Thanks for the reply Nadasero. I also spent a lot of time with B-17 II:The mighty 8th back in the day and i remember the automated bombsight as well
You are correct about speed, it's just an initial estimation and then you fine tune by watching how it tracks the target.
What i'm not sure about is the speed conversions, as the bomb sight tracks a bit fast:
Quote:
Originally Posted by jimbop
Blackdog, that is the 'correct' way to do it and I can confirm that AP 2 does work very well. Extremely stable after the initial descent to ~300 KPH so thanks for that, nadasero.
Your step 10 needs a modification: ensure the crosshairs stay on the target by manual adjustment with the Sight Up control. The MPH velocity setting, whilst correct for the RELEASE timing is incorrect for the SIGHT timing. Annoying, to say the least.
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So, we need to use TAS in mph, the release distance is calculated correctly for a given aiming point, but the aiming point itself is changing due to wrong crosshairs tracking and needs correcting through the run. Is that what you are saying?
I'm trying to avoid ambiguities here, so we can come up with something more or less standard that works, until the kinks are patched out.
I tried it in one of the free flight missions yesterday and it is true that mode 2 works very well. There are still some oscillations in altitude, especially when making bigger turns with the rudder in mode 2 you lose some, but i have found a workaround for this too: i switch between AP modes.
First of all i trim out to fly more or less steady (the 111 has aileron trim too in addition to rudder and elevator trim and i think the 88 does too, can't wait to fly it once its gyro is patched to work), so that i can calibrate my gyros and prepare the autopilot.
Then i engage mode 1 AP during the climb out. Mode 1 only controls the ailerons, so you are free to trim nose up or down manually and get your desired climb rate. Nearing my chosen altitude i start to trim for a lower rate of climb to gain airspeed while leveling off. The 111 is a bit tricky here, because speed changes take time and just when you think you are level, speed increases and gives you more climb rate. Nothing that can't be gotten used too though.
Nearing the target i climb a bit higher than my chosen altitude, so that i have a bit of "room" for the slight descend when mode 2 will be engaged. I have found out that it takes a descend of less than 200m on average to go from 250km/h (a usual climb speed) to 300km/h (the speed you need to keep level with mode 2 engaged). So if i want to bomb from 4000m, i will fly on mode 1 until i reach 4200m and then engage mode 2.
Like i said, turning wings level with the rudder is inefficient because of sideslip and you will lose some altitude while lining up the target. Just press your "previous AP mode" key to go to mode 1 when you are satisfied with your course, it will start climbing but it's good to keep the climb rate low to conserve airspeed: the lower the "gap" between your climb speed and 300km/h, the less time and altitude it takes to transiiton to level flight once you engage mode 2.
By repeating this correction process a couple of times during the run-in to the target, you can arrive at the target vicinity (within 10-15km) and be within 200m of your chosen altitude. At that point you switch to mode 2 exclusively and work the bombsight.
Useful notes: Even when zoomed in on the sight, you can press your "look at dashboard" key to get a glimpse of the bombardier's instruments (works in the Blenheim too). So, you can be looking through the sight, keep the button pressed to see your airpeed and altitude gauges, release the button to go back to the crosshairs and correct your bombsight alt and speed as needed.
Also, i think i have found out how to give gunner control back to the AI. I was in the middle of being chased by a 109 when flying a Blenheim on ATAG, i switched to the turret and then i remembered this deactivates the gunners. So, before i switched back to the pilot seat i had an idea, i pressed the keys that give control to the AI pilots (i think ctrl-C is the default). Going back to pilot seat and then back to the turret, i could see that the turret was pointing in a different direction, which means the AI gunner was tracking the 109 and was working.
Pressing ctrl-C again before going to the pilot's seat i brought up the net stats: it said that i was pilot and bombardier on that Blenheim, but not gunner.
So, i think it works like this:
If flying a plane with dual controls (Tiger Moth and Br.20), pressing ctrl-C while in the cockpit gives the controls to the AI co-pilot. If you are in a gunner seat, pressing ctrl-C before switching to another position gives the AI control of your currently occupied gunner position. So, just press it before changing spot to re-enable your AI gunners.
I haven't tested this in the German bombers but it should be easy to: just checking the net stats shows the positions that the player is in control of.
So, that's all i have to share so far.
I also have a couple of things to ask
Engines and power: At least in the He-111H model, it seems that the engines are a bit "weak" and it's not really the engines, but the prop modeling. Even at full pitch and full throttle it's impossible to exceed their limits on level flight. This is evident during the take off run, when RPM spools up so slowly that it's impossible to achieve the rated power values.
Also, does the sim model the propellers as constant speed units or are they variable pitch (like the 109) but with the pitch control on a slider (unlike the 109)?
I will have to experiment more with this. Maybe lowering pitch after the climb out or when at higher altitudes will give me more speed and consecutively a better climb, while also increasing manifold pressure due to the coarsening effect.
The reason this is important? When the memory leak gets fixed we'll be flying in formation. In order for wingmen to catch up and have a bit of power reserve to adjust their position, the leader flies at cruise settings. If the leader flies on full out power, the wingmen have no extra power to use for staying in position.
However, using full power seems necessary to get the required 300km/h for using mode 2 AP and even then some altitude loss occurs over time even when not turning at all (with time compression on, it looked like i was losing 100-200m every 5-10 minutes or so when flying on mode 2 AP, without turning at all).
If we fine-tune our engine handling to be able to keep 300km/h or slightly more with a bit of power reserve, then wingmen will be able to formate properly while the leader will also be able to stay level with mode 2 AP engaged.
Finally, i know the rads need the engine to be working before they can be opened (same as in the Stuka). The oil rad position is visible from the in-cockpit sliders and levers. Is there any instrument that indicates the position of the water rads (for example, like the colored bars on the wings of 109s and 110s)?
Sideslip: How do you account for it in the bombsight?
In the Blenheim, you just read the sideslip from the turn and bank indicator and use that one (adding the bombsight parameter in the direction of the actual slip).
In the He111 with its more accurate and magnified sight however, i have seen that even when the ball is centered there is a bit of drift. This could be simply because of wind.
So, how do i calibrate it? Do i input bombsight sideslip to the direction of the actual one or opposite as seen on instruments? If instruments (ball) are centered and i only see the sideslip from the bombsight, do i add sideslip in the direction the crosshairs is drifting towards in relation to the aim point or the opposite?
For example, if my crosshairs moves left of the target point, do i add sideslip left or right? I guess that after adding the correct sideslip value i will probably have to realign the crosshairs with the target.
I think we're really getting close to completely nailing it down guys, good work. This way we can not only fly, but also spot the bugs and issues. We started off with how to get the Blenheim off the ground safely, then how to bomb in it (it's less accurate but simpler to manage) and now we are almost done with the more complex bombers.
Let's keep it up and by the time the patch comes, we'll probably know enough to start flying any type of bomber in the sim in formations. This will give the sim some more variety in gameplay when flying online. I still can't wait for the Ju88 gyro fix, that one is awesome (although it struggles to get above 3-4km with a full load).