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"Sally" tail gun

highpockets

highpockets

SOH-CM-2025
How do you reduce the effectiveness of this beast! I can't get close enough before chunks knocked off my A/C!
It's range seems much longer than my 50 cal.
 
Hi Highpockets,

This is the fix I use.
Open the DP file with DPED.
Set the box marked "Trigger" to "0 Guns" and the box marked "Spec" to "2 Cannon"
Don't forget to delete the cdp file.
I think that prehaps the box labled "Trigger" in DPED is really the "Spec" and vice-a-versa. Because the box marked "Spec" controls the player's trigger button.
Try it. You will be glad you did.
Regards,
B24Guy

P.S. Allen fixed the labeling in his revamped version of DPED.
 
highpockets said:
How do you reduce the effectiveness of this beast! I can't get close enough before chunks knocked off my A/C!
It's range seems much longer than my 50 cal.
Click to expand...

The B24 Guy: I would say the same for Shessi's Kawanishi H8K2 Emily. :banghead: Same solution? I don't have DPEd, but I can modify the dp directly, can't I?
 
Change your tactical approach.

Exploit its glaring defensive weakness: the rear gun is mounted on the mid dorsal, leaving the underbelly completely unprotected. Approach the rear from slightly below the tailplane instead of above it and hammer the engines and wing tanks. The target is dead and falling before the gunner can engage you. If you're attacking a flight, either boom and zoom head-on from the front targeting the cockpit or if approaching from the rear just pick out "tail-end charlie" or something on the flanks, coming in from below.

Of course if your dealing with the more heavily armed versions with 7.7 mm in nose, ventral, beam and tail positions you may have to emphasize the boom and zoom from any angle.
 
Thanks for the tips guys. Either my BR-P40 is squirrelly or my joystick. I have a hard time holding on target.
 
Hi All,
I found this info I had on gunstations. Thought it might help.

[GUNSTATIONS]
gunstation.{A}0= {B}0, {C}2, {D}1, {E}0.01, {F}870, {G}4, {H}0.01, {I}1000, {J}2, {K}40, {L}
1d1*16, {M}0.55, {N}0.25, {O}2.2, {P}0.128056, {Q}0, {R}0.1, {S}0, {T}0, {U}0, {V}0, {W}0.5


A. Gunstation number: (sequential) this will be the number to associate individual guns with (note
that there is no particular weapon related to any particular gunstation number. Add as many as you
want).


B. Trigger type: 0=Mach Gun 1=Cannon 2=Rocket 3=Bomb


C. System association (see last number for each entry in [SYSTEMS]


D. Gun type: 1=Mach gun 2=Cannon 4=Rocket 8=Bomb


E. Rate of fire (divide rounds/second into 1) Example: 50 rounds/sec = 1/50 = .02


F. Muzzle velocity: meters/sec (zero for Rockets & Bombs)


G. Round life (seconds round is tracked by simulation)


H. Muzzle flash: MS says flashes/sec. I disagree; I think this is actually 1/(flashes/sec).
Typical values are .01 to .05


I. Range that AI aircraft begin firing (Meters)


J. Sound: 0= .303/7.62mm 2= .50 3= 13mm 4= 20mm 5= 30mm (set Bomb/Rocket to zero)


K. Tracer %


L. Damage dice: Typical values: 1d1*10 for .303, 1d1*14 for .50, 1d1*24 for 20mm, Rocket 1d1*300-
3000, Bomb 1d1*600-6000 (this is the projectile's destructive power)


M. Gunstation X offset (Meters)


N. Gunstation Y offset (Meters)


O. Gunstation Z offset (Meters)


P. Pitch: angle of gunstation up/down (degrees) I suggest using similar angle values from other
.dps in CFS. But if you must try calculating… The acceleration affects of gravity on objects is
independent of their weight. If you disregard the aerodynamic properties of the projectile and
assume it falls at the same rate as any dropped object, then you can use -4.877t2 (t is the travel
time of the projectile to its target) to determine how far the bullet drops in horizontal flight.
I would guess the average speed of the projectile is somewhere between its muzzle velocity and
half that. I'm not going to add the plane's airspeed since the target is probably going just as
fast. So let's take a target 1000 meters out, muzzle velocity of 870m/sec: t = 1000 / [(870 + 435)
/ 2] = 1.53 sec. This results in a drop of -4.877(1.532) = -11.42m. Now calculate an angle using
tan ? = X/Z where X = X drop and Z = distance to target.
Keep in mind this is a very simplified approach and not the proper way to do ballistic
calculations, however I doubt the MS simulation is much more complicated or accurate. Also, all
this does you little good in the heat of battle when you're pulling hard on the stick in a 20
degree climb with 30 degrees of roll. That's what the tracers are for.


Q. Bank: angle of gunstation left/right (degrees) Again, I suggest using similar weapon/angle
values from other .dps in CFS. If you really must calculate, remember: tan ? = X/Z where X = X
offset and Z = distance to target.


R. Heading: heading of gunstation (degrees)(Example: A rear facing AI gunstation may have a
heading of 180)


S. Constraint Angle left (max rotation angle for AI guns)


T. Constraint Angle right (max rotation angle for AI guns)


U. Constraint Angle up (max rotation angle for AI guns)


V. Constraint Angle down (max rotation angle for AI guns)


W. Round weight (oz)

Regards,
B24Guy
 
Hello The_B24_Guy,

Thanks for posting a pretty clear explanation of the various fields.
A couple comments though:

For P, You also need to take into account that most aircraft only have their gunsight completely aligned with the direction of flight at one particular airspeed.
Another thing to remember is that the various gunstations may not all be at the same starting elevation. The Cowl guns will likely be a couple feet higher than the Wing guns.
I don't believe there is any accounting for deceleration of projectiles in flight at all.
Yet one more thing is that sometimes it makes sense to intentionally misalign the guns. I do this when the guns have radically different velocities and trajectories for better deflection shooting.

For Q, This is actually a Yaw angle.

By the way, why does changing Trigger and Spec reduce AI weapon lethality?

Thanks.
- Ivan.
 
Hi Ivan,
I am not the original author of the post. Just grabbed it somewhere.
It has a lot of good basic information.
As to why changing the trigger and spec. numbers affecting the accuracy of the AI gunners I don't know.
I was told to try it by someone in the know.
All I know is that it really works.

Regards,
B24Guy
 
Hello all
I recently made many tests to set up guns and barrels animations in models, and the results I constated let me interpretate some items slightly differently. All the values from M to V seem to be for the AI guns animations, and if your model is not animated with gunx, barrelx animations, it don't seems of any use to set it up.
the values M, N, O are X, Z and Y offsets in this order, and define the center of a turrel or a scarf ring, the relevant values for muzzle flashes in the [gun.x] lines must be defined from these offsets.
the value P seems to be the angle, in degree, of the drawn barrel, from the horizontal, clockwise when seen from the left.
I didn't made any test for the value Q
the last other values seem to be as defined by Gedm.
you can "manually" try to set up a gun station this way:
in the [gun.x] line, set up 0 as X, Z, Y value (are too defined in this order), and in the gunstation.x line, set up M,N O values until the muzzle flashes are seen in the center of the ring or turrel, when you are satisfied with the result, you can then set up the muzzle flashes offsets in the [gun.x] line to match the muzzles.

caud_3.jpg

I hope my explainations are clear, English is not my main language, sorry for it ;)
Good work, cheers
Martin :jump:
 
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