Suggestion for B-17 gunner

[Swoosh]

My first trip as B-17 gunner was not pretty.    

I don't need to talk about the cloaking devices everyone has.

I have two suggestions.

1)  Cut down on the glare from the rear gunners glass.  It's bad, really bad, especially in comparison to the other turrets.

2)  Display an intuitive marker that shows which direction your current gun is facing.  This will be especially helpful while switching positions from the top or bottom guns to the side guns.  As the top and bottom guns twist around and around there just aren't enough visual cues if you need to switch guns fast.  Of course, real gunners did not have to man all guns simultaneously, so they did not need it. Us poor sim gunners need some extra information to aid us in our fight.

May I suggest a little floating top view of an airplane, much like the one in the map view that spins around in the direction that the bomber faces.  Around the diagram of the airplane would be drawn a circle.  As your turret spins around, the portion of the arc corresponding to the turrets direction could change color, say form white to red.  This would provide the immediate feedback necessary to the gunner as to which turret he needs to man, relative to the direction he currently faces.

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Swoosh of the Skeleton Crew

[Downtown]

Well, I thoroughly enjoyed my first time as a gunner.

Here is what I would like.

1. Allow someone to log as a Co-Pilot.

This person would be able to take the aircraft controls, Man the Bombadier Position, Drop Ordinance, and man the Front GUNS Only.

The Pilot and any Gunner(S) would be able to man all other guns.

2. Allow up to two gunners.  This would allow for top/bottom or left/right coverage.  Incase the bomber is being attacked from more than one angle.

I flew as a Gunner for Smitty last night.  Everytime he tried to go to auto pilot, the bomber would go into a spin.  Hence he couldn't drop.  I managed to get to the bombadier position, but I didn't have control to drop.

So in short I hope that HTC will allow in the future of crewable bombers.

1. Pilot. (Can do it all alone)
1. Co-Pilot (Able to be bombadier, front gunner, take control of the aircraft if the pilot is killed.)
2. Gunners able to man all gun position.


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"I could feel the 20MM Cannon impacting behind me so I made myself small behind the pilot armor" Charlie Bond AVG
lkbrown1@tir.com
 http://www.tir.com/~lkbrown1
Very Opinionated Person.

[aircat]

I like that DownTown but on thing... say for instance you have a 8 o' and a 4 o' bogies
yes currently one of them gets off scott free... BUT if with your two gunner set up who gets the control of the 6 o' guns?
a second gunner could be implemented but the one attached as main gunner get the priority and the secondary gunner get only the gun currently in. I like your 3 man set up! be nice to take out the prob of a buff going down on a PK. but make it realistic so that if they are both in the pit and it gets totaly waxed then both would die. and if one is say in the bomber or front gunner it would take time to go to the pit. (no instant auto pilot) make it like 5 seconds or something.

[Downtown]

first come first serve on gunner positions.

If someone needs to man the rear turret, and he moves there, he gets it.

I was thinking like this for gunners.

Gunner 1.
Top, Right Waist, and Tail.
Gunner 2. Belly, Left Waist. Front.

Unless there was a Bomber/Navigator, then he gets front guns, unless on the norden.

Anyhow gunner 1 gets free reign of those positons, gunner two gets free reign of his.

That was my thinking, I am sure there are better options.

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"I could feel the 20MM Cannon impacting behind me so I made myself small behind the pilot armor" Charlie Bond AVG
lkbrown1@tir.com
 http://www.tir.com/~lkbrown1
Very Opinionated Person.

[ft]

And as for two gunners firing all guns at two separate bogies, when e g the tail gun can bear on both - first to hit the trigger gets the rounds from the tail gun. Sounds good to me. Possibly somewhat unrealistic swivel speeds for guns if one gunner fires at say 4 low, releases trigger, then at the same instant another gunner fires away at 8 high but that's a minor issue IMO.

I like the idea. T'was great fun to fly a fully crewed buff in the AW big week scenarios, chatting on the intercom on the way out. Would be even more fun now, that you can join in flight. You could have several bomber formations underway, and the one(s) currently seeing action gunned.

Cheers,
   /ft

[Swoosh]

So has anyone else noticed how its often puzzling to try to figure out which gun to swtich to while tracking a fast moving bandit?  Especially from the top and bottom guns?

[Gritz]

Swoosh: Ya, but just by bein' able to quickly slap one key to switch to those turrets helps.  Air Warrior's system is horrifying in comparison.



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Gritz

 
33rd Strike Group

[Downtown]

I am thinking of mapping my keys in groups of three, like 1 would be top turret, 2 would be right waist, and 3 would be tail.

4 would be nose, 5 would be belly, and 6 left waist.

Maybe make 4 tail, and shift the others up.

Anyhow you could track on the front to back right side with 1,2, and 3, and track rear to bottom with 4, 5, and 6.  You would just have to keep your right left aircraft orientation.

Its a little trick, but the only prob is High Tail attacks going to front low, If you start tracking from the Tail, you have to move when the Bandit breaks past your plane.

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"I could feel the 20MM Cannon impacting behind me so I made myself small behind the pilot armor" Charlie Bond AVG
lkbrown1@tir.com
 http://www.tir.com/~lkbrown1
Very Opinionated Person.

[Sorrow[S=A]]

A suggestion here, In my experience the ONLY guns you want to man are the top ball, lower ball rear and forward guns. If you man either of the ball guns you will have the tail gun follow your firing pattern, and it's easier to track a bogey moving along an angle (ie: is he above or below you?) Plus in my experience the only times the other guns have helped track was when I was manning a ball turret. When you man tail/nav the ball turrets never seem to join in even when they could.

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If your in range, so is the enemy.