AI gunnery mod

[JG4_Moltke1871]

10 hours ago, Stonehouse said:

Yes, you need to activate mods in the game to get this working. Then you need to enable it via JSGME (just my opinion - you can do it manually yourself if you wish).

 

Generally, most mods found here in this forum are set up to use with jsgme. 

 

JSGME info at this link:

 

 

JSGME manual here

 

And where to install your Zip?

(sorry, you communicate with an IT noob ?)

[Stonehouse]

OK little tricky. Assuming you have installed jsgme you would copy the zip file into your mods folder and then right click on it and do an unzip here. Then when you start jsgme you should see AI gunnery listed in the left-hand window. You can then drag and drop it onto the right-hand window to enable it. Most likely for you the section in the jsgme manual for separate installs is for you (pg 4)

 

Once you are happy the mod is working ok you can delete the zip.

Edited November 12, 2022 by Stonehouse

[Skycat1969]

The easiest way is to skip JGSME altogether.

1. Unzip the mod folder to your desktop. Find the subfolder named Data. Remember it, or move it to outside the unzipped folder to your desktop.

2. Find your your IL-2 Great Battles game directory. There should be a folder inside named Data.

3. Combine the contents of the Data folder on your desktop into the Data folder for your game. (CAUTION: You don't want two folders named Data in your game directory.)

4. Enable Mods in your game's settings.

 

JSGME is the safer way to add mods because you can toggle them on and off within the mods manager. If you add mods directly like I described, it can get tricky to keep track of multiple mods and remove when you don't want to use.

Edited November 12, 2022 by Skycat1969

[Stonehouse]

No real changes for post 5.003 although for completeness I added the 2 min delay to despawning on death for the non-player crew for the C47 which requires a new version. This was something I did for better immersion for flyable aircraft so that you didn't see your co-pilot/nav disappear 15 secs after they got hit.

 

Also wanting feedback as to whether people would like AI Pilots to not despawn so quickly on their death as well as I noticed in testing that the AI C47 pilot disappears before the co-pilot due to the change above. I can certainly add a longer delay to AI pilots disappearing from their cockpit when they die if people want it although I imagine it may very slightly impact performance possibly as "dead" pilot bots will linger longer.

Edited November 22, 2022 by Stonehouse

[RedeyeStorm]

Hey Stonehouse, 

 

For me the can remain present until plane crash.

[Stonehouse]

It's a timer-based thing so I can't do until the plane crashes, but I can increase it from 15 secs to align with gunners and other AI crew.

[Stonehouse]

Anyone else keen to see the AI pilots hang about a bit longer after they get hit and killed? Just it's another 111 files to edit and keep sync'd so if there is very little interest, I may not worry about it - or at least I won't make it a priority to do now.

[vonGraf]

For me it's good how it is now.

Edited November 26, 2022 by vonGraf

[Stonehouse]

Adding the delayed despawn doesn't change how the mod works really. Just the dead pilot body remains in the seat for longer than the stock 15 sec. Maybe I will have it as an optional mod to sit on top of AI gunnery.

[Stonehouse]

Added a 2 min delay to despawning on death for all AI pilots as an optional mod that can be loaded along with AI gunnery. This is purely cosmetic and just means you see the pilot in the cockpit after their death for 2 mins rather than the stock 15 secs. I feel that 2 mins is probably more immersive than 15 secs and brings things into line with gunners (which also wait 2 mins to despawn as part of the base AI gunnery mod) but as I said purely cosmetic and optional.

 

Note that while preparing this new mod I found that the A20 Navigator position mod is no longer in sync with the current game files and also overlaps the AI gunnery pilot despawn delay mod as we both change the A20 pilot bot setup. I'm going to add a comment to the Navigator mod thread to tell Murleen that the mod needs an update and once that is done, I'll try to change my mod so that it is possible to use both. For now, I'd suggest not using the A20 Navigator mod. 

Edited November 28, 2022 by Stonehouse

[Dusty926]

Does this still work after the latest 5.004 update?

