I’d like some advice, please.
Since the last update, in Air RB some bombing bases now have the same “insta-kill bubble of death” that air fields have.
This usually does not bother me much on the first bomb run, but after rearming and going for the second run, it is pretty tough to get on a 3km (? is that enough?) altitude with a fully loaded heavy bomber, after starting from the deck. It may just take too long as well, to side-climb.
So I am having issues with this change. And questions.
Question 1: Is there any way to know on which maps / settings / modes this strikes? Question 2: Does that have the same radius as the AF one? Tentative tests on BR 2.0 shows that I got insta-killed at >2km altitude… Question 3: Is it only me or have others as well noticed an increase of bomber pilots now “J”-ing out of their planes after dropping their bombs, instead of getting back to base, reloading, and heading out to bomb again? The second bomb run, I actually used to enjoy a lot, flying on the deck with a heavy, using terrain as cover… but thanks to the new bubble of death, I often get killed before being able to bomb the base.
And depending on plane and map, it may be more or less impossible to get back to bomber altitude after rearming, in the time span of an Air RB match. Question 4: So … what does that leave me? Say, I dropped my bomb load. Do I return to base? I am then sitting on the runway with a fully rearmed Lancaster or a B-17. And then, CAS?? Going after pillboxes and tanks?? With a heavy? SERIOUSLY?
Summary - Unless I am missing something blatantly obvious, I am very annoyed by this change, because it removes ANY incentive, nay even ANY CHANCE, for heavy bombers to contribute to the team effort after dropping their ordnance.
And I find J’ing out not a good solution - frustrates the fighters who do climb after you, and makes them hate bomber pilots even more.
By best guess is that they added this change so that people in Wyverns and whatnot cannot rush the bases that easily, taking them away from heavy bombers. I see loads of attackers rushing bases just get slapped instantly on several maps.
The range of these AA seem similar, if not slightly less than AF AA, so that means they start shooting at you from about 4km, but only start to actually hit you from within 3.5km. So you should be safe keeping that in mind.
Tbh, any form of AI that can kill players should be removed from the game, together with AI killing tickets.
I had that guess as well, be it Wyverns, Ju 288s, or whatever kind of base dive bomber. But it actually results in the Strikers need different targets, the 288s need to stay a little higher.
But the heavies, the planes whose function it is to hit bases… are now delegated to one-shot wonders.
That change did not do good :(
For me it looks like a bug, as not all all maps are affected - and actually it looks like that of the around 4 x AAA defending a mini base just one or two are deadly.
And the issue is relevant for all players, not only guys trying to bomb bases. You can 't dogfight enemies near them and diving for last players running back to their main af has to be planned so you have to fly above those bases and dive after you passed them, and yes, 4 km distance like with af aaa is recommended.
Things get even more complicated when bases respawn - i found out that aaa of killed bases was sometimes still there. In addition the distribution of this deadly aaa looks random, sometimes i see guys getting sniped attacking the 2 bases on the right side - and low “mini-furballs” above the left side without instant kills of friendlies.
Finally - depending on map layout you are not safe even if you strafe pillboxes and arty if they are too close to enemy mini bases. Or you dive on enemies attacking your own bases - i was killed by own hitscan aaa whilst attacking with a BnZ attack a few days ago.
Especially during grinding events i see this quite often - it is effective regarding points per time spend as 2nd runs are usually a dead sentence and/or take a hell of time…
I just wish they would announce these changes before making them. The inconsistency is what makes the game suck.
I’ve gotten shot down 4 times this week, twice I was no where near a base, it was just the mid-field AA being dialed to 11.
I’ve had this happen to me as well, I’ve noticed that it tends to happen mostly on “Operation” missions at a server BR of about 4.3 and below, and it does seem to have the same AAA radius as airfield AAA of about 3x3x3km. We’re just gonna have to hope that Gaijin sees these posts and fixes this soon, while that happens, low/mid tier bomber players are gonna have to suffer climb or die