I remember a year or so ago I used to see a lot of formations going and setting out to bomb factories. However, more recently I don't think I've ever witnessed anyone bombing them.

Anyone know why is that? I heard not too long ago that there was a change in the way RDP works. Has anyone heard that and/or what exactly they might have changed? It just makes me wonder because personally I think level bombing in this game is by far one of the funnest things to do in this game!

On a side note.. how come there even isn't much level bombing of towns either? Wasn't level bombing pretty devastating and actually wiped out many towns? I guess the answer to that is because it's easier to 'sort of' dive bomb with the planes? Which I won't argue with that because that can be quite powerful!

One day way back it was done so much it actually stopped Axis RDP altogether.... there was much unhappiness.    Later the effects of RDP were later reduced... to the point where spending the time doing bombing runs wasn't worth it, hard core RDP bombing died.

Much later the whole bombing effect was changed, I think it effects resupply not RDP anymore but could be totally wrong.

For massive level bombing of towns, it's been done and probably still done every now and then for fun.  Problem is unlike RL it's much less effective as everyone you kill just respawns in more or less the same place.   So the time spent organizing and flying the missions isn't worth it battle wise if those same people could be on the ground.  Pin point tank hunters, spawn point killers etc are much more effective.  Pity as they really do look cool when done.

Originally posted by Tontoman

One day way back it was done so much it actually stopped Axis RDP altogether.... there was much unhappiness.    Later the effects of RDP were later reduced... to the point where spending the time doing bombing runs wasn't worth it, hard core RDP bombing died.

Much later the whole bombing effect was changed, I think it effects resupply not RDP anymore but could be totally wrong.

For massive level bombing of towns, it's been done and probably still done every now and then for fun.  Problem is unlike RL it's much less effective as everyone you kill just respawns in more or less the same place.   So the time spent organizing and flying the missions isn't worth it battle wise if those same people could be on the ground.  Pin point tank hunters, spawn point killers etc are much more effective.  Pity as they really do look cool when done.

Too bad they don't add radar which picks up inbound bombers by EWS. That way HC could give orders to the pilots to intercept them. Plus it's just more roles for pilots to do instead of CAS/random dogfights. Even make the radar bombable! Though I'm sure many wouldn't want it implemented because of its 'easy mode' to detect planes - like how I saw people complaining about the yellow warnings on the map.

But in my opinion the way stuff is now really makes these bombers pointless. I know they can still do heavy damage by basically dive bombing, but isn't their whole role in the game to be level bombers? That's what I mean by pointless. But I'm not a historian!

Though you make a good point in your last paragraph. By the time you got the altitude it would already 15+ minutes. So each sortie would be about 30+ minutes under the assumption I wouldn't die. And I bet they do look cool to see. I've only been on the side that delivers.

Well DOC has gone and given in and announced that they will increase the impact that the bombing of factorys has on the enemy side.

Its not like it used ot be where a side could be held back a tier, whislt the enemy slaughtered them with better kit, but a reduction in resupply which can only increase the effects of attrition...

Here's hoping people are mature enough to deal with the outcome of successful bomber pilots...!

Sorry for the long delay, forgot all about this!

But that's really great to hear. Are you subscribbed at the moment? Would you say things have changed at all? What fun it was.

Originally posted by Supergrass

Originally posted by Tontoman

One day way back it was done so much it actually stopped Axis RDP altogether.... there was much unhappiness.    Later the effects of RDP were later reduced... to the point where spending the time doing bombing runs wasn't worth it, hard core RDP bombing died.

Much later the whole bombing effect was changed, I think it effects resupply not RDP anymore but could be totally wrong.

For massive level bombing of towns, it's been done and probably still done every now and then for fun.  Problem is unlike RL it's much less effective as everyone you kill just respawns in more or less the same place.   So the time spent organizing and flying the missions isn't worth it battle wise if those same people could be on the ground.  Pin point tank hunters, spawn point killers etc are much more effective.  Pity as they really do look cool when done.

Too bad they don't add radar which picks up inbound bombers by EWS. That way HC could give orders to the pilots to intercept them. Plus it's just more roles for pilots to do instead of CAS/random dogfights. Even make the radar bombable! Though I'm sure many wouldn't want it implemented because of its 'easy mode' to detect planes - like how I saw people complaining about the yellow warnings on the map.

