Yeah, cameras work

[crsutton]

It is hard to tell how some devices affect the game but it is apparent to me that Allied recon planes that are camera equipped are a very nice thing indeed and really do give a big edge. I could recon a base with a catalina for days and not get much information but send one camera equipped F4F-7 (my new favorite plane) flown by a good pilots and you pretty much get the full dope with one or two passes.

Some nice long range recon aircraft start to show up beginning in 1943, so start training your pilots up before they get there.

[Rob Brennan UK]

Sound advice. Cameras on fighters make them twice as effective as patrol planes for recon purposes (4 max/plane vs 2 max for normal iirc).. and the decay makes it even more effective if you keep it up.

Definately good advice from crsutton there.

[seydlitz_slith]

What about the camera on the Ida? I wonder how well it works. If you look, this otherwise unimpressive bomber has a camera listed as a device even though it is listed as a bomber and not a recon plane. Might be a reason to use the plane.

[CapAndGown]

Are you sure the camera has anything to do with it? The Japanese don't have cameras listed on the Irving, for instance, yet it does a fine job of recon (assuming the pilots are OK). My guess would be that it has more to do with the type of the plane than with its equipment.

[FatR]

I once raised this question in the air thread and was told, that all the camera device does is giving the recon capability to planes that aren't normally listed as recon planes. Why then all Allied recon planes pack it I don't know. Japanese don't, but they recon bases just fine.

[crsutton]

ORIGINAL: FatR

I once raised this question in the air thread and was told, that all the camera device does is giving the recon capability to planes that aren't normally listed as recon planes. Why then all Allied recon planes pack it I don't know. Japanese don't, but they recon bases just fine.

Interesting, but it does not make sense to me. I am speaking from my personal observations in two campaigns but from what I can see all camera equipped planes really do make a difference for recon missions. The Allies don't get much recon aircraft early in the war, so I had been using cats and a few b17 units where I trained the pilots up in recon. However, the results were not that great even with trained pilots. I am seeing some great results now that I am getting some good camera equipped long range recon. It has to be the cameras.

There are other factors as well, weather, experience, atitude and it looks like a lot of CAP limit recon as I have noticed that recon into large bases with loads of CAP don't give me as much.

[Mistmatz]

Maybe it comes down to the question of recon vs not recon instead of camera recon vs recon?