying to climb up to me i will usualy go into a gentle climb fora while (i auto speed {.speed} to about 260/300 and make way out of the area. this keeps my nose slightly up if they come in for a belly shot and may help me defend.

after the threat is passed i go into a gentle dive in the general direction of the base i wanna land at. usualy diving at   -500-1200 fpm or faster if the plane can hadle it this usualy gets me down within a few minutes.
of course if im lazy the quick way is to hit enter nine times and go re up again lol


also on salvo/ delay settings

if you set your salvo to say 4 and your delay to .50 for instance. you will drop 4 bombs, one every half a second.
if you repeatedly press the trigger you will continue to drop untill all of them are gone. not like donkey said where it wont let you drop the rest.  (just to clarify the way he wrote it sounded backwards to me)

hangers i usualy set salvo to 2 and delay to .05 and manualy drop over target so i get a nice precision hit.

for towns i will set it to either half my bombs 6 or 8 . and a delay of .25 or .35. this gives a nice spread and lets me drop all my ord in two passes.

sometimes though i will just manual drop small salvos of 2 or at .25 and click over certin buildings in my firign line.

hope that helps some.

[bounder]

I tend to bomb as slowly as possible, as you get tighter and more destructive groups, and of course it's easier to hit a slower target.

To avoid the problem of speeding up after going level, and accelerating over your target - resulting in your bombs overshooting their target - is to use the .speed command and auto-climb feature.

Autoclimb to your desired altitude, but instead of hitting autolevel and speeding up, use your RPM controls (Keypad +/-) to slowly reduce your rpms until you are flying nearly level. Make adjustments slowly, allowing the ac to settle on a new climbrate before continuing.

Once your almost exactly level (its hard to get it dead on) *then* hit x to level, and then o to open your doors.

You can then hit f6 and do a quick calibration before lining up on the target and doing a second , more accurate calibration just before you drop.

This method allows you to climb almost right into the target. 

After your drop, set your desired exit speed using the ".speed nnn" command, boost your rpms and hit autoclimb (alt-x) and dive out of there.

Like th buff pilots above, I manouevre the formation almost exclusively using f3 and the nose gunner position in combination with my twisty rudder.

[Bruv119]

how you doing bounder?

[Rich46yo]

                          I got a good one for you. When you take off in a medium bomber with no belly gun just climb with a manual setting and set your auto speed to 130 or 140 in a KI-67. Now your going to run into fighters who are going to attack you in your weak point climbing up into your belly. First off go into the F3 view while in your tail gun to keep and eye on them. When they start climbing up to you, and at about 800 yrds away, hit alt/X which will force the bombers into a steep climb and put the fighter into your tail guns long before he expects it. Even better he will keep climbing right into the 0.50s so all you have to do it keep him lined up and let him climb. Your also giving him a far less vulnerable profile to shoot at cause in effect hes flying flat into you, only in the vertical.

                        Only thing is eventually your going to have to hit X 2 times to go back on auto-speed or you'll eventually stall. Some of the slicker fighter sticks would start making false charges trying to get me to auto-climb after awhiles. This is also useful when you run out of tail gun ammo and want to get waist or top guns into play. Ive saved my skin more then a few times rolling and alt/x 'ing when I ran out of tail gun ammo and had to rely on waist guns.

                     I started off with the Saitek Aviator and I never got the rudder/gunning problem worked out. Eventually I had to get a better stick and buy rudders. Myself personally I alway bomb at top speed and always calibrate for 30 seconds or more before I enter a dar ring. Sometimes I do it long before. From there I go into F3 of my front gun for small adjustments. This way even if I have a fighter engaging I should be able to fight, and get to my bomb view, quick enough. You can calibrate well, go into F3/front gun, and then rudder up to a 90% turn and still keep calibration as long as you have enough distance to get back up to speed before the drop. But you'll end up needing foot rudders.

                  Ive been thinking about going back to bombers full time, or almost full time. Ive learned enough about fighters to not totally embarrass myself and its the bombers I really love.