New bombing explained(with pictures)

[Kweassa]

 Before we start, please do FORGET all the glory moments you had before 1.10 where you would happily pick out every single fighter hangar and merrily knock them out at dweebish altitudes of 35k.

 Level bombing is destruction by sheer brute force. Mighty multi-engine buffs do not pick out a single dot on the surface and pin it down. They select the whole area and smash it to smithereens.

I see people complaining that the new bombing model is not "accurate", "buffs are useless" and on and on..

 Nothing strange. How can one expect it to be useful and accurate when you don't know how to do it?

 Three buff boxes are accurate enough as to pick out a small 3 square mile area and pulverize whatever it is standing on it. If you are expecting to pick out a 30 square feet area, you're in the wrong plane. Try a Dauntless or D3A1 Val.

 ......

 Here is the plane of choice for my demonstration on level-bombing: The Ju-88A

 Let's start the lessons.

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[Kweassa]

With the dot commands ".salvo" and ".delay", you can determine the amount of bombs dropped at a single pass, and the delay between bomb drops. This is the first thing you must do before going into a bomb run.

 Now, as I told you, if you want effective brute force, forget all those "drop three here, drop three there" you were used to. Unless you've got way too much time in your hands and have nothing else to do, a level bombing run is one-pass event. Set salvo to maximum number of bombs you have.

 The delay determines how much the bombs are spread out. A delay of about 0.75 covers a length of 3~4 mile long line which the bombs will be scattered about. Usually, the strat targets in AH requires a delay of no more than 0.75 since they aren't very large. Set delay between about 0.60 ~ 0.70.

[Kweassa]

As I said earlier on, forget all the bombings you used to do. Level bombing does not not pass over a target at 300mph, drop 3 bombs, turn on a dime, drop 3 more. Bomb runs are required.

 A bomb run begins at about 6~8 miles prior to target. The desired altitude is between 10k~18k, any lower than that you are cannon fodder, any higher and don't expect any sort of 'good accuracy'. When a bomb run starts, you will approach at the target in a straight line at a stable speed. Accelerations or deccelerations will kill off whatever calibration you've attempted - and this is the reason why a bomb run requires at least 6~8 miles. Starting a bomb run closer than that will not give you enough time to calibrate the sights. (If your airspeed is too high, you will inevitably throttle down to buy enough time to calibrate. The buff will be slowing down as you calibrate, and thus, the speed when you drop the bombs will not be the same as the speed you calibrated the sights).

 Set up a straight flight path, and set to about 75~80% maximum throttle.

[Kweassa]

After your buff formation reaches a steady speed and flight path, jump to the bomb sight by pressing (default) F6. You will see the familiar bomb sight, but there will also be a red checklist displayed - required for correct calibration process.

[Kweassa]

Press the "U" key to begin calibration process. You'll notice the red check list has changed colors to yellow. In this checklist, the keys you have set for "Calibration mode ON/OFF" and "Mark target" are displayed.

[Kweassa]

Once the calibration mode starts, you can move the joystick around without moving the aircraft. With the joystick, you are able to move the bomb sight around.

 Push up on the joy stick and try to look at the terrain before you. Spot out your target and set your cross hairs on it.

[Kweassa]

In the "marking" process, you are actually measuring the relative speed between the target and your plane. That's why you should never ever think of messing with the flight path or air speed once the bomb run starts.

 When you have found your target, and have placed the cross hairs on it, zoom in with the "Z" key and control the zoom level(preferably maximum zoom) with "[" and "]" keys.

 Once it is maximum zoomed in, press the (default) "Y" key for more than 2 seconds. Make sure the cross hairs don't move while you are doing this.

[Kweassa]

Once you have successfully 'marked' the target, press the "ESC" key to bring up the clipboard. You don't necessarily have to go out of the bomber position to do this. Bring up the clipboard and control zoom on the map by using "Insert" and "Delete" function keys.

 Then, click at the target on the map to set the drop altitude. The cross hairs may have moved out of the target, but once the marking process was finished, this doesn't matter.

[Kweassa]

Once you haved both 'mark'ed the target and set drop altitude, press the "O" key to open bomb bay doors. This is the last process you must go through in the calibration mode(in real life, the bomb bay doors will be opened up before calibration starts. you can choose to open the bomb bay doors first, too. The difference in accuracy isn't effected by much). Once the doors are open, you will notice all the red checklists have now turned yellow - meaning you have finished everthing that is to be done at the calibration mode.

[Kweassa]

Press the (default) "U" key once again to turn off the calibration mode and return to your normal bomb sight mode. You will see all the check list has turned green, meaning you are ready to start bombing.

 You will also notice that the cross hairs have reverted to their original position. But this, is now your bomb sight which has been calibrated according to your flight data. You will drop bombs according to this bomb sight.

[Kweassa]

Now you wait until the calibrated bomb sight moves close to the target.

[Kweassa]

As the sight nears the target, use the "Z" "[" and "]" keys to control the zoom level.

[Kweassa]

Now is the time to drop! Remember, this is level bombing, nor a pin-point bombing. This sort of bombing covers an "area" not a "point". Therefore, you should start bombing when the cross hair reaches about the point circled out in the picture.

[Kweassa]

Once you've pushed the drop button, the bombs will fall in an orderly fashion. After you hear bombs dropping out of the door, you may push the (default) "U" key to go to calibration mode again and see the bombs dropping in a very immersive/realistic manner. (Since the "drop bombs" button is pushed already, going into calibration will not effect the bombing results. The only thing which will effect the results are change in the bombers speed, flight path or altitude).

[Kweassa]

In the calibration mode, you will be able to observe the extent of damage done to the target. (In the picture, the impact starts right in the middle of the target. This is because when I was making this demonstration I dropped the bombs a little late - when the calibrated sight was right in the middle of the target.. I should have began dropping the bombs when it was at the position circled out earlier on)