A Proposal for Implementing Post-WWII Strategic Bombers

Game Discussion Realistic Battle
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This is a preliminary suggestion for how post-WWII strategic bombers (B-36, B-47, B-52, Tu-95, etc.) could be implemented into the game. I desired to get some opinions on this idea before I present it as a fully-fledged suggestion.

I would absolutely love to see these kinds of aircraft in the game (I always want more military aircraft in this game). Nevertheless, as has been pointed out by many users, in standard Operation battles in ARB, such aircraft have no place, except as an easy kill for radar guided missiles. For this reason, I would like to propose a new gamemode (accessible in ARB random battles) that would be more befitting of such aircraft. This mission type would be the only place a strategic bomber could be flown in ARB.

I propose a “Bomber Escort” mission, where the goal is to escort a group of strategic bombers to their target, defending them from enemy interceptors. The mission would be laid out as follows:

  • One team would be the escorting team, and the other would be the intercepting team. Both teams will have the same number of fighter class aircraft (likely between 6 and 12). ONLY fighter class aircraft (according to in-game classification) will be allowed here.
  • The escorting team will be tasked with escorting a number of AI strategic bombers (12 to 16 I think would work best) to their target, which should be about 10 minutes of flying time away (for the bombers). Up to four of these AI bombers will be replaced with players, depending on how many strategic bomber players get into the match. Player-controlled strategic bombers will be placed at the center of the formation to minimize interception.
  • At the start of the mission, the escorting players will be spawned surrounding the bomber formation. An AI AWACS aircraft (or similar) will inform the players of the direction that the interceptors are coming from. It will be of the escorting team’s best interest to fly towards the interceptors to stop them.
  • The intercepting team will spawn at a distant point (distance determined by BR) at any angle in the 180 degree arc at the front of the bomber formation (though perhaps just letting them spawn at any angle would work better, I don’t know). Starting altitudes for both teams can either be 1) similar or 2) different, with the intercepting team spawning lower.

Victory Conditions

The goal of the intercepting team will be to get through the escort fighters and shoot down the bombers. If a certain percentage of the total bomber count are shot down (likely between 50% and 75%) before they reach the target, the mission ends in victory for the intercepting team.

If the bombers reach their target successfully, then the mission will end when either all strategic bombers drop their payload on the target (basically a big bomb target with infinite health) or two to three minutes pass (in case a player is AFK or disconnected). Once all payloads are dropped and hit the target, the mission ends in victory for the escorting team (including the bombers, of course). The intercepting team can still win the battle after the target is reached if they shoot down enough bombers that (for whatever reason) have not dropped their payloads yet. However, if the target is reached and all surviving bombers drop their payloads, the intercepting team cannot win even if the remaining formation is wiped out.

Known Issues/Shortcomings With This Mission Design

  • Balancing the rewards for the bombers may be difficult, so as not to too heavily encourage this form of grinding, especially in events. I propose between 25% and 50% rewards per ton of TNT base bombing when compared to standard Operations, at least for the larger strategic bombers (B-52, Tu-95, etc.).
  • Defending the bombers against certain long-range radar AAMs (especially AIM-54 Phoenixes) may be very difficult for the escorting team. A possible fix would be to increase the interceptor spawning distance to compensate (~100 km), though such distances may be tedious to fly.

Further Consideration: Strategic Bombers in GRB

For bombers with such heavy payloads, an immediate question arises of how they would be implemented into GRB. A couple options exist:

  1. Completely ban strategic bomber-class aircraft from GRB (this is separate from the already existing long-range bomber class).
  2. Allow them with appropriate SP costs. At BRs where SAMs are uncommon or nonexistent (for bombers such as the B-36, I suppose), a highly increased SP cost would be necessary to balance them (such as greater than or equal to 1250 SP). At BRs where SAMs are prominent, no SP cost increase may be necessary compared to other bomber-class aircraft (as they are easy targets), except when equipping stand-off munitions.

What do you all think? Does this idea show promise? Are there any issues I failed to recognize, and do they have solutions? Your comments and criticisms are greatly appreciated!

2 Likes
2

I think it would be great if a couple of players could control or lead some of the bombers, similar to how it works in single-player missions where you have to lead a group of aircraft.

Also, It could be made so that things like the AIM-54 and Fox-'s are banned in this mode, and it could be made to be more like a mission similar to the bombing campaign over Vietnam.

