Pleeease. gimme offline drones.

[Luckie]

subject line pretty much says it.
i think AH desperately needs some offline drones for gunnery practice.
they don't have to be fancy. just put a half dozen circling drones over just one of the airfields scattered from 5 to 10k in alt.
I'm in online combat but i haven't had hardly any gunnery training ( in this sim anyway).
but with offline drones i could learn to hit what i shoot at in a few hours.
thanks (hopefully not too far) in advance,
-luckie
p.s. give us offline airstarts too and it's even better, but i could live without that.

[eazydweeb]

big <PUNT> on that one !!  

[G. Gibson]

AMEN to offline drones.  It sure will not take away from online play at all.   I started flying AW3 with their CD full of missions etc.  All it did for me is make me want to fly online as soon as i thought i was somewhat able to compete at the dweeb level.  Now all i fly is online, but the practice with offline drones is needed here with AH, at least to some degree.

Gibby

[Smitty]

My only response to this request would be "YES"!!!

I need the practice.  Hehe..

Or have a drone that can show you how to fly some of these manuvers that are needed to fly in this sim.  Being a non pilot, i.e. crank and bank, something like a training drone.  Something you can follow to learn how to do some of the fancy defensive and offensive manuvers that I see a lot of these fine pilots performing in this game.

Im still amazed at the quality of players here.  

[Luckie]

now now smitty,
lets not start asking for anything fancy, otherwise it might take a long time before we get it  . but if we keep the request simple ( a few circling drones and an offline airstart ) then HOPEFULLY somebody will drop that into an upcoming release ( puhlease!!)
the best way to learn AtA techniques is to actually fly them online with real badguys or trainers. but the best way to learn AtA gunnery is by having some drones that you can make repeated passes at.
even the real life pilots usually had hours of gunnery training before they saw combat ( of course they also died if they got shot up, but anyway.)
but it nice to see this topic returning to the top of the list on occassion......(hint hint).
-Luckie

[TT]

 In the mean time i suggest that you fly NW from feild #1 to the town. My favorite target was the point of the church steeple. Spent some time BnZ,ing it. For new guys it will help you learn to use the views. Buzzing back and forth will teach you to keep your plane in trim as you lose and gain E. And when you can keep the point of the steeple lit up nonstop for 3 or 4 seconds during a pass your ready for prime time.

[eazydweeb]

hi TT,
good idea, but IMHO that's not the same ballpark than AtA shooting. I did this strafing thing offline many times (with the tower) and I'm not THAT bad hitting ground targets any more, but when it comes to shooting a con online I don't hit crap literally. Last night I did two B&Z attacks on a poor c47 before his escort nailed me and MISSED      
Maybe it's partly a netlag issue. Does anyone know will the bullets hit the con where MY FE sees him or where HIS FE sees him ??

Eazydweeb "no harm on your 6"  

[Lance]

While I think offline gunnery missions with drones would be a nice convenience, you can make do without them provided you have a practice partner.  Here is how a friend and I do it:

We join the same country and move to a remote airbase.  We take off, get some altitude and then take turns being drones for each other.  Since friendly fire does not (currently at least) damage planes, we live fire at each other.  The nice thing about this is that you will see the flashes of your rounds striking your partner's aircraft just as you would on an enemy, so knowing when you are hitting them isn't a problem.  We change the rules some, working in other air combat skills beyond gunnery.

If anyone posting here would like to get together for some practice, drop me a note.  I could certainly use it.  Currently, the maneuver I am practicing most often in arena combat is ditching;p

Lance
FDB2

[Pyro]

We'll add more offline functionality.  It's just not a high priority at this point.



------------------
Doug "Pyro" Balmos
HiTech Creations

[jedi]

Plenty of drones ON-line.  Of course they DO shoot back  

--jedi