But in my opinion the way stuff is now really makes these bombers pointless. I know they can still do heavy damage by basically dive bombing, but isn't their whole role in the game to be level bombers? That's what I mean by pointless. But I'm not a historian!

Though you make a good point in your last paragraph. By the time you got the altitude it would already 15+ minutes. So each sortie would be about 30+ minutes under the assumption I wouldn't die. And I bet they do look cool to see. I've only been on the side that delivers.

By the way there is Raydar in the game for enemy air.

Why do you think every time axis fly to france or england 40+ air intercept them?

Last campaign 2 missions was up for england over 60 fighters on both missions intercepted 12 - 111's and 20+ fighters was quite an epic battle over the english channel. None of the 111's made it that run bug god that was pure fun :)

RDP Raids have certainly been running. Certainly not 24/7 (thus is the problem with a game dependent on populations) but the Dambusters have been at it again, along with some gentle ribbing on the forums :)

Managed to fit in a mission flying during this so there is fun to be had if you can catch it...

Originally posted by Stug

RDP Raids have certainly been running. Certainly not 24/7 (thus is the problem with a game dependent on populations) but the Dambusters have been at it again, along with some gentle ribbing on the forums :)

 

Managed to fit in a mission flying during this so there is fun to be had if you can catch it...

Spoken like a true fanboi or is it the secret account of  DOC?   When the game was not so player concetrated and the Bombinb campaign really could determine the surges in the attacking sides efforts was when RDP bombing was run relentlessly.  After it was nerfd to mean littlle more than dropping bombs and making a meaningless factory change state for a few hours is when the it became the wisp of a ghost it is now.  The huge  wargame like effort effort that it takes to do these raids became nothing more than 1 bomber and 25 fighters looking to get an uneven fight.   The bombers themselve were meaningless to any affect.  Instead of taking huge amounts of bombing as was the case in real the devs changed the mechanics toward making the event a staged effort rather than a strategic effort. 

The Devs essentiall reduced the RDP game from a historical stunting of the enemies war effort.  They did this in a manner to provide for player meeting or concentration away from the ground game concentrators.   What was lost in the translation was that  now the Bombing Runs were withtout real meaning in creating victory conditions.    While it can reduce under the table resupply to the ground effort , it offers very little victory to those one and two hour efforts to bomb a factory oftten not successful.  When you could prevent the other team from getting new  more powerful units into the field as it did in real was when this part of the game was at its maximum player effort.

RDP is back in a form and it has inspired debate, discussion on the Forums and generated gameplay (again).

Every little bit helps. Unless of course you don't think the game deserves it? 

Originally posted by Stug

RDP is back in a form and it has inspired debate, discussion on the Forums and generated gameplay (again).

Every little bit helps. Unless of course you don't think the game deserves it? 

Doc for sure.

No, its Bilton.

/sarcasm off.

Originally posted by Stug

No, its Bilton.

/sarcasm off.

 

Bilton would not be so modest.

But to the point this game I have sort of a love-hate relationship.  I love the concept but hate the implementation short  sidedness.  That being said the reason that the RDP struggles is because of the concept.   The concept of this game is a WWII Wargame not  a sim not  a recreation.  It is a wargame that approaches the complexity of  tactical battles on Continental Europe. 

When the game makes a step toward the true wargame in its mechanics it creates a huge interest.  Such was the case for RDP bombing and naval invasion.  The problem is that  when you make a game trying to implement the complexity of  an event such as strategic bombing it is trying t o attract players to a part of the game that is modeled after one of the more complex and Herculean efforts in real during WWII.  Could the Allies have won in WWII without strategic bombing, probably not.  Can you win a campaign in WWII online without RDP bombing?  The answer is always, yes. 

There in lies the problem.  Neither the invasion capabilities of the naval forces in the game nor the air bombing can prevent or deter one side from winning.  As the current campaign  the Axis side is overwhelming the Allies even though their supply cycle has been bombed to less than 50 percent of the Allies supply. 

