Aces High Plane Preview: Mosquito B.XVI

[Karnak]

hole (word i shouldn't say)>****! is that a 4000 bomb!?...*faint*

Yes, that is a 4,000lb 'cookie', the same as the one the Lancaster carries.

And yet I believe the highest scoring single sortie record is owned by the Arado. I wonder how that happened?  

A single Ar234?  I doubt it.  You did it with a formation.  Take the formation away and it simply isn't worth the time as more damage could be done in the same time in a P-47, P-38 or Bf110.

[bozon]

Bomber gameplay is already full of too many concessions.

True.
However, lets consider the gameplay for level bombers. There are two ways to go: High, above the fighters at least till you get to the drop. Low, fighting the fighters off with your guns. Since the mossie XVI has no guns and low altitude speed is good but not enough (not to mention attack from above), the second option will be difficult without good friendly cover. Coming in fast and high is much more likely to get the mosquito to the drop, but putting a bomb on target from 25K while going 400 MPH is not an easy task  - even with the easy mode calibration.

What will formations do? For the low altitude options it robs the  B-moss of its only defense - you cannot maneuver to evade attacks with a formation without loosing it. A players who cares not about his score can abuse this by taking the drones as "extras" and let them die if he is attacked (giving free two kills to the attacker?). Even a perk tag of 1 will seriously lower the number of such cases. For bombing accuracy, this helps a little. All 3 cookies will drop together, but will cover a wider pattern of total destruction - this is a waste. many small bombs are more effective for a city and the spacing between the cookies is not enough to take more than 1 hangar with an overkill. The new CV killer?

So the only thing formations will add to the B-moss is increased effectiveness as a daytime, high alt level bomber - something it was never intended to do in real life, but the way it will play in AH. Unless coming with heavy fighter cover, a low/mid-alt level bombing is better served by a bloated 4 engine machine. Enabling formations, with a small perk tag will allow it to be an effective high alt bomber, prevent/minimize miss-use and give something to spend the easy-to-get but useless bomber perks on.

[Chalenge]

Yes, that is a 4,000lb 'cookie', the same as the one the Lancaster carries.
A single Ar234?  I doubt it.  You did it with a formation.  Take the formation away and it simply isn't worth the time as more damage could be done in the same time in a P-47, P-38 or Bf110.

What you dont 'get' is that time isnt material in bomber mode. In the aircraft you mention you cannot bomb from altitude. With the Arado you not only can but should. A formation comes with all sorts of unintended baggage like lack of maneuverability (although lots of people dont let that stop them) and they also offer a much broader target to puffy ack and you cannot rearm without losing your drones (not to mention what a momentary lag will do to them). I never carry the cannon either because I think the dispersal cone of the rounds is a bit 'gamey' and gimmicked (just my opinion) and it slows you down. Its much better in my way of thinking to keep moving than it is to try to setup some ridiculous face shot on a trailing fighter but thats just me.

Now if the Mosquito comes without a bombsight thats different but I suspect it will become even more handy than a single Arado. I dont think the P-47s will be a problem at all but thats just me. 

[Karnak]

a daytime, high alt level bomber - something it was never intended to do in real life, but the way it will play in AH

You are in error on that count.  The Mosquito XVI was used as a high altitude, level bomber during the day.  What it wasn't used for was mass formations carpet bombing by dropping when the leader's bombs dropped.


Challenge, so you used a single Ar234 and multiple rearms to get that score?  You would have had much more effect using your P-51 for the time it took you to do that I think, but yes, the Ar234 and Mosquito XVI should be able to rack up much larger scores than any slow, turreted heavy simply by making use of their survivability and the rearming option.

The only aircraft in AH that I have never lost is the Ar234.  I haven't flown it in ages, but the was a tour I flew many, many Ar234 sorties.

[321BAR]

When was the last time you flew the Stuka?

two days ago

[Stoney]

I don't see why it would be perked at all.  The performance, while great compared to other bombers, is a function of altitude, and the ship needs to be very high to achieve its best speeds.  I'm not even sure it should be a "5" ENY...

[Boozeman]

Keep in mind that the climbrate will be more fighter than bomber-like. Probably not with the cookie and the 2 x 500 on the wings, but with an internal 4 x 500 you will get to those alts rather quickly.

[Baldrick]

4k bomb=not a hanger queen

historically, though, the cookie was a blast bomb with almost no penetration capability
against hardened targets.

[Baumer]

Chalenge I guess I missed it someplace, where are the highest Ar234 sortie points listed?

[Karnak]

I don't see why it would be perked at all.  The performance, while great compared to other bombers, is a function of altitude, and the ship needs to be very high to achieve its best speeds.  I'm not even sure it should be a "5" ENY...

Main reason I think it needs to be perked is that it will be much too powerful a tool with which to smash ships or tanks given its speed and the 4,000lb bomb if it isn't controlled by a perk price to encourage non-kamikaze tactics.

historically, though, the cookie was a blast bomb with almost no penetration capability
against hardened targets.

The vast majority of targets in AH are not hardened.

[Chalenge]

Chalenge I guess I missed it someplace, where are the highest Ar234 sortie points listed?

If you ever hear of a higher damage count please let me know. 

[Baumer]

Well the best I've seen without rearming is this one;



If I understand the earlier posts, you did rearm correct?

[Lusche]

Well the best I've seen without rearming is this one;

(Image removed from quote.)

 

[Karnak]

From what I have heard, didn't the Germans despise the Mossie as it could seemingly "shrug" off 30mm cannon rounds like the one shown in the picture?

Missed this comment earlier.  I wouldn't say it could shrug them off.  Due to the nature of plywood as compared to aluminum individual hits tended to do less damage to a Mosquito compared to an aluminum aircraft.  All that means is that it could, on average, take more hits than a similarly sized aluminum aircraft.  The Mosquito in the photo was lucky to survive the 2-4 30mm hits it took and still be so flyable that the pilot was able to perform effective evasives for an extended period of time. 

[Chalenge]

Well the best I've seen without rearming is this one;

(Image removed from quote.)

If I understand the earlier posts, you did rearm correct?

I hit 49k with B17s already without rearm (and obviously snailman more). The point of this is sortie count and damage. If you take a formation you lose drones when you rearm so a formation cannot score higher. A single Lanc could but it takes more time to climb and involves more risk (something not even SHawk is going to endure) but rearms will be required which involve more time and more risk still. Arado formations are okay for CV killing and thats about it.