A question about WW1 aircraft

[rickyo]

I'm having a devil of a time trying to get my wingmen to drop their bombs/torpedoes on moving ships. I'm using WW1 aircraft. I'm "testing" with the DH4 and the Cuckoo. They both make runs at the ships, most of the time flying right over them. They have never released their bombs or torpedoes. Once, I noticed the rear gunner of a DH4 shooting at a ship, it still had it's bombs. They seem to attack ships sort of like dive bombers. The Cuckoo attacks as a torpedo bomber should (except for not releasing the weapon). Could you tell me where I'm going wrong?

The DH4 works great on ground targets. If asked, they will attack again using their guns. I haven't tried it, but I'm pretty sure all my planes will attack infrastructure ships. I may have to order my men to attack poor sitting ducks who's engines have quit on them. Hardly sporting, but all's fair in love and war!

Thanks, cheers .... Rick

[Ravenna]

Hi Rick,
I don't think you are doing too much wrong in general terms. It may be the numbers you are using in the DP for each aircraft. You probably already have the Unit Family set to 2, but check your Category number. It should be 2 for level bomber, 5 for tactical bomber, 4 for torpedo bomber or 6 for strike aircraft. I've never used the last category and I don't think it applies to WW1 aircraft.
The other thing you might look at is fine tuning of air file and aircraft.cfg. John Fortin did a set of files for the Aerocrate WW1 AI aircraft. The set is available here on the Freeflight site (see link at the top of the cfs2 general discussion page). I think the set are also available at the Aerocrate site.
Even with these changes the results are not perfect but you will see improvements.
One last thing: keep the aggressiveness setting to high and ace.

[rickyo]

Thanks so much, Ravenna! In the [MISC DATA] I never paid much attention to the Unit_Family or Category. I don't BELIEVE I ever changed these numbers. I keep a copy of all aircraft I download. After I copy them, I usually delete some files, change names etc. In the download of the DH4 the Unit-Family was 1 and the Category was 5. I changed the 1 to a 2. In the Cuckoo download the Unit_Family was 1 and the Category was 1. I changed these to 2 and 4. I'm now checking all aircraft, so have not had a chance to see how the DH4 and Cuckoo behave yet. I have a feeling they will work much better. I have great respect for those who know so much more than I do. So, I'm not saying the numbers were wrong. Perhaps there is a reason for them, or more likely, I had something to do with it! I have one aircraft that has unit_family=21. I wonder what the heck that could be?

Thanks again
Cheers .... Rick

[Cody Coyote]

"Category" 21 is for a tracked vehicle to be used with family unit 3 (ground vehicle). Family unit numbers are only 1 through 5 according to my records. Probably just old, bad data in that file and nothing you did.

[Ravenna]

There is an "aircraft" which is a tracked vehicle- a German half track which is quite useful in a European WW2 install.

[rickyo]

Morning folks;

I tried to reply yesterday, but the server was too busy.

Thanks Cody for the Mission Building Handbook. I'm using page 201 to help me figure out the family unit and categories. I did notice that "21" was in the category section and was for a tracked vehicle. I had to download the Airco DH 9 again because I thought I must have messed about with it. I usually download something, copy it and tuck it away. Anyway in MISC_DATA, unit_family, it has "21". Just a typo I guess. I'm not using this aircraft at the moment. For me this is quite a "bouncy" machine! I changed the 21 to 2, but it did not change anything. I really like this aircraft and the skins.

Not having much luck with the Cuckoo yet. I am going to play around with the DH4 today. Dang, watching those guys on their attack runs make me think, "Oh yeah, they're gonna sink her this time!"

Thanks for all the info and help! I'm in no great rush, and kind of enjoy all this "testing". "Enjoy", may be a little strong!

Thanks again, cheers .... Rick

EDIT: 7:45 Well, I am really enjoying this now! The planes are damaging their targets. The Cuckoo dropped a torpedo right down the funnel of a merchant ship! I will try to get them as low as possible in future missions. I'd like to see the torpedo streaking through the water. At least they are releasing their weapons now.