Just today I've seen three~four people upping B-26 formations at the same time to divebomb and destroy a CV I was protecting.
Even though people love to say that bombers are easy kills, actually it is not, for the most of the average people. It is a dangerous target, not to mention very tough. Sometimes it takes some 3~4 good shots to down a single buff with 5" guns. For most of the pilots, it takes 2~3 people working in coordination to kill all three buffs without any serious damage.
So, if three people each up B-26 formations that's nine bombers to kill - needing at least 6~10 people to completely get rid of them in time before it reaches its kamikaze destination to the CV. Since the radar range is pretty short, usually when we detect a group of such suicidal bombers ib we have to stop them within about 7~10 miles - which by the time we group up to try and halt them the buffs are barging in at speeds over 300mph.
Now, if they were coming in the proper manner, they'd be easier to stop - how can it not be easier? A buff coming in a bombrun at only 6~7k alt is dead meat. Anybody flying buffs in the proper manner, hitting stuff, and seeking to get out alive, should come in at least at 10k or more. If they don't abide that proper procedures they're bound to be shot down, and they should be shot down. They're doing it in the wrong way.
But ofcourse, since the wrong way still yields same results, but takes less time to do it, and since they've got no regards to surival and just want to get the job done, they come barging in when they see the CV. A shallow dive of 10~30 degrees angle, speeding up easily higher than 300mph(if anybody has experience in flying scenarios they would know that bombers going at 300mph, isn't really easy to catch up with and shoot down).
And at the right moment, with a certain delay and salvo settings they pull up as they drop the bombs, scattering thousands of pounds of ordnance all over the place like cluster bombs.
And after the pass, they get shot down immediately - but hey, the CV's still down.
If they've actually gathered 3 people to fly a tight pack formation of 9 bombers to kill a CV, fly it up high at 10~11k, and execute a bombing run, then that's a truly admirable feat. If they do that at 5k in a blazing kamikaze run then it's gaming the game. It destroys the CV, and instantly takes away the ability to take off in planes. Essentially its the same thing as the old fuel porking mindset, except it's done at a bigger scale.
Now if that was possible and so effective, wouldn't they have done that in real life?
Ofcourse, in real life stressing the bomber into such speeds would itself be very dangerous. There were crewmen inside the bombers who wanted to live through it to see another day. There were enormous amount of ackfire to face, and if they wanted to bomb something in that manner they'd have used divebombers and fighter bombers, not level bombers.
They're misusing the buffs, exploiting its ability to carry large ordnance loads so THEY DON'T HAVE TO TAKE THE TROUBLE OF GOING THROUGH ORGANIZNG A PROPER CV STRIKE MISSION, OR TAKING UP BUFFS TO DO A PROPER BOMBING RUN. Basically its a lazy slacker mentality, finding easy exploiting alternatives to what needs to be done properly.
If the CV went down because we couldn't come up with proper countermeasures to their proper attacks we'd have nothing to complain about - and that's why I don't complain about individual fighter bombers coming in high to dive into CVs(even if they kill themselves in the process). However, if we're put up against something highly unlikely in real life, putting up countermeasures to stop it is more difficult than it should be. While the perpetrator of it all risks just three deaths, he will be rewarded in his lazy efforts by taking away the ability to up planes entirely.
People say killing CVs is easy. Oh it's easy, if you do it the dweebey way. Doing it in the right way is much harder. But that's how it should be. The wrong way should not be awarded with such glorious results - the game should reward players with success, who take the time to practice it all and do it right, and discourage those who fly it in the wrong way. But instead it discourages people who try it to do the right way, makes fools out of them, while rewarding the dweebs with success.
In the fuel porking matter, HTC countered it wisely by limiting fuel porkage to 75%, so no one suicidal dweeb can ruin the fight. Now, they can suicide themselves to kill barracks or radar, but that doesn't stop the fight itself. Also, they can do the same thing against FHs, but it takes concentrated effort to kill all FHs, unlike the fuel bunkers of the past.
It's that same kind of wisdom I would like to see, in this matter concerning people using huge and maginificent level bombers as suicidal ground attack planes.
Bombers should be bombers. Not an oversized jabo wannabe.
