Return of the Death Star

[Ossie]

The B-17 in AW included the navigator position as a placeholder in case two people wanted to switch positions.

[TWOLF]

Well,  I flew in Air warrior from the time it was introduced on GEnie (6.95 an hour) to just about the time it closed up shop.  My handles are as you see here as well as =AXE=.  I will say this.  No matter how well a buff is gunned, a good fighter pilot will kill it with relative ease.  Why?  Because a pilot will always approach a 17 with the notion that it is gunned.  In RR in AW death Stars were more leathal because of increased effectivness of the guns as well as the ability to defie gravatational effects on the fusalage.  In other words pilots would turn like a fighter and do High G manuvers which increased the leathality of the platform.  That thankfully is not possible here.  On the notion that the current modle here is not as leathal.  That is not true because it is rare when all the gunners in the adjacent stations will train on the same target.  The one thing that I miss about the death stars though is that it was a lot of fun to smoke and joke with your pals on a fully gunned buff.  Due to the programing limitations that isn't possible though from what I gather.  In either case I think the formation flying makes up for it.  Buff drivers can now up an entire flight of 17's or lancs etc.  To me, I think a full fomation of 17's in a good strong box formation is not an easy thing to approach.  That's when you start remembering all those World at war episodes when they are talking with the German Fighter drivers about the head on, and shear diving tactics.  Still gives me the shivers thinking about diving into a cload of .50cal.

[MrLars]

Originally posted by Turbot
Putting a whole squad in bomber(s) was one of the most fun things you could do in AW.   With in plane intercom, everyone shared in the score, was a great team activity.

Yep, upping your entire squad in a couple of B17's was a blast. Even when we could only get two or three gunners for a mission it was still a great time.

If AH had the ability it would get used.

[Imp]

I miss the good old days when I flew AW with 1st NASTY.

Deathstar were really deadly because of hit bubble making it easy to hit attacking figs even for newbies like I was back then(and still am

[davidpt40]

I can remember loading 7 gunners onto a B17 in WarBirds.  Was a blast.  I really felt like a bomber pilot haha.

[HoHun]

Hi everyone,

I think it's worth remembering that Death Stars were so effective in Air Warrior because though the game supported multiple gunners, it wasn't really balanced for it. I'd say it was rather balanced for a single gunner who was able to give an intercepting fighter a run for his money.

With multiple gunners on board, firepower truly multplied, making the Death Star live up to its name. That wasn't really a feature designed into the game, but a side effect - so I'm not sure that wishing it back is a good idea if you think it through to the end.

Still, the multi-crew (and multi-bomber) missions in Air Warrior were some of the best I flew in that game, and the emotional immersion factor alone is reason enough to bring them back, no matter whether the the "Death Star" really is going to be as lethal as in Air Warrior.

Regards,

Henning (HoHun)

[Shane]

hehehe dogbuffing was fun.

i'd often give a fighter in FR fits, even ungunned by simply denying him a shot and ending up chasing him.

a lot of people had fun riding my dogbuff. i had fun flying them now and then.

then my best gunner performance was in RR Med (or big?) ETO...

just one gunner-me... we had like 22 kills, 9 were kinda vulches, but then we had a swarm of angry 109's and other planes coming after us.  we ended up landing with almost no ammo left. thankfully 2 squaddies came to our rescue in 38's and helped us get out of that mess.  it was hilarious... never laughed so hard.

but basically even a gunned buff was meat for someone with a clue. and i loved chewing up vaders (a-26's) who thought they were fighters.

[HoHun]

Hi Shane,

>i'd often give a fighter in FR fits, even ungunned by simply denying him a shot and ending up chasing him.

Quite tantalizing for fighters - to catch a low and slow buff and to be unable to get a shot on him because he turns like a top!

>we ended up landing with almost no ammo left. thankfully 2 squaddies came to our rescue in 38's and helped us get out of that mess.  

LOL! That's very mean, surviving with all those kill under the belt :-)

I had a mirror image experience when vulching an airfield and only shooting the bombers who were about to leave. After I got three of them, the situation got so hot so that I decided not to go for the fourth which was just starting its takeoff roll. I still had a bomb, though, and thanks to the F-16-style CCIP of Air Warrior, I hit this B-17 right on the head with it. Surprise! Six names flashed up in the kill buffer in the same instant :-)

The harrassed enemy had gotten tired of my vulching and sent up a death star to put an end to it. My bomb struck them like lightning out of the blue, but they really took it with great spirit and a good sense of humour :-) There's no weapon against luck, after all!

Regards,

Henning (HoHun)

[Alpo]

As long as we are recalling old history, I would like to have the guns enabled while still on the runway.  It kind of sucks, limping a formation home having a vulcher light you up before you get the brakes to stop you.

Oh... and I PROMISE... I would Never EVER use this feature as a base defense and I would Never EVER use it to land at a deacked base and park behind the spawn point on a runway!    

Hehehe... well... maybe the spawn parking... those "missions" were hilarious.

[JBA]

some n00b who sprayed all his ammo at friendlys on takeoff.  "pooh21"

LMAO