Obviously those who complain about buffs do not fly them often. Go check the scores. The B-17 typically has the 2nd worst kill ratio (C-47 is the worse) in this game: about 1 kill per 2 deaths (.5). The B-26 is a little better at about .7 . I have never seen a fighter with a worse ratio (they are typically .85 to 1.85 . Remember that for a buff to get to 30+ K, it usually takes over an hour, buffing is a big investment of time, that can be ruined by a guy who has invested little. A fighter has a climb rate that is several times greater than the buffs. Often buffs get blown out of the sky before they get a chance to drop their load. I fly buffs about 1/2 of the time and think that they are too easy to kill, gamewise. I have a terrible kill ratio against buffs, yet have managed to kill several at 30+ K.
Buffs had 3 means of defence, large formations, escorts, and alt. Because this is a game, the first 2 rarely happen. The only chance a buff driver has in this game is to go high. If you enter enemy teritory in a buff at 15 K, you will most often get wasted before you get a chance to look through the bombsight. Often at these alts you must deal with multiple cons, yet you are the only gunner, how realistic is that? When you attack a buff in a fighter, he is usually alone or too far from another buff to benifit from mutual support, how realistic is that? If you want reality, perhaps each buff driver should be flying a lead plane that has 19 drones with 6 otto gunners in each plane.
Anyway, the point of my rant is that you winers should try this game from the buffs point of view before bashing tactics. Spend 1/3 of your time alone, slow, low, relitively unmanuverable, and at the mercy of Luke Skywalker in his F4U 1C, and then come back and gripe about buffs.
eskimo
