Whats Coming Very Soon in Patch v1.20

[brisd]

Mr. Wood,

Your comments are like mana from heaven. It is yet another tribute to the quality of the design team that they understood and corrected the problems brought out by me and others who insisted the big bombers didn't win the war by themselves. The patch looks fantastic, thanks VERY MUCH! I can play UV again.

[Drongo]

UV U Beauty!!!!!!!!!

[U2]

Originally posted by brisd
Mr. Wood,

Your comments are like mana from heaven. It is yet another tribute to the quality of the design team that they understood and corrected the problems brought out by me and others who insisted the big bombers didn't win the war by themselves. The patch looks fantastic, thanks VERY MUCH! I can play UV again.

Great to have you back BRISD!:)
Dan

[wpurdom]

Good news.
I do wonder about the full scope of #2 even after. At least high damage inflicted should be allowed to offset the morale hit to some degree and I wonder whether the impact shouldn't be partly greater fatigue.
The comment on penetration by 500 and 1000 lb. bombs (by Chiteng?) on another thread needs to be considered. I don't understand how to judge your penetration modeling from your tables. The damage to the Mikuma and Mogami at Midway where the whole top of the Mikuma, including the turrent was destroyed (and the ship abandoned) and a turrent on the Mogami was knocked out suggests that these bombs ought to be fairly effective against CA's and below, but the results at Leyte Gulf suggests to me that the effectiveness against BB's should be limited, certainly no more effective than 8" shells from crusiers.

[Sabre21]

Wpurdom actually brought up a very good point. Fatigue on low level missions is much more of a problem than morale, especially on night missions. The definition of low level too depends on the aircraft you are flying...a B17 used to flying at 20k might consider anything under 5k as low level where as a corsair pilot used to performing ground attack missions might consider anything below 100 feet as low level. So a bomber crew say flying on a night bombing mission at 2000 feet is going to accumulate a lot of fatigue where as the corsair pilot is doing barrel rolls at that altitude to keep from getting bored. But put that corsair guy down on the treetops at night with no night vision goggles as we use today...that's scary as hell! It's bad enough in the day time with guys are shooting at you.

As for morale..if the mission was a big success..usually morale will climb (for the short term)..unless of course nearly everyone gets shot down. But hi stress missions after 3-4 days, no matter how successful, will see non combat losses increase and morale decline.

So basically a bomber crew flying low level will accumulate fatigue faster than the dedicated ground attack crews and both will suffer operational losses once fatigue reaches a certain level which then results in lower morale. It's one thing to lose a crew or two due to combat...that's expected...but there is nothing that will cause pilots to lose morale (or get ticked at the chain of command) worse than seeing their buddies get smoked from accidents due to non combat losses. Remember it's not just the pilots that are worn out making mistakes...the ground crews work 4 or more hours for every flight hour and as they get fatigued...maintenance gets cut short causing even more problems.

One last thing...just so anyone interested knows...fatigue accumaltes 8 times faster at night than it does in the day for the same type mission.

Andy

[elmo3]

Originally posted by Mike Wood
Hello...

snip...The decision to reduce morale for low level bombing missions by level bombers came from the general lack of training, the increased stress involved from flying into harms way at 1000 feet instead of 25,000 feet, minor damage to crews and aircraft that would not count as damage aircraft, but would affect group readiness and the increased time required to plan such a mission.

Hope You all like our changes...

Michael Wood
_________________________________________________

FWIW that sounds fine to me. Whether it's fatigue or morale is not a big deal as long as there is some reflection of the added stress for flying those low alt missions.

[worr]

Outstanding!

Looking forward to it.

Matrix gives great support!

Worr, out

[Wasp]

This patch sounds great! Can't wait for it to come out. I think that Matrix has done a wonderful job of fixing bugs, adding new features, and taking imput from gamers like us. Thank you Matrix. Does Matrix plan to release a editor (one that edits aircraft attributes, ship classes, allows for adding ships, production rates?) Just wondering if that could possibly happen, because some people have shown interest in a editor (including me:D ).

Another question: This one is about aircraft armaments. I thought that at on some occasions, (at short ranges) a TBF/TBM and several other aircraft could be loaded with a 2000lb bomb or a torpedo. I thought the Japanese had 500kg and 800kg bombs which could be loaded on a LBA, or carrier aircraft. (D3A at short ranges, B5N, D4A, & B6N). The 800kg bomb was specificially designed to penetrate a battleship's deck, and explode below decks. Perhaps the additions of these bombs, 2000lb, 800kg & 500kg bombs would make it so that some battleships such as the NorthCarolina, Yamato, South Dakota, etc are not bomb proof as it is in the game. Other than that, the game is great, and I am looking forward to the release of WITP in the near future.

