B17 II Interview by Leonard "Viking1" Hjalmarson
	Atmosphere and Artwork Q. Tell us about damage modelling in terms of the B17. A. When we sat down to design B-17 2 we knew that one of the areas we were going to have to excel in was the damage of the B-17. The B-17 is virtually synonymous with those pictures of Fortresses that made it home with huge holes in them, missing tails and missing noses. Just like our other planes the B-17 has fully dynamic skin damage, burn and oil leak texturing, charring and a skeletal damage texture. Unlike other aircraft the B-17 will stay aloft after suffering this sort of damage, feathering engines and leaving black oil and smoke trails across the sky along with its contrails. Q. Tell us about atmospheric effects in terms of graphics: wind and weather, smoke and clouds. How many varieties of smoke, haze and clouds will we see? A. Well, we keep adding things to the lists of what we're doing… For sure you can look forward to independent cloud layers that dynamically affect the terrain lighting and shadowing, distance haze, Fog, smoke from burning targets and aircraft, contrails, wing-tip streamers, burning engines, damaged engines throwing oil trails and smoking engines. The wind varies with altitude and there are gusts and turbulence... Q. Tell us about artwork options for the player. And will you include an editor for nose art or will we be able to do this in Paint Shop Pro and the like? A. Players can, of course, name their aircraft and nominate noseart to be displayed on the aircraft in game. In addition players will be able to create their own nose art, which I expect to be more risque than the stuff we're allowed to get away with! :-) A package like Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro will be required, and we'll provide instructions for the correct formats to use and for how to get your art into the game. We aim to provide complete texture templates for all of the aircraft in the game via the internet after launch. The Gunner's Perspective Q. Let's talk about the game from the gunners perspective. What kind of turret will I operate in the ball gunner (upper) position? A. Well, there was only one ball turret gunner in the B-17, and he hung from the belly of the aircraft in the Sperry Ventral Turret. For anyone who's not been in one the Team (who have) can tell you right now that these guys should have been given a large medal just for turning up for work in the morning. The Top Turret is a much more comfortable affair just aft of the Pilot and Co-Pilot which is operated by the Top Turret Gunner / Engineer. Both turrets were key to the defence of the B-17 and both sported twin .50 calibre guns. Click to continue		Q. What kind of site does this position use? A. Both turrets utilise a Reflector Gunsight, which is what they actually used in the conflict. This is more sophisticated that a simple Ring and Bead sight, but don't expect too much help (unless you ask for it as an option!). Q. Do the guns ever jam? What happens if they do? A. All the guns can jam after periods of intensive firing. The gunner cries out that his gun's stopped working. The player should then tell him to fix the gun and, if it's just a jam, he'll be back in business… Until then, however, the gun won't fire. In the fighters if your starboard guns jam the kite slews to port when you pull the trigger! Damned hard to hit anything under these conditions! Turret vs. Operator Q. If this position takes a non fatal hit, can it still be operable? Is it possible for the turret itself to take damage without the gunner being hit? A. The turrets can be damaged independently of the occupants. The player will have to instruct his crewmembers to repair any broken turrets to get them going again. Q. How many rounds does the gunner have in the ball turret? Is there a reloading procedure to follow? A. Each of the gun positions carry 1,000 rounds for each gun. That stockpile can be affected from within the options screen, should the player feel that he needs a little more ammo due to his particular playing style. Q. What will the operator see when he is firing? Will we see the rounds arcing off? What does this look like at night? A. Each of the gun muzzles has realistic looking muzzle flash… When you strafe a ground target (the best visualisation for this) you can see the impacts from the more numerous non-tracer rounds kicking up dust. The tracers shoot off, the phosphorous burning unevenly giving them a wavy line signature and you can see them bouncing off the solid ground. B-17's didn't fly at night in Europe, so you won't be seeing these effects at night! Q. Can the turret operators view be heavily obscured by clouds or fog? A. Yes… If the plane is in cloud or fog then the views from all affected stations will be obscured. The same goes for smoke trails due to damage, yours or someone elses. Go to Onboard Trouble
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