one problem:
its was originally supposed to be based on vietnam sead missions and the F4S never saw combat in Vietnam. had you said the F4J though that would have made sense
2 Likes
Some feedback, that surely has been shared a couple of times already.
Negative:
Making the players pay SLs for spawning when it is supposed to be a test is a bit…harsh. Worst case scenario is 18k SL down the drain with no earnings against it.
The balance is questionable with the MIG-21s into the mix. Sure, they don’t have the All Aspect missiles, but the number of planes allows the MIGs to spread out and cover more ground, while the F-4Es are trying to deal with everything at once…enemy Air, enemy Ground that’s super accurate and finding the darn targets in the first place.
So balance wise it needs improvement, and if it is just reducing the accuracy of the ground units.
Positiv:
The very fact that we get to test the new game mode is a big positive.
I really enjoyed that there were no red markers on enemies, so I had to use my eyes and RWR to find enemies. Combined with the fact that you can still fly in 3rd person, this would be a welcome new mode or at least a welcome change to ARB.
So yeah, I really enjoyed the test and I hope we’re going to see some positive changes out of it coming to the game.
5 Likes
womp womp
Not gonna lie, I enjoyed this event more than I expected. I’ll leave my thoughts about the event, but I’ll be glossing over points that have been repeated before me. Also, I should note that I have only been playing the F-4E, so my opinions will be biased.
Positive
- New game mode with different objectives is a good change of pace from the usual matches
- RB mode in 3rd person view and no enemy markers make for a refreshing experience
- In fact, I would argue this also helped the attackers to evade the defenders. I have seen so many MiGs just fly above me because they failed to spot me flying low.
Negative
- Shilka, others have already said what needs to be said, so let’s move on
- Both sides have the same number of players. Defenders having better advantages is expected from asymmetrical battles, but giving the defenders the same number of players only widens the gap even further
- SL costs. I understand that you want to use SL to discourage players from rage quitting, but in asymmetrical battles, the attackers are more likely to lose SL before they earn back the same amount, destroying one SAM site doesn’t earn you enough to cover one death.
- Not giving GBU or AGM to the F-4E. I don’t have any complaints about no anti-radiation missiles or cluster munitions, but only using dumb bombs and rockets is a weird decision
Suggestions
- Reduce the number of defending players, this is the easiest and fastest way to balance this mode
- Either reduce the SL cost to spawn or increase the SL gained from destroying mission targets
- Give guided air-to-ground weapons to F-4E. Things like Bullpup, Walleye and Maverick are used in Vietnam War so those should be included as well. They also aren’t imbalanced since we still need to get within visual range to launch these weapons, still close enough for the AA to do their work.
Side note, its actually pretty amusing that more players are queuing on the team that is most likely to lose, usually people wants to play the winning team.
6 Likes
because many think that it will be us stronk event but then they get clapped and go to queue as ussr which gets instant matched so there are 0 russians and many us waiting
1 Like
Not gonna lie, this event reminded me how fun air RB can be if the planes are well balanced and the game mode isn’t just TDM
3 Likes
I love the event, and am glad to see the developers experimenting with new gamemodes! War Thunder’s being getting pretty stale in terms of gameplay—there’s a reason April Fools events tend to be so wildly popular—so I’m ecstatic to see the possibility of new scenarios.
I do have a few suggestions to make this gamemode better:
- The ZSU-23s make it almost impossible to actually attack the bases; even if I manage to get close enough to fire off rockets, they shred me while I’m trying to leave. Similarly, if I try to do things the sneaky way with a helicopter, they shred me the moment I pop over a hill, leaving me with no chance to take them out.
- While 16 vs. 16 is great in Air RB, this is an asymmetric mode. As it stands, the Americans have to contend with both the SAM sites and an equal number of Soviet planes. Thus, what inevitably happens is that once a few Americans leave the match, the Soviets are able to dogpile the rest with overwhelming numbers.
- This is probably the greatest issue; in my experience (playing both the American and Soviet sides), American wins are almost always an especially sneaky Phantom managed to slip through in spite of the Soviets’ overwhelming numerical advantage.
- Even though the Soviets don’t see them on the minimap, the American fighter spawn-points being precisely opposite the Soviet spawn points allow the Soviets to easily spawn-camp the Americans.
