How to Stop Buff Alt Monkeys & Make Bombing a Bit More Realistic

[MRPLUTO]

Actually Revin, I don't have any problem keeping an eye on enemy fighters and calibrating the bombsight.

I'll explain:

First, I climb to my cruising altitude and turn towards enemy territory far enough away to have time to accelerate.  In Ki-67s this means 330 TAS [true airspeed].

My IP [initial point; the last turn towards the target] is at least 20-25 miles from the target.  This is historically accurate.

I go to the bombardier position and set the target alt and get an early setting for the drop.  Then back to external view.

As I get closer to the target and I'm sure my speed has stabilized I set the bombsight again (only for speed now), then go back to external view.

Any enemy trying to intercept me will be visible a long way off, well before they are a threat.

As I approach the target I make the last course corrections.  Back to external, while I let the speed get constant after the course correction.

If there are any enemy fighters nearby, this is the only time they are a problem, but then only if they are in position to attack.  I've had many missions in which I've watched an enemy stalk me as I go on my bomb run.  But at d2.0 at my high 7 I'll have time to man the guns, because....

....I can calibrate the bombsight quite accurately in less than 10 seconds, jump to the appropriate gun position to check on the interceptor and go to the bombsight for the few seconds required to make the drop.  

The most dangerous pilots will wait at your high 10 or 2 and try to time their attack when you have to drop, but that's hard to judge, and very few pilots are capable of making such a professional intercept.

And remember, I don't  have to make the last calibration.  It just helps if I've had to make last minute course corrections, beyond just very slight, gentle ones.

Bombs away and it's safe to man the guns.

*******

If you don't believe this works, just check out my buff score and stats on the HTC website.

MRPLUTO

[Revvin]

Thanks for the advice but know how to bomb. It's still hardly fair or historical to have a player jump to bombardier, then jump to gun, external view and back again and that 10 seconds (takes a little longer to go from cockpit, bombardier, select target and settle mind you) is all that's needed for one of those jet monsters to zoom in and blow you apart. I prefer to spend a little more time in the norden and don't see why I should be defenseless while I set up my norden as the next jet monster ups and re-ups depending on how many times he makes a suicidal dead 6 attack. I'd like an automated gunner like the 'other' sim, it should'nt be a feared feature as some seem to if it was done right and had settings the host could tweak to fine tune it but we don't even have the luxury of getting a text warning like that other sim as the auto gunner spots cons so you could abort your calibration and jump to the guns.

Human gunners and escort are pretty much non existant in the MA despite requests, most squads talk the talk but don't walk the walk when it actually comes to providing escort.

[Batz]

Hopefully bombers will get a good tune up with ah2 coming.

Folks may remember my hatred of bombers dweebs and the calls I have made to just get rid of bombers all together. I have called them fluffers and other names.

I was glad when the new bombsite was introduced and expected a new type of skilled bomber pilot. That didnt happen.

Despite a few dweed suicide raids you hardly see bombers.

I think from my time as co and xo in the past few events that the workload on the bomber pilot is greater then it should be. We want a reasonable "simulation" of bombing for the AH2:ToD arena.

The bombsite calibration while simple on paper for the average bomb pilot its to difficult. This is especially apparent in events.

What I think needs to be done is the bombsite calibration should be more in line with IL2 FB and wwporkonline.

From the bombardier position you set TAS speed and alt AGL. For bombers that had an auto bomb release this should be modelled as well.

The 234 for instance the pilot moved the control colomn out of the way set alt and speed then marked the target then the plane automatically flew to that point and dropped.

In the ju88 and he 111 once alt and speed are set the target is marked and when the cross hairs hit that mark the bombs auto release. If you make slight course correction with less the 4 degree bank the site wont need to be recalibrated.

This would allow the pilot to jump around to different positions instead of remaining in the site.

Also the jumping  around to different gun positions is to clumsy. There should be enemy aircraft reports from the gunners.

"tailgunner 3 enemy aircraft d6k" etc. This would give you the chance to jump to the gun position that gives you the best line on the attacking aircraft.

Also, I know this is taboo but I dont see anyway around it. AH needs otto. Auto gunners for the most part are the only defense bombers will have while in the bombsite. These could only be enabled only when in the bombadier position. Accurracy should be more realistic then in most other games. AI gunners should not be picking off planes from d1.5k.  This will stop the dweeb who will jump to the bombadier position, then go to external view and fly the plane with his rudder. AI gunners will already be in use in AH2:ToD because HT has said that bomber formations will include ai bombers.

Along with this bombers are very easy to kill. I dont mean that they need more  rounds to kill but its so easy to hit them from d800 that I usually can fly up there 6 and kill all 3 from range just by kicking my rudder. Some folks complain about 3 hits killing all 3 bombers but my experience has been 3 to 4 3cm to kill 1 bomber. Also the bombers dm should be tweaked (not buff toughness). There should be more things to shoot off.

Lastly bombers need realistic targets. Saying that bombers should fly around sniping individaul targets is just not how most bomber sorties were flown.

Anything that reduces the workload of the bomber pilot would be a good thing. They face long climbouts and time to target, a frustration calibration process and an airframe that is easily killed.

With all this in mind the average bomber pilot may think the only way he can live is going to 35k (I havent seen umm that high since bombers had no guns) or they may say f'it and figure they are dead anyway and just suicide in.

The lack of bomber pilots have had a real impact on the last few scenarios. Bombers need to be fun or no one will fly them.

Anyway way if you want bombers to be more realistic then there are alot of things that need to be fixed.

[bj229r]

One other thin noone mentioned--the biggest reason buffs were mucho vulnerable on final to target was that they had to go in straight line..steady speed..which made it easy for ack gunners to set up shells to detonate at proper place and time--THEN..after the ack quit..the fighters came back..but it's all much ado about nothing..damn near noone flies buffs anymore---to much effort for too little gain

[MRPLUTO]

Good point, bj229r.  I wish the AI 88mm flak didn't follow buffs, but instead was just fired into a "box" ahead of the bombers.

MRPLUTO

[Montezuma]

Originally posted by MRPLUTO
(Think of Curtis LeMay ordering the B-29s down to 9K over Tokyo so they could hit the target, for a change.)  
MRPLUTO

LeMay was basically copying the British method of night time area bombing over Japan, which was very different than day light precision bombing as practiced by the US over europe.  The objective was getting enough bombs close together to start a firestorm, not hitting individual buildings.