Geardwn has a good point. Many of us have pointed this out in the past. It's important to note that his post also asks why there is no bomb drift. In other words why are these level bombers so accurate?
Basically, the lack of bomb crater effects is as part of the two wrongs make a right theory.
The reason that bomb craters have no effect is to accomodate the incorrect bombing accuracy from level bombers. At the present time a level bomber can drop one bomb and take out one ack etc. Of course, in WWII this would have been impossible, and they would have been lucky to even hit the field.
Before we can change step two of the problem, bomb crater effects, we need to fix step one, bombing accuracy. With bomb drift, and a somewhat more realistic level bombing accuracy, a Lancaster pilot would have to carpet bomb an area to be sure of any damaging hits. This, of course, is just how they dropped during WWII. Once the bombing accuracy is fixed, crater effects on runways and blast radius can be increased somewhat. Now 1 Lancaster bombing a field wouldn't be able to take out all the ack, and shut the field down after a few passes. He would be able to crater the runway in some areas by chance, and probably cause some facility damage.
These points are a part of a long standing discussion here at AH. One group likes perfect accuracy from level bombers. They are willing to accept its unrealistic nature, are also willing to accept the two wrongs make a right theory of no crater damage, and enjoys taking out specific targets even if it is just gaming the game. The other group wants more, not totally, realistic crater and blast effects. They enjoy the feeling of at least more closely simulating a WWII bomb run, as well as its blast effects. Just like politics, each side is absolutely convinced that their approach is the best for the game or sim.
As a side note, I showed my uncle, a WWII B17 pilot, Aces High one day. He was stunned at the realistic nature of this sim. He proudly passed the info on to those in his old crew that were still alive telling them how we still remember their adventures. However, when he saw the accuracy of level bombing he expressed concern. "Why would someone write such an excellent program and do that? It changes the whole nature of what we did. I can understand having bombing runs with only 1 or 2 planes in your flight sim, but taking out individual targets is totally incorrect. Why did they take this excellent simulation and make it a game." Those were almost his exact words. Like many WWII vets, he died a few months ago. If you ever get the chance see the documentary shown on stations like Wings or Discovery Channel called something like Pistol Packing Moma tails of a B17. They made this documentary about he, Jim Geary, and his crew during the war.
As far as increasing the time to rebuild goes, it should probably be left alone. This is a sim, and certain allowances for flying time and rebuild time need to be included to prevent boredom.
Ranger Bob
[ 08-23-2001: Message edited by: RangerBob ]