3

interesting idea but we can just get air RB EC back and everything would work out

2 Likes
4

oooh, that gave me an idea!
have a standard rb mission and mix it with sim mechanics, where flight models and bases are like air rb but you can’t see enemy markers (except for bases) and have it on a huge map.

5

Maybe allow for a much larger map with AI ground targets like DCS has with medium range SAM sites that can be taken out by strike aircraft and SEAD, and make it so the bombers aren’t the only thing in the match

6

Yea something like the massive Afghanistan map, but with more variety. Imagine if it was something like a large-scale war that combines all game modes (Air, heli, ground, and naval), and you could have proper Cold War tank battles in open fields.

2 Likes
7

I would love to run CAS against AIs that wont bitch about dying

8

So some of the bombers would be in a squad with the player bomber, so that they’d follow them around? That is a possibility, though I am not certain how that would work out if, for example, multiple bomber players are squadded with each other.

In addition, ideally the bombers would all follow a straight-line path from spawn to the target, so I don’t know what the point would be (current design has the mission end when the bomber formation as a whole reaches the target and bombs it; If someone rushes the target and the other bombers took a roundabout path, they might not get anything). Nevertheless, it is a consideration.

This is a possibility, and may be a necessity. It’s unfortunate, as the AIM-54 was specifically designed to shoot down bombers, but this may be a necessary sacrifice.

I think ARB without aircraft markers is an interesting idea. It would make for interesting strategy, and more use of radar. Though big maps may not be well suited for strategic bombers, unless the match is very long, though it depends on the speed of the bombers.

If the bombers aren’t the objective in the match, then I fear that the fighters and attackers, looking for quick and easy RP and SL gains, would disregard them entirely and go after enemy attackers, fighters, and ground targets. However, this could still work if protecting the bombers was a match-deciding objective. Big maps could work in this style of match, though it depends on the speed of the bombers.

This would be really cool for the Events tab, but not in random battles. Strategic bombers could absolutely play a big role in this kind of match, but the last thing I want is for strategic bombers to be restricted to an Event-style mission. It could be an excuse to not implement them into the tech tree. Thus, I also desire some sort of random battle for such aircraft, hence my idea above.

9

I was thicking of it as some kind of new mission mode not a whole new event

10

But if it’s going to contain planes, ground vehicles, naval vessels, and helicopters controlled by players, how would one get into the match through the central “To Battle!” button? Air Realistic? Ground Realistic, Naval Realistic? Any one of them? That’s why I said that kind of mission would not be in random battles, as it couldn’t be classified as just one of those.

Also, I did not mean to imply a whole new event with a news announcement and everything, but rather a mission type under the “Events” tab (the same place Simulator Battles and EC are accessed).

11

This sounds really fun, i would like to see it in the game, but sadly i doubt gaijin will implement it

12

Just implement them in the existing game with separate BRs for ground and air…

13

That…doesn’t solve the problem. The issue isn’t giving them a good BR to fit both modes, but rather balancing them within each mode. The reason for this new mission type is because current ARB random battles do not well suit bombers like the B-52, as they cannot be balanced in any way to make them effective without being overpowered.

Consider the B-52. It is too fast and carries too heavy a payload for sub-AAM BRs. But if its BR is raised into AAM regions, then it is pointless, as it can be shot down by AAMs, both heatseekers an radar-guided, from well beyond the range of any defensive gunners it may have (if it even has any, since most B-52 variants had no defensive gunners). This is the dilemma.

14

The GBU only B-52 can be ~8.3 in air RB and be balanced, as it can only take out 3 - 4 bases.

15

But it would be a big and slow (relative to enemy fighters) target, and unlike the Tu-4, it wouldn’t have a gimmick in defensive armament, either possessing only a single tail turret with a Vulcan (I believe) or no defensive turrets at all. It would almost never survive at that BR for long enough to reach the enemy bases.

In addition, the proposed gamemode is so that such bombers can be implemented with full historical payloads, at least of conventional bombs.

16

It wouldn’t be slow… 1000kph with an air spawn no less.

17

and i propose people just take these birds to sim where they already work

or gaijin gives RB EC

18

i would say just add it as another game mode

19

At 15km maybe, below that it will still be slow

20

Standard cruising altitude is 30,000 feet.