1st question:Yes, human bomber crew switching positions at will, with the "original" pilot having the autority to who he delivers controls of the bomber and regain them whenever he wants. I think would be good for long missions,(gives pilot a break, and encourages more people to play as gunner position, because they can also do some part of piloting) and maybe used also for teatching purpose.
2nd question: yes, mainly to learn something out of others, and good also for having more stuff to put in a film.
Thanks for ansewering. :)

I'm more inclined to trust DT's comments about what is, and isn't possible with IL2. Like the rest of us, they're fans who are driven by love of the game rather than profit.

fighters / bombers percentage in multiplayer
 

Is it possible to have a feature in dogfight maps to limit the percentage of fighters and bombers.
Example: You build a map balancing it for a server of 50 players. You can put an aircraft limit to 12 fighters. So the rest is bombers.
Problem is: if the server has 12 players for side in....and everybody chooses fighters the mission design is altered.

If I can set aircraft limitation by percentage...example 50% fighters....with 12 players in I can have 6 bomber and six fighters. The mission design remains untouched.
:!:

Which is why if you read the rest of my post...............

It probably is possible.

Yep. My point is that it's a pleasure having fans developing for IL2, rather than a company. For so long fans were told "this isn't possible" when what Oleg and company really meant is "it isn't profitable enough."

While I'm awed by what Oleg and 1c did with the IL2 series - it was light years of any other combat flight sim out there when it was released - I don't like being lied to.

Anyhow, my comment wasn't meant to criticize your request. I think it's possible and it's certainly a good idea. To look at it a different way, a mod which allows the bomber commander to hand off control of the plane could also be used to allow a player bombardier to take control of the plane using the Norden bomb site or similar device, or for a player copilot to take control from an AI lead pilot (or vice-versa).

Tweak the idea slightly, and you could have the same mod allow human-crewed bombers to pass control around. For example, player 1 (in pilot position) gets killed, so player 2 could take over. This would simulate things like the Flight Engineer, Navigator or Bombardier (who often had some flight training) shoving the pilot's body out of the seat and taking over the controls.

Hum, so maybe the problem is with the allied (I mean, squadron leader) AI. He often takes a different course than the waypoints one and behavior strangely, so my plane on autopilot just follow him... For example: many times playing as a B 25 bomber, the whole squadron dive to bomb, and not level, just like they were diver bombers. If I turn off the autopilot close to the target and level my bomber for myself, they just shout for me to "stay on course"! Other times, playing as an escort fighter, my whole flight fly away from the bombers we were suposed to protect just because we missed a waypoint...

Maybe if the AI had some behavior patterns depending on the type of plane it flyes... like, do not dive if he is a level bomber, or always follow the bombers if he is an escort, regardless of his own waypoints... them maybe my plane and my flight would do what they are suposed to do, even on autopilot. :)

That's not an autopilot problem. That's an AI problem... or rather a limitation.

The B-25 version in-game is a B-25J which operated as both level bomber and strafer using the guns in the nose to attack targets are very low level. The AI is setup on this aircraft for the strafer behavior so that's what it tries to do. At some higher altitude it is supposed to play nice as a level bomber but I'm not sure what that is.

On my wish list is an ability to tell the AI what to do at the attack waypoint depending on what options are available for that aircraft. So that we can have A-20s and B-25s and other types that did double duty doing what they are supposed to do according to mission parameters.

My problem with waypoints is that if you miss a waypoint and then turn on AI, the AI tries to go back to it, rather than going on to the next waypoint or to the nearest waypoint.

Going back to the last known location might be realistic if you're flying over unfamiliar terrain or have limited landmarks and the waypoints are widely separated, but makes no sense if the waypoints have been set up to make planes orbit over a particular location, or if the planes are supposed to rendezvous with some other unit.

In a more perfect world, the FMB would include the following options:

Attack -> Attack type: high level bomb, dive bomb, strafe/rockets, torpedo/skip bomb/kamikaze.

Loiter -> Pattern: Circle, Racetrack, Expanding circle/spiral, square, rectangle, expanding square, expanding rectangle, random with X radius of waypoint. Speed change: +/- X mph/kph. Altitude change: +/- X m/feet.

Missed Waypoint Behavior: Back to last waypoint, go to next waypoint, go to nearest waypoint.

Dogfight behavior: Avoid contact (i.e., keep at least X distance from nearest enemy while still trying to get to next waypoint), Defensive circle (AKA Lufberry Circle), Escort/air cover (i.e., don't go beyond X distance from Y unit/location - close vs. loose escort set by distance), Ignore (i.e., don't dogfight or maneuver at all - very realistic for level bombers at IP point), Cautious (i.e., dogfight if attacked but don't pursue if enemy breaks off), Aggressive (i.e., normal dogfight behavior), Scatter (i.e., similar to what happens when bomber formations are badly shaken up, but logical initial behavior for unarmed formations), Flee/Retreat (i.e., avoid contact with enemy and got to another waypoint if enemy sighted), Scatter & Flee (combines the two options above - formation scatters, individual planes try to make it to another waypoint individually).

Escort Behavior (Can be assigned with other commands, no other flights need be present to get search patterns along a particular path): straight flight, weave (i.e., a sinusoidal path), zig-zag (i.e., 45 degree left and right turns every X meters), racetrack (i.e., oval loops - like current fighter escort behavior), orbit (i.e., circular loops), random.

'Go to next waypoint' has always been available and it works for you own planes autopilot too.

Yes, but if Im not a flight group (or squadron) leader it will not work for the entire flight, right? I mean, the leader will still try to go back to the missed waypoint (what the AI is programmed to do, I supose), and if I go to the next by myself, I'll break formation...