bombsight workaround

[Easyscor]

I fly Lancasters and this post is for my fellow Lanc pilots who seem to be on the verge of
quitting AH.

How to hit your target:

    The complete sequence is as follows, try to follow it exactly.

1.    Setup your run
a) Line up for your target on an east to west line from a point where you can have stable speed.
b) Don't travel north or south because of the constant 'wind' drift to the east.
c) Don't travel east because the bombsight model has errors which accumulate.
d) Make your runs from 20K to 24K as you don't have time to fight off bandits.

2.    Set your salvo and delay.  Initially set salvo 7 delay 0.60.
3.    About one sector out, jump to the nose gun.
4.    Zoom and then zoom to maximum.
5.    Jump to outside view, press F3.
6.    Scan for the target on maximum zoom.
7.    Once you spot the target, line up your aircraft on the target.
8.    Jump to the bombsight.  To do so you must press 1, then F6.
9.    DON'T LEAVE THE BOMBSIGHT UNTIL YOUR EGGS ARE OUT.
10.    Open the bombay doors (hopefully it will slow you down all the way
in.)
11.  Calibrate your bombsight, six seconds is plenty, it's possible to
do it twice if you want to calibrate at the last second, but barely.
12.  Start dropping your eggs early say 1/4 of a small field.  The initial impact should
be almost on your release point but we want to make sure you take out your target.
13.  Jump to the tail gun and look for bandits.
14.  Back to the bombsight to watch for damage in calibration mode.
15.  Cancel calibration mode.  It will cause problems on your next run if you don't.
16. Exit the bombsight.

As you get more comfortable with the system, you can use fewer eggs and release closer to the
target.

Why it works:

The bombsight doesn't properly calibrate your speed.  Your eggs will always fall long.
The bombsight doesn't properly calibrate the easterly wind.  Your eggs will always fall east of
your drop point.
As it turns out, the wind error and the speed error are about equal so if you travel west, the
wind error blows your eggs backward canceling the speed error.
This information should put you back on course, just try not to hit us Knights for a while, ok?

Thanks to my squad mates, Brex and the rest of you who helped confirm this.

[Yeager]

It would be nice to have the compass heading of the direction to target input into the bombsight and have the compass heading of the bomber in the sight as well to steer ACCURATELY towards the target via rudder without having to hit F3 external view (cheat) for dead reckoning or using a ruler on the map to try to visually plot a semi-accurate heading.

[Easyscor]

Yeager I'd settle for rudder control while looking  forward but while you're at it, let's ask for a speed read-out so we can check speed durring the run in.  But these things don't matter nearly so much as getting the speed and wind errors fixed.

[Yeager]

I have and use rudders at the bombsight.  What Im saying is get me accurately to the target from 20 miles out, not only when I can see the target approaching looking through the bombsight.

Another way of looking at my request for compass heading data in the sight is to imagine how fediddleed up buffing would be if u didnt have external view to verify heading while still 10 miles out.

[Revvin]

Quitting AH because they can't use the bombsight? As soon as 1.10 came out we practised as a squad and now hit with good accuracy. The day's of pinpoint bombing are over asthey should be, get a few bombers together and carpet bomb. I don't know why so many are finding it hard, it's not rocket science and most mastered it in a few hours of practice.

[Easyscor]

No Rivven, many players out there expect better accruacy than aiming for a fighter hanger and coming up with ammo bunkers and gun emplacements.

While it's not rocket science, it shouldn't be a state secret either.  The inconsistancies haven't been explained in anyones posts to my knowledge so I've put up a method which will take down the fighter hangers we aim for and I posted why it works.

Now I'm waiting for your post.  How do you guys do it, whats your definition of accuracy and how consistant are your strikes?

In the meantime I'll be

[Easyscor]

Yeager quote:

__________________
Another way of looking at my request for compass heading data in the sight is to imagine how fediddleed up buffing would be if u didnt have external view to verify heading while still 10 miles out.
__________________

Exactly right Yeager, but my aim here is to get the buff pilots back in the air with some confidence in hitting their targets.

I do like your idea, bombardiers could get longitude & latitude to compute the compass heading and using zoom from the outside nose gunner position is an unrealistic necessity.

[zipity]

Another quick trick if you don't happen to have a ruler handy when trying to determine where to start your bomb run.

Jump into the bomb sight and bring up your map, lay the east-west cross hair thru the center of your target.  Fly to a spot 10-15 miles east of target along the hair.  When you start your run do the same thing again but this time making sure that when the hair is thru your target it also runs thru the center of your plane (on the map).  If everything lines up you should be able to hit your target with only a few small adjustments prior to bomb release.

[Virage]

create a 1 man mission and use waypoints.  This gives you a nice line to follow on map.