[zed]

Hurry up with that patch, I would like to be able to use my IJN carriers again in the Solomon Sea/Coral Sea. As it is, I am losing DDs and APs to B-17es in Huon Gulf.

[pad152]

The patch sounds good, but need the ability to load just troops on transports, it's impossible to rotate troops because the transports take the supplies too. The fast transport option is too limited because of the low capacity of APD's.

[DSandberg]

Thanks Mike Wood for your elaboration on the details of the level bombers issue. I (and others I'm sure) really appreciate the thought and effort that you, Gary and the team have put into addressing this issue. Can't wait for the patch!

- David

[Maniac]

Alright I got a question...so when you skip bomb are you going to take a huge hit in the morale area? because level bombers that go below 5000 feet you say will suffer a morale hit...did bomber crews really have sever morale hits from doing skip bomb runs in the war? maybe for more expeirenced crews they morale hit should be decreased? becuase if the morale hit is fairly severe than skip bombing may not be as effective as it should...just some speculation of mine

[HMSWarspite]

Originally posted by Maniac
Alright I got a question...so when you skip bomb are you going to take a huge hit in the morale area? because level bombers that go below 5000 feet you say will suffer a morale hit...did bomber crews really have sever morale hits from doing skip bomb runs in the war? maybe for more expeirenced crews they morale hit should be decreased? becuase if the morale hit is fairly severe than skip bombing may not be as effective as it should...just some speculation of mine

Don't know about you, but flying a big twin at 100ft like it was a fighter, and skip bombing targets that shoot back would lower my morale!:D

[kaleun]

Personally I think anybody skip bombing with a B17 is either nuts or has a HUGE pair of big brass ones. (And has tied up any sane member of the flight crew, and gagged them to muffle their screams of horror)
This guys had co****s.
K

[Admiral DadMan]

Originally posted by David Heath

...Here what you can expect very soon ( next 24-72 hours )...

Tick tock...

I'm teasing.

Kirk: "Mr. Scott, do you always modify your repair estimates by a factor of four?"

Scotty: "How else could I keep my reputation as a miracle worker?"

[Ron Saueracker]

I think the designers/developers have cofee intravenously pumped into their system. I don't think they sleep.

[Raverdave]

Originally posted by HMSWarspite


Don't know about you, but flying a big twin at 100ft like it was a fighter, and skip bombing targets that shoot back would lower my morale!:D

Infact this is one of the ways that the RAAF Beaufighters were used....beautiful looking aircraft btw. As a side note there are not many of these aircraft that have survied to this day. However there is an air museum here in Melbourne Aust that does have one on display. They sure knew how to build things of beauty in the 40's:)

[Jeremy Pritchard]

Unlike John Wayne movies, veterans are not hard-blooded and totally immune to the weariness of war. In fact, as the British in 1944 proved, sometimes being veteran of war might make you more cautious or prone to morale problems then green recruits. Actually, just saw a John Wayne movie about a bunch of veteran pilots (possilby during Guadalcanal, but they were using Hellcats... probably trying to pass off as Wildcats) were interceptors, but due to necessity were sent on close ground support missions, of which none of them wanted to take part in because of the danger.

Being constantly sent on dangerous missions will piss off even the most die-hard pilots. I am reading Catch-22 right now, which sort of resinates with this concept of veterans and morale. If you are unfamiliar with the book, I will reiterate points...

The Group Commander of a B-25 group in southern Italy has constantly raised the number of missions that a tour of duty runs whenever pilots get close to reaching this number. Currently in the book it is up to 60 missions (from an original 25). Virtually every pilot in the book is a hard veteran, however, they will do anything from changing the war map, faking illness and dropping their bombs in the ocean to avoid going over enemy territory. The more and more they are sent on dangerous missions, the more and more they become disenchanted with the war, and become less effective.

Veterans are probably worse at morale hits then raw recruits, primarily because they have been through so much already, they know full well how dangerous certain types of missions are, and are less inclined to be enthusiastic about participating in them. They may be more experienced in warfare, but this experience does not mean that it is easier for them to take part in difficult missions.

[Yamamoto]

Do only Allied level bombers have a chance to skip bomb or do both side's level bombers have that chance?

How are the allied ships anti-sub capabilities being improved? Rasing the accuracy for depth charges? Or something else? Is it just one side that's getting improved or are Japanese anti-sub capabilities being improved too?

Those two things concern me a bit; everything else looks great.

Yamamoto

[dpstafford]

How soon is now?