I would hate to see you spend a lot of time on something that would be 'fictional'. I really respect your efforts here AKKuya and I am not trying to be a jerk, (contrary to the belief of some) I know your really trying to make your point and sway my decision, but from the get go it will not hold much weight because your not basing it on an FSO we have run or using examples from recent FSO's.
Many of the problems we 'could' have would be due to a poor design by the CM's, not the rules. Just about anyone could create an FSO design that would have a laundry list of problems, but all due to a poor design. Sure someone could point to the rules being the issue here, but the rules are also eliminating a host of other problems.
That's true on the fictional FSO. I'll scrap that.
The FSO design by the CM's, I now understand the unintentional flaws from my early work on my fictional FSO. The saying, until you do it yourself you'll never understand. I know they spend alot of time designing them and respect their time and dedication to the work.
Maybe, just maybe, the Admin didn't want the B-17s to climb to 22,000 feet... Climb to 12-15,000', level off and you have 40 minutes to cruise to target. Even at 220 TAS (which is plenty slow to keep the formation together) you'll have a 120 mile + range (almost 5 sectors) to target before T+60.
This is a very clear point in my assesement the bomber part of the FSO is getting worse. Stoney suggested a reasoning for the Admin's line of thinking. The amount of distance to target with limited time available for climbing plus the directional course changes has resulted in the "rush for bombers to get to target before T+60".
Bombers at 15,000 to 18,000 ft are at a disadvantage from enemy fighters. Enemy CAP is patrolling at 22,000 ft and calls start with location and altitude of bombers. Enemy fighters have the alt advantage which is proper for initial engagement. Fighters dive toward bombers and unleash first wave of fire in hopes of destroying or massively damaging them. That's all right.
The disadvantage part is the faster recovery time for the fighters to reascend back to 20,000 due to thicker air and faster climb rates for secons passes. When the bombers at 22,000 feet get first attack, the enemy CAP takes a little longer for altitude recovery and the fighter engines work a little harder to maintain fights at that altitude.
That would imply that FSO designs are now being catered for easy picking on bombers forced to fly at lower altitudes. This has been most likely an oversight from spacing targets from each other to give clear area of operations for attackers and defenders at a target.
I have noticed in the new updated CIC rules that the mininum numbers for attackers and defenders have been removed. And, at the bottom a special note that in real life you don't plan on being fair but in the community we plan to making sure everone has something to do. Not word for word but the general gist of it.
Does this mean that attacks before T+60 now can be comprised of small numbers and set up for main attack after T+60?
Would this allow future CIC's to say send a small JABO run to a target around T+30 to satisfy the T+60 rule enabling the bombers to spend the 45 minutes climbing to 22,000 ft for proper navigation and line up on targets after T+60?
If this is the new way, then my concerns would be over. Bombers would get their proper place in aerial warfare. Everbody would have a part in it because the bombers coming in at T+75 or so would constitute Part 2 of the FSO.
When a bomber group takes off with 12-15 players, it takes time to climb. More time on allowing stragglers to catch up from the initial climb and making the directional changes. Lastly, setting the speed to lower RPM's and Manifold for better Time Over Target increases Time To Target.
To use an analogy from the world of sports, fighters are like basketball players. They dash back and forth in a quick hustle for control of the board. Bombers are like bass fisherman who enjoy the slow crawl of time until the moment of action.
I just want the CM's to know that I'm not critical of the rules being fair for balanced play. Just for the way the bombers are being pushed into basketball hustle for the sake of being on time. All 500 players deserve a chance to participate.
With the new survival bonus points being implemented, players who on an occasion spend 2 hours flying around with no opposition due to circumstances (either attackers stopped cold before target or being in the wrong places at the wrong times) can still help by landing successfully for their side. It's a small consolation for one night.
Sometimes it takes awhile to get a point across for all to understand.