wed practise observations

Hey everyone this is my first post here. I just wanted to throw in a couple of my thoughts and impressions after tonights practice. (This is a bit long, apologies in advance.) First of all I think the vehicle strikes are going to be a tremendous addition to our overall deadliness as a team.

In the bomber runs we were making on sanctuary I have to think we were causing at least some grief because of the amount of missiles that were flying at us from the roof. Personally the more missiles aimed at me and my compatriots in the bomber, the happier I am. Every missile launcher pointed skyward is one less person guarding the generator, repairing the base, patrolling the parameter, and most importantly capping our flag.

I definitely think that bomber runs have a great deal of merit. I have been on the receiving end of well orchestrated bomber runs, and it is very unnerving. Yes, if you get killed you just re-spawn, and yes if the vehicle platform is destroyed it's quick to repair, but let's not underestimate the power of all these little setbacks. Seconds count in this game, and every second someone is keeping their head down because it's raining bombs, or repairing a destroyed piece of equipment is a second lost for them.

I also want to say I was absolutely thrilled at how much better our transport runs went tonight. Talk about showing no respect for a base in slap dash. Granted the situation wasn't ideal for the defense, they were outnumbered and all, but we didn't have a full load in the transport either. I think this is gonna be a potentially devastating tactic for us to use.

One thing that concerns me however. When Widowmaker arrived, he all but negated the effectiveness of our bomb runs. We absolutely need to figure out how to deal with an ace in a shrike on our tail. We have to assume that there are others out there as good as Widow, and that we will be facing them. Tail gunners, is there anything that we pilots can do to help you knock those pesky things off our tails? Anyone have any suggestions?

Well I tried both chaingun and rocket launcher against him... I was getting some hits with the chaingun, but the damage was far too puny to pose a problem for him before he shot us down. With the rocket launcher, it was hard to get a lock when he got close, and when I did, the missile went past him, circled around, and then pursued him (often "timing out" before it completed the loop.)

We could run bombers in pairs, with the thought of overwhelming the capacity of the defenders to shoot us down. At least we can be assured of getting 1 or 2 good runs in before going down.

If shrike defense is particularly strong, it probably makes sense to ditch the bomber for that map and go transport offense.

I believe you'll find it effective to have a shrike escort for bomb runs but that cuts Offense or Defense by one person. So maybe the goal should be two strong passes with bomber and start thinking about ditching for ground attack.

Your right thought...we will find others out there who have pilots as good as Widowmaker and can knock bombers down quickly.

[AK]NeverRetreat

The bomber runs were very effective on Sanctuary, if I wasnt hit by one, I was ducking in the base to avoid being hit. Still, I thought we defended that map pretty well. Slapdash was another story, having two objectives set so far apart is impossible for four people to defend effectively. Therefore, I elected to defend the flag. Still, we didnt do a very good job at that either. I'm of a mind that we need to implement someone organizing the defense even in practice situations. Giving starting assignments is a great start, but without someone leading the team from there, its difficult to be effective. Also, O vs. D practices do not reflect matchtime variables very well at all. I know its really the only way to do it with a limited number of people, just beware that what works in practice doesnt always fly in a match. I learned that the hard way in T1. Just my $.02.

In slap dash, the most effective bomber runs appeared IMO to be those with both bombers hitting the base concurrently,ie either flying the same path one after the other or coming in from opposite sides. This didn't give us much chance to deal with what damage occurred or to regroup. Also, unless I'm equiped as a Heavy with an ammo pack, I run out of rockets very quickly with two bombers in the air requiring a restock trip which pulls me out of the action.

In Slap Dash, where I placed the Jericho was convienent as a deploy station but didn't appear very effective as a turret. The transport drops were very effective, totally over whelming our meager group. One suggestion though would be to keep the transport as low as possible when approaching the base. The sooner we can see it, the sooner we can shoot it and it's a lot easier to take out those heavies as a group in a transport than it is one by one on the ground. As a defender, I also agree that a defensive co-ordinator would be a good move.

I was bummed that I missed the practice. Instead I got to watch two live birth movies. Yummy!

I agree that we need to expect that Shrikes will try to gun down our Havoc. The heavies in the Havoc will have a hard time gunning them down, especially if the Shrike pilot is good enough to keep them shifting from chaingun to missile. Keeping the Havoc low not only gives the defenders less notice, it also gives the enemy Shrikes less opportunity to get underneath the Havoc, where the gunners can't fire.

But the only real protection the Havoc has against enemy Shrikes is friendly Shrikes. To me, the ideal offense consists of a full Havoc with two Shrikes tailing. That comes to eight men, which is conveniently half of a full team. The heavies land in the flag area and blow up everything they see. A few seconds later, the Havoc pilot and the lights in the tailing Shrikes jump out and make their flag run.

[This message has been edited by Leonidas (edited 05-24-2001).]

Yeah, you may occasionally get a transport shot down, but if the pilot doesn't take a direct path to the target and changes up once his prefered path is found, it's a pretty rare occurance in my experience.

Add in our offensive shrikes running interference, and the transports should have no problem making the 1 trip needed to drop their "cargo".

But two bombers would require six men. The largest competitive games anyone is talking about are 16 per team. Two bombers would consume almost all of your offense. There would be almost nobody left for flag capping or gen demolition, and certainly nobody left to stock a full Havoc.

I don't doubt that the bomber can be effective in disrupting a defense. I just doubt that the cost of tying up three men is worth the disruption you achieve. Three snipers, three lights with satchels, or two heavies and a Havoc pilot can cause a lot of disruption, too.

I don't think anyone's talking about everyone sticking to one role the entire match. Like a good football team, there should be plays that the commander can call... Plan A includes a certain vehicle loadout, Plan B specifies another.

Shifting from plan to plan as the tides of the match dictate should happen as a matter of course.

Ace slot Tango, trips 3, lone eagle box on two...ready! Break!

[AK]NeverRetreat

Now you're talkin!

I don't know what you're saying, but you're talkin' http://www.augustknights.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

LOL-big fat "DITTO"

I am just really curious how long a bomber will last against a well oiled defence that is working together well. My guess is not long. Only one way to find out though http://www.augustknights.com/ubb/smile.gif

[AK]Pixelsponge

A solitary bomber - not long at all, which is why it should be used as part of a well planned assault, and not a free-lance effort.


A bomber or two, followed immediately by a transport loaded w/heavies, escorted by a couple of shrikes can ruin the day for a defense.

http://www.augustknights.com/ubb/beer.gif