Gunners at the ready..

[[APAF]VR_Spartan85]

Not sure if this has been spoken of but one thing I would like to see implemented is the ability to command your gunners to stay at their guns while in combat area. So many times we'll have an aircraft inbound and the gunner gradually gets up from his nap, unlocks the gun, then by the time he starts shooting he's dead...

 

"Gunners at their stations" , "gunners at the ready" or "gunners scan for targets" command would be nice.

 

I dunno, what y'all think?

[Willy__]

I dont think it would change much.... even though they behave like you explained, sometimes they will hit impossible shots and sometimes they appear to be some lazy [edited] who do nothing... I would prefer some middle ground... We dont have tales of sniper gunners and yet we do ingame, I dont know if you played the ol IL2 1946, but the gunners there behave in a very realistic way

Edited January 11, 2018 by SYN_Haashashin
lenguage

[=NVA=SunGirl]

By default the gunners will only return fire after the enemy plane shoots at you. By setting them to fire at will and fire at long range they will usually fire or pick up the MG before the plane is directly behind you... but then they always need to reload at the worst times.

[Yogiflight]

 

 

By default the gunners will only return fire after the enemy plane shoots at you.

When I fly anything with a gunner and don't order him to 'shoot at short distance', he will shoot at every enemy aircraft in his sector, even when it is 1km away in a fast pass, with no realistic chance to hit him. When I fly campaign missions with bombers, it is always the same, the gunners of my wingmen shoot like crazy, long before it makes any sense, and when the enemy fighters are attacking, they are out of ammo, and my gunner is the only one still shooting.

[=NVA=SunGirl]

I haven't flown using the stock gunner modes In ages so I could be wrong, but I think they by default return fire at medium range.

[Yogiflight]

 

 

I haven't flown using the stock gunner modes In ages so I could be wrong, but I think they by default return fire at medium range.

Are you flying MP? I have no experiences there, so I am only talking about AI gunner's SP behaviour.

[CrazyDuck]

We dont have tales of sniper gunners and yet we do ingame

 

Meet Pietro Bonannini, known as an "infallible gunner" (it: "mitragliere infallibile"). While serving as a gunner on italian seaplanes C506 and RS14 in Med theater, he is credited with at least 8 confirmed kills of British fighters (4 Spits, 3 Blenheims and 1 Hurri with some more probables and/or damaged). Considering that recce seaplanes usually flew alone, this is quite a feat. At one instance his dorsal 12.7 mm Scotti failed, so he dismounted the 7.7 Breda from ventral position to be able to fight on.

 

Against incredible odds and getting wounded several times he survived the war only to to die in civilian accident of a private plane in 1961.

 

(Not trying to derail the topic, it just seemed a right moment to mention him)

[Nibbio]

Meet Pietro Bonannini, known as an "infallible gunner" (it: "mitragliere infallibile"). While serving as a gunner on italian seaplanes C506 and RS14 in Med theater, he is credited with at least 8 confirmed kills of British fighters (4 Spits, 3 Blenheims and 1 Hurri with some more probables and/or damaged). Considering that recce seaplanes usually flew alone, this is quite a feat. At one instance his dorsal 12.7 mm Scotti failed, so he dismounted the 7.7 Breda from ventral position to be able to fight on.

 

Against incredible odds and getting wounded several times he survived the war only to to die in civilian accident of a private plane in 1961.

 

(Not trying to derail the topic, it just seemed a right moment to mention him)

 

Cool story, I had never heard of him

 

[CUJO_1970]

One of the last sorties I flew online in a Ju-88, I had a Yak simply park on my 6 o'clock firing at close range. My gunners accuracy under these conditions was a pathetic 1.1% hit rate.

[=NVA=SunGirl]

Are you flying MP? I have no experiences there, so I am only talking about AI gunner's SP behaviour.

Yes, on WOL mostly. Not sure about other servers or SP but there they usually dont shoot until the enemy is close or opens fire.

[F/JG300_Gruber]

Not sure if this has been spoken of but one thing I would like to see implemented is the ability to command your gunners to stay at their guns while in combat area. So many times we'll have an aircraft inbound and the gunner gradually gets up from his nap, unlocks the gun, then by the time he starts shooting he's dead...

 

"Gunners at their stations" , "gunners at the ready" or "gunners scan for targets" command would be nice.

 

I dunno, what y'all think?

 

I would especially like that gunners warn you that there is something around BEFORE that particular something is almost at shooting range. 

The old IL2 was nice in that regard, gunners told us about type (fighter or bomber), direction, and sometimes high or low if there was a noticeable difference in altitude between the two planes.

 

This is the second big problem with the "shoot at short range" command : gunners won't tell you anything about a bandit chasing you until they are opening fire on it. It makes coordination with the escort (providing you have some) harder too.

 

But I agree that a gunner at the ready command would be nice. 

 

 

I dont think it would change much.... even though they behave like you explained, sometimes they will hit impossible shots and sometimes they appear to be some lazy [edited] who do nothing... I would prefer some middle ground... We dont have tales of sniper gunners and yet we do ingame, I dont know if you played the ol IL2 1946, but the gunners there behave in a very realistic way

 

When you set the gunner to shoot at close range (which is ~600m from my experience), if you get bounced by a high flyer, half or more of the already short firing window is wasted by gun station preparation. 

Unless I wan't to fly sneakie, I set them at "normal range" (which is already more than 1km...) or even long distance. I prefer that they open fire a too early than way too late, which is often the case with the short range setting.

 

 

Yes, on WOL mostly. Not sure about other servers or SP but there they usually dont shoot until the enemy is close or opens fire.

 

You must have hired a bad crew ! 

Mine is always set to "fire at will" and normal range by default. If I wan't them to ripost only, I have to tell them.