What is something that you had trouble with in the original game?

[General Ripper]

Maybe we can pool our brains and help out some folks. For me it was the Navigators drift meter. The implementation was really simple, but the plane would never sit still long enough for me to use it effectively.

[AudioJake]

Bombing accurately as the Sight was real tricky, also keeping the navigator on course consistently. Fond memories of this game as a kid though - My Top Gunner was a BEAST he had 13 kills after 17 missions - He would have been a legend in the US Air corps with kill list like that.

[General Ripper]

Originally posted by AudioJake:

Bombing accurately as the Sight was real tricky, also keeping the navigator on course consistently. Fond memories of this game as a kid though - My Top Gunner was a BEAST he had 13 kills after 17 missions - He would have been a legend in the US Air corps with kill list like that.

This is a little long, but he explains the process well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwR5Bg9QrxQ

[garytwinem]

If the German pilots' suicidal tendencies are addressed, I'll be content 🙂

[Bcarreon93]

I think for me, since I used to play a lot of fighter escort in the original game, a map would be great or a way for command to give you a heading to the nearest friendly bombers and an approximate time to link up. So say, Turkey control directs Turkey to Point A and Turkey is to stay on heading 330 for 25 minutes. In the original game you had to either let the AI take you to the bombers or you had to lock onto them with Control Y.

[da11en47]

What bothered me was the B-17s always crashing into each other and enemies always coming from behind and getting shot down easily.

[Bcarreon93]

Originally posted by da11en47:

What bothered me was the B-17s always crashing into each other and enemies always coming from behind and getting shot down easily.

I actually read some of what Franz Stigler said about that in his memoirs and he said they started to not attack from the rear for just that very reason. Erich Hartman said he would only attack from above with more than 2000 meters elevation in relation to his target and would do a fast, passing attack. Stigler would do one or two passes and head for home. It helped, some. A lot of it has to do with what your game settings were set on.

[danielprates]

I absolutelly hated the auto/manual mode in some situations. For instance, sometimes you just want to fly the plane and be left alone. But it is impossible when, every split-second you jump into another station (say the navigator, to check just real quick your position) the game just throws flying into the auto mode again and it OVERRIDES everything you set, such as engines etc.

What the game REALLY NEEDS is three auto modes: the same manual, the same auto, but a "let me fly damnit!" mode, where, if you jump out of the pilot's seat, it KEEPS COURSE AND ENGINE SETTINGS until you get back to the pilot's seat. You know, same as any other flight sim.

[Fenthedog]

Navigating home was always my bugbaer

[Czar Salad]

Originally posted by danielprates:

I absolutelly hated the auto/manual mode in some situations. For instance, sometimes you just want to fly the plane and be left alone. But it is impossible when, every split-second you jump into another station (say the navigator, to check just real quick your position) the game just throws flying into the auto mode again and it OVERRIDES everything you set, such as engines etc.

What the game REALLY NEEDS is three auto modes: the same manual, the same auto, but a "let me fly damnit!" mode, where, if you jump out of the pilot's seat, it KEEPS COURSE AND ENGINE SETTINGS until you get back to the pilot's seat. You know, same as any other flight sim.

Now that mouse gunnery works instead of absolutely having to use a joystick, it might actually be possible to have flight control retained by a stick + hotas, while the mouse and keyboard do whatever else. Such a thing almost certainly won't be implemented at release but it seems at least theoretically possible to implement.

[Mr. Kain]

Originally posted by danielprates:

I absolutelly hated the auto/manual mode in some situations. For instance, sometimes you just want to fly the plane and be left alone. But it is impossible when, every split-second you jump into another station (say the navigator, to check just real quick your position) the game just throws flying into the auto mode again and it OVERRIDES everything you set, such as engines etc.

What the game REALLY NEEDS is three auto modes: the same manual, the same auto, but a "let me fly damnit!" mode, where, if you jump out of the pilot's seat, it KEEPS COURSE AND ENGINE SETTINGS until you get back to the pilot's seat. You know, same as any other flight sim.

Somebody correct me if I’m wrong, but I seem to remember that navigator could be set in the setting to be always precise and don't require the player assistance.

edit. From the manual: "Before you do anything else you must check the status of the
Navigation realism. Navigation is an important factor in the simulation
and the aircraft can fly at three levels of Navigation Complexity:
Historical, Easy or Flawless"

And, instead of using the left mouse button when adjusting engines, you could use the right mouse button and that would override the AI even when you switched positions.

edit. Or was it the lieft mouse button. Manual: "Note: You MUST right click on the throttle lever for each of the four engines to allow the AI access to the engines again. If you fail to do this, the pilot AI will not be able to fly the plane, and the engines will
not respond to your joystick’s throttle."

edit. From the manual: "Lock Out AI Engine Control - L (or Engine key + L)"

[danielprates]

Originally posted by Mr. Kain:

Originally posted by danielprates:

I absolutelly hated the auto/manual mode in some situations. For instance, sometimes you just want to fly the plane and be left alone. But it is impossible when, every split-second you jump into another station (say the navigator, to check just real quick your position) the game just throws flying into the auto mode again and it OVERRIDES everything you set, such as engines etc.

What the game REALLY NEEDS is three auto modes: the same manual, the same auto, but a "let me fly damnit!" mode, where, if you jump out of the pilot's seat, it KEEPS COURSE AND ENGINE SETTINGS until you get back to the pilot's seat. You know, same as any other flight sim.

Somebody correct me if I’m wrong, but I seem to remember that navigator could be set in the setting to be always precise and don't require the player assistance.

edit. From the manual: "Before you do anything else you must check the status of the
Navigation realism. Navigation is an important factor in the simulation
and the aircraft can fly at three levels of Navigation Complexity:
Historical, Easy or Flawless"

And, instead of using the left mouse button when adjusting engines, you could use the right mouse button and that would override the AI even when you switched positions.

edit. Or was it the lieft mouse button. Manual: "Note: You MUST right click on the throttle lever for each of the four engines to allow the AI access to the engines again. If you fail to do this, the pilot AI will not be able to fly the plane, and the engines will
not respond to your joystick’s throttle."

edit. From the manual: "Lock Out AI Engine Control - L (or Engine key + L)"

Hey this is interesting!

But also, I remember that when you left the cockpit, the pilot (now in full auto) would start changing course and altitude. Your solution is great (if it works; I still havent tried) for overriding engine controls, but there is also the course and altitude changes. I I can leave the cockpit without the auto giving up on course changes i made and veering off elsewhere, that would indeed solve the problem

[Smokey]

Need to be able to save the mission anywhere. I just don't have 4 - 8 hours to do a mission in one setting.

[Redmarkus4]

The way the terrain just snaps into view (meaning it seems to build as you approach it). I'd be really happy to see a more seamless build of the terrain and to have adjustable options settings for the maximum view distance.

[captainpanda34]

the colision mechanics needs improvement to avoid the pinball effect of 3-4 planes going away in one instance (and spining at super high speed ! :D) following a fighter collision

[fxstsevo]

Yes, the B-17 suecide pilots are horrible, please fix it soon.