I think many of the CV "problems" are because the ack is turned way down on them. I kill a LOT of CVs - it is easy because all I have to do is come in a 5-6K at 300 knots in a box of Tu-2s and if it is not under active control with the guns manned, there is no way in hell the CV is not going to get hit. Even if it is under active control, at that altitude I can put the bombs where you will be if I see the CV turn. I may not get ALL of them on you, which means you MIGHT live, but the odds are not good. If the CV ack is manned, the 5" gunner will usually get a drone on the way in (and a really good guy can get all 3), but that does not happen very often.
What are the true causes of the problem here?
1. Poor AAA. There is no way in hell that a single box of 3 bombers should survive the auto-ack on the way in at 5K. As it is now, there is virtually no chance that the puffy will stop my run, and by the time the auto ack even opens fire I am in the scope dropping the bombs. This should change, and get dialed way back up. A single pilot making a run at a CV group is a suicide run - you are coming in against a dozen or so 5" guns with proximity fused ammo, backed up by a load of 40mms popping away at you. It darn well ought to look and feel like it, even if the CV is not manned by another player.
2. Dumb ship control. If not manned, the CV just blindly continues on a nice straight course just asking to be hit by a bomb. Even if manned, all you can do at the helm is set a new waypoint and watch the ship start to turn on the exact same arc every time. The CV helm needs an update, with the addition of a "zig zag" mode that will have the "helmsman" zig zag randomly along a base course. I would also like to see some rudder options and the ability to set a compass heading - click N, and "standard rudder" and you get a gentle turn to the N or click S and "full rudder" and you get that hard evasive turn to the S. Perhaps that way every CV turn isn't instantly destructive to everyone taking off, and a zig-zag course through a CV spawn isn't a guaranteed death to a CV. I also would like for an unmanned CV to start zig zagging automatically along its base course whenever the dar starts flashing.
3. No warning time. Face it, with a 12-mile dar circle and me coming in at 300 knots you just do not have enough time to up and intercept an incoming raid even if you wanted to. By the time you are off the deck and climbing, I'm dropping my load and watching your CV turn into a U-Boat. The CV is a strategic asset (perhaps the #1 strategic asset in the game), and it deserves a radar circle that allows players enough time to rise to its defense. At least double it to 24 miles (and you can make a case to go higher than that given the history of CV groups using radar pickets vs kamikazes to extend their radar coverage). Frankly, I'd say you can make a case for ALL base radar to go to 24 miles and the CV go to 36 miles, but that is an argument for another thread.