[Stonehouse]

1 hour ago, Dusty926 said:

Does this still work after the latest 5.004 update?

Sorry I haven't had time to get to checking it (or my other mods) yet. I hope to get to it in the next 24 hrs or so but it's tricky at this time of year. There are some AI changes in the patch change log so it is possible the mod needs an update. 

[Stonehouse]

So, found a small window of time somehow. Not sure when I will get to the other mods, hopefully I might get time over my lunch break tomorrow. I haven't had time to test the new versions but nothing except the Snipe being added really changed so think it is ok this time around.

 

AI Gunnery:

Winmerged the files and only changes were adding the Snipe and removing the Ju88 top turret. New version doesn't really change anything for a WW2 user so up to you whether you download and update at this time.

 

AI Gunnery pilot despawn delay:

I found that I had left a temp folder in the mod accidentally. I've removed this so the mod is just the required files. That said, the temp folder was very small and had no impact so existing users don't really need to redownload unless it is convenient.

[Stonehouse]

no apparent changes required post 5.004b

[Stonehouse]

Sorry I seem to have had a senior moment and forgotten to remove old versions from the first post when I added the new ones. I've corrected this just now so you may want to grab the files again in case you accidentally downloaded the old ones.

[Leftenant_Soap]

@Stonehouse

Hi Stonehouse,

Thank you for the despawn delay addon! Do you know if it's possible to do something similar for the wreckage of aircraft?

[Stonehouse]

1 hour ago, DD_Soapy said:

Do you know if it's possible to do something similar for the wreckage of aircraft?

Possibly - it would be a totally different set of files though.

[Leftenant_Soap]

I'm intrigued!

[Spidey002]

Will this mod stop Ace AI from sniping me at 1 kilometer away?

 

That drives me crazy. 

[Stonehouse]

4 hours ago, Spidey002 said:

Will this mod stop Ace AI from sniping me at 1 kilometer away?

Yes - Aces will hold their fire until much closer. However, when they do shoot, they tend to be very deadly. Beyond fighter pilots, it also alters the behaviour of gunners on bombers, and they will generally be more responsive and have better fire discipline. 

[Stonehouse]

On 1/25/2023 at 11:03 AM, Stonehouse said:

Possibly - it would be a totally different set of files though.

It's looking like "definitely" is the real answer. Anyone care to pick a length of time for an initial draft version of the mod longer aircraft crash site fire and smoke?

Edited January 26, 2023 by Stonehouse

[Spidey002]

8 hours ago, Stonehouse said:

It's looking like "definitely" is the real answer. Anyone care to pick a length of time for an initial draft version of the mod longer aircraft crash site fire and smoke?

What’s the default? I feel like after 10-15 mins, I will have moved on and won’t notice the despawn. 

9 hours ago, Stonehouse said:

Aces will hold their fire until much closer. However, when they do shoot, they tend to be very deadly.

I don’t mind a good dogfight. It’s the robo-snipers that make fighting against AI obnoxious for me. 

Edited January 26, 2023 by Spidey002

[Mysticpuma]

12 hours ago, Stonehouse said:

It's looking like "definitely" is the real answer. Anyone care to pick a length of time for an initial draft version of the mod longer aircraft crash site fire and smoke?

10 mins should be a fair amount of time? To stay in combat in an area for more than 10 mins would likely see the player out of ammo or dead anyway? 

 

Out of interest, is the dead pilot despawn delay, possible as a standalone so it can be used with the aircraft wreckage mod? 

[Jake]

1 hour ago, Mysticpuma said:

aircraft wreckage mod

Sorry for off topic but does this mod exist? Or am I misunderstanding something?

[Mysticpuma]

16 hours ago, Stonehouse said:

It's looking like "definitely" is the real answer. Anyone care to pick a length of time for an initial draft version of the mod longer aircraft crash site fire and smoke?

I thought this meant wreckage too? 

