Quote:
Originally Posted by Saintblu
If you can select infinite ammo surely we can have the horizontal stabilizor back eh? It needs to be back in the game especially on multi player. If we impliment the current procedure it will just be ruined from flak or heavy cannon shot.
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Which is exactly what happened in reality many times. I doubt any full switch servers would use it if it meant the bombers fly like it's on rails and disregard the effects of flak, turbulence and so on.
However, that still leaves us with the problem of how to fly an aircraft with multiple crew positions on our own.
Well, I've had an idea for some time now that could work well for almost everyone but it's a bit complicated to explain, so bear with me.
First of all, let's make a distinction to keep things clear. Whenever i say "autopilot" i mean the simulated system that copies the real-life equivalent in the aircraft that had one, NOT having the AI fly the plane for you. For the AI flying the plane, i refer to it as passing the controls to a virtual crew member.
This is just to avoid confusion further on.
With that out of the way, the level stabilizer is a gaming gimmick that had to be used in the old engine because there wasn't anything better available, it's not really realistic.
That being said, we do need an alternative because not all bombers have an autopilot and automatic bombsights. Also, even in aircraft with automatic bombsights it's sometimes useful to execute manual bomb drops.
So, we would need to have something to replace the old level stab and is both playable and realistic at the same time.
I'm thinking along the lines of a script or AI routine that lets us guide the pilot through the bomb run like a real bombardier would do.
For example, say you press the "level stabilizer" key but it doesn't work like the old one. Instead, it gives control of the aircraft to the AI and it starts flying straight and level. Up to this point it's very similar to the old level stab in IL2:1946. However, to make turns and corrections during the bomb run in the older series you had to mess with rudder trim.
In reality, a bombardier would give specific instructions to the pilot for course corrections and the pilot would make normal banking turns (just not steep banks). So, imagine that instead of having level stab and rudder trim, what we get when engaging this function is the AI flying the bomber in level flight but we also have the ability to command turns.
It could use its own specifically mapped keys, or it could use already existing commands (just like in IL2:1946, where the bombsight controls also direct the guided missiles and change settings for the P-51's gyroscopic gunsight).
Let's say it uses existing commands, probably the ones for the course setter or those that change the desired heading in the luftwaffe autopilots, so that it's intuitive and easy to remember: "in any sort of assisted flight (autopilot or AI controlled), these buttons make the aircraft turn". I have mapped my controls for the luftwaffe course selector to < for a left turn and > for a right turn, so let's use these as an example.
So, each keypress of < or > would tell the AI pilot in control of the aircraft to turn one degree left or right, but only when the "new" level stab function is engaged. If the level stab was disengaged, then it would affect the course selector instrument like it currently does.
Then you would just go to bombsight view, engage the new and improved level stab, look at the target and tell the pilot how much to turn left/right without having to mess up your rudder trim: it's not only more realistic, it's also easier to handle.
This would adequately simulate how a real bombardier guides his pilot through a bomb run while still maintaining complete playability for those who don't want to use the actual autopilot (or those flying Blehnheims and Br.20s which have no autopilot at all).
We can already pass the aircraft controls over to the AI in aircraft with more than one pilot (Tiger Moth and Br.20), so i guess it won't be a huge amount of work to have such a function. Furthermore, it's a solution that would please everyone since it's simulating a real tactic while still being perfectly playable and easier to control than what we had in IL2:1946.
What do you guys think? Any suggestions/improvements? I wish i knew how to code in C#, i would actually try and make some AI-assisted scripts to simulate how a real crew cooperates during a mission: a navigator script, a script for AI crewmen to call out contacts, etc.