Wingmen won't attack ground targets

[Juste_Milieu]

Hi all, sorry if this has been asked and answered before. When ordering my wingmen to attack ground targets (Xbox 360 version in realistic mode) instead of attacking they scatter to the four winds - has anyone else encountered this? I first noticed it on the first Battle of Britain mission where you attack German ships in the Channel, none of my wingmen would attack the ships when ordered to. Then I noticed it again in some of the Sicily missions and most recently in the Battle of the Bulge mission where you are ordered to clear the supply drop zones. I ordered my wingmen to attack and when I checked the map they had flown almost off the edges of it!

Am I doing something wrong or is this a known bug?

[The M00ps]

No, you're not doing anything wrong. They are pretty much worthless. Surprisingly, I found them more effective in Sim mode. Either that, or you just don't have to destroy as many primary targets.

[kozzm0]

If you center your crosshairs on the actual target and give them the attack order at that exact instant, then they might do it.

I think that's how the X attack command is supposed to work. But I can recall only one time ever a wingman ever actually doing it. It was in the single mission, can't recall the name, in Korsun I think, where Danilov leads a flight of sturmoviks to knock out some AAA, in 4 groups of 3, and the ones in the south are hidden in the trees. In sim/limited ammo, you don't get enough explosives to get them all, even using guns for the rest of them. The wingmen will attack the AAA via the star-attack command, but they use up all their explosives too. The one time I remember, I was at the group of AAA on the north end, they were the last ones left, and so I hit the X-attack with my target on the AAA and flew away, and amazingly one of my wingmen flew up guns blazing and destroyed it.

But that's the only time I can recall. The wingmen are mainly worthless idiots against ground targets.

[lost cause]

I noticed in Nuts and one of the BoB scenarios that your wingmen wander around when they have been hit. They just fly straight because of damage. If you play Nuts on Arcade and you don't know what to kill (which is a common problem) you end up shooting everything on the ground hoping for the best. I repeatedly shot up ground targets and all of a sudden Mission Complete. I didn't do it, so eventually it appears they will get it done unless time runs out (simulation). I also noticed a lot of 109s in BoB scenarios smoking. Just watching them I discovered it was the bombers (Brirish bombers) hitting them, not your wingmates. But the wingmen DID finish them off. At times they help, and at times they don't.

[Juste_Milieu]

Thanks for the replies all, I wondered if it was just me or not! My wingmen tend to do well shooting other aircraft down, I've only really noticed a problem when attacking ground targets and figured once I played on sim or limited ammo then I'd be in trouble!