The closest I ever came to a universal gunner button system was to abandon the number row on top of the keyboard; instead use the number key pad, then imagine a plane outline imposed over the numbers. So 8 would be nose or front gun, 2 would be tail, 5 would be top, 0 would be bottom/ball, 4 and 6 would be left and right respectively. IMHO, this gives the closest thing to universal gun position buttons spread across the majority of the bombers as well as the other planes with only a rear gunner.
For the odd balls I figure this is the closest to the basic setup with intuitive differences:
TU2 = 2 would be the aft-top gunner position and 5 would be the center top gun position
Ju88 = this one is pretty simple, 4 and 6 would control the left and right top guns, 0 and/or 2 would be the rear tub gun
He111 = 2 would be the rear facing tub gun, and 0 would be the forward facing tub gun
...and of course the Cons:
- all of this would require that the number pad couldn't be used in the same way it is now when in a gunner position (as a substitute for a hat switch to look around)
- people who use a laptop without a number pad would also need an alternative
- 0 as a forward facing gun on the He111 would be the hardest one to get use to and is the one button assignment furthest out of intuitive alignment with the basic setup, but this con is offset somewhat when using the nose gun and the "fire all" option
To address the "one button gunner position cycling" you could either let the cycle button rotate through the gunner positions clockwise or counter clockwise with top and bottom at the front or back of the list; or let the player setup their own cycle list order for each plane.
I will throw out the disclaimer that I have absolutely no idea what it would take for HTC to make any of the changes. It could be that the amount of work needed to make these changes is counterproductive when weighed against their effect on the game.
