Why I don't escort bombers

[VT_88 342]

9 out of 10 times they drop the load and fly off to wonderland  for two minutes and then come back. Most of the time it's 5 or 6 minutes before they drop another load

8 out of 10 times, they get to the base and then dive.  What!! you have an escort.

7 out of 10 times  they head toward the base for 10 seconds and then dive straight to the base

3 out of 10 times they will side climb for 10 minutes and hope to drop one load before the game ends

 

If you get a bomber to circle the base you can  cover them pretty well especially if there are two fighters escorting

[Cpt_Bel_V 4,790]

I mean, i only escort bombers when i'm feeling like to RP myself.

 

But even if i do, it only means that i'll be a basic American escort over germany in 1940 - when i see an ennemy close enough, i break and engage ^^"

 

Don't have too much feelings for bombers because when you do proposed them to trop ennemy, after dropping, they quit and dive,... not like we can't do it,... i did it once with a mate, it was wonderful.

[anyuser 5,136]

1 hour ago, VT_88 said:

9 out of 10 times they drop the load and fly off to wonderland  for two minutes and then come back. Most of the time it's 5 or 6 minutes before they drop another load

One of my most ARGH!!!! matches recently.

Was going for the kill bases daily. At the end fully killed or finished 3 bases and 3 other players the one that was left (good start...).

No fighter was attacking us, so go for the airfield.

 

And yes, they fly for the airfield, drop, fly further and further away before turning, instead of drop, 180°, fly half of the reload time, 180°.

 

And I was typing it 2 times in the chat how it is better to bomb, they still did so.

At the end we lost the game because of ground targets with one drop left to kill the airfield, because those idiots don't know how to minimize their time without bombing...

 

Srsly annoying, when you drop like every 30s and they every 4 or 5min. The TNT-damage done at the end was as expected - and there were bombers with bigger loads...

Edited September 1, 2022 by anyuser

[AmigaForever 97]

Most of them does not care anyway

Edited September 3, 2022 by AmigaForever

[FailBoatCaptain 439]

I don't escort bombers for the same reason I don't do any particular thing to help my team. I simply do not care about anyone in the match.  The only difference between you and the other team is I can't teamkill you. 

Edited September 3, 2022 by FailBoatCaptain

[qpranger 1,887]

I fly bombers a lot at BR from 1.7 to 4.7 and honestly I cannot remember the last time I was escorted. That's just the way it is, accept it and not really bothered.

[Nemesis_one 65]

If you would be rewarded for doing it, it could be worth it.

[cashmeowsidehbd 1,269]

8 hours ago, FailBoatCaptain said:

I don't escort bombers for the same reason I don't do any particular thing to help my team. I simply do not care about anyone in the match.  The only difference between you and the other team is I can't teamkill you. 

there is absolutely no team play, so why bother doing anything to help a "team mate". But a good bomber pilot can yield a bunch of prop hangers! I know you love prop hangers!

Edited September 3, 2022 by cashmeowsidehbd

[FailBoatCaptain 439]

On 03/09/2022 at 19:31, cashmeowsidehbd said:

there is absolutely no team play, so why bother doing anything to help a "team mate". But a good bomber pilot can yield a bunch of prop hangers! I know you love prop hangers!

That depends . I'll ignore them if I need to do a task. 

 

If it's not a task I am working on I don't care . Not about prop hangers not about my team  nothing . The only thing my team is is a potential impediment to me getting what I need done. 

[GhostSoph@psn 2,213]

On 03/09/2022 at 23:31, cashmeowsidehbd said:

there is absolutely no team play, so why bother doing anything to help a "team mate".

You do get the "irony" on this phrase, right?

 

I will rewrite it a bit to be more clear:

IF I DON'T bother doing anything to help a "team mate", I CAN'T COMPLAIN  there is absolutely no team play

 

As to the topic itslef...when i played bombers i was rarely escorted, when i was the escort was "not so good"...only in a couple of games the partnership worked, and it usually started with an indication in chat. Knowing i have an escort will change my play,

Edited September 7, 2022 by GhostSoph@psn

[VT_88 342]

Just want to let you know, when a player knows how to use a bomber I don't mind. In fact allot of times I do escort and we win.

 

Example: we are loosing the match. No way to win. It is a ground pounding map. A bomber escaped and is on the way to finish the last base and then the airfield.

 

I fly like a Bat Out of Hell. Get to escort, shoot 3 players down. 

 

The other idiots realize I'm up there, (teammates). Soon there are two more Bombers flying towards the airbase. Then another fighter comes up to help. I shoot down another enemy plane.

