Beefcakes Buff Idea Wishlist Redux

[Beefcake]

Well I figure it's been a month or so and it's time to repost a few of the features I wish would be put into the game.


1. Enable the 4th buff drone for a perk point cost. (Gives buffs a perk point sink)

For those that remember and or don't know, when the buff drone system was being developed it was orginally designed to have 3 drones follow the leader instead of 2. Thats why when you look in the settings and control options there is a setup system for the 4th plane. I would to request/propose that buff pilots could buy a 4th plane to join them when they take off on formation missions. This would make a really great perk sink and would give buff pilots something nice to spend points on, extra bombing power and extra defense. (depending on the plane)



2. Allow buff pilots to purchase a .formation command to lead large formations. (Here is a repost of what I posted earlier this year)

The function I have in mind would be something like .formation , or .formation Beefcake for instance.
What would it do? If typed it would activate an auto pilot that took over steering and throttle control and would bring the plane(s) into a locked formation behind the "target" aircraft. Each person that "locked in" would fall into a pre determined slot behind the leader until all the spots were full or no one is left. In order for the formation to stay together the lead aircraft would always have to throttle back, no magic over speeding buffs, also the leader could not perform any violent maneuvers. Basically like the drones we have now, if the lead plane turned to hard of climbed/dove to steep then it would cause the auto pilot on the formation planes to kick off.
Now the reason why I think this could be useful. First of all, people that fly any kind of buff, especially the B17's and B24s, are basically having to do the jobs of 30 guys, 12 if you have a gunner. I think any buff pilot that has had to hold a formation while they are under attack would tell you that it is very hard. It only takes a few seconds of being off course for you to drift out of the formation, and when you do, you become easy pickins for fighters. Trying to maintain formation and gun can be VERY hard to do. The reason I offer this idea is simple, it would allow the lead buff pilot to concentrate on flying the formation while the wingman concentrate on the enemy. Now the other buff pilots would still have to drop their own bombs, but a formation command would make it easier to reform after the drop.



3. Allow buff pilots to bail out of the plane while in the gunner position.

This would help buff pilots when the plane they're gunning in goes out of control for some reason (IE lost wing). Many times I'll lose a wing and try to bail out, only to realize I'm still in the gunner position, so I have to jump the the pilot's seat and then bail out, and THEN get back the guns...if there is anything left by that time.



4.  Allow buff pilots to buy whole extra formations to take off with them.
This one sounds odd, I know, but hear me out please. Why not allow buff pilots to spend 200-300 perks to buy whole extra formations? Like up to 3 or 4 max. The formations could only be bought at large fields and the cost would have to be insane, but, it would allow a pilot to launch a massive attack on targets and would make great fighter bait.

[Stoney74]

Originally posted by Beefcake
2. Allow buff pilots to purchase a .formation command to lead large formations.

Only way I'd buy into this is if only the manned gun fired when this was enabled.  If all guns were slaved as it is with the current formations, it would be too much.  I can just see the B-17 with 35 drones vulching the snot out of a field...

[Beefcake]

You misunderstood how that works, the idea is that a bunch of players link up using this command. All it would do is lock other players into a formation with a leader. The players would still have to drop their own bombs and man their own guns.

[Stoney74]

No, I understood that part.  To be able to have all those planes locked into one formation, and still have all the guns slaved together (even if only for the sets of three) is too much capability.

[Latrobe]

All these ideas have been brought up before, yet I haven't seen an absolute yes or no answer to them.

[Rich46yo]

One problem Ive had is ok, Im in a gunners seat, the plane gets smoked, I have to jump into the pilots seat, then bail, and then I realize I just bailed out of a perfectly good airplane instead of the one that was shot up. So yeah, put me on the list of those who want to be able to bail from a gunners seat.

                                A 4'th bomber is an interesting idea. That way you can take a gunner on and both can gun from 2 airplanes. It would make strat runs more effective and anything that improves the strat war improves the game. Instead of just having a conga line from A1 to A19 more of the map would be opened up for play. Which would improve gameplay.

                            "Most" of the time I would still take up 3 medium bombers cause Ive worked hard figuring out how to fly and maneuver with drones. But a "4'th" for perk costs would be a great idea. Lets face it, most people dont use their bomber perks. The AR-234 is a great airplane but it just isn't sortied much.

                        I also have another suggestion. AH should have a limit as to how long a particular map can be fight for. It might be 3 days, 4 days, 7 days, but limit how long a map/war stays active. That duckpond map is never going to be won.