A solution to the bombing crisis

[hubsonfire]

Dump formations immediately. Deny 1 guy the ability to immediately disable an entire field. (also put an end to the crazy animations caused by repeatedly hopping from plane to plane, and perhaps improve the frame rate issues that bombers cause for many folks).

Alter the bombing setup so only the bombardier can drop bombs. Only level flight, at a reasonable altitude, from an internal view.

Bring back the old sight requiring calibration for speed and alt. The current setup is no where near as difficult as it should be.

Well, there you have it: Cures for divebombing, turbolazer turrets, and rampant porking of FH. It would take 3 people doing what 1 can do now to affect the game, and bomber survivability would require close winging, teamwork, and communication, as well as providing you bomber guys with a little more historical accuracy, and your efforts would that much closer to being worthy of extra recognition. Sound good?

[Fruda]

Here, here!

[Zazen13]

Sounds great hub. But, unfortunately, HTC is a business and must remain solvent. One of the ways it does this is to appeal to the lowest common denominator. 'Dumbing down the game' , in theory, makes it more accessable to the masses. The masses being anyone with a heartbeat, a computer and a credit card. Of course HTC would love nothing more than to appeal to everyone with a heartbeat, a computer and a credit card to the tune of $15 a month per person. Even if doing so would alienate the rather insignificant minority of purists who play the game simply for the love of the genre and realistic gameplay as it exists within the general framework of playability.

Zazen

[Karnak]

That would cure it alright, you'd see no more bombers in AH.

[Clifra Jones]

I like it hub. We also need wind of verying speed and direction per altitude. Also, some overcast skies over bases.

Bombing is just to easy now IMO.

[Clifra Jones]

Originally posted by Karnak
That would cure it alright, you'd see no more bombers in AH.

If 15 players can up 15 formations of B24's then those same 15 guys can up 15 B24's for their pork fest.

Your telling me you really need 45 B24s to take out a few fields?

[Furball]

bnut huw will i kill the bigg bowts if i dnot have all thr bombers two dive wiv??

[Karnak]

Originally posted by Clifra Jones
If 15 players can up 15 formations of B24's then those same 15 guys can up 15 B24's for their pork fest.

Your telling me you really need 45 B24s to take out a few fields?

I don't fly bombers, but even I can see the gaping hole in this.

How often do you see 15 bombs up at once?

All I ever see is one formation at a time.  The MA is not nearly that structured.

[hubsonfire]

The myth that even the old system was difficult is laughable. Despite the protesting, bombing is in no way difficult. Bombing is incredibly easy; avoiding the hundreds of angry fighters who will be more than happy to sacrifice themselves to kill even one bomber is the difficult part.

There are still some squads that wing up in bombers, and missions involving many forms of bombers. Typically, they don't bother calibrating well, and I'd wager that 75% of the ordnance dropped from above 1k falls well away from the intended target.

The whole point is to reduce the dramatic effects of the suicidal bomber guys, Karnak. The bombers who know what they're doing won't be all that inconvenienced.

I'll concede that Zazen makes a good point, but I just don't think he should be shafting those of us who like fighters and jabo's(the crowd he originally lured in, and who've supported the company for years) just to make more money. I don't want to run the buff pilots out, but they've gotten more compromises and crutches than they really need.

[Karnak]

1) I found the old system easy, so long as I didn't have to deal with fighters at the same time as I calibrated.

2) Any fighter in AH is a lethal threat to a bomber.  I have downed B-17s in the C.202,  A single bomber has no prayer of making it through.

2a) As a single bomber has no hope of making it, bombers will cease to exist in the MA.

[me62]

Originally posted by hubsonfire
The myth that even the old system was difficult is laughable. Despite the protesting, bombing is in no way difficult. Bombing is incredibly easy; avoiding the hundreds of angry fighters who will be more than happy to sacrifice themselves to kill even one bomber is the difficult part.

There are still some squads that wing up in bombers, and missions involving many forms of bombers. Typically, they don't bother calibrating well, and I'd wager that 75% of the ordnance dropped from above 1k falls well away from the intended target.

The whole point is to reduce the dramatic effects of the suicidal bomber guys, Karnak. The bombers who know what they're doing won't be all that inconvenienced.

I'll concede that Zazen makes a good point, but I just don't think he should be shafting those of us who like fighters and jabo's(the crowd he originally lured in, and who've supported the company for years) just to make more money. I don't want to run the buff pilots out, but they've gotten more compromises and crutches than they really need.

