MJY Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 Hey all, Issue As the game currently works, TAC air and strategic bombers with escorting fighters are completely immune from air interception. In other words, the escorting fighters take ALL the damage from the enemy fighters that intercept the mission. The bombers continue their mission totally undamaged. Shouldn't there be at least a CHANCE that bombers with escorts might take SOME damage before they reach their target (i.e., that some interceptors get through to the bombers)? (True, the bombers might be damaged when they reach their target and attack, but that is a different matter from what I am talking about. That is the kind of damage that already can happen when there is no interception at all [e.g., a bomber attacking a city with a high flak rating].) Rationale for Changes With the current system (i.e., escorts taking all the damage hits from intercepted missions), bomber experience increases rapidly creating super powerful bombers -- especially TAC air. Obviously, in real life bomber/escort missions don't work this way. The fighter escort may well take the brunt of most interceptor attacks (that's why they are there after all), but interceptors will often make it through to the bombers and inflict some losses (e.g., B17 losses continued -- albeit at a lower rate -- even after the introduction of long range escorts and the Germans certainly experienced bomber losses during the Battle of Britain despite employing escort fighters). Proposed Solution Perhaps there might be a 10% of some bomber damage whenever a bomber attack is intercepted -- even when there are escorts. (Sort of the reverse of the way the current programming allows strategic bombers to sometimes avoid damage when attacking without the presence of interceptors/escorts.) As an advanced option, this possibility of damage number might also be increased/decreased depending on the relative abilities of the interceptors/escorts. For example, if the escorts' tech is two levels more advanced, the probability is reduced by 5% or if the interceptors are two "medals" more experienced the probability goes up 5%. And so on. Challenges I have zero programming knowledge, so I can't say what would be involved in implementing such a change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arado234 Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 What you say makes sense,but if I may add that each side should have to designate how many fighters they choose to use to escort a particular attack.If the Allies send over a bomber group with just 1 escort and the Germans send all they have(all 6)then one german fighter would prettymuch cancel the Ami.out and the rest wipeout the bomber.That would make alot more sense,but the problem would be how to program it and how would you designate what fighters to mass against what attack if the enemy sent over multiple attacks(hope that makes sense). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeaMonkey Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 I think MJY make a very good point. Hubert is there something you could adjust? Are there other considerations here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hubert Cater Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 Good ideas guys and it is a tricky one for sure, something I'd have to think about some more if it would ever get implemented. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pzgndr Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 How about a simple determination if interceptors win or lose the battle with escorts? If they lose, they abort. If they win, they proceed to a second battle with the bombers. Should be doable? As it is, it's unrealistic for low-grade escorts to take all the hits from top-notch interceptors and the bombers aren't touched at all. While we're on the subject, how about paratroop airdrops being subject to escort and interception?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xwormwood Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 The Solution is pretty simple and far away from tricky to implent. Just take a look at PTO Carriers, and adapt the different strength point-system to air-fleets. Kick away single bomber/fighter/dive-bomber units and create instead an airfleet with three different strength point categories: fighter, bomber, tacbomb. For each action determine how many points of each category you want to use. 3 fighter points stop 3 interceptors, each additional interceptor attacks bomber/tacbomber points. Done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arado234 Posted February 24, 2009 Share Posted February 24, 2009 I like xwormwoods idea.Seems the simplest to impliment and it certainly makes both the attacker and defender really pay attention to what mode airfleets are in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mithel Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 Or simply subtract the strength of the escorts from the strength of the interceptors after they have done combat and use the difference (if positive) to attack the bombers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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