 

Now, the second fighter showed up and is helping. The two bombers come in to make the win.

 

Butt... this diving down when there is a fighter escort is really frustrating. Only one thing to do then, What everyone hates. Spawn Camp.

[FailBoatCaptain 439]

by the way it's 'losing' not 'loosing' 

 

i

[The1AmishGod@live 0]

i absolutely refuse to escort bombers unless im playing with a friend who is piloting one i agree with VT-88, bombers do what THEY want not what the team NEEDS.

[ATomiXツ 27]

Why would you escort bombers when they are literally a detriment for the team they are on, that would reinforce bomber players behaviour to keep playing bombers instead of switching to a useful role.

Less bombers => more fighters => higher chance of winning.

Bombers are and will stay the most useless role in all of air and combined forces (obviously with a handful of exceptions like the Tu-2s and the Ar 234C-3).

Idk why people even play them for ground theyre just as useless there when you can just fly a good strike plane with a similar load of ordinance and twice the flight performance and actual capabilties in air vs air combat.

Edited September 9, 2022 by AT0miX96

[Night_Trapper 1,649]

2 hours ago, AT0miX96 said:

..............

 

Heavy bombers simply belong to the Air Force.
They are in the game more for historical reasons.

 

The problem is that this game is not built for playing heavy and strategic bombers.
You can play with them in air battles and they are in a good position mainly in the simulator mode,

in realistic battles their only goal is to shoot down bombs on the base, then it is just a matter of chance if they manage to fly to the airport, re-arm and take off again, on ground targets such as pillbox, bridge, etc.. Of course, in a team where these bombers play, the fighters must play well.
In the arcade, it's more of aerobatic planes than bombers..

 

This game started as an air game, then came tanks and ships..
It is clear to see that the primary intention of the game developers is to -
tactical combined game of tanks and planes!
Everything else seems secondary...

 

For a game with a larger number of heavy bombers, maps with dimensions of 250 x 250 km would be more suitable, with targets such as a dam, a factory, a military sorting station, a fuel refinery, etc.
Or an equally large map of the sea, with military-type ports and military ship convoys ..
In addition, in multiplayer, the weather or night time was completely bad, ideal for bombers...
And also a larger number of players, once there were ideas for the number of players in one battle 24 x 24 or 36 x 36 players..

 

There are, or rather there were, enough players who were focused only on the air part of the game, tanks and ships were and are something that only distracts the developers from making air games perfect...

And I've also already met players who prefer only bombers and would also like more modern machines (B-52, Tu-95 with anti-surface and anti-ship missiles, etc.),

but that would mean, essentially, creating air maps from scratch ..

.

This game simply offers something for everyone as much as possible,

but to work out some component in complete detail would be only for a narrow circle of players and the devs want to have this game for all types of players...

[Dodo_Dud 5,074]

4 hours ago, AT0miX96 said:

Why would you escort bombers when they are literally a detriment for the team they are on, that would reinforce bomber players behaviour to keep playing bombers instead of switching to a useful role.

Less bombers => more fighters => higher chance of winning.

This is the arcade subsection where bombers win games.

 

About escorts: Those who know how it works hardly need an escord, and those who don't don't need it either, as they fail either way.

[LeChance 926]

The role of bombers has changed a good deal over time in AB. When I had started playing nearly 9 years back, bombers were not seen all that often in games, at least not a good many of them. The vast majority of players flew fighters and all they really did was "chase tail" . . i.e.  . . . other fighters. I used to regularly fly around, by myself as the lone bomber and take out all 3 or 4 bases and start bombing their airfield before an enemy fighter even looked at me. Games were regularly won by bombing out the af's. It is not like that anymore, I hardly ever see a game where it is decided by a bombed out airfield anymore. The payout for base/af bombing was good back then, good SL's & good RP. The economy has also evolved, making bases less viable and hitting the ground targets(which there are now a good many more than in the past) a better tactic for "earning". And because of the "grind", player's do many things in game that would never occur irl. Thing is, there are a limited number of targets to bomb, so . . . depending on how many bombers spawn at the beginning of a match, good chance someone is not gonna get a piece of the bomber pie. So, you see bombers mad speed diving at the beginning of the game, racing each other to get to the bases/ground targets etc. You can't really escort these types of players, and sadly this is the most common thing I see.  Escort!? . . . hell you can't even keep up with most of them . . . they're gone. There is the occasional bomber that flies up for alt and can bomb out some bases and get to the a, but it is just rare to see. And bombers up high, with an escort are not as appealing a target, still a rarity to see. Only time I engage in this scenario is if I have a "Kill bombers" task running, otherwise I'll ignore them as frankly, not that big a threat. Almost all these things are side effects of the economy & the "grind". Yes, people tend to play selfishly, there is not much reason not to really . . which is too bad. Flying a bomber nowadays is an exercise in futility & pain  . . .lol. The only "bombing" task I will even try anymore is the "easy" kill 1 base one. I fly out to the nearest base and bomb it, hoping I can turn around and reload & get back to it to finish it off before getting yeeted immediately by the first fighter that gets within range. A good deal of the time, it takes two spawns to do this(used to could get a base in one drop, but they fixed that . . .lol) but I end up leaving as soon as I see "Base Destroyed" because I simply cannot stay in a game like that, even with fighters in my lineup. The futility and guaranteed failure of flying bombers just sends me back to the hangar. And now with chat gone again(really??) players flying bombers have even less chance or incentive to communicate bombing runs, so . . . . yeah . . . all good . .  heh

