Bombing mission questions

[SCG_Limboski]

I have a mission where I have a flight for 4 Pe-2s attacking an airfield with 2 500kg bombs and I simply wanted them to dive-bomb the field in one pass.  Of course, I am having great difficulty in getting the AI to behave in a reasonable fashion for this task.  Here are some observations and questions I have:

 

The Attack Area Command with the “Attack Ground” option can get the bombers to drop both bombs in one pass (at a somewhat low altitude that is higher than the assigned altitude) but the flight of 4 clusters the bombs very tightly around a random point--not very realistic or effective.

 

The Attack Area Command with the “Attack Ground Targets” option works better.  The flight of 4 creates separation and most of the planes attack  different targets and drop on the very first pass.  (Very nice!)  However, they just drop one bomb and then they start circling around for another attack.  The problem is that they can take a very long time for them to eventually drop their second bomb (i.e., more than five minutes).  Most of the time they simply circle ineffectively and cannot figure out how to attack a second target.  Can the priority of attack setting change targeting and bombing behavior in a significant way?  Any ideas on how to make the second pass faster or more effective?  (Edit: Setting priority of the Attack Area Command to "high" versus "medium" or "low" does speed the rate of bomb drop.  The planes are terribly inefficient using "low.")

 

I played briefly with the “Attack Command” where you select individual targets but I did not see any advantage to the Attack Area command with Ground Targets in my brief testing.   Anybody prefer the the Attack Command over the Attack Area command in a scenario like this?

 

Is there any way to force planes to jettison bombs?  Given my testing, I think the best solution is to just have them drop the single bomb on the first pass and then force them onto the next waypoint.  It just sort of bothers me that the bombers fly home with one or two bombs attached to their bellies.  Do bombers land with bombs if they have them?

 

What is the purpose of the time property in the Attack Area Command?  Does it serve as a simple deactivation?  I ask because this value seems completely worthless to me as you need other triggers to get the aircraft to stop attacking the area and go on to the next waypoint (like a MCU timer or an onplanebingobombs event.)  Perhaps this value can help save system resources by deactivating the command?  I just don't know why you wouldn't set this value to a very large time like 999 minutes.

 

Which formation setting gives a more spaced flight between “safe” and “loose?”  I am hardly seeing a difference between the two and they both seem pretty tight to me!

 

The bombing accuracy of the AI is perfectly pinpoint every single time—something a human could never achieve when it targets an individual ground unit.  How does plan pilot skill affect flying ability, gunner accuracy, and bombing accuracy?  I did not see any effect on bombing accuracy when I changed pilot skill.  I remember seeing a patch note recently related to bombing accuracy by the AI but it is way too accurate compared to normal human behavior.

 

 

pe2targetpractice.zip

Edited December 27, 2019 by SCG_Limbo

[=JFC=Shloss]

ha least yours dropped a bomb lol mine just circle above the target till mission end

 

Edited December 27, 2019 by =JFC=JFCShloss

[WWSitttingDuck]

sometimes (and heavy emphasis on "sometimes")  populating the attack area with multiple objects for the bombers to drop on helps that. If there is only one object, they can just fly around forever trying to compute a bombing solution.,...

[=JFC=Shloss]

ahh ok  thx for that  ill look at it again  then  cheers

[SCG_Limboski]

Fiddling with distance and altitudes between the previous waypoint and the attack area command can make a big difference too between working and not working.

[Jaegermeister]

 

Attack area command with attack ground will generate level bombing and dropping multiple bombs

Attack area command with attack ground targets will get your dive bombers to do a shallow dive or level attack.

Attack command with an object, vehicle, etc targeted will get them to dive bomb if your altitudes are appropriate. If they have 2 bombs, they will drop 1 on the first pass and go around. If they go all the way home with that one unused, they will jettison it when the land command is activated.

 

reducing the attack area size will make the return attack faster but may not allow them to calculate the return and they miss the angle and don’t drop for a few passes. They aren’t great at calculating turn angles.

 

The attack area timeout does not disable the attack waypoint, but just allows them to stop attacking and stay on station. You should use force complete and deactivate, then trigger the next waypoint  or attack command with a timer.

 

The leader is deadly accurate, but you can make the others miss according to the formation spread. V hits on both sides, edge hits off to that side, no formation is trail and they basically all hit the target. 

 

I don’t have definite answers to the other questions and your mileage may vary according to map and plane selection.

 

Edit 1/2/20 Attack Commands info

Edited January 2, 2020 by Jaegermeister

[[DBS]Tx_Tip]

On ‎12‎/‎27‎/‎2019 at 12:12 PM, SCG_Limbo said:

 

Is there any way to force planes to jettison bombs?  …

 

 

MCU Force Complete High object linked to the leader with Emergency Ordinance Drop Checked gets you there...

Happy New Year,

Tip

[SCG_Limboski]

Indeed, there is a checkbox in the force complete command that forces a flight to drop ordinances which is not documented in the manual.  Thanks!

Edited January 2, 2020 by SCG_Limbo