[Stonehouse]

3 hours ago, Jake said:

Sorry for off topic but does this mod exist? Or am I misunderstanding something?

 

1 hour ago, Mysticpuma said:

I thought this meant wreckage too? 

 

I guess I created some confusion sorry by posting about it within the AI gunnery thread.

 

I was responding to DD_Soapy asking about whether it was possible to keep aircraft craters and crash fire and smoke columns around longer. It is looking like it is.

 

Hence, my question about length of time. FYI default seems to be 60 secs.

 

I don't know if anyone has built a similar mod previously although I do know there was a destroyed vehicle fire and smoke retention mod a long way back. Anyway, the crashed aircraft equivalent is what I'm attempting at present, and I will eventually post it up as a separate new mod when it is ready.

 

4 hours ago, Mysticpuma said:

Out of interest, is the dead pilot despawn delay, possible as a standalone

 

Dead pilot despawn can be used standalone although it was meant to be an adjunct for AI gunnery which already delayed despawn of dead AI co-pilots for flyable large aircraft like the Mossie and generally turret gunners. It does not have anything to do with crashed aircraft where you're left with just a crater and fire and smoke. That's where the new mod I am working on comes in.

 

Edited January 26, 2023 by Stonehouse

[Stonehouse]

See here 

 

 

[Youtch]

Is there any conflict between AI Gunnery despawn delay mod and AI Gunnery?

 

Open Mod Manager is highlight a dependency between both.

[Stonehouse]

 

2 hours ago, Youtch said:

Is there any conflict between AI Gunnery despawn delay mod and AI Gunnery?

 

Open Mod Manager is highlight a dependency between both.

 

Don't believe so. Can you advise what OMM is reporting?

 

<edit> I just rechecked, and I don't get a warning from JSGME at all when I disable and re-enable AI gunnery despawn delay with AI Gunnery already enabled. I do get a warning because the fix cameras and the AAAmod mods already created a folder used by AI gunnery despawn delay.

 

However, folder warnings are not important, and it was not due to AI Gunnery anyway. In any case only file warnings are of concern.

Edited January 28, 2023 by Stonehouse

[=KG76=flyus747]

On 1/28/2023 at 4:15 AM, Stonehouse said:

 

 

Don't believe so. Can you advise what OMM is reporting?

 

<edit> I just rechecked, and I don't get a warning from JSGME at all when I disable and re-enable AI gunnery despawn delay with AI Gunnery already enabled. I do get a warning because the fix cameras and the AAAmod mods already created a folder used by AI gunnery despawn delay.

 

However, folder warnings are not important, and it was not due to AI Gunnery anyway. In any case only file warnings are of concern.

Hi Stonehouse, I've heard that multiplayer AI bomber gunners cannot change their experience level, even if you change it in the Mission Editor, is this true? Can you explain?

[Stonehouse]

2 hours ago, =KG76=flyus747 said:

Hi Stonehouse, I've heard that multiplayer AI bomber gunners cannot change their experience level, even if you change it in the Mission Editor, is this true? Can you explain?

I've never heard that one before.

 

Certainly the files I'm fiddling with for this mod consider all skill levels and don't appear to have any conditioning for offline and online situations.

 

Are you saying that if in an online mission all the gunners are set to a predefined skill level regardless of the mission selection? Like an external override of the nominated value in the ME?

 

If true, then it would be something in the server MP code I imagine - I can't imagine why the devs would do that though as if nothing else it is more work for them. 

 

Do you have any links to that info? I'd be interested in reading it. I guess you can easily test it - create a simple MP mission, set the crew of a bomber to novice, serve it up locally and fly it and then repeat but with the crew set to Ace. See if you think they shoot better, they certainly should do if it is working. If you are like me and aren't skilled with the ME then I'd suggest EMG to knock up a quick and dirty MP mission and then just adjust the skill levels

Edited January 30, 2023 by Stonehouse

[=KG76=flyus747]

On 1/29/2023 at 9:36 PM, Stonehouse said:

I've never heard that one before.

