Less accurate bombers

[tuton25]

Maybe at 10,000 feet there could be a gusty wind???
The point of this is that medium bobmers down low would be used more

[Ack-Ack]

There used to be wind until the whines were so loud that HiTech couldn't get any sleep and he removed the wind.

ack-ack

[Karnak]

There used to be wind until the whines were so loud that HiTech couldn't get any sleep and he removed the wind.

ack-ack

I remember the whining being from fighter guys because it threw their aim off when they dove through it in an attack run on an enemy.

[Sabre]

There used to be wind until the whines were so loud that HiTech couldn't get any sleep and he removed the wind.

ack-ack

Well, that blows! (pun intended )

[ImADot]

Instead of wind (which IMO wouldn't be a bad thing), bring back full manual calibration like is sometimes used in Special Events and the AvA arena. That would introduce some bit of inaccuracy and require a new skill to be learned.  

One problem with wind is that no matter which direction you have it blowing, one side will be basically be flying into it while another side is with it. You will hear complaints that "those guys" have an unfair advantage due to the wind.

[tuton25]

maybe your calibrated speed could be an interval, anywhere from indicated to true speed, so the higher you are the less accurate your bombs become.
I just hate it when bombers have lasser guided presion

[SmokinLoon]

First off, I think adding manual calibration would be good for the simmers and not good for the gamers.  It would lengthen the learning curve quite a bit.  I can see either way.

Secondly, I agree that currently it is far too easy to be accurate while level bombing.  There are simply no variables the bombardier needs to worry about other than giving the bomber barely enough time to calibrate and then let loose the dogs of war.  The challenge is minimal, really.

Thirdly, I've been advocating for HTC to make carpet bombing more of a norm than it currently is.  Actually, I rarely see it used now.  The reason carpet bombing was used in WWII was the need to saturate an area to more guarantee the target was damaged as desired.  Keep in mind the pilots had to deal with winds and up drafts, there was no such thing as perfect level and straight flight like we are afforded in AH.  Keep in mind that bombardiers had to content with cross winds and an ever shifting plane, too.  It was no picnic and it certainly was no where as easy as it is in AH.  Bombing in AH is very luxurious in comparison.  On that note, I'm not suggesting HTC take away auto pilot, etc, but a cross wind or a built in gradual "spread" penalty depending on altitude would go along ways in lending to more "realism", per say.

Why not a 5mph cross wind above 10k, 8mph at 15k, and 10mph above 20k??? 

[shdo]

There was a time when carpet bombing (or at least a form of it) was mandated in AH.  At the end of Beta and through (if i remember correctly) at least tour 17 where you could not drop single bombs from the heavy bombers.  I can't remember if it was 2 or 4 bomb minimums that you had to drop in your salvo.  Can't speak after tour 17, i took a hiatus of 10+ years.

I didn't spend as much time flying back then as I had in WB and I recall that the knowledge of what and why to bomb stuff wasn't widely known so I can't tell you how much of an issue it was.  I do remember thinking that it really crippled the bomber guys at the time as it made us waste many more bombs.  Seems objects were scattered more so you were less likely to hit multiple objects with a drop.

I do remember carpet bombing in WB, since we could impact the runways we used it to keep fighters and ack-stars down while trying to take bases but that trying to determine the correct delay you wanted was always a pain.  I would use it more here but we don't have a way (or I just have not found it) to toggle salvo without having to do a .salvo in mid bomb run changing it.

if you want more realism add random turbulence but don't just add it for bombers, add it for all aircraft.  it will, at times, add variability to the bomb drop but we already have dispersion modeled so I don't know how noticeable it will be. A more noticeable change might be a random delay in drops of the drones, talking 0.0 to 0.3 seconds delay here as a guess.  

I don't know if the turbulence could be coded in a "fair" manor if it was per FE and not based on arena settings/locations.  If FE based you could have a case where someone was bouncing on their FE but the person shooting them saw them not moving and vice verse. Secondly from a trailing FE it might be seen as warping/stick stirring from a shooters FE.  Again as we have dispersion modeled on the guns as well as bombs I don't think anything but large bouts of turbulence would make that much effect on most peoples gunnery.
 
shdo

p.s. bombing isn't as easy as portrayed in this thread.  I've seen people miss most of a town and be congratulated on how well they bombed.  And watching the people who do the congratulations bomb I had to agree that even hitting the town was pretty darn good.

[thndregg]

Secondly, I agree that currently it is far too easy to be accurate while level bombing.  There are simply no variables the bombardier needs to worry about other than giving the bomber barely enough time to calibrate...

... and a good fight (there's that "F"-word again)  between the bombers attacking the target and the enemy intercepting the bombers and escorts. It is, in fact, quite a challenge and enough of a "variable" to make it interesting to say the least.

[kvuo75]

On that note, I'm not suggesting HTC take away auto pilot, etc, but a cross wind or a built in gradual "spread" penalty depending on altitude would go along ways in lending to more "realism", per say.

Why not a 5mph cross wind above 10k, 8mph at 15k, and 10mph above 20k??? 

the typical bomber pilot in this game is so ineffective as is, I dont see why anyone would want to make it harder for them.

when it takes 8 sets of lancs two passes to kill 4 vh's at a vbase... ya know...   

[tuton25]

the are really that bad???
I can drop all the hangers by myself in 3-4 passes in lancs
The research I have done says that Large bombers (B-17's) were used for carpet mombing wereas medium and light bombers were used for specision targetd

[kvuo75]

the are really that bad???

certainly seems so.. watch any group of more than 3 sets of buffs, and targets will either be missed, or doubled or tripled up on..

[bagrat]

hows about a choice of manual calibration or the ez mode for the less accurate bomber drivers. More points awarded for hitting a target with the old fashioned calibration on.

[shdo]

hows about a choice of manual calibration or the ez mode for the less accurate bomber drivers. More points awarded for hitting a target with the old fashioned calibration on.

+1 for this.  make it like the check box for tracers, make it a conscious choice before the mission and make it overridden by arena settings.

shdo

[SmokinLoon]

the typical bomber pilot in this game is so ineffective as is, I dont see why anyone would want to make it harder for them.

when it takes 8 sets of lancs two passes to kill 4 vh's at a vbase... ya know...   

Perhaps a group of players not fully versed in the ways of level bombing???  There is a trainer's website for that stuff, right?  oh wait.....