Il-2 Battle of Normandy - Planes Visualized

[BlitzPig_EL]

Just having a flyable Allied medium bomber would be a good start.

[Ribbon]

1 hour ago, BlitzPig_EL said:

Just having a flyable Allied medium bomber would be a good start.

Be specific...B-25/26! 

That cockpit and crew visualized in VR....priceless!

[PatrickAWlson]

I really like the idea of modeling just two positions: pilot and bombardier.   IMHO it is not necessary to man every gun position.  MHO obviously, but I play to fly, not to be a gunner.

[Diggun]

Can we please have this utterly outrageous sharkmouth for the Typhoon?? 

[ROCKET_KNUT]

I´d like to have gunners, who are not completely useless. Gunners who wouln´t put their guns away, half a second before the enemy pulls the trigger at point blank range. Gunners who actually call out fighters like this: "Fighter close, break left hard!" If not doable, I´d like to swap them for girls, bombs or booze.?

Edited July 7, 2020 by ROCKET_KNUT

[MarderIV]

22 hours ago, PatrickAWlson said:

Curious as to details.  What do you think it would take to make things better? 

 

There are some areas I think are critical to a bomber experience and they all involve crew and core systems: 

 

1. Pilotage/Navigation Systems: Right now we don't actually have core interactive systems for navigation workloads. Delivering authenticity to relatively pedestrian aircraft like transports or bomber commander roles heavily relies on navigation and not direct combat. Not having the ability to even set simple course knobs or tuning for radio nav intercepts might not seem important to fighters since you expect to be in combat more often, without it bombers are not actually left with anything more intimate to do. We don't have an in-game interactive stop-watch to queue up legs for dead reckoning nor do we have maps that allow us to set mark points and lay in adapted course corrections. Having to go outside the game and slam a protractor up my screen isn't really amenable, and putting a glass pane over the screen to write with china markers gets old quickly. You could say having a kneeboard IRL is more immersive, but depending on preference I think more folks would appreciate everything being done without leaving the game. 

 

2. Pilotage/Navigation Crew: You could make a case for forgoing the above interaction if we actually had crew working with us to direct the flight to where it needs to be and what systems the Commander would need to pay attention to. But besides that, crew interaction I think would help deliver a comprehensive experience overall. We already have some semblance of crew interaction and useful "chatter" with Tank Crew, so we know there is potential for this space and that it is doable. 

 

3. Defensive Crew, Flight, and/or Escort Element interaction: Some users have already pointed out how having a comprehensive link with escorts or defensive elements is a much needed interactive item and I'd have to agree. Even if we forgo modeling gunner position on new bombers, replacing it with crew elements that improve overall flight defensive awareness and cohesion would I think hammer in the bomber experience and make it appear more authentic. Having a crew that, alongside internal systems awareness, would report situations much like in Tank Crew. 

 

The reason I point these out is really due to how there isn't much to bomber authenticity beyond engine management and heading keeping. One could say that's all bomber commanders really had to deal with, and I suspect its because of the  wave of books out there that makes it out to be a boring slog without really getting into actual workload. But the reality is there definitely is a distinct workload to them and capturing even some elements to that would help build an actual experience around the concept of bombers or even transport aircraft. 

 

I don't think anyone is asking for A2A's complete B-17 rendition of bomber interaction spread over our entire bomber fleet, but even having basic core elements would be enough. 

 

I'll gladly pay for a premium bomber collection if I knew the experience would be on par with just how well fighters and attack aircraft delivers their own brand of authenticity. Because beyond mastering engine management and flight planning, I think you'll find yourself wanting for some of these things. 

 

 

Edited July 8, 2020 by MarderIV
Deleted duplicate entry