Ok Hubs,  Take away the formation, no problem.  No more dive
bombing lancs or b-17s, never did myself and not sure if I ever
saw it done but Ok no more.  Bombing from F6 only, great lets
do it.  Old calibration method worked just fine, lets go back to
it.  I am all for "Historical Accuracy".

But if you are going to limit the bombers to your version of
"Historical Accuracy" then how about some "Historical Accuracy"
for the targets.  Like, restore full damage effects at airfields,  Fuel dumps burning, no gas for planes, refineries wiped out, limited
fuel available at airfields and VH's.  Ammo dumps destroyed, no
bullets for the machine guns, aa guns or tanks.  Runway cratered
learn to take off from the grass.  Its all for "Historical Accuracy"
after all.

Mike
aka BTMe62

[Krusty]

Karnak, I've noticed a slight... issue... with bombers recently. The lower your fps while attacking one, the more potent any hits become from the bomber. That is, if you have 10 fps or less when attacking you are more likely to be seriously damaged by a bomber. I got a single ping from a single B24 and because I had such bad fps at the time that single ping blew my oil, killed my engine, gave me a PW, and disabled my nose guns all at once. Had I any better fps, I think that single ping would not have done as much damage. (call it a hunch)

Considering that AH is going the way of fps-guzzling games, more people are going to have worse and worse fps, so there might be a side-effect whereby bombers have MORE of a punch than they did even in AH1.

On the other hand, later the same day I had better FPS ni a different part of the map and took out a B26 in a few pings (and then fired 90% of a 190D's ammo into the drone (now flown by hte pilot) to no effect anywhere save for a little smoke in one engine).

So I don't buy that bombers would be too easy to kill. Bad FPS coupled with super tough damage coad in ALL areas except the cockpit make them 90% impossible to kill unless you have a front-angle attack. Which, when you're chasing one, isn't easy to find!!

[LePaul]

On one hand, I like your suggestion because it brings us back to the way bombers used to be handled.

Yet on the other, this is just another step in the fighter guys getting closer to eliminating what they despise...bombers.  Bombers blow strategic targets up that, yes, will effect their furball, vulchfest, etc.  We ruin their fun and clearly, rather than intercept the bombers, lets just sing a chorus of whines and insist they be hindered, shut down or eliminated completely.

I wish such a vocal minority would jump at the One-Ping-Ack issue!  Or about the increased lethality the puffy ack has lately..or any other anomaly!

It makes no difference what HTC does to the bombers, complaints will persist.   As a bomber guy, I see the complaints all the time.  Joe Niki Dweeb says buffs guns are too powerful.  Nevermind he sat on my buff's 6'oclock at a distance of 600 ft and made a very tasty target.  Nope, cant be his bad tactics...its always...always the buff's fault.

And quite frankly, its a song thats getting tiring to listen to.

[hubsonfire]

Okay, regarding the 'historical accuracy'.   Bringing back the strat system that failed to do anything but have a negative affect on gameplay has nothing to do with historical accuracy. It was just a simple means by which one player can prevent another player from enjoying the game. I really don't get too wound up about accuracy when it comes to little cartoon planes. But nearly every tactic that's criticized is defended with some guise of 'historical accuracy', be it porking, dive bombing lancasters, or horde warfare, so I added that, somewhat facetiously.

I'm not trying to eliminate bombers, as you guys claim. I'm trying to eliminate a spiteful, talentless tactic using a ridiculous method with the sole goal of denying other players the opportunity to enjoy the game.

Although you make an attempt to sidetrack this thread, sitting 600 off a bomber formation puts you just outside their convergence, meaning you're parking under a hail of precision guided 50cals, as many as 12 if you're in a low 6oc position. That's not a bomber 'feature', that's just being stupid.

The complaints of the negative affect on gameplay are valid; just popping in here to say "I'm tired of this whine" doesn't contribute anything to the discussion. Ya know what, I know the bomber guys who enjoy ****ing up the game for others wouldn't like my ideas. I'm not really concerned with the kneejerk "this idea sux" responses.

If anyone else has any relevant comments, ideas, or suggestions regarding my suggestions, they are encouraged to respond.

[LePaul]

You applaud my input then slam me for sounding like a whine.

You're missing the point.

So long as fighters outnumber the buffs they do, fighter guys will continue to be peeved that the buffs have any abilities.

You want solo bombers again minus the laser site?  Ok, sure!  Let's try it.  Want formations, perk em.  Be nice to use my perks on something asides an overpriced jet bomber.