This is not the first time I’ve witnessed something like this, being on both ends.
Combined with the bomber new damage models, it makes bombers almost impossible to kill without dying yourself or being forced to rtb. Every bomber engagement is a guaranteed water or oil leak before you even land any hits.
The issue is especially bad in air sim, where bombers get mouse aim and fighters don’t.
Now similarly to the new bomber damage models, this is ridiculous, but I don’t want it nerfed to the ground either. Just make the damage exactly the same as if these MGs/cannons were mounted on a fighter, an SPAA or a tank.
I keep seeing people make the argument that heavy fighters and such have a reason to be played now. They really don’t.
They are bigger targets that are just as flimsy as your normal fighter, and even their heavy cannon armament is not that big of an advantage when HE is less reliable than AP.
You realize that the Guns on the ground were often not the same as the guns used in the air… It’s not the gun itself; it is the ammunition used.
Aside from that, The Current Bomber Damage Model Is Historically Inaccurate
Going to toss this thread. We argued about this stuff already.
Reality is, everything that is not a bomber needs to get reworked; ed many are using flight from across the entire existence of War Thunder, from 2012 or even earlier before it was released, all the way to the present day.
The only reason they are useful is that bombers are so survivable now, that in a regular fighter you will just run out of ammo before you kill them, and heavy fighters have way more ammo.
The most reliable way to kill bombers now is to pilot snipe them, so something like a P-47 with 8 50 cals with AP belt would be better.
Did you miss the part where a single 50 cal bullet ripped my wing off?
It’s not about whether this specific attack run was good and should’ve been successful or not. The only purpose of the clip is to showcase how much damage bomber turrets inflict right now.
A few bullets max, he just started firing. My wing ripped right as the first tracer went past me, he gets 1 tracer every 4 rounds. All the tracers missed btw. It honestly feels like my wing ripped when hit by the very first bullet.
Are you seriously arguing this amount of 50 cals should completely obliterate my wing?
No offense, but your attack was a textbook rookie approach.
Every experienced player is aware of that US AN/M2 0.50 cals can hit and kill you up to 2.5 km - and that they have like similar weapons in this caliber range one shot potential vs wings.
So even in the pre-damage buff era you would have faced the same risk to get killed. Just to make this clear: You fly towards at least 4 turrets in 2 two bombers which have at least twice the range of your armament whilst your excess speed is way too slow.
Even without the buff you were required to increase your altitude to ~ 2 km above both bombers and fly around 3 km in front of them in order execute an attack on the higher enemy aiming for his cockpit. In the current world this is the only way to kill a B-17 reliably - if you use APHE.
You say a bunch of stuff and ignore the obvious problem. My wing got blown smooth off by at best a couple of 50 cal rounds.
The clip is not about the approach itself, it’s only about that single event of my wing getting obliterated by 50 cals.
The point is 50 cals shouldn’t be able to one shot a wing. They aren’t even cannons, they are machine guns.
The damage output of bombers hasn’t been changed, so obviously. It’s been an issue for a long time, but which got my attention only now, when killing bombers is a challenge.
Bombers deal too much damage ❌
Fighters are too fragile ✅
Nice way to shift the blame.
Something definitely needs to be done about how structurally fragile fighters are against rifle caliber. Today I snapped a P-47’s wing off with .303 cal holes, which are barely wider than a bean.
Bombers really are too resilient. It is clear they should withstand more than a single 20mm hit, but they ought to face severe flight difficulties if they take 30 or 40 20mm hits—or 5 to 10 30mm hits—to a wing; this should cause them to bank sharply, losing lift and eventually falling. Furthermore, durability should vary by model; it makes no sense for a Pe-2 or Tu-2 to withstand the same amount of punishment as a B-17G.
As for fighters, they take too little damage. Damage should significantly impact their maneuverability and speed, rather than causing a wing to snap off upon the very first hit every single time.
