163 should cost more than 262s to make them more rare

[Hoffman]

Having just recently been a Lancaster Pilot on an HQ raid this weekend.  I can accurately say that if your bombers are being torn up by a jet-jock, then it is either 1 of 2 things.

1:  He's using proper tactics and attacking your blindspots all the time.  In which case, it doesn't matter if he has a Pony, Jug, 163, 262, 190A8, Tempest, Lala, Spixteen, whatever.  If he's using it right there isn't alot you can do.  Except bob and weave.

Or.

2:  Your bomber gunnery needs alot of work.  I killed 2 Me-262's and smoked a third that later crashed the other day on our return trip from the HQ raid.  And I suck at bomber gunnery.  Here's the vid clip of the action:
*Edit* Disregard for the moment, the vid isn't working for some odd reason, will fix soon.


Now I'll admit... those 262's made some really poor choices... but still...
163's shouldn't be mega-perked just because they are better natural bomber killers, or because there were so few in actual existence.
It really all comes down to the pilot.

[SkyRock]

on a side note, I saw a raid coming in to HQ and I upped a Komet.  I climbed above and in front of the group and attacked head-on the first 3 boxes killing 3, I immeled back and came in on high 9-10 and 2-3 and finished them off.  I landed 7, but what was beautiful about it was the last set I came in high 4-5 and saw the cannons tearing up the right wing.  I go on google later and catch video of a Komet hitting exactly as I did earlier in the day.  The hits looked just like the film and so did the ROF.  It was funny how accurate it all looked from the game to the actual gun cam footage!

[Tiger]

163's are fun.  I wish there's be more HQ raids when I was logged in.  very rarely do I get to use the Komet.

If you have never flown one before... I suggest practicing offline or you will b ewasting perkies trying to land.

[Fariz]

Originally posted by Hoffman
Now I'll admit... those 262's made some really poor choices... but still...
163's shouldn't be mega-perked just because they are better natural bomber killers, or because there were so few in actual existence.
It really all comes down to the pilot.

For the time it takes 262 to get to bombers alt, you can get there 3 163s for the same price. This is what makes it unbalanced. It takes buffs half an hour to get to 20k and to HQ, and 3 minutes for 163 to kill it.

[whels]

Limit the # available to be in the air @ 1 time say 5 and disable refueling/rearming on rearm pads for 163s.

shouldnt be able to base hop it to front lines.

[Fariz]

Originally posted by Lusche
And for the "good old times": When we still had large maps, we didn't see more HQ raids at all. Most of the time HQ's were waaay behind the front lines, few people actually bothered to fly through 5-8 sectors of enemy territory. HQ's are much easier reachable today.

In good old times you could see lot of buffs attacks against HQ, 10-15 each day for each side. HQ is not "much easier reachable today".

[Lusche]

Originally posted by Fariz
If you joined game in 2005 you have no idea about good old time. You have a slight idea about mediocre recent time. In good old time we used to see 10-15 buffs HQ attacks every day for each side.

My first short stint in this game was back in 2000

(And btw, this BBS archives do prove that there was indeed never a "good old time" at all.   )

[MotorOil1]

The 163 is fine the way it is.  The plane is as rare as an HQ raid these days.

[TUXC]

What if you bomber guys just brought some escort fighters along? They won't be able to save you from the first pass, but will make the Komets burn precious fuel evading them. Once the 163s are out of fuel and RTB the fighters can make their lives miserable. Making the 163 pilots as frustrated as you are by losing their perks would be the best way to deal with them IMO. Better yet you can send the escorts to the 163 field ahead of time to prevent the rocket fighters from taking off.

If you attack the HQ without a good plan or unescorted you should expect to be gunned down. The cost to the defenders is just too high to allow the bombers to get through (losing dar is wicked annoying).

[Fariz]

Originally posted by Lusche
My first short stint in this game was back in 2000

(And btw, this BBS archives do prove that there was indeed never a "good old time" at all.   )

Depends what you need from the game. HQ was easier to kill, even a single buff could do it, that made people "blind" for some time, and made them unhappy. From the other hand, for other people it made game much more interesting because it was more to do in game than now. Attacking HQ, defending HQ, planning simultanious attacks on factories and HQ, killing strat at fields around HQ to stop it supply, planning deep field attacks to have base close to HQ to blind enemy and win etc.

[ghi]

Originally posted by whels
Limit the # available to be in the air @ 1 time say 5 and disable refueling/rearming on rearm pads for 163s.

shouldnt be able to base hop it to front lines.

 
 you can't taxi the Comet on rearming pad on the skid, if the landing gear is detatched, unless you have the patience to fly to next base like a goon under 250mph and keep it, taking off on manual cuz, on autopilot gets detatched

[Rich46yo]

Originally posted by Fariz
Depends what you need from the game. HQ was easier to kill, even a single buff could do it, that made people "blind" for some time, and made them unhappy. From the other hand, for other people it made game much more interesting because it was more to do in game than now. Attacking HQ, defending HQ, planning simultanious attacks on factories and HQ, killing strat at fields around HQ to stop it supply, planning deep field attacks to have base close to HQ to blind enemy and win etc.

           You cant just whistle up fighter escorts. How many people in the MA are going to agree to fly a fighter for an hour and 1/2 on your tail while you climb to 20,000' and chug away to a strat far behind enemy lines?

            From what i can see, in the MA, this kind of stuff never happens. Ive never seen such an organized war against strats. Usually Im the only one bombing them, or, very few others. I know cause I check them and watch them throughout game play.

         The bottom line is nobody much cares about strats, including AH. I bomb them very little now, unless they are close.

       I have no problem running against uber fighters. If you go that deep into enemy territory you should expect them, and, expect a short and exciting life. All I ask is if we do actually get thru to the strat make the bombing of it meaningful to game play. That and get rid of dar bars in empty sectors. As it is you can watch the slow progression of dar bars, and see everything that lights up near the bombers, finish your latest novel, cut the grass, and jump into you rocketship easily figuring out where the bombers are. All these dar bars force sticks to play in 10% of the map cause it makes no sense to fly outside of heavily traveled corridors.

[ghi]

Originally posted by Fariz
In good old times you could see lot of buffs attacks against HQ, 10-15 each day for each side. HQ is not "much easier reachable today".

  this is not the Comets fault, i've seen massive bombing attacks aproching HQ and 2-3 guys upping 163s to defend and others in C47s to prepare the resup even before was destroyed,The problem is the instant resuping, wich makes it a waste of time, imop HQ should stay down 15-30 min ,and only after to have resup option,
  Me163s are ok, the way they are now,and the guys getting nailed by Comets shouldn't be in their range, anyway are parked on uncapturable bases, and the front line/maps are big enough to find a fight in other area

[SlapShot]

Originally posted by Rich46yo
You cant just whistle up fighter escorts. How many people in the MA are going to agree to fly a fighter for an hour and 1/2 on your tail while you climb to 20,000' and chug away to a strat far behind enemy lines?

What we use to do was launch the bombers from back bases ... once they got alt, we would then launch the fighter escorts from mid-line bases and catch up to the bombers just before they got to target or were detected by radar ... so the fighters didn't have to fly the full length sorties as the bomber pilots ... actual time spent in the air to target by the fighters was around 15 minutes.

[Tiger]

Originally posted by Fariz
In good old times you could see lot of buffs attacks against HQ, 10-15 each day for each side. HQ is not "much easier reachable today".

HQ is 'much easier to reach today' because the maps are smaller.

The reason you see less raids is because of the amount of ord necessary to kill HQ, and the fact that it willbe resupplied before your bombers make their return flight home.