[anyuser 5,136]

4 hours ago, LeChance said:

So, you see bombers mad speed diving at the beginning of the game, racing each other to get to the bases/ground targets etc. You can't really escort these types of players, and sadly this is the most common thing I see.  

You know, there is the daily task to kill a certain number of ground targets with a bomber.

I hate to throw my bomber away for that ****, but hey...

9 hours ago, AT0miX96 said:

Why would you escort bombers when they are literally a detriment for the team they are on, that would reinforce bomber players behaviour to keep playing bombers instead of switching to a useful role.

Less bombers => more fighters => higher chance of winning.

Bombers are and will stay the most useless role in all of air and combined forces (obviously with a handful of exceptions like the Tu-2s and the Ar 234C-3).

Idk why people even play them for ground theyre just as useless there when you can just fly a good strike plane with a similar load of ordinance and twice the flight performance and actual capabilties in air vs air combat.

Is it to much asked from RP players to take a fast glympse where they are posting?
AB is won by bases and groundtargets killed, not by team annihilation.

[LeChance 926]

3 hours ago, anyuser said:

You know, there is the daily task to kill a certain number of ground targets with a bomber.

I hate to throw my bomber away for that ****, but hey...

Is it to much asked from RP players to take a fast glympse where they are posting?
AB is won by bases and groundtargets killed, not by team annihilation.

Yeah, there's one that's kill 180 ground targets with a bomber, might be in the Special task list, but . . .  no way, I simply can't fight over the ground targets with team mates all the while getting yeeted instantly any time an enemy fighter gets even close. Just to demoralizing the majority of the time. But it is what it is and we just have to work(play) within the game we are given. I'm not gonna complain too much about it . . . adjust, adapt, overcome . . . that's what we do . . . I jsut steer clear of a lot of the "painful" stuff, because I am trying to have fun . . . lol

[anyuser 5,136]

Eh, that mission can have various steps.

Starts with 4 GTs for the first daily task and like 30 or so for 2nd step.

 

There is a similar one for strike planes and with those it is ok. But with a bomber...

[HEP_Aragorn 32]

On 01/09/2022 at 13:46, VT_88 said:

9 out of 10 times they drop the load and fly off to wonderland  for two minutes and then come back. Most of the time it's 5 or 6 minutes before they drop another load

8 out of 10 times, they get to the base and then dive.  What!! you have an escort.

7 out of 10 times  they head toward the base for 10 seconds and then dive straight to the base

3 out of 10 times they will side climb for 10 minutes and hope to drop one load before the game ends

 

If you get a bomber to circle the base you can  cover them pretty well especially if there are two fighters escorting

Many people don't even know how to play bombers, how to bomb and no one is used to be escorted.

 

Try to scort the bombers with clan tags, look at the score card of the player to see his personal stats and choose the best bomber to scout...

 

I was escorted some times, even so I do climb, because if you don't do that, there will be 10 planes going to me and we both would die. Sometimes it went well, I drop tons of bombs and the escort killed lots of enemies trying to blindly kill the bomber without even see the escort. We both on top 2 points, zero death... but most of times there will be just half a dozen of enemies climbing to kill the bomber and the escort.

 

But the main problem is... there is no reward to escort a bomber and it isn't good for the team, as while there will be some players flying high, the ones flying low will be owned and enemy team will get all ground targets before AF is destroyed. With almost 10.000 hours of playing... I can see that it's soo rare to see a game ending with high altitude bombers, needs at least 2/3 overpowered bombers (like pe-8, b-29, b-57) untouched all the game or the enemy team still get owned by a few planes, to avoid then killing ground targets, our team should be just fighters so the game won't end before our team kills ground targets before the airfield.

