Ship AA isn't going to stop firing because a friendly plane strayed into AA fire while engaging enemy fighters.
ack-ack
At no point did I say "a friendly plane strayed in" or that the ack was already firing. I am talking about ack STARTING to fire well beyond visual range at targets that are clearly mixed friendlies and enemies. I've had several high-alt fights affected by ack suddenly firing into the fight, outside visual range, well above cloud level, as the fight happens to stray over a boat. I seriously doubt ack guns were regularly ordered to fire at blips on radar that included their own friendly CAP miles away from the CV group. But that is essentially how it works in game.
What I'm suggesting is not to make ack less effective, quite the contrary. I'd like to see ack that can regularly hit targets before they get their bombs away. That rarely happens under the current design. It could be designed to behave differently at different ranges based on things like the proximity to friendlies, if the target is approaching, and perhaps even type of aircraft (these essentially determining the "threat level" of the target).
Fighters dogfighting with friendlies 8K or more away from the boat should simply not be fired at. Inside of a certain range, the ack could be far more accurate and intense, regardless of proximity of friendlies (it should also fire at targets below 3K at that range).
As it is, ship ack is just a nuisance that is totally ineffective at protecting the ships. Level bombers consistently sinking moving ships is one of the biggest jokes in the game's design, IMO.
Do you at least agree the puffy ack design has room for improvement?