 

Certainly the files I'm fiddling with for this mod consider all skill levels and don't appear to have any conditioning for offline and online situations.

 

Are you saying that if in an online mission all the gunners are set to a predefined skill level regardless of the mission selection? Like an external override of the nominated value in the ME?

 

If true, then it would be something in the server MP code I imagine - I can't imagine why the devs would do that though as if nothing else it is more work for them. 

 

Do you have any links to that info? I'd be interested in reading it. I guess you can easily test it - create a simple MP mission, set the crew of a bomber to novice, serve it up locally and fly it and then repeat but with the crew set to Ace. See if you think they shoot better, they certainly should do if it is working. If you are like me and aren't skilled with the ME then I'd suggest EMG to knock up a quick and dirty MP mission and then just adjust the skill levels

Claim is in this video. What do you think?

Edited February 3, 2023 by =KG76=flyus747

[Stonehouse]

7 hours ago, =KG76=flyus747 said:

Claim is in this video. What do you think?

Ok never seen that before. Skill level in video looks worse than stock low AI. Nothing in the code compare section in the video comments is a surprise, the post 4.06b aim error calc is one part of what I work on for AI gunnery and it does only have the 4 AI skill levels and obviously doesn't include human as that is a 5th skill level per se.

 

So, to get any further you'd need to know what skill the gunners in a human piloted aircraft get allocated. I guess if skill level for gunners is defaulted (think it would be) to a predetermined value for human controlled bombers then I would have expected gunners on a human piloted aircraft to set to high or ace level. I don't fly bombers much but will do some tests when I have time. Honestly, I would expect the same results in offline or online for human aircraft as you would expect the default skill for AI on human aircraft to be the same regardless of situation.

 

It would be worth asking the devs what skill level is used for aim error for gunners in a human piloted aircraft. I don't recall ever seeing the question be asked or the subject aired.

 

<edit> ok did a search in the FM/AI discussion section. Lots of AI topics but not this specific question. So, I have asked there and on discord in the hope someone from the dev team will respond. As I said will try to do some tests when I have time.

Edited February 3, 2023 by Stonehouse

[Stonehouse]

15 hours ago, MrFivebyFive said:

Claim is in this video. What do you think?

 

It's in no way conclusive but since I was mucking around with Kraut1's EMG setup for Tunisia I ran a quick test. Offline mission, my aircraft a fully laden HE111H16. The enemy interceptor a Hurricane MkIIA with dust filter. Its pilot was high level skill. I left my aircraft on auto level and went to external on the Hurricane to watch how well the gunners did their job. AI Gunnery is running.

 

Results below, repeat this is not conclusive but you can definitely see that my gunners are doing a much better job than in the video you posted. I don't know if it is my mod or just that the AI skill for crew of human piloted aircraft has been tweaked since the video you posted was released. At the moment from the way the gunners are reacting I suspect they are either ace or high-level skill but that is just a guess. Hoping a dev will confirm the skill used in one of the places I have posted the question.

 

 

Edited February 4, 2023 by Stonehouse

[Youtch]

@Stonehouse: i know it is a little bit off topic, but i am curious about what is the list of mods you are always using. I have many of your mods, although i don t know if i have them all, but i was curious if you were using also others mods.

[354thFG_Drewm3i-VR]

@Stonehouse Building my modpack I have been playing with this mod and I have to say in the Pilot Career, His Majesty's Griffons, and the Hurtengen Forest campaign I can't even make it back alive due to the AA. The career missions were for Normandy career, where I was tasked with leading a flight of Spitfire IX's to bomb a V1 location. This was on dense frontline with medium difficulty. 

 

Does this mod greatly increase AA accuracy? I keep getting one-shot sniped by heavy AA.

[Stonehouse]

@MrFivebyFive Confirmed AI crew on human controlled aircraft are ace level. So, the video is partially incorrect in terms of the current game. The skill level is defaulted but to ace level whereas the video seems to portray a low level of skill. The video is correct though in that you cannot set the skill level of the AI crew on a human controlled aircraft. I have actually suggested multiple times that the people flying bombers and complaining that stock AI gunners are ruining the game for them should try the AI Gunnery mod to see if it helps but unfortunately, I don't think many of them have.

