No more bombers for me

[Mickey1992]

There was a thread not too long ago, that I now can not find, that asked where all of the bombers have gone.

Tonight, after a week away while on vacation, I log in and up a formation of B26.  I climb to 9K and calibrate for my bombing run.  I make my drop,  and a Corsair climbs up my 6 from below.  When he is about 800 yards, he climbs and opens fire on my lead bomber.  I let him have it and take off one of his wings, but not before he shoots the tail off my lead bomber.  As he goes down, I switch to the pilot's seat and bail.

I am jumped into the next bomber, and the tail comes off.  I bail again.

I am jumped into the last bomber, and my tail comes off.  No one else is within 2K of me.  

I have no problem with the new bomber calibration system.  I have a problem with the bomber formation damage system that is still bugged after 4 months and 7 patches.


No more bombers for me.  Ahhhhh.....I feel much better now.

[Midnight]

Yep.. bombers have a tendancy to die very easy lately, even to .50s.

The other day, I shot a formation of B17s with about 100 rounds total. two of them exploded.

It's far too easy for a single fighter to destroy all 3 bombers in a formation... ON A SINGLE PASS...

HTC didn't make bomber formations for guys who like to fly bombers, they made them to allow fighter guys to pad their scores.

[moose]

Originally posted by Midnight
HTC didn't make bomber formations for guys who like to fly bombers, they made them to allow fighter guys to pad their scores.

Such investigative journalism.

[Innominate]

Originally posted by moose
Such investigative journalism.

It's completly true.

Furballers complained about bomber pilots hurting thier furballs, so we got the new bombsight, and formations.  Bombers were changed from damage-dealing aircraft to lawn vandals.  Now they pretty much have to fly at fighter-happy altitudes, straight and level for extended periods of time, with a very large chance of doing no damage.  If the lead buff in a formation is killed just before or during the bombing run, you can count on missing by  a large margin.

The formation damage bugs only make it worse.

[moot]

It's false, like other things put in HT's mouth, he said himself he saw the difference between "guys that just want to furball, guys that want to bomb stuff, guys that want to grab bases, " etc.

If the MA wasn't brain washed into constant lemming mass quaking... If only AH had the size and detail of what WWIIOL[edit]'s terrains[/edit] sounds like, with our physics models, and correct dispersion of battles and players, maybe it would be better. Hopefully the mission arena does at least this much.

If players would have innate sense of automatic strategic organisation instead, there wouldn't be need for HTC to force a mission arena.

And just like fighter planes, bombers need to wing up; to the difference that they are bigger and more attractive targets, which both solves the bombing problem (if any, considering it's not that hard to make correct calibration) and the "defenselesness" by putting bombers like they were meant to be, in large boxes of 5+ ships.  Just like it's off subject to say the interceptors of the game can't stall fight with the little A6M etc mosquitoes, by design.

[Innominate]

Moot, you're giving the average gamer too much credit.  The average gamer doesn't care about anything except getting that kill.  Many of them are mediocre pilots at best, where getting a single kill before going down is a good flight.  Most of them couldn't care less about the war as a whole.  Wether because they don't understand it or simply don't care depends on the player.  But remember, when someone says "average(or often casual)  gamer" what they mean is "idiot".  This effect is very visible in most objective based FPS games.

Nobody wants to fly a bomber because  outside of HQ attacks and CV sinking, there isn't a single reason to.

Yes a fleet of four or five people in buff formations can do a lot of damage.  But you can count on half of them hitting nothing, you can also count on it taking 20minutes to get to target.  You can put those same four or five people into p38s, p51s, tiffies, or , and do the same amount of effective damage, in MUCH less time, with much more reliability, then hang around and cap.

[AKIron]

I completed a successful bomb run with a formation of B26's a couple of nights ago. Even fought off a couple of fighters and sustained no damage (that I could see). Everything seemed to be going fine as I flared for touchdown with both drones slightly behind and above me over the runway. Unexpectedly they both blew up. Was the last straw for me, no more buffs for a while.

[moot]

That's a bit like predicting no one will want to fly anything but 163s because only they will reduce time-to-furball to a few seconds from takeoff; it's unlikely there will be something like this, airstart out of thin air at altitude for example, for bombers.

So it's always been a given that the bomber pilot is to expect climbout time, but not that they should have to use an impossible bomb aiming gizmo or a2a defense setup. So, reading the instructions (or not, you can just follow the ones in the bombsight HUD) and not going alone is common sense, at least because that's historical and therefore necessary as per the plane's design and mission.

The average gamer doesn't care about anything except getting that kill and that oversight of his makes strategic organisation among players disappear, which is why probably HTC has no choice, to put some WWII shape into the online arena, but to themselves force a guiding automated gameplay structure that at least mimics WWII strategic warfare without taking away the possibility to just blow toejam up. There will be a place to be for each gamer wanting to game their way, without stepping on each others' respective gaming and still avoid the chaos of average gamers gaming as only viable/survivable solution.

[ElLobo]

I used to fly bombers a lot. I really enjoyed winging up with a couple of m8s and going on a bombing mission deep into enemy territory. Had some great battles with fighters. Loved trying to nurse a damaged bomber home. Also when in fighters my favorite thing to do was go buff hunting with a 109 or some other historical bomber killer. It took skill and good luck to get a bomber kill.

Since the introduction of the bomber formations and the new bombsight calibration system however, I've completly given up on bombers, don't think I've flown 1 bomber mission this tour. they just aren' fun. It seems like most feel the same way as there are very few bombers in the arena and its useless to go buff hunting as there are no buffs.

I feel 1 pilot 1 plane is the way to go, no drones! I really like the calibration system and it works fairly well, but the bombers as they are are pretty much useless.

[fffreeze220]

Maybe we will get an updated damage model soon.
I would like to see a buff kill as hard work.
I would also like it to be able to aim at stuff and hit waht i aimed.
What i mean is gunner position on a buff. Like in real war take out the rear and lower gunner and u can pick the buff piece by piece.
With the current ddamage model it seems to me like u aim at the tail and the wing fell off.

[metronom]

You already can  take out each gun position in a Bomber. The buff Pilot can go to that gun, but he can't fire it. But because the Pilot in that gun position is comanding the remainding guns in the drones, so you don't know excatly what gun is destroyed.
But yes, I think too that the buffs are too weak now.

Sailor

[Saintaw]

Yesterday it took me six (6) passes *hitting* with mk108 30mm on a single B17 to take one of it down. Firing cannon only, I saw the hit sprites.

Maybe I should switch to .50's after all...

[wipass]

Bombers, hmm.

As soon as you get one up it's like flies around toejame, every fighter within range comes after you regardless of what their initial mission or aim was, as soon as you knock em down, they just re-roll from nearest field and come after you again, unless you are hitting strats behind your own lines you don't stand much chance of surviving and landing.

And what's with this .50's and 20mm taking out tanks ?  pathetic, unless you hit them with at least 250 pounds on the head or with a full rocket load they should be damn near invincible to aircraft.

Ah well, back to work

wipass

[Hortlund]

Originally posted by Saintaw
Yesterday it took me six (6) passes *hitting* with mk108 30mm on a single B17 to take one of it down. Firing cannon only, I saw the hit sprites.

Maybe I should switch to .50's after all...

OR maybe you should learn how to aim.

[Saintaw]

*Slap* I said I SAW the hit sprites!

If you would be man enough to ********tuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut********* you would have heard my whining on Squad Vox last night


off to work now...