muzik, you are really a great player and i really respect you. but gunning your way in and out of a drop is 1/2 the fun. there's no need for AI gunners anymore than I need for somebody to aim for me with this pos ch craperstick I own. fighting your way in and out of situations is what makes this game fun. be in in a fighter or a bomber, it doesnt matter. the fun is having the opportunity to get to shoot at something that can shoot back at ya.
semp
Thanks for saying so Semp. I apologize for snapping at you, but I have become a little disenchanted with the way you respond to some posts these days on top of the other bashing that went on.
I completely agree that gunning can be a blast at times, but it has never been and never will be a hugely popular activity. It is a novelty of the game, nothing more.
No one suggested you couldn't continue to gun for yourself. Hitech could just as easily program it so that you can hop into any position and kick the AI out the window as long as you want. He could even do it in a way that would allow you to choose from the current system (all guns at one target), AI guns in every seat but the one you occupy or all AI.
And there is a need for it. Just as I said in another thread on this subject, there are many reasons why AI would benefit the game starting with the OPs reason, it's impossible to defend and bomb at the same time. This game doesn't need any more reasons to force players to fly another 20 minutes like someone suggested earlier "just turn around and make another pass."
Which by the way increases the already huge odds the bombers will be a complete loss and leads to next reason.
Most people quit playing games when they realize they can't win. It can take some people years to acquire even decent gunnery and we have new players coming to this game to fly ww2 aircraft. So they come to the game and get their tulips chewed up trying to learn fighters. Then they take a break to fly bombers just to find out they are nothing but food for fighters because they cant defend the aircraft.
Learning the game, the tactics and the flying skills is ENOUGH of a challenge for new players. FORCING the added challenge of learning to gun is ridiculously unnecessary.
Third, as I said already. This game has NEVER had what I would consider too many players in the arenas. And although the very few players that are taken out of the game because they are off gunning for bombers has never been significant, it is still a needless drain on actual combat in the game. If they are doing it for the fun of it, then that's FANTASTIC. Every time a player is having fun, that's good for the game. If it is more chore than fun, then it's a detriment.
Finding other players to gun, especially decent gunners is rare. Especially difficult for a new player who likely makes the mistake of asking a "dumb question" in a room full of people who don't know him.
How bout the "everyone's avoiding combat these days" I keep hearing? Could it be that perhaps the game loses a percentage of action because bombers won't fly straight to targets knowing they are so helpless that they have no choice? Maybe if bombers had a higher survival rate, you might see more daring missions that would be willing to trade some losses to avoid needlessly LONG and boring runs.
Bombers in ww2 werent as helpless as they are in AH and they flew straight through enemy fighters and flack. Our bombers have no incentive to be that daring, because the fuel burn/target distances don't encourage it, the chance of success discourages it and the time lost for a suicide mission is not what people are willing to accept just to be shot down.
Maybe if bombers were more likely to fly through the opposition instead of avoiding it, more interceptors would attract more escorts and result in more fighting. NOTHING about the current system is good for the game, not the least of which is the "realism" point of view.
Wow, I forgot probably the biggest problem with the current system. The inability to defend more than one side of your formation at a time.