[Zaphod]

Im not really having a problem with the bombing issue so far.  I'm curious if accuracy issues are just due to calibration not being dead on.  True I can't just go clean a base off as I used to be able too but I don't have a problem with that.  I have noticed that if I change heading at all after calibration I will miss (rightfully so) or if I don't hold the crosshairs totally immobile while pressing Y I will have problems (rightfully so).  I also hold Y for at least 10 sec.s, altho I have heard that anything over 5 will do.  However I can bomb from any direction including crosswind with out much trouble, altho certainly crosswind bombing is tougher as any error in calibration will cause the miss in two planes (vertical and horizontal).  Typically I plan my route so that I am lined up with the target at least once sector away, I then get my speed under control at least 1/2 sector away.  I also calibrate twice.  The first calibration is at cruising speed once I am lined up with the target (at least one sector away).  This high speed calibration throws the bombsite crosshairs way out in front of the bomber so that by the time I am within 1/2 sector and have gotten my speed down to about 160 or so I am looking far out infront of the bomber through the sites.  I then get the crosshairs lined up on the target.  Once the target is just in view through the bombsite (very top of site) and I have the vertical line on the target I recalibrate to account for the slower speed.  Keeping my speed down allows me to then readjust my site so that I am dead on target (from the bombsite).  In a perfect world I shouldn't have to readjust heading at all as I had already been on a correct heading for the target (remember I lined up with the high speed calibration and should have simply recalibrated for the speed differential).  However this is unlikely and I typically must readjust to line back up in the site (usu. a minimal adjustment).  If however I must realign more than a hanger width following the second recalibration I will do a third calibration once the target is again at the top of the site.  I normally have plenty of time for the 3rd calibration at 160 mph.  Usually two calibrations will do it, occasionally it takes 3, and I have recalibrated 4 times on the rare occasion.  

Certainly this creates a lot of work and is a challenge but it is a skill that must be aquired through practice.  In my opinion it increases the skill required to bomb to the level required to fly fighter planes.  I find myself flying many more bomber missions now as I really like the challenge.  It is however not impossible, its just frustrating at first, just like flying fighters.

As far as the info available, ya I agree that HTC could provide more info on all aspects of the game.

Zaphod

[Easyscor]

zipity, Virage and Zaphod and I can't forget Yeager, it's nice to see some of us don't mind sharing our techniques with the community.!

Like Zaphod, I hope we're done with the days of one pilot closing a base but where there's a will, a bomber pilot will find a way:)

Zaphod, I think I'm safe to say most of us can't kill the fighter hangers unless we're traveling from east to west yet your post indicated your direction of travel and initial impact is not limited by that restriction.  This is not a calibration problem for the rest of us, just a couple of errors as I stated in my original post.
 
Did I misinterpret your post when I read it to mean you can hit your fighter hangers from north, south or west? I'd really like to know as it indicates the bombsight is acting differently on some machines.

[Duel1]

Bloody brilliant, got this working to a tee.
Suggest all try this as it WORKS
Thanx.

[Virage]

Regarding Bombsite Errors...

In short... I don't think there are any.

The perfect setup i.e.  Constant heading, Constant speed, Perfectly executed calibration (holding 1 point for 15-20 full seconds),   will result in perfect crosshair alignment.  Wind or no wind.

Easier said then done, I know.  But I don't see the major bugs that are being referred to.  

Test for yourself.  Download the Germany map. Turn on autobombsite flag. Rook base #48., take off from the NE.(20 k dead stick airstart)  Head west to get over the level 0 K border.  Add a wind layer.

[Zaphod]

Originally posted by Easyscor
zipity, Virage and Zaphod and I can't forget Yeager, it's nice to see some of us don't mind sharing our techniques with the community.!

Like Zaphod, I hope we're done with the days of one pilot closing a base but where there's a will, a bomber pilot will find a way:)

Zaphod, I think I'm safe to say most of us can't kill the fighter hangers unless we're traveling from east to west yet your post indicated your direction of travel and initial impact is not limited by that restriction.  This is not a calibration problem for the rest of us, just a couple of errors as I stated in my original post.
 
Did I misinterpret your post when I read it to mean you can hit your fighter hangers from north, south or west? I'd really like to know as it indicates the bombsight is acting differently on some machines.

Correct, I can hit targets while on any heading.  Although it is tougher in crosswind situations (requires multiple calibrations depending on how far off the intial heading was while inbound to the target.  Normally hitting only one is easy, but it's nice to be lined up for two  or more so minor course corrections are frequently needed to get lined up.  I will say that I normally drop a full load or half load on my salvo's.  This is only due to the fact that I like to take strats along with fighter hangers.  I also like to make only one pass for survivability reasons ...... and it looks sooooooooooo cool .  But yes you can go up and just drop on each hanger and hit them, it's much harder than pre 1.10 but it can be done.  I also will turn the plane as the bombs are releasing and reliably hit that way if not exactly lined up, as long as its not much more than a hanger width turn.  I think that accuracy problems are totally due to calibration errors.  I pretty much know when I have a good calibration going or if I'm off just a little bit.  One trick is to make sure that the site isnt moving sideways at all while you are in the bombsite in relation to your direction of travel.  If there is any sideways movement after calibration then the accuracy will be off and you must calibrate.  Hope this helps a bit.

Zaphod

[Easyscor]

Guess it's time to post hardware platforms and see if it's a Floating Point Processor (FPP) problem.

My software & hardware:

Windows 98se 4.10.2222A

P3, 800mhz
ASUS CUSL2-C motherboard
512MB ram
Soundblaster Live
ASUS GForce 2 AGP video
Netgear 10/100 Nic Card
HD, floopy & DVD/CD rom

Duel1, glad it works for you too.  That was the intention, share the info as you like.  Also, please post your hardware so we can see where the problem lies.