I think our expectaction just got skewed, because an out-of-control or burn-down plane in real life can take 5 minutes to hours to crash, and basically all AA shells are designed to destroy the fuel tank and control surfaces, but not directly destroy the wing or fuselage structure.
1 Like
If you think a TU95 should withstand more than 6 direct hits from a SAM then I don’t know what to tell you.
2 Likes
Withstand more than 6 direct hits from a SAM for what:
fuel tank burning up, loss of all engines, loss of control, wing wipe, fuselage broke up, or catastrophic kill. Our expectation gets skewed by the previous bomber DM to think that anything less than the latter three doesn’t happen immediately would not count as withstanding a hit.
2 Likes
This update is terrible. Set a bomber on fire and it just burns for 10 minutes.
1 Like
Lol very cute demonstration. Now would you like to recreate this while i pilot the B-29 and after that in 3.7 - 5.7 planes against me in just a B-17?
You proved nothing, used high caliber cannons against planes that are flying in a pre-determined path and most importantly aren’t shooting back.
You see durable bombers wouldn’t be such an issue if they didn’t shoot back. But they do, and their turrets aren’t exactly hard to aim with wide FOV view WT gives you.
2 Likes
Doesn’t help that fighters are so weak a single 20mm instantly rips a wing/tail off/a .50 killing an engine. Meanwhile 20mm HE can’t even damage bomber engines.
This change has made it so useless to even attack bombers because they’re impossible to really take down unless you are headon or get lucky.
4 Likes
What you will hear from the people defending this state is either:
a) It’s easy just get good.
While providing no actual proof of how easy it is.
Vague videos in optimal circumstances without being shot at.
Or they just say “I did this and this to a bomber, and it died for X reason. It was easy. You just have to trust me”
b) Just leave bombers alone.
Probably because for some reason they should deserve rewards, for no other effort than using the amount of time it takes to reach a bombing target, releasing bombs on time and flying back.
c) “mUh bOmBeRs sUfFeReD fOr YeArS”
Which is the worst argument. You don’t fix something by breaking something else and celebrating it when it suits you.
9 Likes
yes, just get good… easy, and also only play fw190 f8 with x4, as its the very single plane that actually can fight those bombers from a distance + fighers + ground targets for tickets.
At least thats the only plane that i have in mind that can engage from safe distances at piston BRs. But u need to be very good or die very fast… pretty easy no? :D
Or you play one of the buffed planes yourself and stop bombing with it… fight the fighers or do ground… u dont win by bombing the bases… but somehow people really dont understand this…
The most reliable way to bring down a bomber (outside of low tier where Ki-109 exists, and still requires multiple hits) is to bring your own bomber and gunship them lol
They made these changes to bombers without even THINKING about sim.
Bombers still get their magic 3rd person camera and baby mode mouse aim for gunners while now entirely invincible.
These changes need to be reverted for Sim until they balance it.
Or remove 3rd person gunning/mouse aim for gunners. Add a Mouse Joystick system for gunners, anything really. Sim has become unplayable at anything under 9.0 due to people just abusing bombers now. This has made everything just worse.
3 Likes
From my pov your answer is right on track - just 2 points:
- Which turrets overheat?
- You see killing the carriers as airfield replacement on Pacific maps?
I am not sure if you talk about the situation
a) before the current update - or:
b) after a potential nerf of bomber damage models in the future
In case of b) i can’t assess this without knowing how gaijin would implement such a potential nerf.
But regarding the point a) it looks like that besides your described very limited bomber experience flying them in Air RB is the logical explanation - as all points (no clue about #3, never happened or i don’t remember) are actually valid points if you have flown them more than once.
In order of appearance (i refer to Prop BRs) regarding the situation before 09/2026 :
-
Increased standard spawn-height for bombers
This is comprehensible as the standard spawn altitude of 3,500 meters for tactical and 4,500 meters for strategic bombers remained unchanged for ages (valid from June 2016) - whilst the threat level for bombers increased by constant new aircraft which were not in place when these limits were set.
