B17 II Interview by Leonard "Viking1" Hjalmarson
	AI vs Manual Control Q. A related question: tell us about the interaction of manual control and AUTO control for AI pilots and mission presets. A. Basically the aircraft can fly and fight on their own and as part of a formation of others. The various positional and commanding AI's can perform the whole show, whilst you limit yourself to acting solely as a Tail Gunner or Navigator or any one of the other roles. However, the AI's aren't going to do as good a job as the Player can. AI pilots will, for one thing, generally play it safe - not a path to military distinction. They will also be REALLY touchy about leaving formation on their own - they'll take risks with the engines to keep up with the rest of the gang. The player will need to make vital decisions relative to changes from the mission path - aborting to hit the secondary targets, giving first aid, repairing damage mid-mission etc. In addition, when things really begin to go wrong, the player will need to make plans to deal with the situation himself - aborting, heading to the nearest friendly airbase etc. Target Info Q. Will B-17 2 feature a mission editor? A. The Squadron leader mode of play allows you to choose relevant targets, plan the route, load fuel and bomb loads/type etc. Our full tool suite for mission editing would be beyond the scope of the initial release, but may be made available later. Mission Planning Q. Can the player modify waypoints, targets etc? The AI's in B-17 are passing information to each other constantly, but one of the things that we've kept a close eye on within B-17 is making sure that the Player retains control of the situation. There are many circumstances where the route, as posted, might need to be altered or scrapped entirely due to the changing circumstances of a B-17 mission and we've included an interface within the B-17 to allow the player to make those decisions. The player sends radio messages to the rest of his squadron which he can use to affect both his plane and the behaviour of the rest of the Squadron. I won't list all the decisions that the player can make here, because there are far too many of them, but I'll provide you with a few samples that involve changing the route. Weather changes over target - Divert to the Secondary or Tertiary targets or find a Target of Opportunity. B-17 hit too badly to continue - Abort the Mission and head home on your own. Flak a bit too accurate at present altitude - Order the formation higher for a margin more safety. Fuel Status critical - Order the Navigator to plot a course to the nearest friendly strip. Can't make it home or to that "last chance" strip - Ditch in the sea, head for neutral territory or try and glide it over friendly lines at least. Click to continue		Note that the player has to make a decision to take the correct action dictated by the present circumstances. Just like in real life the player might make a good or a bad call - but he's the aircraft commander and those are his men that he's responsible for. The AI's will never dictate which of those actions is taken, but the player can change the goals of those AI's simply and quickly (4 keyboard presses or mouse clicks from anywhere in the aircraft). From that point he can leave the AI's to deal with it whilst he mans the tail gun, if he wishes. None of which is saying that the crew won't be letting the player know about it if he's neglecting an important command decision - they'll let him know of injuries, mechanical problems, fires and if the aircraft is gliding more than flying. They'll let him know if they think he's ignoring the situation too! Q. What about pre mission briefing? A. Your crew chief will inform you of any problems before you leave on a mission. "Go easy on number 3, it's using a lot of oil." It's a good idea to take him seriously! Random failures are already a part of the games design. Engines, of course, are only one of the systems that could go on the fritz. Q. Let's talk mission specifics so we can get a clear sense of what happens, who says what, who does what etc. We are two hundred miles from target just inside Germany. We get an order from home base to abort because of cloud cover over the target. Can I as Commander choose to proceed anyway and hope for a weather change? How will my crew react? Can I order half of the aircraft to return while I take some with me? A. First of all the player will never receive an order mid-mission ordering him to do anything. Once the player gets off the ground he is the Commander on the scene, and nobody can countermand his intuitions regarding the capabilities of his Squadron or crew. Using your example, the player might radio HQ for an update on the Weather, revealing an unfortunate increase of cloud depth over the primary target, but a clear Secondary. He might decide to continue to the primary and attempt to bomb through the cloud cover, or he might divert the formation to bomb the Secondary target. Whenever the player changes the mission of the formation you might get individual planes dropping out, because they can't comply due to damage or fuel restrictions, but you won't be able to split the formation up for the hell of it - they never did that if they could help it as it was inviting Fighter attack. As for who says what… We've got a large script of speech for the crew in B-17 and all of it will carry useful messages for the player. The Pilot and the Co-Pilot speech concerns the flight performance of the aircraft, in conjunction with the Engineer. The rest of the crewmembers cover areas that concern their special duties but everyone calls out fighters, injuries, damage (if they can see it!) and other such things. Go to Decisions, Decisions!
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