The gunner of the Vickers FB5 should be tweaked

[Hansa]

The gunner of the Vickers FB5 should be tweaked (he is dumb and don't shoot to the targets even when they are in front and very close to our plane)

The Spad A2 gunner is a blast, he is a very good shooter, but the Vickers FB5 gunner is blind.

I don't know how i could tweak this, please someboy tell me how to do it or make another flight model for the plane cause i love than plane.

[+ojcar]

Strange, as I'm having victories in the Gunbus. From the Gunbus Data:

 

GunnerFireChance=80

GunnerFireTime=2.5

GunnerAimOffset=0.0050

 

And from the SPAD A2 Data:

 

GunnerFireChance=80

GunnerFireTime=2.5

GunnerAimOffset=0.0050

 

Enough said...

 

There are only differences in the movement of the gun itself (as, of course should be). Another difference. You can add this GunnerFireChance=90 under [DogfightVeteran] and this GunnerFireChance=100 under [DogfightAce], but this only affects veteran an ace pilots

[Hansa]

Yep... i noticed they have the same numbers in the data file, and i don't understand why the spad a2 gunner is a master and the gunbus gunner is blind. The problem is that the gunbus gunner doesn't look at the target, he doesn't notice the planes close to our plane, for example a fokker E.III is in front of our plane and he is looking to the right, he doesn't see the fokker (and it's really close to our plane). Maybe it can't be tweaked.

[+quack74]

Hansa, I've been having the same problem. The gunner takes a few shots then turns away. most times he lets the Huns fly right past without firing one shot. I've tried changing some numbers too but nothing has worked yet. For me anyway. I'll try some more.

[+ojcar]

I think the "problem" isn't ther gunner, but the gun. I'll explain: The Colt machine gun in the SPAD A2 has three magazines, 150 rounds each one. The Gunbus has the Lewis with the old model ammo drums of only 48 rounds. This is historically correct. The poor gunner spend more time recharging than firing. And meanwhile recharging, he choses another target sometimes. But, as I said I have shot down a lot of enemy planes in the Gunbus.

The Gunbus was pretty innefective at it's time. You can try to change

 

 

MaxAmmo=48

NumReloads=7

 

to

 

MaxAmmo=97

NumReloads=4

[+ojcar]

Well, my last Gunbus mission, with original DATA.ini without touching anything, I have shot down a Fokker EI and a Pfalz two seater before getting out of ammo.

[Trotski]

If you look at my earlier post , we had this discussion ref the FB5, I sorted the FB's gunner by changing the fire chance 100 . Before I did this my gunner was a blind moron, who was only good for blocking my view, after I upped the firechance to 100, oh yes and the ammo count to 97, that seemed to solve the problem.......there were actually 2 types of drum mag for the Lewis gun and a lot of the photos I have seen are mounted Lewis guns with the larger capacity pans (97 rounds) not sure if that was applicable earlier in the war, due to weight considerations etc but there is certainly photographic evidence to suggest it was the case.

 

I have actually come across this problem with other types too........very odd, but then sometimes the sim does some odd things....a ghost in the machine ,maybe ?..........

[+ojcar]

The 97 rounds magazine was introduced in November 1915, but wasn't used in numbers until 1916

[Trotski]

Yes that is what I thought, but maybe a little poetic licence needs to be applied here ? Anyhow your previous suggestion to me worked well, and my FB gunner is now shooting as he should be, strange how only some of us seem to have the problem, but others dont, as I said the sim does have a mind of it's own sometimes !!!

[+ojcar]

I think it's no problem using the 97 rounds magazine if this is a solution, but as you said the best is increasing the GunnerFireChance= if you feel it's needed.

[Hansa]

I did the changes of the ammo rounds and my gunner shooted down a couple of fokkers :-)

[Trotski]

I found fiddling about with burst amounts works well too, 5 round bursts seem to work well, less stoppages too !!!

[+Stephen1918]

You could also try extending the gunner's range (in the [Crew] data.) The AI gunner doesn't seem to "see" anything that's out of his range, so he'll turn away from a plane that's perfectly visible to you. Of course, he will use up ammo faster if he's shooting at planes that are too far away. Find a good balance.

[SpinyNorman]

Just wondering if you can get the shots fired, %hit, and kills to record for gunners in the stats debrief screen? rather than any kills showing as NA.

 

Great fun flying the Vickers FB5, bumbling along behind your foe yelling abuse alternately at your engine and your wall-eyed gunner! I think my gunbus pilot has a stomach ulcer :) Made the changes suggested above and my gunner seems to notice and shoot at planes pretty quickly, he's just not that good a shot, so will limit his range so he doesn't blast away all his ammo.

[Trotski]

Hahahahaha......and proably finding it is more effective chucking the Squadron silver at those damned Boche......the cads