Nuclear Thunder!

[vKALiBUR]

oh yeah, let’s just call a truce and whichever team is the fastest to bomb the ground targets first, WINS! That sounds really interesting…/s

[ww2planes]

To be fair, it takes one nuke to wipe out a missile battery. Either got to get an ally to smack it or spend 250 points to go get it yourself. I’ve been doing the 30kt nuke and profiting from that pretty well.

[ww2planes]

Had one where I joined and the main base was already nuked xD

[SilentTracker]

@MythicPi

Thats how it should work but it seems completely random if the S-300/Patriot actually do their job and intercept the strat bombers. B-52 seems a lot less likely to be shot down by GBAD as well.

I have only gotten 1 big nuke, US side, B52. I did not wait for any of the S-300’s or their radar to be destroyed. Got though just fine. I was using periodic chaff, and spammed chaff when I saw S-300 launches, but still.

@MythicPi

the game often ends right around the time 3rd escalation is hit.

Yup, exactly what I have seen in almost every match.

@MythicPi

I also kind of think the escallation levels are too fast. First escallation is hit before any meaningful damage is done to ground targets, and usually occurs before ive completed 1 sortie, and second and 3rd arent too far behind if ppl start tossing nukes.

Also agree. Further incentivizes players to simply PVP in the midfur ball instead of doing any sort of SEAD or attacker ground work. Many others have posted that the spawn points and rewards should be increased for these actions.

Perhaps alternatively PVP air kills should be nerfed by something like 50% so that the matches don’t end even faster if the attacker actions were buffed.

@MythicPi

Doubling the mission point requirements to escalation levels and halving or quartering SP gained from air to air kills would be a huge step in the right direction imo.

Agree again. Yeah, 50%-75% reduction in air kill SP’s would probably go a long way to balance the current situation. I don’t think the escalation levels need to be extremely nerfed, but that first stage is definitely too fast. Way too fast. Happens in just a few minutes from my experiences.

@MythicPi

It wouldnt actually change their gameplay loop at all, they’d just need to get more kills to try to ruin everyone elses fun. For everyone else though, the match would last longer and you could actually complete more objectives before a strat bomber was spawned.

Yet another agree from me. Heck, don’t even really need to nerf their RP and SL rewards, just the Spawn Point gains. Let them furball if they want, but as it stands the matches turn into nuke only mode within minutes, with players trying to actually perform SEAD work left with crumbs.

EDIT:

@SilentTracker

@MythicPi

Big misconception i see from players is that RP/SL gain is from kills. You actually get most of your RP and SL from just playing the game (activity time) if you check the end rewards page. Longer games actually benefit everyone in that regard. But yeah, no need to nerf RP and SL rewards for air kills, just making the strat nuke harder to attain via air to air kills only would help the mode develop more nicely

Oh good point about mission length. I often forget about that. So yeah, it would still directly benefit the furball players to keep the mission going instead of promoting rapid escalation levels.

[Arctic-Fox]

@MythicPi

the majority of fighter players arent playing the mode at all. They’re just trying to play their regular air rb in nuclear thunder, and rushing to end the game asap so they can feel good about themselves or something

I mean, with how broken the AI is while using the AA, it kinda discourages people from wanting to focus on dealing with ground units, at least until they can lob the nukes from a somewhat safe area

Especially if you’re relying on the free vehicles with kinda garbage presets that might not exactly be optimal for some thigns

[Mreowdako]

the AA literally tracks you through terrain and mountains/hills

[Thodin]

An F-4J player usually racks too many easy AIM-7F kills. 20, 30 40…I’ve seen everything. PD radar is just super op. These players spawn the b-52 as soon as defcon 3 starts and game over.

[Arctic-Fox]

yeah, the amount of times an OSA has sniped me behind a hill is probably more than getting shot down by anything else

[Mreowdako]

u also cant even chaff/notch them at all

[ww2planes]

Three things that I could see being changed to fix the PvP jousting in the middle is that 1) PvP kill SP drops from 100 to 25, PvE kill SP increase from 40 to 50 2) Make it where all smaller airfields must be destroyed before the main base can be 3) fix the AAA Ai being so oppressive. Personally tired of being murdered by invisible missiles. I watched an OSA fire and it hit the ground. No subsequent launch and then proceeded to get murdered by said OSA.

[SandmanSix]

don’t forget AA underground and can’t be killed with AGMs or bombs.

[MythicPi]

@SilentTracker

Many others have posted that the spawn points and rewards should be increased for these actions.

At first I thought spqwnpoints for ground kills should be increased, but i just think SP and mission score for air kills should be decreased. The current SP rate for air kills allows the game to end before most ground objectives have been completed, giving players even more SP is not the right move imo.

Ground attack seems to be balanced around dropping nukes. 1 depot/airfield/GBAD battery drop is usually enough for another nuke if you die (which is a mistake imo, since you shouldnt incentivize suicide bombing either.

I think the idea was that they wanted people to get to nukes quick, and then everyone uses tactical nukes to clear objectives, but instead fighterjocks are just rushing strat nuke and ending the game asap just to do the exact same thing again next match.

@SilentTracker

Perhaps alternatively PVP air kills should be nerfed by something like 50% so that the matches don’t end even faster if the attacker actions were buffed.

Yeah thats what I think would be best.

[SilentTracker]

@Thodin

An F-4J player usually racks too many easy AIM-7F kills. 20, 30 40…I’ve seen everything. PD radar is just super op. These players spawn the b-52 as soon as defcon 3 starts and game over.

This is exactly how I got my big nuke, and successfully dropped it. Was with F-4S, but same thing. Didn’t use any spawn points on small or medium nukes. I ended the match in about 30 mintues. Totally unbalanced. I profited greatly in RP’s and SL’s and I absolutely think it’s broken.

I also had like 40 or 50 kills. Which I stated previously would be “OK” imo, BUT if it was without the obscene amounts of Spawn Points I got while doing it.

[ww2planes]

Nah, even better is when the bomb clips through the ground. I’ve lost count on the number of times lately in both the event and in GRB of my 1500kg bombs just vanishing under ground and a water plume coming up with no damage to the tank I directly hit xD

[Mreowdako]

my current match is not even 20mins in and i have a 200k profit already

[Maply]

The event its so easy…russia is smashing everything

[Mreowdako]

“so easy guys”
checks profile
yeah guys russia op not just a good player
(spoiler: the US has far better aircraft)

[ww2planes]

Honestly the mission score is fine (if they want to grind out the event that way, they shouldn’t be punished in that regards). I do agree with the SP nerf for A-A work. Also, unless you hit a depot with a tank column going through it, it isn’t enough to get another nuke.

[Maply]

Bro iam terrible player lol just see my stats, are mediocre

[SandmanSix]

nah fam just saw them you’re pretty good