 

<edit> also confirmed SP and MP are identical via discord comment.

 

 

 

@Youtch

 

My Tunisia mod list:

My European mod list:

 

Note that I add Dynamic Effects plus units to the Europe list when I am the host or playing offline. Some of the above are a mélange of several mods or a personal adaption so you may not find the exact same thing around to download as I actually run. I do also have a FC specific JSGME list but don't fly FC that much.

 

1 hour ago, drewm3i-VR said:

@Stonehouse Building my modpack I have been playing with this mod and I have to say in the Pilot Career, His Majesty's Griffons, and the Hurtengen Forest campaign I can't even make it back alive due to the AA. The career missions were for Normandy career, where I was tasked with leading a flight of Spitfire IX's to bomb a V1 location. This was on dense frontline with medium difficulty. 

 

Does this mod greatly increase AA accuracy? I keep getting one-shot sniped by heavy AA.

No it only changes the pilots and gunners. The AAA mod is what I built for AAA. The stock AAA is very likely to get you in the initial bracketing fire and the AAA mod should make this more survivable as long as you don't be silly and fly straight and level for any length of time in a flak zone. Someone ( @Picchio ) did make some recent comments that might lead to some tweaks of the AAA mod. They were going to run some tests but I haven't heard back yet. I believe the comment was regarding light AAA though and not heavy.

Edited February 4, 2023 by Stonehouse

[Vishnu]

On 2/4/2023 at 3:31 AM, Stonehouse said:

@MrFivebyFive Confirmed AI crew on human controlled aircraft are ace level. So, the video is partially incorrect in terms of the current game. The skill level is defaulted but to ace level whereas the video seems to portray a low level of skill. The video is correct though in that you cannot set the skill level of the AI crew on a human controlled aircraft. I have actually suggested multiple times that the people flying bombers and complaining that stock AI gunners are ruining the game for them should try the AI Gunnery mod to see if it helps but unfortunately, I don't think many of them have.

 

<edit> also confirmed SP and MP are identical via discord comment.

 

 

 

@Youtch

 

My Tunisia mod list:

My European mod list:

 

Note that I add Dynamic Effects plus units to the Europe list when I am the host or playing offline. Some of the above are a mélange of several mods or a personal adaption so you may not find the exact same thing around to download as I actually run. I do also have a FC specific JSGME list but don't fly FC that much.

 

No it only changes the pilots and gunners. The AAA mod is what I built for AAA. The stock AAA is very likely to get you in the initial bracketing fire and the AAA mod should make this more survivable as long as you don't be silly and fly straight and level for any length of time in a flak zone. Someone ( @Picchio ) did make some recent comments that might lead to some tweaks of the AAA mod. They were going to run some tests but I haven't heard back yet. I believe the comment was regarding light AAA though and not heavy.

I would love to see you build a mod pack for each theatre.   That would be epic!

[=KG76=flyus747]

On 2/4/2023 at 3:31 AM, Stonehouse said:

@MrFivebyFive Confirmed AI crew on human controlled aircraft are ace level. So, the video is partially incorrect in terms of the current game. The skill level is defaulted but to ace level whereas the video seems to portray a low level of skill. The video is correct though in that you cannot set the skill level of the AI crew on a human controlled aircraft. I have actually suggested multiple times that the people flying bombers and complaining that stock AI gunners are ruining the game for them should try the AI Gunnery mod to see if it helps but unfortunately, I don't think many of them have.

 

<edit> also confirmed SP and MP are identical via discord comment.

 

 

 

@Youtch

 

My Tunisia mod list:

My European mod list:

 

Note that I add Dynamic Effects plus units to the Europe list when I am the host or playing offline. Some of the above are a mélange of several mods or a personal adaption so you may not find the exact same thing around to download as I actually run. I do also have a FC specific JSGME list but don't fly FC that much.

