Salvo continues to drop after you've returned to a gunner chair

[Volron]

Time to give this another go.

As stated, I wish for a salvo to continue dropping after you've jumped back into your guns.

Using the B-17 as an example with12 500lbers: Salvo 12; Delay 1.

Currently
Over target in bombsite (or pilot seat) when attacked by fighters.  I salvo off my bombs and jump into a gun right away.  Bombs STOP salvo-ing and will not continue until I either jump back into bombsite or pilot seat.

Proposed
Over target in bombsite (or pilot seat) when attacked by fighters.  I salvo off my bombs and jump into a gun right away.  Bombs CONTINUE to salvo out.


No, I am NOT wishing for the ability to release bombs while in a gunner seat.  I am wishing for the ability for our salvo's to continue to drop even after we've jumped into guns.

In case you may ask about why I'd be in pilot seat for bomb drop, with new wingman formation thingy you could have the formation rely on lead bombardier to aim for the drop.  All you'd have to do is wait for him to call bombs out and/or watch him.  Of course this works best on Strats and Towns.

[Zacherof]

+1

[Arlo]

+1

[jeffdn]

+1 as well. I've been practicing wingman formation flying in bombers, covering eachother with the guns etc. I was thinking it'd be neat if you could slave the guns to one wingman and the bombs to the other, creating essentially a 6-bomber formation with a gunner and a pilot/bombardier.

[guncrasher]

probably because either you are gunning or you are dropping bombs not both.  look at it this way do you really want a 110 to salvo its rockets while in a dive while you are in the back trying to scare the fighter off you?

semp

[Volron]

probably because either you are gunning or you are dropping bombs not both.  look at it this way do you really want a 110 to salvo its rockets while in a dive while you are in the back trying to scare the fighter off you?

semp

Wish is intended for bombers only.

[asterix]

+1
And I would not mind being able to drop from the gunner`s position.

[guncrasher]

Wish is intended for bombers only.

why stop with bombers?  why do bombers deserve special treatment?  why not also attack planes? what would be the difference?


semp

[Fish42]

why stop with bombers?  why do bombers deserve special treatment?  why not also attack planes? what would be the difference?


semp

In a attack plane, thats lugging bombs and rockets, you have to aim the plane to hit the target. Attacks are normally done at high speed/high angle that reduces interception on the attack. Also if you try to jump to guns when while letting bombs go (most attacks have <4 in a set), you will still be in a dive and firing at a chasing plane will not stop the tree/grass/water/house killing you.

A bomber fly at a set speed and alt while the bomb run is going on. If I am attacking the city I set my salvo and delay. it can take over 10 secs to clear the last bomb of these salvos. 10 secs that my slow, steady group of planes are undefended and that does not include the time to calibrate and line up target for the first drop.

[Volron]

why stop with bombers?  why do bombers deserve special treatment?  why not also attack planes? what would be the difference?


semp

  Point.  Any AC with gunner's then.   Obviously it wouldn't apply to ac without gunners simply because you'd be in the pilot seat only.  So you don't have the issue to begin with.

In a attack plane, thats lugging bombs and rockets, you have to aim the plane to hit the target. Attacks are normally done at high speed/high angle that reduces interception on the attack. Also if you try to jump to guns when while letting bombs go (most attacks have <4 in a set), you will still be in a dive and firing at a chasing plane will not stop the tree/grass/water/house killing you.

A bomber fly at a set speed and alt while the bomb run is going on. If I am attacking the city I set my salvo and delay. it can take over 10 secs to clear the last bomb of these salvos. 10 secs that my slow, steady group of planes are undefended and that does not include the time to calibrate and line up target for the first drop.

He made a point.  So I'm revamping it to include ANY ac with a gunner.   Thank you for helping me clarify the the reason behind my wish more though.


Wish Revamped:

I wish that bombs salvo'ed would continue to drop after jumping into guns.  ANY plane with a gunner will be able to use this.  However, just as it is currently set, you have to initiate the drop from either the pilot seat or bombardier seat.  You will not be able to drop ords while in a gunner seat.

