Flyboys!

[[JiF]Melon Farmer]

Attention All Flyboys! Please try and look at the mini-map to see if you have teammates at the flag you're about to bomb. Thank You.

[[JiF]Pvt. Harrick]

Ah i get it, and you posted this right after i wasted you with the natter when we were on the same team, again sorry

[[JiF]zougathefist]

Quit griping Bantha Fodder

[[JiF]Lt Gav]

Problem is Melon that if you are right under the flag I don't think that your arrow shows up on the mini map.
However if you didn't hold the flag & it is now grey chances are someone from your team is near that flag so caution should be the watch word.
I try to use this when bailing from a vehicle at a flag. Make sure you leave the vehicle under the flag symbol & it does not show that someone has just arrived there. Can buy you vital seconds to turn a flag.

[[JiF]Blind Trooper]

Well, if you keep running to dance with the enemy while we're bombing them, you cant blame us too much.....

[[JiF]War Trophy]

It is frustrating if you've worked your butt off to approach and grey a flag stealthily, only to be tk'd by an enthusiastic pilot at the last second. Often though, as Gav mentioned, players are obscured by the actual flag itself on the minimap, and so a pilot has to weigh the odds, to bomb or not to bomb.
War in real life is like this too! In the first year of the war in Iraq, more British troops were killed by friendly fire than by the enemy. (Usually from US airstrikes).
They call it the Fog Of War.

Best thing you can do is find a hiding place as far as possible from the actual flag itself, and hope you show up on the minimap.
Some flags have a very small radius though, so what I do is use the "Negative!" radio command if I see a friendly plane approaching on the minimap.
This alerts the pilots to your presence on the minimap because the flashing icon over-rides the flag icon.

This thread just gave me a thought, what is the reasoning behind having a 100% Friendly Fire Damage setting on BF servers?
Is it only for realism? Why not turn it down to about 50%? This won't save you from direct hits from heavy weapons etc but may give you a chance to survive those errant nades and bombing runs if their effect is halved on friendly forces.

[[JiF]Brick]

, so what I do is use the "Negative!" radio command if I see a friendly plane approaching on the minimap.
This alerts the pilots to your presence on the minimap because the flashing icon over-rides the flag icon.

A "really" good pilot will pick up on that.
All the others should stay on the ground with the rest of us

[[JiF]Trogdor]

I see this a lot when I'm in plane. Most times if I can't tell what/who is in a tank or near a white flag I'll just pass over without bombing. Of course, that has its own consequences as everyone around now knows a plane is nearby and someone typically jumps on the AA and brings me to the ground. The only time I roll the dice is if it's nearing the end and I have a chance at a medal. But yeah, sometimes a little recon is in order before you start dropping ordinance from the sky.

[[JiF]ALargeWoodenBadger]

... if you are right under the flag I don't think that your arrow shows up on the mini map...

That is the big problem. The player arrow being hidden by the flag was one of major complaints directed at EA Games when BF1942 came out. With each successive patch EA Games promised to fix the problem but in the end they decided to sell us BF Vietnam instead.

[Gnome-father]

http://www.forumplanet.gamespy.com/main ... /r19637521 here is the unrelased, unoffical 1,7a patch that makes the flags "transparent"! back-up the default files. i have heard that it sometimes bf crash. and you may be kicked from some servers because of modifyed data



EDIT: the link is dead. search for http://forumplanet.gamespy.com/main_bat ... /r19637521 instead

[[JiF]rix]

When I plan a bomb-raid to a flag and see a risk of friends being around I zoom in maximum in the minimap to reduce risk
of hitting a friend.
/rix

[[JiF]Gib]

ya you can try it but it doesnt work the best in practice.

I try to listen for the negative! radio spam and roger that on it and pull up.

Hey gnome I think we should all get that but wont PB consider it a hack and kick us? I don't want anyone getting banned by it

[Gnome-father]

no, if we could make punkbuster into think that its not a hack. or just make 2 servers: pot luck 1.6b and pot luck 1.7. what do you think?

[[JiF]zougathefist]

no, if we could make punkbuster into think that its not a hack. or just make 2 servers: pot luck 1.6b and pot luck 1.7. what do you think?

No

[Gnome-father]

ok...