Aces High Bulletin Board
Announcements => News, Announcements, & Information => Topic started by: Pyro on May 18, 2002, 03:23:07 PM
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Version 1.10 will be introducing a new system for bombers that allows a single pilot to control a box of 4 bombers. This goes in hand with a number of other changes affecting bombers. Work on this has been progressing well and enough of the system has been flushed out to give some details about it even though it’s still subject to change before release.
The purpose of all this is to refine the role of level bombing in AH to make it a better representation of the real thing while keeping it enjoyable, practical, and immersive. Bombers will no longer be the precision platform that they have been in the game. Instead, they will best destroy by brute force, sweeping broad paths of destruction rather than surgical placement of individual bombs. Despite the loss of finesse in the platform itself, the opposite is true for the role of the bombardier. A successful bomb run will require a great deal of skill and planning. Interceptors will also have more to contend with. The interceptor will have to learn to pick apart the box and create stragglers. A single suicidal attack with the intent of mutually assured destruction won’t cut it.
Here’s how it will work. Certain bombers(but not all bombers) will give you the option to control a box of 4 rather than a single plane. You can still take a single plane if you desire, and this option can also be turned off on the host if it’s not desired for a particular event. If you select this option, you will take off as the lead of a 4 plane formation. The planes take off in trail formation and then assume combat formation on climb out. It’s important to understand that these are not really AI planes. They don’t do anything on their own except maintain formation. In essence, you are flying the box rather than a single plane. The other planes cannot operate on their own. If they become separated, they won’t rendezvous at target or head home or anything like that, they will simply be lost/destroyed. That invisible silver cord is rather short, probably 1000 yards or less, so you don’t want to be doing wild maneuvers and you’ll have to decide whether you want to try and stay with your stragglers or leave them in the dust and write them off.
When it comes to bombing, the other planes do what you do. If you drop a salvo of 4 bombs, they drop a salvo of 4 bombs. The planes cannot drop bombs independently of each other.
Gunning works similarly to the current method, but with more guns involved and convergence between the different gun positions being more of a factor. The biggest difference is that a pilot will be able to man guns while a gunner is on board. They will split up control of the guns and therefore be better able to handle multiple attackers.
When you take a formation up, all planes in that formation count for kills and deaths. As the bombers in your formation get killed, they count as a death for you and as a kill for the attacker. If the lead plane that you are flying is destroyed or you bail out, you will automatically be put in control of the next plane which will then become the lead plane. This process will continue until you are the last plane left from your original formation.
That’s the bomber formation option in a nutshell. The other changes we’re making in bombers are applicable whether you’re flying a single bomber or a group.
Gunner changes- You will now be able to join and exit from a plane as a gunner at any time. This will make it easier to recruit a gunner for a short while when he’s needed because he won’t be trapped for the duration of the sortie.
All gun positions will now have interrupter gear that will prevent them from firing through any parts of their own plane. For example, the top turret of the B-17 will no longer be able to fire directly backwards because the tail is in the way.
Bomb changes- bombs now have a random drift when they fall. A stick of bombs will no longer land in a perfect evenly spaced pattern. Stick patterns look pretty much like what you see in film and photographs.
We’re going to be looking at potential changes in blast damage from bombs and default hardness settings for objects as well.
Bombsight changes- The bombsight will no longer have point and drop capability. Bomb runs will have to be carefully planned and executed or they will be totally inaccurate drops. When you jump to the bombardier’s position, the default view will be through the bombsight. You will still be able to look around using the view keys, but you won’t have to use the look down key to see through the bombsight.
When you are ready to begin your run, you’ll want to be on the correct heading, flat and level, and with no acceleration or deceleration. Once you’re ready, you will calibrate your bombsight for the correct drop parameters. While in the bombsight, you press a key to enter calibration mode. Next, you bring up your clipboard map and click on your target. That will enter the target altitude. Target and drop altitudes are displayed in your bombsight. The next step is the actual calibration of the bombsight for the current drop conditions. This is done by picking a spot on the ground, marking it through the bombsight and then slewing your bombsight(with your joystick) to track that spot until you end your mark. While in calibration mode, there is a separate key to mark. When you press the key, that starts the mark. You hold down that key until you are ready to end the mark at which point you release it. The accuracy of your calibration will depend on how precisely you mark and how much time elapses between your start and end mark. You want your sight to be on the same exact spot when you begin and end your mark. Once you are done with that, you toggle calibration mode off and the bombsight returns back to the normal drop mode. You’re now ready to drop, but any changes to your flight profile between your calibration and drop will throw off the accuracy of the drop.
This explanation may sound a bit complex, but it’s really pretty easy to learn once you get the concept. The difficulty is in exercising enough planning and carefulness to not mess it up. This system simulates the type of process a bombardier had to go through to set up a bomb run but handles the minutia automatically. This should give you a pretty good idea of the major changes you’ll be seeing in bombers in 1.10. Some details may change between now and then, but that’s pretty much it for now.