My Flak Gunners Aren't Firing.
 

I'm driving a type IX C and I just upgraded to the four barrelled AA gun. Since the upgrade my AA gunners won't fire, or fire erratically.

Prior to the upgrade I had no problems with my flak gunners. When I gave them an order to shoot they shot, and shot well.

Now they hardly shoot at all. In fact, I've only had one AI, AA gunner fire on this cruise. He was the only one out of all three guns shooting at the P-38's that strafed us.

When I take a gun I can fire it. When I hand it over to the AI, it goes silent. One of my gunners and the watch officer are Flack specialized. This should't be happening.

It is hard to stay alive in the summer of '43 when cruising through the Carribean without AA gunners.

My game is all patched up.

Any ideas?

(I'll also mention that my AI deck gunners have gone to hell as well. They shoot but they can't hit sh#t. Before the switch they were crack shots.)

What settings do you have with the Watch Officer on what the AI will and won't engage ? Perhaps when you upgrade it has been reset to the default HOLD FIRE which means they won't ever shoot at anything themselves.

I have them set to fire at will, long range, any aircraft. I've tried every other setting as well. In just the last ten minutes I had the big gun and one of the smaller guns firing at a target, but the other 2cm just sat there picking his nose.

It's not an issue of the AA guns being unable to target an aircraft due to position. When I'm firing at a plane and then hop off the gun the AI should pick up where I left off. It doesn't. Two 2cm guns side by side should be able to target the same aircraft as well.

Not sure if it will help but have a look at http://www.subsim.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=39884

Aye, this is probably the most common bug and there (so far) isn't an explanation why it happens. Mouseketeer's link is worth checking out anyway but here's some solutions in a nutshell:
-man & fire gun(s) at least for a couple of rounds and switch back to bridge (F4). if you're in a real hurry you may try taking the plane down yourself instead of wasting time.
-man the gun(s) and switch back to bridge. that always wakes them bozos up.
- use binoculars on target and hit spacebar, like you'd be giving a target to deckgun crew.
Sometimes it's enough to man one gun and then switch to bridge to unlock the gunners, sometimes you've to go through them all. Go figure. Personally, I never accept any casualties or damage inflicted due to this bug. Fair is fair, this is not.

I've just documented this bug on The Community Manual's Flak Gun page. Please feel free to make corrections/additions, as necessary. :yep:

I have seen this bug after that I fired to my targets manually, if the AA is untouched the AI works properly.

Thanks for the info. I'll give it a shot & see how things go this evening. If the gunners continue sleep I'll just dive, dive, dive every time I spot an aircraft. Probably the more realistic reaction anyhow.

PS. I did try to search for an answer to this problem before posting. I used "flak won't fire / not firing", but got no correct results. At least with this posting those terms will work for the next guy.

Diving is definitely the smartest thing to do but sometimes it's not possible as a first option. Your watchcrew can be a bit sleepy, the lighting isn't favourable to spot the planes early enough etc. Then you just have to fight it out, at least the initial attack.
The search function here is somewhat porked so don't blame yourself :D Good hunting.

F, F4, G, F4, T worked for me!

Now two Sunderlands are sleeping on the bottom bunk, so to speak.

Nice to see all eight guns blazing.

Hey! I want credits for "sleeping flakgunners" :D It was a name developed originally by me to describe this bug!

And is it only me, or the search engine doesn't show older topics? (older=few months)

Yay! I immideatly got new avatar. That's not exactly the type of credit i meant... :arrgh!:

Take a look again. I hope you are satisfied! :yep:
Welcome to the club! :damn: It's everyone.

I guess a kiss is out of question? ;)
I guess someone should tell admins 'bout it. This forum is a mine of knowledge with elevator stuck on 1'st floor... :hulk:

I have posted a message in "Comments to SUBSIM Review":
http://www.subsim.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=41574