I got the chance to be in Germany for a couple of months, and during my sparse free time I got the chance to add to my (pitifully small) collection of data from the Bundesarchiv re: WW2.
By late '43 German ground attack pilots were being trained to attack enemy MBTs only when doing so would keep German ground forces from being overrun in the near future. If they were attacking an enemy armored spearhead, they were taught to attack the fuel supply vehicles. After all, operationally and strategically an armored division without fuel is basically an immobile infantry regiment.
Also, the most often used air to ground munition for German fighter-bombers - when available - was the cluster bomb. 2 general types were used, one being pure anti-personnel and the other having some anti-armor capability.
They were found to be far superior to conventional bombs in almost every way. AP cluster munitions were infintely more effective vs. dug in enemy infantry. Against any vehicle the % of hit was much higher, and AA (antiarmor) cluster munitions had a moderate chance of scoring a mission kill vs. an enemy MBT. AA cluster munitions were also really rough on attendant more lightly armored support vehicles and infantry.
There was a constant shortage of these types of bombs however - but it was due to the constant high demand and high usage, i.e. they weren't necessarily 'rare' it's just that every fighter bomber on the eastern front could always use a couple.
Interestingly enough, the head of ground attack operations for the LW for the majority of the war said there were 2 great mistakes made *munitions-wise*:
1. cluster munition production was not pushed as extremely important from day 1.
2. over 2,000,000 cluster bombs were captured from France. They were scrapped for fuzing material, instead of being used as cluster bombs.
So here's a couple of suggestions:
Make cluster munitions available, maybe having them cost bomber perk points as pure fighter perk points are pretty easy to build up. I'd even say that maybe there should be separate perk categories for fighter, bomber, and attack in the moderately distant future.
Instead of vehicle bases all over the map...there should be big vehicle bases on a team's 'home island', or deep in a team's 'home continent'.
All forward bases should be AI controlled (maybe player controllable, like a CVG) small groups of 'support vehicles' - 2-3 fuel vehicles, 2 ammunition vehicles, 1 halftrack, 1-2 SPAA. These 'vehicle supply columns' would shift position constantly, avoid excessively open terrain, always shift position after being attacked, etc.
And while we're at it, vehicle icons:
Should never drop beneath 1.0 from an aircraft's viewpoint.
A stationary vehicle should lose it's icon after a certain period of total inactivity, to simulate the crew camoflaging the vehicle.
The higher a player's vehicle rank, the less time this would take (more experienced crew).
The more the terrain lends itself to camoflage, the less time this would take.
If a camoflaged vehicle is on the screen of another vehicle looking in zoom or gunsight modes, the more continuos time the camoflaged vehicle spends on said screen the greater the chance that an icon for the camoflaged vehicle appears only for the vehicle conducting the 'visual search' (i.e. using zoom or a gunsight). The spotting vehicle would probably use smoke or tracer to mark the 'hidden enemy' for his comrades.
Maybe make the degree of zoom used effect time required to remove an icon.
Just ideas...
Mike/wulfie