 

Bombers have no reasons to exist on this game. If you team has a lot of then, you will lose, if you try to climb, you won't help your team and will die before bombing. If you dive, you will die and lose lots of money. A bomber bomb loat may cust more than 1.000 silver lions, but bombing tanks will give like, 50 each, if you hit (almost impossible, as assault fuse won't work anymore and it kinds explodes at random times on fast moving tanks), there is no point in play bombers, attack planes are ten times better. 

 

The only reason to bombers would be a team with 4 players doing the "win battles" wager to farm gold... Gaijin created bombers just to make the worst players to have a easy kill, nothing more.

[Dodo_Dud 5,074]

1 hour ago, HEP_Aragorn said:

Bombers have no reasons to exist on this game. If you team has a lot of then, you will lose, if you try to climb, you won't help your team and will die before bombing. If you dive, you will die and lose lots of money. A bomber bomb loat may cust more than 1.000 silver lions, but bombing tanks will give like, 50 each, if you hit (almost impossible, as assault fuse won't work anymore and it kinds explodes at random times on fast moving tanks), there is no point in play bombers, attack planes are ten times better. 

 

The only reason to bombers would be a team with 4 players doing the "win battles" wager to farm gold... Gaijin created bombers just to make the worst players to have a easy kill, nothing more.

 

Good man, this is the arcade subsection. In arcade, bombers can well win games. And the team without them usually loses a protracted battle. You are probably thinking air RB.

[Alikiwi55 124]

"Bombers have no reasons to exist on this game" ???? What planet are you on??? One of the main tasks is to destroy bases, and you CAN'T do that without bombers (or attack aircraft), period. Can't believe all the non team players here who abandon the bombers, which I see in game most times as well. Stop bitcXXng about the very problem you create, lack of team play. Flying bombers 50% of the time, I'm never escorted, and try to fly high to avoid getting killed, so I can bomb those AA guns, so you don't get killed by them, and bomb the bases and then the airfields if that's what's required. Shocking the lack of understanding, and lack of co-operation. I've won plenty of teamwork awards, so maybe, just maybe, you should all give it a try.

[DogsbodyBader 95]

There should be a reward, something quite simple to implement, like if you are within X distance of bomber when it releases bombs OR perhaps better - have been reasonably close to it lfor a decent % of the time period in the last few minutes OR just killed something that attacked the bomber (say get the bomber defender award or whatever it is called) .. you get a % of the score the bomber gets.

 

Currently there is sadly no incentive at all, as stated above. You give your time up possibly for the entire game and get nothing for it. I feel guilty for the rare escorts doing a good job and getting nothng, it's frustrating as a bomber pilot as you want them to get something for it

 

Re the above OP etc, well as someone who has played bombers a lot, and how over time they've become harder and harder to play (fast climbing fighers / damage models), if you don't notice the escort you might dive anyway a you are so used to getting shot down quickly as soon as an enemy gets close. Escorts are unfortuantely extremely rare in arcade in my experience. As there are no rewards, see above!

[Lt_PeteMitchell 920]

On 29/10/2022 at 02:43, DogsbodyBader said:

There should be a reward, something quite simple to implement, like if you are within X distance of bomber when it releases bombs OR perhaps better - have been reasonably close to it lfor a decent % of the time period in the last few minutes OR just killed something that attacked the bomber (say get the bomber defender award or whatever it is called) .. you get a % of the score the bomber gets.

 

Currently there is sadly no incentive at all, as stated above. You give your time up possibly for the entire game and get nothing for it. I feel guilty for the rare escorts doing a good job and getting nothng, it's frustrating as a bomber pilot as you want them to get something for it

 

Re the above OP etc, well as someone who has played bombers a lot, and how over time they've become harder and harder to play (fast climbing fighers / damage models), if you don't notice the escort you might dive anyway a you are so used to getting shot down quickly as soon as an enemy gets close. Escorts are unfortuantely extremely rare in arcade in my experience. As there are no rewards, see above!

 

Escorts are not needed for the entire game.

 

It would be helpful though if they spent the first 2-3 mins of the game "escorting" bombers to a safe altitude rather than diving straight into the fur ball like 9/10 fighter pilots do.

 

If they want to hang around after that and pick off any would be attackers then great.

If not, that's fine. It's much easier for me to defend/avoid attacks when I'm at altitude than when I am low and climbing.

 

As for incentive..

• If they escort bombers to 6,000m+, then they themselves are obviously at altitude and in a much more advantageous position to launch attacks of their own
• If they help 1-2 bombers get high above the enemy bases/airfield it is basically game over