- One solution I’ve heard bandied around to fix the same problem in other gamemodes is to implement a large spawn ribbon players may choose to spawn anywhere within, rather than a fixed spawn point. That way, effective spawn-camping the opposing side would have to cover an entire column or row of grid zones rather than a single one—a fool’s endeavor.
Again, this is a great event, even if it does need a little polishing to achieve perfection. I hope this and similar events will continue in the future. I really enjoy the asymmetric aspect of it.
In addition to the problem-fixing I listed up above, I do have a suggestion for something new to try: disable the scoreboard. As it stands, the Soviets and Americans can simply pull up their scoreboards to see how many of the opposing force are still alive. If you disable the scoreboard, it would add a significant element of guesswork; have we practically annihilated the opposing team, or are half their planes still up? This is just a thought to play around with; I don’t know how well it would actually work in practice.
EDIT: @Laisy makes an extremely good point about the munitions available. While your reasoning for not implementing HARMs makes sense, pilots in real life didn’t try to do SEAD with dumb munitions; it’s suicide. Giving the Phantoms some guided munitions would fix the Shilka problem.
4 Likes
Definitely don’t think this should exist as its own game mode. If anything, Air RB could just be overhauled to include these. Keep the 3 spawns, no enemy markers, more targets and options to go after as an attacker, and more spawn options.
Participating in the event is deleting and re-ordering my crew slots.
This persists even through restarting the game. It is deeply frustrating.
- The maximum number of players on the defending team has been reduced from 16 to 12.
We’ve seen your feedback and looked at the statistics of the SEAD event and have seen that it is often too difficult for the attacking team to achieve victory. Unlike World War mode (the mode that these test missions are developed for), where the starting conditions are dictated at the operational level, in this event the starting conditions are predetermined and can be adjusted.
We hope to make gameplay more balanced and interesting for both sides, giving the attacking team more opportunities to successfully complete their objective and expect that the above change will allow both teams to enjoy this event more. Thanks for playing so far and leaving your feedback!
8 Likes
Is the event going to return again soon with more adjustments that might take more time to implement?
Anything about the accuracy and range of the AI ZSU-23-4’s? I think that would do more for attacker team survival than reducing MiG count
2 Likes
Ah yes helicopters. The AH-1F you selected to be used lacks the modules so it gets hit once by any round and you are now a tour heli because that is all you will be able to do cause you now cant fire any of your weapons including turret so that nice little battle you were having with that jet now comes to an end. This event could have been great if you guys actually thought it through. At the very least for the events sake remove your butchered attempt that you claimed you fixed with the damage models on helis without modules which in fact was not true at all. No visual damage, heli flies perfectly fine like new, no smoke or anything yet you cant fire at that jet you just hit with multiple rounds as he continues on to the next victim able to fire weapons. 3/10
1 Like
I love this gamemode. I love the lack of enemy markers. We need Air RB EC.
3 Likes
I don’t know what people say…but MVP in the events are the ZSU-24s.
About MiGs eating Phantoms… not So. Any game i am, most air kills have the Phantoms , but die to Shilkas , not even SA-2s.
Personally the only thing that has me annoyed is the stupid random snipes from the ZSU-24s. Give me MiGs all day.
When i tried to play MiG, after 2-3 games i just didn’t want to. The amount of KS from the stupid ZSU-24s is just too much for my taste.
Like the enemy has to cooperate and instantly J out or the Shilka will KS it.
2 Likes
SA2 needs to move backward. The SA2 deployed along the midline of the map almost prevents the F4E from attempting to perform air-to-air missions at higher altitudes at any position.
Will there be any plans to bring similar types of standalone game modes as a weekend only thing instead of locking them to world war mode?
I.E. every weekend a mode like SEAD or similar modes is added to the rotation?
I don’t really have a coordinated squadron or clan or anything which is a requirement for WWM afaik (I’m in squadrons sometimes but I’m only in it for squadron XP) and I don’t want to commit to World War Mode and all that it entails just to try other game modes. Ideally it could have pre-made lineups similar to the discontinued historical battles mode or this event. (I.E. “Weekend Event: Realistic Aerial Warfare SEAD: Vietnam Phantom vs Fishbeds”)
2 Likes
Good to know that AI Shilkas still kill you before they even start shooting
1 Like
They should rename this event “NATO torture room”. xD
2 Likes
I haven’t won yet any side.
But i kill enough things dogfight etc.
So i have my fun i don’t care about win/loss.