Yea, I harbor a secret grudge that I'm forced to actually act like a bomber pilot in real life, when everyone knows 1) The F-15 is really a fighter, and 2) Bombers are huge, slow, and regardless of their actual name they're pronounced "targets".
Gimme a break indian
I've spent hundreds of hours flying WB bombers, and I've spent hundreds of hours flying the modern day equivalent of the jabo fighter. Except that the F-15E also does the level precision bombing as well as dive bombing. Those experiences, both virtual and RL, lead me to the conclusion that bombing in some games is rather easy. In WB, I find the level bombing is probably too easy, because anyone can place a single bomb within a few feet of pinpoint targets. There is almost no skill required. Just have the bombing line centered and green, remember to open the bomb bay doors (the most difficult thing about WB level bombing IMHO is opening the doors), make sure the plane is on auto-level and not accelerating too much, and push the button when the crosshairs go over the target. None of those steps take much skill, it's mere checklist processing.
I'm 100% behind pyro's comments that where bombers are concerned, a player who follows the procedures and has mastered the required skill set should be able to achieve success, but I add on the idea that 100% success should not be guaranteed any more than a fighter should be guaranteed to get 100% rounds hits on another plane just because he is in range, in plane, and pulling lead. The more skilled a pilot is, the better chance of success he should have. If that required paying attention to the winds during climbout (that means no putting plane on autopilot for the climb and going to eat dinner AFK) and actually doing some research about your target prior to launching to get target altitude, then so be it. If HTC can come up with some other skill required, that would be great too. I just think it would be a shame if AH shared the same laser rangefinding precison bombsight that WB has, because once you understand how the WB bombsight works, you're just about guaranteed 100% hits.
Oh yea, almost forgot. WRT OTTO... At the height of my WB career, I maintained over 6 K/D with 13% gunnery, lately I'm around 2-3 K/D with 10%. The last bomber TOD I flew, otto maintained almost 15% gunnery all by himself. Hmmm. The average gunnery of all WB players hovers between 6 and 8%. Otto therefore gets up to double the gunnery percentage of the average WB player. Don't open up that particular can of worms, especially considering the popularity of ackstars in certain other games. There are almost no facts or historical basis to support OTTO's outstanding accuracy except for the nebulous arguments about GAMEPLAY. The game creators and producers hold the last word on gameplay issues, so any discussion about otto on our parts is merely pissing into the wind. The producers have the big picture about that, so while we players can make suggestions, gripe, praise, or whatever, it's up to the producer to make those decisions.
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eagl <squealing Pigs> BYA
Oink Oink To War!!!
[This message has been edited by eagl (edited 09-13-1999).]