 

No it only changes the pilots and gunners. The AAA mod is what I built for AAA. The stock AAA is very likely to get you in the initial bracketing fire and the AAA mod should make this more survivable as long as you don't be silly and fly straight and level for any length of time in a flak zone. Someone ( @Picchio ) did make some recent comments that might lead to some tweaks of the AAA mod. They were going to run some tests but I haven't heard back yet. I believe the comment was regarding light AAA though and not heavy.

a buddy of mine made this video.

 

I do not believe the devs have changed the AI gunners since the publication of the video.

 

His claim was that the AI behaves differently online or offline. If you are offline, the AI gunnery can be changed. If you are online however, it cannot be changed, regardless if you have it set to Ace or Low etc... 

 

I looked in the files but I could not see anywhere suggesting this. But he knows this much better than I do so I believe he may be on to something. Please confirm?

 

As for the viability of this mod, I wish it were possible to use online.

On 2/4/2023 at 3:31 AM, Stonehouse said:

@MrFivebyFive Confirmed AI crew on human controlled aircraft are ace level. So, the video is partially incorrect in terms of the current game. The skill level is defaulted but to ace level whereas the video seems to portray a low level of skill. The video is correct though in that you cannot set the skill level of the AI crew on a human controlled aircraft. I have actually suggested multiple times that the people flying bombers and complaining that stock AI gunners are ruining the game for them should try the AI Gunnery mod to see if it helps but unfortunately, I don't think many of them have.

 

<edit> also confirmed SP and MP are identical via discord comment.

 

 

 

@Youtch

 

My Tunisia mod list:

My European mod list:

 

Note that I add Dynamic Effects plus units to the Europe list when I am the host or playing offline. Some of the above are a mélange of several mods or a personal adaption so you may not find the exact same thing around to download as I actually run. I do also have a FC specific JSGME list but don't fly FC that much.

 

No it only changes the pilots and gunners. The AAA mod is what I built for AAA. The stock AAA is very likely to get you in the initial bracketing fire and the AAA mod should make this more survivable as long as you don't be silly and fly straight and level for any length of time in a flak zone. Someone ( @Picchio ) did make some recent comments that might lead to some tweaks of the AAA mod. They were going to run some tests but I haven't heard back yet. I believe the comment was regarding light AAA though and not heavy.

discord comment provides no evidence to his claims. It is baseless until proven otherwise.

On 2/3/2023 at 9:13 PM, Stonehouse said:

 

It's in no way conclusive but since I was mucking around with Kraut1's EMG setup for Tunisia I ran a quick test. Offline mission, my aircraft a fully laden HE111H16. The enemy interceptor a Hurricane MkIIA with dust filter. Its pilot was high level skill. I left my aircraft on auto level and went to external on the Hurricane to watch how well the gunners did their job. AI Gunnery is running.

 

Results below, repeat this is not conclusive but you can definitely see that my gunners are doing a much better job than in the video you posted. I don't know if it is my mod or just that the AI skill for crew of human piloted aircraft has been tweaked since the video you posted was released. At the moment from the way the gunners are reacting I suspect they are either ace or high-level skill but that is just a guess. Hoping a dev will confirm the skill used in one of the places I have posted the question.

 

 

but this video is with your mod running though, I am asking about the vanilla AI.

 

Can the vanilla AI in online be changed? The video I linked claims no.

Have you tested online in a PvP environment and seen if results are different?

[Stonehouse]

 

On 2/13/2023 at 1:38 PM, MrFivebyFive said:

a buddy of mine made this video.

 

I do not believe the devs have changed the AI gunners since the publication of the video.

 

His claim was that the AI behaves differently online or offline. If you are offline, the AI gunnery can be changed. If you are online however, it cannot be changed, regardless if you have it set to Ace or Low etc... 

 

I looked in the files but I could not see anywhere suggesting this. But he knows this much better than I do so I believe he may be on to something. Please confirm?

