Ok, (picks up Mookies torch). Q&A time.

[roblex]

I think that we need a small random variation in accuracy measured in degrees. This means that the higher you drop from the more chance you have of missing. If the odds are tuned to give a near zero variation 25% of the time then it will encourage people drop at least 4 bombs at a time (we must not forget that people fly bombers that only hold 4 bombs).
My angle is that sometimes I fly B17s and accept that they were not that accurate but sometimes I fly Mosquitos and expect to be able to do pinpoint bombing with it as in RL.

I also like the idea of large targets that need lots of ordinance to destroy but I would hope that we we would be able to do this in waves ie get a 10 minute window to get the required tonnage of bombs on the target. Perhaps the target could reflect in some way its level of damage  ie grey smoke=lightly damaged, black smoke=heavily damaged, high flames=about to fall, wreckage=destroyed. If a target gets hit hard and is burning but the defenders manage to stop any more bombers from getting through for 5 minutes it will revert to black smoke then after a further 5 minutes to grey smoke etc. There would still need to be other targets that require precision bombing as well though.

Roblex 6th RAF

[Downtown]

You can still take out certain smaller targets, like ack or DAR antenna with JABOs with 500lbrs.  But make the buildings and indurstrial/strategic targets require Buffs to salvo their entire bombload.

If there is a stable steady connection, I will fly in a BOMBER FOrmation, to saturation bomb a target.

Give us a reason to do it.

Of course 50 guys with 500lbrs on theirs Stangs could take out a factory too.

------------------
"I could feel the 20MM Cannon impacting behind me so I made myself small behind the pilot armor" Charlie Bond AVG

[Dinger]

Since we're basically squeaking about a preceding project and trying to extrapolate that into something we haven't seen yet, I'll throw in my $.02 on buffing in said preceding project.
Yes, it isn't very realistic, and no, I don't think it can be a perfect simulation of level bombing giving the gameplay limitations we have.
It's not just formation flying that makes driving the heavies difficult.
And, no, it isn't as simple as "pick your target, green up, open bays and pickle."
Plenty of part-time or vacation buffers may think it is, but it isn't.
First, of all, the WB targets have been hardened in a way that pinpoint precision is necessary if level bombing is to have any effect.  If you screw up the split-second lead necessary on the pickle, you'll end up putting a huge crater underneath the target which IRL woulda been destroyed.
Further, the rebuild clocks require either a significant number of bombers, or someone really good. By really good I mean somebody who is capable of closing (or deacking) a small field in one pass, and a mid field in two.  Take a look at the field layout sometime: to do that in a single level bomber requires the pilot to know instinctively the flight characteristics of the a/c, and to be able to exploit these while staring down the "Nerden" bombsight.
WB-style level bombing is certainly ahistorical and way too precise, but it is an error to maintain that it's easy, or that it fosters more "game" skills than "pilot" skills.  As a solution I find it  quite elegant: those meatheads who just want to hop in a buff and bomb something can get mediocre results, while those who really learn the envelope are able to achieve a legendary outcome.
The argument that Otto's accuracy is superior to the average fighter pilot's accuracy is invalid: maneuvering a plane and firing at a hard-banking spitfire is considerable more difficult that sitting in the back of a relatively stable platform (most buffs I shoot down don't squirt around much), and plugging away at a spitfire climbing at near stall speed.  If you want to compare Otto and human accuracy, the only way to do this is compare otto's numbers against human gunners' numbers.
That being said, I look forward to seeing what HTC has to offer.  Sure, cut the accuracy, increase the number and variety of aspects to be mastered -- I'm all for that.  And I have the confidence they won't make some aspects of level bombing so realistic that nobody bothers to do it.

[nastee]

time to throw another 2cents in. I do have to agree with you eagl in warbirds it is too
easy to bomb alocation. It does need to be
alittle more on skill that on the sim. One
thing that has to be considerd that most fighters you have 1 person in the plane on a bomber you have up to 8 to 10. thats alot to keep up on when you are having fun flying a "target". this is for fun more than anything, remeber a gun is for fun, a weapon is for killing.
~nastee~