Possible suggestion for a bomber buff

Game Discussion Realistic Battle
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I make this thread because I want to refine this little idea with opinions from other players before suggesting it, real suggestion will try to look a little more pretty and less like a wall of text. Any text that looks like this are things about this rework that I want for you to vote in how it should be added

Bombers, those things that you see fly over your airfield at the start of the match, later you see 3 red markers below them and it’s gone.
That’s how bombers exist in WT, a free SL piñata that only has a slim chance of even draining a single ticket and even if they reach the objective it’s impossible for a bomber to win a game. Why? Easy, after a bomber manages to destroy a base even 2 if lucky they face a problem. descending +4km down just to land and then takeoff, somehow not get intercepted whilst being slow, low and if the enemy is smart they could even be camping those last bases. How does the bomber deal with this?
Option 1: it dies :(
Option 2: escapes to space and drags the game out for everyone, allies and enemies alike by delaying rewards
Option 3: J-out, easiest one all around

So I came to propose a change to bombers, this change came influenced when I played ground arcades battles, in said gamemode CAS has a special midair zones called “safe exit zones”, after one depletes all of their payload one can fly into said zone and will automatically leave their vehicle. (Don’t worry the thing doesn’t actually spin out of control)

Here is more info about said zones:

Spoiler

[Development] [RoadMap] Following the Roadmap: Safe Exit Zones for Aircraft in Ground Arcade Battles - News - War Thunder

How could this be added to ARB and what it would help in?

The safe exit zone will act as a reload and repair zone located way behind the the bomber’s airfield, this is to avoid just seeing a bomber pop up above an airfield when it’s the last one being hunted down and to somewhat avoid the bomber just nuking the enemy’s tickets on small maps. Once a bomber drops all of their payload the safe exit zone will spawn at their current altitude at the aforementioned aproximate location, this is to reward those who make 2 electrons move and decide so slowly climb.
Once a bomber reaches said point they will J-out the same way one would at their runway, this would allow for loadout changes or a little bit of planning, however the bomber cannot stay in this state forever it will have a set amount of time before being forced to spawn again and make another run, or leave the server. This should be obvious, no one wants for a bomber to drag out the game by staring the at the loadout screen.

Firstly: It would prolong the useful life of a bomber after managing to get behind enemy lines and dropping it’s payload, increasing their value to the team because they would stop being a one time use ticket “drainer” (tickler really, and actually as bait) due to having to lose their precious altitude.

Secondly: No more space climbing. A bomber will no longer have a reason to climb to 6km and to the border of the map and hide there. A safe exit zone only activates if the distance to it is less than 0.1km, meaning you can fly over it and not get reloaded.

Thirdly-ish: this could simulate, in the case of a “long range bomber”, taking off from a far away airfield and leaving to get back to set airfield only for another one to replace it, instead of a long range bomber taking the role of a frontline bomber.

This last section is dedicated to voting some aspect I couldn’t really decide on

first point: “reload and repair”

Should a zone reload AND repair a bomber
  • only reload
  • reload and repair
  • only if the bomber isn’t severely damaged
  • I don’t want this mechaninc
0 voters

second point: “the safe exit zone will spawn at their current altitude”

Should the safe zone spawn at the current altitude of the bomber?
In case you want fixed altitudes these are the altitudes of each type of spawn tested on Mozdok(light vehicles)

Spoiler

Long Range Bomber

~4500m (Long Range Bomber Spawn)

Frontline Bombers,Torpedo Bombers, Dive Bombers, Light Bombers

~3500m (Bomber Spawn) (it is shared by all the classes above)

Air Defense Fighters

~2000m (Air defense Fighter)

Strike

~1000m (Strike)

Interceptors

~1000m (Interceptor)

Fighters

runway or ~1000 (Air point) (Some maps like “battle of Britain” have airspawns)

Should the safe zone spawn at the current altitude of the bomber?
  • Yes
  • No, only fixed altitudes
  • I don’t want this mechanic
0 voters

Third point: " a set amount of time before being forced to spawn again and make another run, or leave the server."

How much time should the bomber be allowed to change loadout or leaver before being forcibly spawned again?

