Quote:
Originally Posted by bugmenot
Hum, I'd like, but no.
I've just tried in Veteran and Average, it's the same. Always those hyper-accurate bombers' gunners.
Maybe not a real "bug" as we understand it, but I do think some tweaks should be made. That's not even funny.
I don't even want to imagine in Ace, that must be pointless and totally surrealistic.
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The gunners are super-accurate in some cases and totally inaccurate, even downright unrealistic, in others.
The short story is this: if their guns are pointing your way when you make your attack run then prepare to get accurately peppered by their fire, but if you are a bit outside of their direct cone of fire then they just shoot into empty air.
This seems a lot like the way the AI uses fighters too...they can pull of some amazing snapshots and yet, they can't hit you when they're saddled up on your 6 if you make as much as a gentle, low-G turn.
I've spent a lot of time flying QMB scenarios against bombers and i've used pretty much everything, from German cannon armed fighters against B17s to Spitfires against He111s and with varying enemy AI levels.
The thing is, as long as you are pulling a moderate amount of G the gunners will miss most of the time. You can try this on QMB with a flight of 4 AI B17s. Get on their high 6 and dive below them, as you approach them start pulling up behind them. This will either give you a shot at their belly, or a snapshot at their 6 o'clock.
The trick is to never center the stick, but always keep some pressure applied on the controls. So, this is not a tracking shot but just a snapshot, as you are constantly changing your trajectory. This is the trick to the gunners missing, flying your plane in a changing trajectory. It doesn't have to be wild maneuvering, just apply some moderate G (maybe between 2.5-4.5 G?).
This makes the gunners miss more, but also makes it harder for you to aim and score kills. It's well suited against soft bombers or when you are flying a heavily armed plane, for example a Fw190 with Mk108s only needs 2-4 hits on a B-17 to put it out of aciton.
The other attack profile makes it easier to aim both for you and for the enemy gunners, but relies on minimizing your exposure time to them. It involves flying segments of almost-straight lines or slight curves, with the aim of putting you in a position to execute an attack from the bomber's front quarter (not directly head-on, usually you come in from the bomber's 10/2 o'clock).
Fly parallel to the bombers outside their gun range and when they are at your 9 and a half o'clock (or 2 and a half if they are to your right), start turning towards them.
You can increase/decrease your bank and turn rate to keep the bomber's silhouette steady in reference to a fixed point on your aircraft (for example, a bit to the side of a canopy frame), which is effectively putting you in a collision course with it, if you go on like this you will crash into the bomber. The trick is that as you close the distance you make a final correction turn, momentarily increasing your bank and pulling back on the stick and then levelling off.
Now you are no longer on a collision course, you are on a course that will have you flying on one side of the bomber, crossing its frontal quarter and exiting your attack run behind its tail (eg, starting on the bomber's 10 o'clock and exiting on its 4 o'clock). The gunners have an easier time tracking you at this final segment of the attack run because you are levelled off, but closing speeds are high and you won't take a lot of hits. Even better, you are alinged with the target's geometrical plane of motion and the target will move through your gunsight from nose to tail: congratulations, you just raked the bomber from end to end with gunfire!
Most of all, this sets you up for taking advantage of one of the biggest glitches in AI gunners: rotating turrets (like the B17's top turret) tend to get stuck facing the direction of the last attack. So, if you attack from its left frontal quarter and exit to its right rear quarter, the turret will be facing to the bomber's 10 o'clock or so. Since you exited to the bomber's right however, you set up your next attack from its right side. When you attack, the top turret will probably be facing the wrong way and won't be able to rotate in time to track you. By the time they have turned and started firing you'll be exiting your attack run to the opposite quarter, the turret will again get stuck facing opposite from you, so rinse and repeat until you bring him down. That's why a lot of times you see AI bombers shooting tracers wildly into empty sky towards the place you were 2 seconds ago.
Hope it helps. I would upload some tracks but i'm in a bit of a hurry
