Hey Robert et al...
Can we turn bomber guns OFF when the plane is on the ground? Lately some guys have been landing bombers at closed strips to strafe down the troops. The next step will be using them as nearly invulnerable (compared to the ack positions) ack guns in defense of fields.
There are already too many ways to game the game. Let's shut that one off before more dweebs realize that uber tough B17s plus super powerful 50s make for powerful but ahistoric ground antiaircraft platforms
finn

last I knew otto doesn't work when a bomber is on the ground...however I have sat in the gunners and MANNED a gun when sitting on runway,

The ack guns at fields are rather pathetic. You may as well not have any. If they actually worked there wouldn't be any Noe bomb poppers that climb 2 miles from the field and get bombs off.

The only time I had 88s hit anyone was when I built groups of eight 88 AIs and gave them maximum skill levels. Even then I had to put them right along the bomber path. Lit up the bombers just like real life at 20,000ft

But arena settings for flak are weak at best. Turns out the deadliest are the 50cals which you cant see until they strafe you. The little outposts in Tunisia with four twin 50cals are wicked. Thats why the bombers climb just enough to avoid them. You can tweak the settings for all flak hardcoded to the arena to make them slightly more deadly but even at highest skill levels they generally miss unless you are right on top of them.

Then there is the problem in some terrains like in the ETO where they dont fire at all no matter what you do. I have a theory the when you have too many aircraft and AAA guns in one area the server only processes the important data and the AAA is always last in. But its just a theory.

The smaller stuff works pretty well.....what your seeing with noe stuff, is that, once you pop, it takes several seconds before the ack "sees" you before it opens up, giving you enough time to unload, nose high flinging em down the runway.

Ack is ineffective? Settings are weak? Really? We're talking about the ack that shoots you down while you're surrounded by defending aircraft that are NEVER in any danger from it? Why do you think players ack drag as a standard defensive target? In real life, the friendly ack would either stop shooting with them in the area of fire, or they'd have a good chance of getting shot down themselves.
And... is this the ack that explodes me at 10000 feet and two miles out? I've been killed by 88s at extreme altitudes, albeit more rarely. The 20's and 40's are absolutely lethal. The 50's not so much, but they're bloody hard to strafe down. That's why attacking forces always target the ack first.

And you guys think it's historically accurate to land a bomber at one of your closed fields and use it to kill troopers or troop planes? What about using bombers as mobile ack stars? Given that b17s are a LOT harder to kill than gun positions that could be very effective. Throw a couple players into top and tail guns and taxi around as a nearly invulnerable multiple ack position. If you think THAT'S historically accurate, you must be reading WWII histories from an alternate universe.
In the world in which I live, aircraft loaded with bombs and high octane fuel (both of which tend to explode when hit by cannon shells) are horribly vulnerable on the ground and would never be deployed as ack guns deliberately.
It's gaming the game- period. And it needs to stop. Just disable all aircraft gunswhen the planes are on the ground. Problem solved, dweebs disappointed.
finn

Finn,

Not refuting using buffs as ack guns is kid stuff. Right you are in saying it's gaming the game; just as NOE bombers are, just as flinging a bombed up fighter around the sky stick stirring (wings would fall off), just as WEP climbing at very low speeds (talk about extremely fast over heat) and the list goes on. Strange how you read about attacking airfields that it was usually 1 pass only as ack was deadly. I've been hit by my own ack all the time, while the aircraft I'm chasing in his jabo die mentality doesn't even get hit ( good that your own ack doesn't get you).

All we need now is power ups spaced throughout the airspace where you can get more ammo, more bombs, more fuel, damaged fixed and we'd have a great xBox thriller; as it stands now it's just a mediocre xBox game for kids no matter what age you are.

<S>

Weird the old crap comes back with a "new" player base. Why is it game the game instead of play the game.

So you can land, man the guns and be a nuisance... I remember when guys would land and finish off a field with a bomber usually with troops nearby...

Finn are you saying a buff on the ground is too hard to kill? Sorry I haven't played in a long time. Couple of high speed strafing runs doesn't do it?

IEN guys reading these boards need to be reminded what is wrong with gameplay. Much easier to fix on a new build than going in and working with 20 year old code. As we have often seen a fix here breaks something there. You cannot stop dweeb play but you can certainly not reward it. Score has to mean something more than a new rank and bazillion points. If you can tie in rewards to good game play, monetization and an underlying strategic base layer you will certainly reduce those players that just game the game.