How much time can the bomber delay their respawn?
  • -5 Seconds
  • ~5 Seconds
  • ~10 Seconds
  • +10 Seconds
  • I don’t want this
0 voters
Should I try suggesting this? I will wait 2 weeks to let the vote results to settle
  • Yes
  • No
0 voters
1 Like
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That’s a cool idea I’d say, it’s silly that long range bombers have to go down to reload on a frontline airfield

1 Like
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It doesn’t adress a core issue of bombers being useless, but seems to be a decent stopgap idea.

I absolutely can’t agree with those zones spawning you again at the altitude you left at though, it will make side climbers unbearable.

You killed all enemy fighters? That’s too bad there is still a random bomber who kept climbing for the past 20 minutes and is now at like 10km.

Those safe exit zones could be wherever, but when the plane respawns it should only respawn at a fixed altitude, either the same as normal bomber spawn or up to 1000m higher, not any more so that you can’t just get into space and waste everyone’s time while retaining the ability to bomb.

4 Likes
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nice error you found about the safe zone alt, I forgot to apply the simple logic of the bomber just stacking each climb to make it’s spawn point higher.
Now that I think about the second pass of a bomber should be too hard, most enemies would have lost it’s altitude and would have to maybe reload and repair, and THEN they would have to climb again.

5

To get it right:
You want to fly a bomber in ARB? Fair enough.
You want to bomb bases?
After you bombed you want to j out without any effort to rush into the next battle OR reload airborne?
If this is correct:

ARB battles are first of all about winning the battle, not farming, not grinding, not effortless gaining personal ressources for anything.
You decided to fly a plane having no impact to the battle? So live with the consequences. Everyone has to rtb to reload.

If you want to make ARB better and make bombers more useful, this isn’t a solution at all.

The problem isn’t the bomber itself, the problem is the whole design of ARB. No impact to the battle. Base drains not enough tickets, bombers can’t win a battle on their own (anymore).

Next problem: base bombing produces much more rewards than a fighter gets in comparison to the impact. Additionally it is easier. That’s the reason why ARB is floated with GRB players spading their crews and planes.
So what do you guess would happen, if you make it even easier?

1 Like
6

That’s how you see it, and that’s also how I see it, but the grind is a major part of the game and a major motivation for players. So for some, arb is in fact a place to farm.
I wouldn’t say that air rb is about anything tbh, it’s about what players want it to be about

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If this is the motivation, maybe something is wrong with the player.
“Grinding”, I wrote it several times, is only a thing in player’s head.
In my experience, the average player, IF he is willing to learn, and has an average learning curve, is able to gain enough ressources without any problems to go from tier to tier, only with a premium account. That’s GJN’s deal. If you want it for free, you have to play more.
If you can’t do that, maybe this game isn’t for you.
All with the aspect of playing ARB properly.

This “solution” here to bombers makes “grinding” even easier, conclusion: worse gameplay. More abusing of ARB as farming ground.

Think about all the bomber dudes in mid tier jets. What’s fun about rushing straight to bases? On the other hand, what’s fun about killing them with missiles? It’s only dumb farming on both sides. No challenge at all. Worst gameplay.
Even killing heavy prop bombers is more of a challenge…

What do you think, why are all the heavy bombers, attackers and bomb carrying planes, able to destroy one or more bases, overtiered?
Because they gain much more rewards than a equivalent fighter. That’s how GJN adjust BRs. At the same time, they have way less impact to the battle.
I don’t know GJN is unable or unwilling to see that.
Give them more impact to the battle so their BR is fair, and these planes are worth to fly. Not only for the single player, even for the whole team.

1 Like
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It’s not going to change anything. Bomber players will still fly straight into enemy fighters, and continue being the free SL pinatas they are.
The only way you’re going to change anything is if there is a game mode where only bombers can win the game, which will force fighters to protect bombers if they want to win the battle.
The exit zone will also not fully solve the space climbing problem. Consider the following scenario: Bomber player is last in his team, at high alt, and with ticket lead. Would the usual WT player leave the battle or space climb further to get the win reward bonuses?
It would however be a nice quality of life change. Fighters should also be able to leave battle by flying to a far out exit zone (no respawn).