Will fighter planes attack each other?

[Bubblehead1980]

Just wondering if enemy fighters will attack other planes, deciding whether to keep the Zeros and Oscars I put on CAP to attack the B-29's I have bombing Japan in 44/45.Never had a chance to observe this so wondering if anyone has?

[peabody]

Just wondering if enemy fighters will attack other planes, deciding whether to keep the Zeros and Oscars I put on CAP to attack the B-29's I have bombing Japan in 44/45.Never had a chance to observe this so wondering if anyone has?

Top secret classified information, sorry....:har:

And it would be a absolute definite yes, but the answer is really no.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sd7FOLeabnw

There are no ships or subs in the area other than mine which is submerged in the TERRIBLE video. I only had the trial Fraps and it kept shutting off, but I think you get the idea.
So it is a yes/no answer. They will NOT attack, but if something gets in the way.......:hmmm:. Also from only minor testing, if there is a ship to attack that will take priority since they will not attack planes.

Peabody

[Webster]

So it is a yes/no answer. They will NOT attack, but if something gets in the way.......:hmmm:. Also from only minor testing, if there is a ship to attack that will take priority since they will not attack planes.

Peabody

im not following you, so are you saying they will only attack each other if they get in each others way but they wont alter course and head for them with intent to attack each other under normal conditions?

[peabody]

im not following you, so are you saying they will only attack each other if they get in each others way but they wont alter course and head for them with intent to attack each other under normal conditions?

I think that is going to be my Marianna's Turkey Shoot and maybe Midway.

It has very limited use. That was a 'make him think a bit' answer. But it is basically this:
It was an experiment with unexpected results. I was partially right, the planes will NOT attack each other, they will fly right by.

Started the testing with planes flying at each other, nothing happened.

Then I made the Japanese follow the US planes at the exact same altitude, same heading and the rear gunner started shooting at the water.
I gave the gun more movement and I think I gave it all ammo HE, AP and AA just in case that was a problem. (so long ago, I don't remember exactly) and they started shooting toward the Japanese planes but the accuracy was horrible.

Then I gave the Japanese guns some movement, and they would shoot but not much.

What the video shows (if you could see it, I know it was BAD) is the last waypoint for the planes. I did not set them to "delete on last waypoint' so naturally they started circling. And that is when they actually started hitting each other, I think they were just running into the shells, the aim was still horrible.

So what I have so far:
1. If a plane flies into the sights of the enemy, it will shoot.
2. The planes will NOT alter course to attack.
3. Once the plane leaves the sights, they all just fly happily along like nothing happened.
4. If there is a ship in the area, it will attack the ship and totally ignore the enemy planes.

So like I commented, it has limited use. I had planned to have the 'Turkey shoot' with possibly a sub on lifeguard duty, at the 'last waypoint' for the planes so they would attack each other. But there are a couple of problems. They eventually lose altitute while circling and crash into the ocean. And if the sub surfaces to pick up survivors, it will be attacked. And the final problem I have not been able to resolve, US pilots are the only ones the 'pop smoke' when they crash. Japanese 'survivors' are there and can be picked up, but they do not 'pop smoke' so they are very hard to find. And of course that is a problem since it was suppose to be for the IJN Career.

So to answer Bubble's question, if you bring the B29s down where you can see them, have some Japanese planes flying a zigzag pattern in their path. You may be able to shoot some of them.

Peabody

[Webster]

wow, ok so if you very very carefully plot out and script flight plans to cause planes to cross paths like opposing figure 8's at right angles in a flower peddle looking pattern then an air battle could be scripted :hmmm:

sounds like huge work and hours of testing but the results could be fantastic.

i wonder if the planes were given a better "trigger" like DD have to search out and destroy the enemy once alerted :06:

[sergbuto]

Since SH3 times it is known that the planes can shoot at each other but will not attack. It seems nothing was changed for the SH4 engine in this respect.

For SH4, by playing with aircraft parameters it is possible to make kamikazi planes but when they hit the ship, there seems to be not much of inflicted damage.

[Bubblehead1980]

Since SH3 times it is known that the planes can shoot at each other but will not attack. It seems nothing was changed for the SH4 engine in this respect.

For SH4, by playing with aircraft parameters it is possible to make kamikazi planes but when they hit the ship, there seems to be not much of inflicted damage.

Check my thread "operation iceberg". I put the US invasion fleet at Okinawa and recreated the waves of planes that attacked on April 6 as well as planes that attack throughout the month. I had two kamikazes that I saw hit(more may have in the chaos, literally had a hundred planes attacking at once) and several more attempted, they inflicted quite a bit of damage, esp with the more realistic sinking mod for TMO RSRD by bilge rat, 11 ships lost on April 6, more damaged.Some were sunk by bombs and torpedoes, others were by kamikazes and bombs/torpedoes, it was intense.

Thread has screenshots.http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=195507

[Armistead]

Not sure what others are saying, but playing TMO/RSRD I've seen planes shoot at each other, usually it's ones with rear guns as they pass. I don't know that all types will, but several will. No, they don't chase each other, but certain types will shoot at each other if they happen to pass by close enough, if you play RSRD you can see it all the times in the Solomons and near Rabaul where both sides travel a lot, just takes time to follow groups on cam.

I did make a single mission once including every type of aircraft from both sides, direction them to fly around each other in circles, stacking etc,,,there was a lot of gunfire from certain types, though I don't recall seeing guns shooting forward from the wings, seems it was always turrents, a few even caught on fire, though I saw none destroyed.

[Hylander_1314]

Planes have always been to strong in SH4. Especially the Japanese planes. They were flying Zippos, as one round to a gas tank would set it alight, and the Zero / Zeke had a nasty habit of breaking up once the tanks got hit.