Seeing as how the Arado costs so terrably much and has no defence other than speed, it is very important for the pilot flying it to know the conditions he is flying into.
Alot of times recently (especally at night) i have had REAL trouble hitting targets because nobody will give me info about target area.
Take tonight for instance.
ME: "what needs to be hit at A-xx"
Player: FHs
ME: cc otw in arado be there in a few, any cons?
player: yes, Chog and 51.
ME: cc, alt of cons??
nothing...
<I continue to blast towards target at around 300mph>
about a min later
Me on ch3: how high are cons at A-xx?
nothing...
<red bar in area begins to grow, I am about 4 min out from target>
ME: what is status of cons near a-xx, type, alt??
Player: Quit clogging the buffer.
<2 min pass i come within vis of target, i see the Fh's and alot of smoke>
ME: are both Fhs down or just one?
<closing on target VERY quickly still cant tell if 1 fh is up or not}
ME: ARE BOTH FH AT A-xx DOWN OR JUST ONE?
<pass over target and fly straight for 35 sec to get distance for second run, still cannot tell if Fhs are both down or not>
ME: ARE BOTH THE FHS DOWN?!?!?!!?
Player: quit whining!
<assuming that the target i was called here for still exists i drop my bombs between both hangers hoping to get the one that was up..they were both already down.
ME: why didnt yall tell me both FH's were down?
ME: you called me to kill them..and their down..???
player: quit whining kid.
<i begin to rtb to nearby base because the extra time on site has drank alot of gas, I begin my slow time consuming ritual to decend and land (anyone who has flown arado knows what im talking about)
<suddenly i see a red dot incoming from the base i was just at, and was headed in my dir>
ME: anyone know what con headed for A-xx is???
<nothing, con gets closer i see dot..at about 7k in alt, by now im slowing and am at about 250mph and 3k>
For those who dont know the arado is as vulnerable as a goon for about 5 min while it goes through the process of preparing to land, it has to slow to 200mph and is usually at around 300 feet, it is also just as vulnerable for about 10 min after takeoff.
<beginning approach, con growing closer and closer, i see a friendlie near it..>
ME: what is that above base PlayerX?
nothing.
<finally somebody else says its a lanc *WHEW*, so i circle for a sec so i dont get bombed and then land>
Playerx: you sure do whine alot.
ME: how so..
Player2x: yea quit clogging the text buffer.
ME: i just asked about con and base info...whats the buffer for??
playerx: Yea, your a real whiner.
ME: how so..
Player: just fly, dont whine so much.
ME: excuse me if I dont want to lose a 70 point plane.
ME: I just wanted to know what I was flying into.
player: ive done lost x-1000 points, i dont care.
ME: maby so but i dont feel like flying for a week to earn points..
ME: for a plane I lost do to not knowing what i was flying into.
Player: quit whining.
When flying Arado, info is your biggest weapon. Without it your speed MIGHT save you..but it might not.
REASON 1
Ok first off. In case you didnt know the Arado is
EXPENSIVE, based on regular bomber flight conditions you will have to have over 8 hours of good mission time to buy just 1, which for most people means several days without days to a week without it. Any arado pilot in high right mind will not fly into a square full of reds without some info about whats up there and what its alt is because all it takes is 1 high or co-alt fighter and BOOM, Yer spendin days or weeks tryin to get yer plane back.
REASON2:
Secondly, the arado is FAST, targets come up VERY quickly and if the target you were called in to hit is either already down or obscured, and you need to ask for a secondary target, it you dont get a reply within about 1 min you will over fly target and have to make a second pass, Making second passes will usually piss an arado pilot off pretty good, especally if the area is hot with enemy fighters, why? see reason 1.
There are other reasons but those are most important, so when an someone says their in an arado and headed for targetX and ask for info try to help out, the info most important to arado pilots are:
A: what is target.if the target you called them in to destroy gets killeb before they get there, let then know, and if possable suggest a secondary target.
B: Status of cons.
Try and give an accurate estimation of the alt of the cons at the target, this is the most important thing to any arado driver who wants to live, even relativly slow plane like a Chog that is above or even co-alt with an arado can be a real problem (HO ya)
if you notica any really high cons come in to a target..say so, nothing scares an arado pilot more than to be looing donw the bomb sight and get a "chack 6" call, or see something in the buffer like "watch for 20k Tempest.. So please try and help the out.
usually if an area is hot and im headed towards it and i start seeing high dots Ill ask about them and if I dont get any answers after a while ill abort and head home, which makes me mad, but no som much as flying into a cloud of temps and 152s that showed up.
Bottom line.
Arados are very pricy (too much so IMO) and they are VERY vulnerable if they are flying into an area they have no info about. So more then likley your gonna be getting some questions from them about the area, and if you tell them there are no cons and a they fly into an area of 25k P-51s and other evil they are gonna be mad, Why? cause yer info might have just cost them a ride, and i dont know about anyone else, but I dont like spending my $30 a month flying a Ju-88 trying to earn points for a plane that i shouldent have lost in the first place. And just because they ask alot of questions..they are not a whiner (for those stupid enough to think that) they are just careful..and rightly so (see REASONs 1 and 2)
Be kind to your Ar-234 pilots
