More Standard Bomber Crew Positions?

[Halo]

If it's feasible and not too much work needed elsewhere, in a future variation should bombers have more standardized crew position numbering?

For example, if you fly a B-17 one mission and a Ki-67 the next, when the bandits come you'll be scrambling for gunners as follows:

B-17:  2 ball, 3 top, 4 tail, 5 chin, 6 left, 7 right
Ki-67: 2 nose, 3 top, 4 left, 5 right, 6 tail

Fly a Marauder next and your fingers can look for:
B-26:  2 top, 3 tail, 4 nose, 5 left, 6 right

Others (my comments in parentheses) are:
Ju-88: 2 left rear, 3 right rear, 4 ventral
Lanc: 2 nose, 3 top, 4 tail
TBM: 2 turret (say rear), 3 ventral
SBD: 2 turret (say rear, and it's not a turret, is it?)
D3A: 2 turret (say rear, and it's not a turret, is it)
IL-2: 2 tail (say rear)
Boston III:  2 top (say rear)
A-20G:  2 top (say rear)

A top gun can fire in all directions; turret is not helpful since direction (rear), not method, is key; tail gun is in the extreme tail; and (I think) ball turrets are only in the belly of a very few bombers, only the B-17 in Aces High.  

An ideal standardized system would apply to all bombers, with the caveat that if a bomber does not have positions numbered to the max 7 (including pilot) on the B-17, they are still numbered in the main order with positions moved up in sequence to avoid key gaps.

As a draft proposal, what do you think about the following bomber gunner position numbering if possible in future Aces High editions:

B-17:  2 tail, 3 top, 4 chin, 5 left, 6 right, 7 ball
B-26:  2 tail, 3 top, 4 nose, 5 left, 6 right (latter two are ventral)
Ki-67:  2 tail, 3 top, 4 nose, 5 left, 6 right
Lanc:  2 tail, 3 top, 4 nose
TBM:  2 rear, 3 ventral
SBD:  2 rear
IL-2:  2 rear
D3A:  2 rear
Boston III:  2 rear
A-20G:  2 rear
Ju-88:  2 left rear, 3 right rear, 4 ventral

Main problem is the B-17 ball turret is its second or third most valuable gun behind the tail gun, but putting it earlier in the B-17 sequence throws the other positions out of the main idea of more standard numbering.

Likewise the B-26 and Ju-88 have unusual top and bottom gun positions which require special designations.  

Might make bombing defense a bit more efficient with less fumbling for the gun position needed.  Ideas?  Alterations?  Potential implementation obviously depends on consensus and if and when the most excellent HiTech crew can work it in among more important items.

[Halo]

Hmmm, no reactions to this suggestion?  Sure would make gunning buffs easier, especially when under surprise attack.

[Xjazz]

Cant you keymap these to the any key you want?

[Karnak]

Xjazz,

The numbers listed in the game are fixed.  For example, when you are in a B-17's gun positions you're list looks like this:

#2 Ball 1200
#3 Top 800
#4 Tail 1000
#5 Chin 1930
#6 Left 600
#7 Right 600

A Ki-67 displays this list:

#2 Nose 400
#3 Top 300
#4 Left 400
#5 Right 400
#6 Tail 800

A Ju88A-4 displays this list:

#2 Left Rear 1000
#3 Right Rear 1000
#4 Ventral 1800

If you change the key that jumps you to Position 2 from the "2" key to, say, the "4" key the list will still have a two next to it.  Furthermore, that hasn't solved anything as now the "4" key simply jumps between the incosistant Position 2.  You can't do key setups on a per-bomber basis.  Just the keys that globaly jumps between positions.


Halo,

Yes, this is a very good idea.  It has come up before and HiTech said that it should have been done that way to start with, but it would be very difficult to switch now.  Still, I think it would be a good thing.

The only change I'd make to your list is reverse the TBM's gun positions.  The top tail gun is pretty close to a Top gun position and the ventral is close enough to a tail gun.  I think the upper gun should occupy the Top position.

[Halo]

Thanks, Karnak, for your feedback.  I agree with your TBM change.  

Knowing HT's thoroughness, I figured this subject probably had come up before, but once I got to thinking about it, thought what the heck might as well propose a solution for all bombers as well as mentioning the problem.

Really got my attention going from B-17 to Ki-67.  When I got bounced, was thrashing all over the place trying to find the right gun defense, and I didn't find it in time to survive.  

I was afraid fixing this might be too much work or it already would have been done, and nobody knows the priorities better than HiTech and crew.  Nevertheless, I hope they put this on their long-term fix goal if it's ever feasible.

[Duedel]

Very good idea! I'm a crappy gunner and this "mess" makes it really hard for me to know what key leads to the different positions.

[Shiva]

Maybe something clever like a little plane diagram on a screen overlay with the available gunner positions marked with red boxes, so you can use your mouse to indicate what position you want to jump to.