I remember very well how my onboard gunners, probably in the G5N1 or H8K2, opened fire on the enemy fighter, but not from the right side. The left beam gunner was shooting at the fighter that passed me on the right. AI shooters almost never shoot, even at planes that are 100 meters or less away from me.
Make AI even stronger, I dont see any purpose in AI just being there to kill it… IMPO its too weak
Let’s use the B-17G -60-VE for example:
ACE Crew LVL 75, Gunner firing range is 233 yds, Firing and tracking probability is 66.24%
Target tracking range is 722 yds. (Mind you the max zeroing range for fighters is 800m or roughly 874 yds)
According to this:
the effective range of the M2 as mounted was 3,500 feet or 1166.667 yds
Then there’s this:
This Document (Gunner’s information file : flexible gunnery. Air Force Manual 20) states in multiple places that the guns should be boresighted for at least 1000 yds.
This one states that the START of the engagement should be around 600 yds
Being as generally there is going to be arguments anyways, why not just try to have it at the stated ranges according to the manuel?
So it would look like this:
Gunner firing range is 600 yds, Firing and tracking probability is 66.24%
Target tracking range is 722 yds.
For an ACE and maxxed out crew this would make sense and YET wouldn’t break anything as the only issue being corrected is the massive deviation between “I’m tracking the target” and “I might pull the trigger” without messing up anything else in the process. If you want to go manuel and open up at a farther distance then you can do so, but for the rest of us who may not be flying at +20,000ft and might be trying the terrain following approach to the target, this would help.
A long time ago there was a multiplayer game named “Warbirds”. In it, not only could we fly bombers, but we could also crew another player’s gunnery positions. Bombers would fly formation, frequently with the rear gunner manned by another player. It’s an increasing challenge for pilots to keep their formation despite increasing damage.
Now, that game was laggy (the whole internet was, back then, as nobody had the connections we do now) and the graphics were cave drawings by comparison to WT, but the game play was more realistic. Having a human that could change from one gunner position to the next would make a lot of the bombers in this game far more a challenge than they currently are.
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