The one thing I'd like to make sure is clear about the wish is; You won't be able to drop ords from any gunner spot.  You'd have to be in either pilot seat or bombardier seat to initiate the drop, then you can jump to your guns while your bombs continue to salvo out.  That is the idea behind my wish.

[guncrasher]

In a attack plane, thats lugging bombs and rockets, you have to aim the plane to hit the target. Attacks are normally done at high speed/high angle that reduces interception on the attack. Also if you try to jump to guns when while letting bombs go (most attacks have <4 in a set), you will still be in a dive and firing at a chasing plane will not stop the tree/grass/water/house killing you.

A bomber fly at a set speed and alt while the bomb run is going on. If I am attacking the city I set my salvo and delay. it can take over 10 secs to clear the last bomb of these salvos. 10 secs that my slow, steady group of planes are undefended and that does not include the time to calibrate and line up target for the first drop.

but that is one of the points of hitting a bomber when you have no other choice than from a dead six.  either he chooses to drop bombs or defend his formation.  so you either stop the bombs and make him go around or he loses hopefully 1 or two aircraft.  to me that is a fair trade.  as I am risking to be an easy kill if I have no other choice.

I totally understand the point of why you want it the bombs to keep falling, but you also have to understand why I dont think it's a good idea from a fighters point of view.

we are taking a risk and so should you  .  and before somebody post, well you should only attack from high above, blah, blah, blah.  then the point is moot as a carefully planed dive on a bomber wont stop if you are gunning or not.

semp

[asterix]

Looking at the bombers January-April air to air combat results from Lusches AH Stats Megathread (reply 189) http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,345669.180.html, it seems to me a lot more buffs lose than win. I am certain that bombing precision would suffer when one used a set salvo/delay bombing instead of a single bomb manual dropping. Skilled fighter pilots can take out an entire formation in one pass and good buff gunners can do the same to a single attacker. I don`t see why bombers have to choose between bombing and being a defenseless easy target since the bombardier and the gunners are independent in reality. The buffs are already predictable moving targets due to bombsight calibration when inbound to target.

[Volron]

but that is one of the points of hitting a bomber when you have no other choice than from a dead six.  either he chooses to drop bombs or defend his formation.  so you either stop the bombs and make him go around or he loses hopefully 1 or two aircraft.  to me that is a fair trade.  as I am risking to be an easy kill if I have no other choice.

I totally understand the point of why you want it the bombs to keep falling, but you also have to understand why I dont think it's a good idea from a fighters point of view.

we are taking a risk and so should you  .  and before somebody post, well you should only attack from high above, blah, blah, blah.  then the point is moot as a carefully planed dive on a bomber wont stop if you are gunning or not.

semp

So you are saying it's alright for us to have to fly several sectors for a good while to hit some targets, only to give up free kills (the whole formation to someone who knows what they are doing) over said target because we can't defend ourselves on bomb drop?  If you want easy kills like that, you could just pop into offline mode.  Hell, those be a bit more of a challenge since they are actually circling instead of flying in a nice, straight line.  After all, interceptors actually have it easier now since their puffy ack stops shooting when they get close enough to us, not to mention that they are but a few minutes away from their base, compared to us who are a good ways away from the nearest base.

As for the, "take a gunner" counter; why would it be different if we were to gun for ourselves after we initiate the drop vs taking a gunner with us?  If anything, with my wish it would still be easier  for the interceptor because we have to be in the bombsite long enough to line and calibrate, then initiate the drop BEFORE we can jump into guns.  Several seconds right there.  The other thing to note is it can be hell trying to find a gunner, let alone one who is of use, during the whee hours of the morning.  I don't get to fly as often as I like and when I can get on, it's usually during those fairly quiet times.  There is a higher chance to get someone when it's busier, but still not an easy task in my experience.

This isn't meant to be a hostile response semp.  I can't convey tone though net too well.



Again, I don't want to be able to drop bombs while in the gunner spot, just for them to keep falling if salvo'ed after we have jumped into guns.