- Great!
- Could work, with some improvements (please explain)
- Bad idea (please explain)
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:
- Completely ban strategic bomber-class aircraft from GRB (this is separate from the already existing long-range bomber class).
- 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!