Hello developers,
I’m going to give some feedback on Nuclear Escalation because I saw that you have been putting out surveys asking the community what we think about the game mode. So I wanted to make a bigger post about it here, and hopefully someone who can actually make changes will see this.
A big part of the community seems to have a problem with the AI SPAA in Nuclear Escalation, especially vehicles like the M163, M42 and ZSU-23.
First, I want to say that we understand the game mode is not supposed to be easy. And honestly, we like that. You cannot just fly high and do whatever you want. You have to fly low, think quickly, find the right moment to attack and try to avoid the enemy SPAA. That’s what makes the mode interesting.
The problem is that sometimes there is simply not much you can do.
The main problems I have are the way the AI prioritizes ammunition and how accurate it is.
The AI seems to prioritize your ammunition instead of the aircraft. You can drop a bomb, fire a rocket, or launch guided ammunition, and the SPAA will immediately try to intercept it. Sometimes it feels like literally anything you throw at it gets shot down.
Even dumb bombs are being intercepted extremely easily. A lot of aircraft around 8.7 to 9.7 don’t have a huge selection of guided weapons and mainly rely on dumb bombs. So you already have to make a very precise attack, and then the AI just shoots the bomb out of the air before it reaches the target.
The accuracy is another problem. The AI can hit ammunition from very far away and track targets extremely well. Sometimes it feels like the burst doesn’t even have to be directly near you to start getting hits.
I understand that these vehicles are supposed to be dangerous. I’m not asking for the M163, M42 or ZSU-23 to become useless. But there is a difference between having strong SPAA and having SPAA that can almost perfectly track you while also intercepting nearly everything you launch.
And this becomes even more noticeable when you use guided weapons.
There are only a few aircraft at these BRs that have TV or laser-guided weapons. Even with those, you can sometimes hit close to the target and do very little damage, while the AI can immediately intercept your weapon.
This also connects to the current bomb damage.
A 500 kg bomb landing very close to an open-top SPAA like the M163 or ZSU-23 should be a serious threat. But sometimes it only damages something like the tracks or transmission instead of destroying the vehicle or overpressuring the crew.
So you have a situation where your bomb needs to be extremely accurate, the AI can intercept it before it reaches the target, and even when you finally get the bomb through, it can still fail to destroy the SPAA.
At that point, it becomes extremely difficult to actually accomplish anything.
Air-to-air combat is fine. Dogfighting can actually be one of the more fun parts of the mode. The problem is that when you are trying to attack the ground targets, it sometimes feels like the game gives you almost no reliable way to do it.
Again, I’m not asking for easy kills. I understand that Nuclear Escalation is supposed to be difficult, and I think that part of the mode is good.
I just think the AI needs some adjustments.
Maybe make the AI prioritize the aircraft more instead of automatically targeting every bomb or rocket. Reduce the accuracy and reaction time slightly, especially when it comes to intercepting ammunition. And consider adjusting bomb damage so that a large bomb landing very close to an open-top SPAA can actually destroy it.
I really like the idea behind Nuclear Escalation, and I think the low-altitude gameplay and the pressure from SPAA make it different from normal Air Realistic Battles.
I just think the AI SPAA is currently too accurate and too focused on intercepting ammunition, which makes attacking ground targets unnecessarily frustrating.
This isn’t meant as hate or an attack on the developers. I’m just giving feedback because I think the game mode has a lot of potential, and I hope this can be looked at before the mode gets further changes.
Thank you for reading.