S3 Series

I don't think the LW guns are porked. The 109G-14 has only a single 20 mm cannon, and will require almost twice the time on target compared to a Spitfire. There's a reason the German pilots complained about the Bf 109's inadequate firepower, and why the germans started to overburden their small fighters with extra guns, even though this had a detrimental effect on overall performance. Now if bufftuff is also set to 2.0 then the G-14 and normal G-6 will not have a fun time at all attacking buffs. Might be more fair with bufftuff 1.5?

Regarding the fw 190A-8's inability to catch the buffs, it is not the Fw 190A-8 being out of speccs. In real life the A-8 had a ceiling of ~31 000 ft. This ceiling was not at full internal fuel, and espeially not with a droptank. In Warbirds the 190A-8 can reach 32 000 ft when climbing at bst2 (1.32 ata) at ~70% fuel. So our version actually climbs just as well as it's real life counterpart.

The reason why the Fw 190A-8 will have a hard time to reach the B17's this series is probably because we don't have any cloud layers forcing the bombers to fly at lower altitudes, as was often the case in real life. Not sure if we can simulate this. Otherwise Axis pilots will simply have to try to figure out the timing of when to bst2 climb to 30 000+ ft.

The 190A-4 can climb to 36 000 ft, and will not have trouble catching the buffs. However it's guns loadout is somewhat lacking compared to the A-8. I don't know if the Axis are allowed to use the G-6/RVI in this series, but that would also be a good plane for attacking buffs.


<S>
/Robert
XO 4th FG

The bomber FM's are overmodeled AND they arent carrying real world fuel loads. With more accurate fighter FM's this becomes an increasing issue.

I have an opinion on this matter...first, I agree with what Dawger said.

I would suggest extending an invitation to a bomber squad CO or XO to data mine or test any bomber FM change.

The makeup of the FM team is, IMO, the best it has ever been with members of the Axis, Allies checking and, more importantly, validating each other's work. I think the work is admirable and a giant step in the right direction for this game. I think having a dedicated bomber pilot in the group would ameliorate changes to the FMs.

I should add, that personally, I ignore bombers in the Main arena. I think their BuffTuff may be a bit high (I have no problem with the setting), but their OTTO is shamefully off. I would direct you to this outstanding page of 'Aces' which shows a list of US Bomber Aces and RAF Bomber Aces and aces of each country and branch. It doesn't take long looking at the lists to learn that there were not many bomber aces IRL. Meanwhile, OTTO in the game should be renamed to Hartmann.

Moreover, if I understand the code, BuffTuff encompasses the entire bomber, including the sections that have no glass (waist gunners) and adds BT to AI "humans" gunning. Additionally, these gunners are not adversely affected by the wild maneuvering that these bomber pilots sometimes exhibit.

And finally, because of the above, and the fact that I usually play in a combustable airframe, my behavior in the Main against a bomber has been conditioned to just ignore.

And by the way, in case it comes up, I fly an outstanding profile against bombers and rarely 'saddle up' in the killing zone of a bomber.

As for the toughness of the bombers. I did notice hotroc swapping airplanes - did his entry into those plane up the buff tough to 2? When he went to the next airplane did the buff tough return to the lower AI buff tough? Based on what we experienced against his bombers, I am guessing not. Might be worth checking on. Doesn't take away from his shooting ability but sure explains why the AIs didn't go down with all the hits they took.

Regards,
Gflyer

I just found out that all hits on your aircraft from bombers in the S3, no matter if it's from ai or real pilot, score as a hit from the pilot. So if he was manning the guns that hit you or not, he still gets credit for the kill. No "kill by otto weenies" in the S3s. It has been this way in the S3s for quite a while and I didn't realize that. Probably because I don't fly bombers.

Not sure what the case was in hotroc's situation, but if he actually jumped from gunner to gunner and got the hits himself, kudos to him. good job.

Other wise, in this series, with the settings as they are, a bomber pilot can hit auto pilot, go get a cup of coffee and let the kills rack up. Not a complaint, just an observation.

When bombers go to near 30k and above, the LW aircraft can't do slash attacks, and are forced to either saddle up (leaving them seriously exposed to the guns), or try to go HO. I realize they are contemplating some ideas to bring the FL of the bombers a little lower.

there is a LOT of info here if you want to look thru it.

I think you will find most missions between 26k and 28k
but I haven't looked at that many yet.

http://www.303rdbg.com/missions.html

The main issue is the non correct buff FMs.

Not really.

The bomber guys choose at which alt they fly.

If they are too high for you to attack easily, then equally they are too high for defending fighters to escort / defend effectively.

In that case, it suggests to me that they don't trust their fighters to defend them properly.

Re: Gflyer: Pilot plane switching and Bufftuff
Jabo confirmed on Axis Ch that pilot Bufftuff of 2.0 switches to whatever plane the pilot is in at that moment. A savvy pilot can use this info to advantage. Makes a good case for having consistent bufftuffs for all buffs regardless of AI or pilot.....say 1.5?

Re: Swanee: Kills by Buff Pilots
Jabo also confirmed that any kills by AI buff OTTO are credited to the pilot that created that flight whether he is inside that particular acft or not. Further, sudden attitude changes by the buff pilot produce warping by the AI buffs as they attempt to follow the leader. Of the 4 AE's killed by Hotroc, 2 were by collision including myself. I died just after being awarded the kill on the buff I targeted. Whether that was because of warping or not is a matter of discussion.

Re: Robert: Changes to the LW
Thanks Robert. Good observations. All the same, I feel the rides in question are woefully underpowered for the matchup in this S3. We'll carry on and use what's been provided but I'm looking forward to future game changes that will balance things out.

S!
Crommm
American Eagles

Main issues - buff tuff too high, FMs for buffs inaccurate, bombing alts way too high - notice they are all bomber related issues. Jman, Dawger, Dobs and others have greatly improved the fighters despite the crying from a few that claim otherwise. I'm willing to bet the guys get the buffs right if we let them fix them.

With all due respect, how many buff pilots do we have left anyways?