Reply To: Getting off the ground in B17

Home Forums Previous Months 76 – January 2023: B17 Flying Fortress Getting off the ground in B17 Reply To: Getting off the ground in B17


evilcommiedictator
Participant
Podcaster
#7084

For someone like TigerQuoll, who is having issues, here is my notes for my 17 year old friend 🙂

TWO keys of main importance:

the ‘M’ key toggles human control on or off, as denoted by the computer picture or the hand. Since there are 10 people on the plane, you can only control 1 at a time.

the ‘c’ key will take you to the compartment screen. Here, you can move crewmen around the plane to different positions or fix things, fight fires, make repairs etc (heal crewmen!) Use the mouse to select a particular crewmen by their picture, and buttons on the screen will do particular things.

THE FUNCTION KEYS will take you from the bombardier at the front of the plane ‘F1’ to the tail gunner ‘F10’. Note that the keys select crewmen, not positions. (IE you’ve mover the radioman to the tail gun, so you would press ‘F6’ to select the man manning the tail gun, not ‘F10’

Check the status of your plane with the ‘a’ key. damaged areas shown in red, etc.

TIME SKIP USING THE ‘ALT T’ keys ***you need this***

INDIVIDUAL POSITIONS

Bombardier – gunning and bombing.
to bomb, first sight you target using the gun position, then move you bombadier to the bombsight (using c). to operate the sight press ‘o’, ‘d’ to open/close bomb doors. keep the sight over the target using arrow keys, then when bomb light is lit, press ‘enter’.
close doors, back to gun

Navigator – navigating
This is a pain in the arse. every once in a while, try to find landmarks and correct you navigator using the mouse, otherwise you will end up in Spain.

Pilot – ???
‘i’ for instrument view, ‘w’ for window view, ‘[‘ and ‘]’ to look at different sides of cockpit.
‘g’ for landing gear, ‘b’ for brakes
ENGINE CONTROL
numbers 1-4 increase power to engines 1-4 respectively. 5-8 decrease power. ‘-‘ and ‘+’ increase and decrease all at the same time
to feather (stop/start) and engine, ‘CTRL + engine number’
fire extinguiser ‘ALT + engine number’ ***NOTE only 1 extinguisher per engine*** (read the README!)

COPILOT – ???
see pilot. also, he should be your first choice for medic – one guy can fly the plane if needed.

ENGINEER
guess. one of your better gunning positions (the top turret)

RADIOMAN
guess again. your other main healer (who needs a radio anyway?)

Ball gunner
your third best gunner. most likely to die if you crash land – so move him out of the turret already!

left/right waist gunners
mainly for decoration

tail gunner
best gunning position. always have someone here, watch it yourself too.
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When the Luftwaffe are about
use the ‘z’ and ‘x’ keys to move the camera about, the insert/pagedown keys (and all inbetween) to rotate. only 4 fighters come at a time.

the ‘SHIFT + FUNCTION KEYS’ give a variety of views, including bomb bay view, and ground target view (good for navigation)