The Naval Troop Transport can carry  4 tanks to islands or England for invasion.  Why only four?  Well it is some limitation in the mechanics of the game engine.  They can also bring under the table supply units such as trucks for infantry.  They are slow moving very large behemouths that are at a1940 AAA gun level before everyone realized that ships could be sunk by airplanes.  What happens is that the undertable (by that you cannot interdict with air power) overwelms the ability of players to manually bring units to invade.  The modeled effort is closer to real than the devs realize and takes huge in game player efforts.  This is unsustainable in a game where players are only on for a few hours at time.

The same is true for RDP.  A few runs early in the campaign to give one side the short advantage.  Players run spend an hour or so flying to the target bomb it and enemy resupply cycle is longer.  It takes a front line unit twice as long to get supply.  You can now even stop their supply by bombing the factories but you cant stop the fuel or ammo to capture or defend towns.  You cant stop enemy units from moving into a town to reinforce.   Yes you can argue that not having tanks or infantry is a similar effect but in a few hours the game rebuild the damaged factories and you have to bomb them all over again.  This is a game effect that I am sure somewhat mimics the ability to rebuild factories. (after all German war production was higher in 1944 than it was in 1943 evern after all the bombing) but it has a sobering affect on the players morale toward another effort to bomb them again.

If on the other hand the effect was that  you could stop their fuel or ammo you would make a tactical victory turn into a strategic one.  If you could bomb their trains bringing up supplies or their ships bringing troops well there would be a difference in the technique. If you could stop a reinforcing unit from moving up to defend a town.   Would it create more fluid game?  One could not be sure as again when you approach a wargame toward a more realistic model the effort begins to rise to a more realistic effort level.   Playes lose interest and find that the game does not really need their effort to progress or worse they cannot progress it no matter what they do.

What does this all mean? Well it means that this game is a land based foot soldier game.  The efforts of the individual player finds support for his effort in the capture of a town or the capture of even a foothold in town depot known as as spanwable.  His efforts to take the next town may create a stranglehold and cut off some enemy units from supply that forces them to surrender.  That reward keeps the infantry/tank player interested in each morning in the game.   Today he can make a marked difference in the map and war effort.  For the Air Bombing Pilot or the Naval Transport Captain this is not the case, the game does something that does not do to the captured towns of the infantry players.  The game mechanics rebuilds and erases their effort  automatically.

Originally posted by angriff

Originally posted by Stug

RDP Raids have certainly been running. Certainly not 24/7 (thus is the problem with a game dependent on populations) but the Dambusters have been at it again, along with some gentle ribbing on the forums :)

 

Managed to fit in a mission flying during this so there is fun to be had if you can catch it...

Spoken like a true fanboi or is it the secret account of  DOC?   When the game was not so player concetrated and the Bombinb campaign really could determine the surges in the attacking sides efforts was when RDP bombing was run relentlessly.  After it was nerfd to mean littlle more than dropping bombs and making a meaningless factory change state for a few hours is when the it became the wisp of a ghost it is now.  The huge  wargame like effort effort that it takes to do these raids became nothing more than 1 bomber and 25 fighters looking to get an uneven fight.   The bombers themselve were meaningless to any affect.  Instead of taking huge amounts of bombing as was the case in real the devs changed the mechanics toward making the event a staged effort rather than a strategic effort. 

The Devs essentiall reduced the RDP game from a historical stunting of the enemies war effort.  They did this in a manner to provide for player meeting or concentration away from the ground game concentrators.   What was lost in the translation was that  now the Bombing Runs were withtout real meaning in creating victory conditions.    While it can reduce under the table resupply to the ground effort , it offers very little victory to those one and two hour efforts to bomb a factory oftten not successful.  When you could prevent the other team from getting new  more powerful units into the field as it did in real was when this part of the game was at its maximum player effort.

Delaying a Birg supply from 9 hours to 18 hours is huge better than what it was look at last campaign axis was having to give towns away because they had no supplies left at all. Soon as an AO went they would do .fallback anyhow topd posts on here no need to have a secret Doc poster. As for pops yes they are low but on peak times still seeing 4 / 5 AOs being placed and populated.

Allied aircraft htting Axis Factories again...

Look out for vids of Earlier, fricking commendable and fun, Axis bomber raids earlier in the map!

RDP raids again last night and the odd little raid this morning I think?

After last campaigns destruction of the Axis Factories this map is seeing the Luftwaffe resurgent...

RDP is still go go go with places for bomber and fighter pilots!

:)