Cooper bombs don't explode

[Muff_Huggar]

I really do spend a lot of time trying to figure out this stuff on my own and I refer a lot to Rise of Flight. I thought I'd try a couple of bombing runs since you can load the Spad XIII up with two Cooper bombs. I spent an hour or so attacking some stationary trucks and trains and never got a hit on anything. I then decided I should use the spectator view to figure out why I was so bad. Upon doing so, I saw the bombs leave the plane, hit the ground and....nothing. No explosion. Nothing. When the mission starts, I see a message listing all the stuff that is on/off but it goes away too quickly to read. I think there was one that said bombs were armed. But I mapped a button to arm them anyway. I tried arming them before dropping and that did nothing. I selected default for the bomb timing and I tried a 1 sec delay, but neither of those improve the situation. Can someone enlighten me...again? I never know when to assume it's an Early Access "thing" or something I'm missing or doing wrong.

[Garven]

5 sec. delay makes them work every time.  With less delay you have to watch what altitude you drop at.

[Muff_Huggar]

That worked. I must have spent three hours with it. Can you explain the relationship between detonation time and altitude? If you want a one second delay, do you have to release from a much higher altitude or less altitude? 

[Garven]

Less delay requires a higher release altitude.  I always use 5 sec delay just to guarantee that my bombs go off. 

[303_Bies]

When it comes to WWII bomb fuses it was the safety mechanism, if you set very short timer the bomb needed to spend some time before impact to arm the fuse. It was to prevent you from being hit by your own bomb at low altitude. I suppose WWI bombs had similar mechanisc but i'm not sure.

Edited September 12, 2018 by bies