1,Which planes are affected
A, Almost all Mg151 15&20 equipped planes have this ability to push a button and unjam all guns by discarding the currently loaded one.
Some fuselage mounted mgs are accessible by the pilots. This was a common case in pre-WW2, A6M retains this feature. But possibly there could be other cases, especially with the early ww2 biplanes.
2, how could this be implemented
A, this feature is ultimately unnecessary in AB. So reusing the Reload key is seemingly the most friendly way to implement this in RB gamemode specific. Pushing the reload key for an extended period of time to activate it. Manually discarding the cartridge would take more effort than simply pushing a button to unjam. It could be instantaneous activation coupled with a “tank repair” style cooldown time.
3, about MG151
A, they are electrically wired, meaning they were very easy to implement in any German planes. I might as well suggest the function to be available for the specific gun type regardless of the plane quipped with the guns. I’m suggesting this because even the Japanese Ki-61 Hei equipped with the submarine sent MG151 had this unjamming mechanism intact. It’s stated by the Japanese pilot of the time.
4, How this affect the game
It would be crucial for planes to have a counterattack measure. Instead of just running away, players can still engage in a fight after jamming the guns.
5, Is this useful?
Not much, considering the current gameplay. As long as players play in an expected way, they don’t need to fire continuously to the point the guns are clogged. Irl the jamming happed almost randomly regardless of the overheat. But in this game it’s so consistent it’s almost negligible. Unlike in the game, M2 and alike, Hispano as an example, Jammed regardless of the continuous firing, but they are hugely affected by the Gs. The current G-force while the guns are fired, caused the guns to jam. They are likely associated with the feeding mechanism. That’s one of the reason American planes are equipped with so many large caliber machine guns instead of 1 or 2 cannons. This game is a game, and the real life is real life. Keeping the jamming likeliness based on overheating and keeping it consistent on user input was by far the good decision. Also it renders the importance of being able to unjam the guns midfight hindered.
6, once implemented
Users can report planes having this ability to unjam guns. Just applying this ability for few known aircraft at the moment would be more easier way to gather information quickly.
7, list of vehicles affected by this change
All Mg151 mounted planes,
Manual+Fuselage All A6M series vehicle. Ki-61 (only fuselage guns.). Ki-27( the guns are on the floor and fully accessible). J2M2, ki-44 (maaaaybee??) A5M, D4Ys (All D4Y series aircraft in the tree). D3A1. All ki-43 including the III otsu variant. Ki-10. F1M2. Also, actually, I don’t know about ki-84, I don’t see the lever typical on the vehicles said earlier. There seem to be the part of the gun sticking out, but the pull type lever aren’t there. Also it’s a sidenote but the Ki-84 doesn’t have the compass on the canopy frame, it’s added later on the post war registration for a legal reason. I’m not sure about this one. It’s just that these are the one I was able to catch with my own eyes. Because they are visually sticking out in the in-game models. Most non-Japanese planes are probably equipped with the lever extension to allow the manual cocking remotely.
Heres a really good thing you can do to stop jams, and to also help the devs not waste their time on a useless mechanic:
Dont spam your damn guns, fire short bursts, its really that simple.
depends on the plane. like Do17 bomber variants have the MG15 in the cockpit which can be unjammed but like if it is on the wing IRL it is immposibble to unjamn it mid-air.
Soviet jet aircraft with pyrotechnic cocking charges can also cycle their weapon mid-flight to clear any jams or stoppages. MiG-21Bis is one such example.
There is also the point where the 20mm Vulcan (and related developments) is capable of firing the entire ammo load of almost all aircraft in game before overheating to the point of malfunctioning, thus meaning it shouldn’t jam from extended bursts at all.
I know my grammar isn’t the best but some of you really don’t read it. I stated that it’s practically useless in this game because jamming is so manageable but not in real life. I’m not saying jamming needs to be more random akin to the real world. I just thought there is no reason to not add it either. Because the real planes could do that. And yes, not all Mg151 equipped aircraft had this feature obviously. But there is no way of getting documents for all those independent aircraft, so applying it to basically all fighters would be fair. Also just look inside the cockpit by changing the view in-game. You’ll see these guns and the cocking levers are literally sticking out on some aircraft types.
It’s a good point though, I do want to see more info about it. Maybe a list of some other nations or mechanisms that allow for this operation from inside the cockpit.
It would be nice to see the ability however, unless you provide examples on the potential duration, where this “Said button” is etc etc. It won’t happen anytime soon. Another thing is as everyone else has stated just don’t spam the trigger. Most pilots stopped holding down their triggers because they realized burst firing was significantly more efficient than holding it down. Since you have moments to lead your shots. Which means reading what the enemy pilots next move is.
If there is a way to unjam guns midflight IRL, then why not. But… If its only a handful of aircraft with the feature. Then its a kinda pointless addition and potentially unfair for other nations. Especially when the better solution is to just not jam your guns in the first place.
I agree with this but it would be nice to be able to do like a couple snap rolls and have like a 20% chance to unjam their guns. I don’t know how realistic this is but instead of a button lets make it where you have to do a mauver
If a plane realistically had an ability to clear jammed guns mid air, it should be in game. There’s no feasible excuse to not strive for modelling as much real world functionality as reasonably possible in this game.
OP is very specific which planes could do this historically (because the breech was in the pilots face in most cases) and could be enabled to do so in game. Idk why some people on this forum always insist on making everything into a skill issue fight. They’ve been selectively adding EFS, but if there’d been a thread first there’d have been some of the same people saying “no new mechanics, just don’t catch fire newb.”
manually clearing a jammed gun that had overheating without any kind of inspection to the barrel could lead into the gun exploding so i’d say unless the pilot is very desperate he would leave the gun as is and not risk blowing a piece of the cockpit he’s inside