 

As for the viability of this mod, I wish it were possible to use online.

discord comment provides no evidence to his claims. It is baseless until proven otherwise.

but this video is with your mod running though, I am asking about the vanilla AI.

 

Can the vanilla AI in online be changed? The video I linked claims no.

Have you tested online in a PvP environment and seen if results are different?

 

Ok I think we're getting some misunderstandings around what I meant in my earlier post. To be absolutely clear - I've been advised by a member of the dev team (Regingrave) that the AI crew - that's essentially gunners but I guess can cover bomb aimers in some aircraft - in human piloted aircraft are ace level. This is regardless of online or offline. They are ace level in all environments. You set the aircraft skill level to player in the editor and therefore end up with the rest of the crew positions that are filled by AI being set to Ace.

 

You can't have the aircraft set to player and then pick and choose the skill of your AI crew - it is set to Ace somewhere in IL2 code. According to the advice it is the same everywhere and PvP has nothing to do with things. I've seen nothing in the files I have examined to create the AI gunnery mod that would make a distinction between offline and online or whether the AI gunner bot is on a human or AI piloted aircraft and so I have absolutely no reason to doubt the dev's advice.

I have no idea whether the skill of your AI crew used to be different in earlier version of the game, but it is Ace currently.

 

I do know that some of the factors used to calculate aim error were tweaked in patches during the time I have been working on the AI gunnery mod. My understanding was that this was due to the community complaining that AI gunners were too accurate. In fact, I believe this is why Reiper420's original blind gunners mod was created.

 

As I have stated in other threads, there are only about 4 things that feed into accuracy for AI Gunners:

• The weapon being used - things like dispersion, temperature impacts etc. These are common across all use of a weapon. So, for example an MG131 has the same base definition wherever it is used.
• The turret definition - at the turret level there are overrides for dispersion and temp plus mag size, number of reloads and reload time. For instance, an MG131 in a Ju88C6 top turret has slightly worse dispersion than the top turret MG131 on a HE111H16. I don't know why but assume that the dev team's historical research led to this being so. My opinion is that it is probably that the mounting in a Ju88C6 is not as good as in a HE111H16.
• The skill level of the AI crew which covers all AI crew in the aircraft. The skill level covers things like error values but also engagement range, time to search for targets and general responsiveness of the AI. Higher skilled AI react quicker and search further and quicker and engage at longer ranges.
• The aim error calculation which is used for all calculation of AI Air Gunner accuracy. I believe this calculation is called 3 times for each shot, once each for the x, y, z component of the velocity difference vector between target and gunner. A value is calculated (see first post in this thread for details of the formula) and then multiplied by distance in meters and a random value between -1 and 1. The aim error is then applied in 3D space to determine the accuracy of the gunner. Skill feeds into this calculation as a parameter but the formula for calculating aim error is the same for all skill levels. My belief is that the game basically calculates a 100% accurate shot and then uses the aim error to make it randomly inaccurate around the 100% accurate aim point. I cannot confirm my beliefs because I cannot see the lines of code but I have not observed anything to discount them.

Personally, I do use the AI gunnery mod on my own personal server for flying co-op missions with friends. All that would be needed to use it online is to get the server host to use it. I'm aware that can lead to issues on very public servers in that you can't enforce a particular mod set at the client end and some people abuse the situation but on controlled servers where you know and trust the people, I don't see using an agreed mod set is an issue.

 

Perhaps I misunderstood your original question - I thought you were asking whether the AI crew on a human piloted aircraft could have their skill level set and if not, what level of skill did they get assigned.

 

Therefore, I saw no reason not to use AI Gunnery in the video because it has no bearing on those questions. Under AI gunnery there is still significant difference between the accuracy of the different skill levels and so it made no difference to me making a guess about the AI skill on human piloted aircraft. I guessed they got high or ace and Regingrave confirmed they were ace.

 

Edited April 7, 2023 by Stonehouse