Problem: Buff drivers who bomb and bail (or auger).
Reasons: No real incentive to return to base and land. Perkies can only be used on Ar234, which many buff drivers don't care to fly. With no real need for perks, no reason to land the buffs.
Possible Solutions:
Solution #1 - Go Better: Add perk-worthy bomber planes to the planeset. Identified bombers that could be perk worthy: A-26 Invader, Mosquito B.Mk XVI, He-177, B-29. A-26 Invader is probably the most perk-worthy that we could actually see in-game (not going to see the B-29, a Skeeter is a Skeeter, and the He-177, though a nice addition to the heavy buff set, and non-American for a change, does not rate a high perk cost to be an effective economy sink for perks in-game).
Suggest that a flight of three A-26 Invaders might cost the same as 1 Me262 would in the arena. LW ride. A sweet attack plane, strafer, bomber interceptor, but not overly dominating in bomber role; and a decent economy sink for buff perks.
The Mosquito B.Mk XVI and He-177 would both be good second choices after an A-26 if you wanted to give 2 new buff rides.
Solution #2 - Go Bigger: Perkable Maximum Ord Load Options.Allow pilots to use perks to load their buffs with the maximum ordance they could carry. Figure a cost per plane of about twice what they can earn from a typical successful mission. Multiple that across three planes in a flight, factor in failed missions, and this will limit how often buff drivers can run with max loadout.
Cons: The heavy loads with these planes on many of the game maps runways will result in overloaded buffs hanging in trees and imbedded into hillsides from failed take offs. Slower to alt. Slower speeds.
In game B-17 carries a maximum of 6,000 lbs (2721kg) of bombs. Normal bomb loads in europe were 4,000-5,000 lbs. Maximum bomb load carried was 8,000 lbs (3628 kg) and the furthest the max load was carried was to to Nienburg. To do this, internal fuel cells in the bomb bays were removed... which for game purposes would limit fuel load to 3/4 of max. ** Unsure code can allow for this **
In game B-24 carried up to 8,000 lbs, which was the historical max carried to Karlsruhe. Theoretical max was 12,800, but this was impractical. Normal loads were 5,000 lbs.
In game Lanc III carries up to 14,000 lbs (6350 kg) of bombs, which was the rated max. B1 Specials could carry the 21 foot (6.4 m) long 12,000 lb (5,448 kg) 'Tallboy' or 25.5 foot (7.77 m) long 22,000 lb (9,979 kg) "Grand Slam" "earthquake" bombs. This required modification of the bomb-bay doors and limited the operational range to 660 miles. *** Could game code correctly model a Tallboy or Gland Slam blast effect?*** Tallboy or Grand Slam would have to be especially expensive,.... and a lone, slow, Lanc will attract all kinds of attention.
In-game Ju-88 can carry 6613 lbs (3,000 kg) which is already more than sources I've read mention for this particular bird.
In-game Ki-67 can carry up to 1760 lbs (800kg) of ord, which is a normal bomb load. Maximum I've found lists 2,359 lbs, and up to 6,000 lbs on those used as Kamakazis.
Solution #3 - Go More: Allow the Purchase of Additional Drones Allow up to three more drones, to compliment the existing two in a flight. Cost per drone a little less than an Ar234, to limit their use. Set up in a formation 3 across, 2 deep, and offset slightly (and preferable rear group a little lower as well, as was actually done.
Pro: single pilots having ability to wreck serious havoc on towns and strategic targets like cities and factories. Two or three buff pilots working together can be a strong force to be dealt with. Cons:, unsure existing code can handle 3 additional drones, fire control really off for turrents.... will actually be less effective per gun against enemy targets due to convergence. Buff drivers will have to play off-line with salvos and delays to see what actually works well with new, larger formation. A boon of targets to those fitr jokes that are as adept at interception missions and killing buffs as pulling the wings off of flies.
No one solution works for everyone, for example; not-all buff drivers going to like a A-26 attack plane. Many buff drivers go with biggests is bestest path, which is why you see many Lancs on low level attacks. Solution #2 and #3 address this group of buff drivers. I would recommend adopting any two of the three solutions mentioned to address the original problem of giving buff drivers a reason to collect and spend perk points in the game. This will reduce the number of bomb and bail runs to those that are purely there to grief and don't care about perks in any case.
Expected result. More bomb runs. More bombers trying to land after their runs. More high altitude bomb runs. More high altitude interceptors used to attack the buffs. Possibly bring strategic goals and targets back into the game on a higher level.
Useful Links used for this posting, but in no way to be considered the definative answer to any of the numbers I used above. Which sources to treat as "canon" are up to HT.
WWII bomb load discussion: forum.12oclockhigh.net/archive/index.php?t-1505.html
Wiki, with two very good graphs showing bomb loads vs distance for B-17, B-24, and Lanc: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximum_Reported_B-17_&_B-24_Bomb_Loads
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e6/Bomber_Comparison_Excel_Chart.jpg/300px-Bomber_Comparison_Excel_Chart.jpg
Daytime precision bombing over Europe
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e6/Nighttime_Area_Bombing_by_RAF.jpg/300px-Nighttime_Area_Bombing_by_RAF.jpg
Nighttime area bombing by the RAF
Nice little discussion on the He-177's history.
forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=82567&start=30&sid=3d60e00951f9d7556b74761b556de090