The classic hard to intercept bombers in 2015/2016 were B-29, Tu-4 and Pe-8. The P-61 with the 2 km Air defense fighter spawn (March 2016) was basically the only fighter to counter them before the drop. The standard bomber interceptor has 2 engines, is British or a P-61 and has the 2 km Air Defense Fighter spawn (1 km higher than 1 km interceptor spawn) and came way later - gaijin’s list as link.
All tactical bombers (except B7A2 on very small maps) can be outclimbed by them, even classic fighters with the 1 km interceptor spawn can usually get get to co-altitude of strategic bombers or (like in case of Me 264 ) can often get a stall shot. Even strike aircraft (like Fw 190 F-8 or Wyvern) have zero problems to kill a tactical bomber.
In order to give you an idea why 1 km more spawn makes a difference: The British Mosquito NF Mk II is in 2026 the best British propfighter above Rank II (=kills per spawn) and was beaten (above Rank II) just 2 times regarding best British fighter just 2 times: once by the Hunter F 6 and once by Rank IX Typhoon.
On top of that: A lot of temporarily bugged maps got an airspawn for all fix - without adjusting the spawn altitude on these map. This kills not only the effectiveness of planes which work just with Interceptor spawn - it reduces the drop chance for bombers further as even good climbing standard fighters (like Yak-3, I-225, J2M2, etc.) can get to co-alt before the drop.
-
Removal of artificial spread on turrets
As described in another comment - a hidden gaijin nerf (like countless FM changes of aircraft of all classes). Every experienced player is aware of this - in my B18B this happened in Q4 2022.
-
Removal of artificial overheat on Turrets
Thh - no idea, but i trust this player that this might be an issue of rifle caliber turrets.
-
All maps besides carrier maps have destructible airfields
This is and was the purpose of heavy bombers: Killing strategic targets that could not destroyed by fighters. I would even add that old Pacifc maps have asymmetric layouts - so the side attacking with carriers (like US/UK on Saipan needs to kill or capture Japanese airfields whilst they should lose all their carriers. Imho unrealistic as gajin won’t change their “no win condition for bombing” approach as they would face the same issues as in March 2020 when F-4 Phantoms ended matches in minutes.
A last remark:
I allocate this quote to the current and rather strange situation of op bombers. Regarding the pre-update situation the points 1 & 2 are rock solid.
3 Likes
It is mostly a German problem: they only have a good HE shell (which is useless now) but a very bad API shell. For fighters with US or Soviet ammo, many of those issues can be fixed by letting all fighters without air-to-ground ordnance able to spawn at interceptor spawn, or even higher than bomber spawn, where interception should be initiated from. Bomber spawn height is an outdated protection system for the pre-buff DM.
1 Like
Ever tried the Ki-94 II? Still at 6.0…
Personally, I don’t see what people are complaining about. Bombers don’t vaporize, but they still die pretty easily. With the constant listing from damage, they also can’t accurately drop their payload (assuming they’re trying). The issue seems to come from very, very specific bombers.
Things like the TIS MA, of course, shouldn’t have the modeling anyway.
1 Like
Small caliber HE
I bet he was falling after the first hit, but WT players are trained to shoot at you until they see a red “aircraft destroyed” text and get a neuron activated.
How many times I was shot at when I was already gonna crash… Surprise, a giant plane is a giant sponge and it won’t turn to mist in mid air, but a single missile hit will destroy its controls.
Idk guys, Even I shot down bombers, despite the fact that I am a very bad player. Its also more interesting for me now, I have to aim, make correct approaches, evade bullets, its kinda fun if you want to play anti-bomber. It reminds me of old days in Il-2 game…
Ehm, germany has APHE shells in their 20mm… i wouldt say they suffer that much :D
it take atleast 25 mm pen, MG 151/20 APHE pem was 20 mm, to penetrate the new DM. And the MG 151/15 API cannot start fire as fast as 12.7 API of both USA and Soviet.
1 Like