Strafing and bomb ordnance

This new stand alone release based on the legendary War in the Pacific from 2 by 3 Games adds significant improvements and changes to enhance game play, improve realism, and increase historical accuracy. With dozens of new features, new art, and engine improvements, War in the Pacific: Admiral's Edition brings you the most realistic and immersive WWII Pacific Theater wargame ever!

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Yaab
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Strafing and bomb ordnance

Post by Yaab »

If you set i.e P-40E on Ground Attack mission at 100 feet, the 500lb GP bomb is listed on the Aircraft data screen. At 100 feet a P-40E conducts a strafing run with its MGs but cannot realistically release a bomb without the aircraft being damaged in the blast. Does that mean the in the game the bomb is actually released at some higher altitude or at the default 100 feet? Some online reference mentions that a safe altitude for dropping 500lb bomb is 2500 feet due to small debris (rocks) being carried by the bomb blast.

There is no option to perform the attack with MGs only - the bomb is the defined choice for this mission.
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dr.hal
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RE: Strafing and bomb ordnance

Post by dr.hal »

Yaab, I think you are trying to pack too much detail into this game. Despite its amazing detail, it doesn't reflect all of reality. I think that if you set the bomber to 1K altitude for a ground run, it will also strafe under certain circumstances. If you set it at 100 feet, it will always strafe and bomb as well. The difference is that it will take flak in the first instance at 1K feet and in the second at 100 ft. In the first instance it will NOT drop down to 100 ft and strafe if there is considerable AAA fire present (it aborts the strafing aspect of the event) where in the second instance it has been assigned to strafe no matter what the AAA fire is....
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geofflambert
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RE: Strafing and bomb ordnance

Post by geofflambert »

Just don't do it.

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Yaab
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RE: Strafing and bomb ordnance

Post by Yaab »

ORIGINAL: dr.hal

Yaab, I think you are trying to pack too much detail into this game. Despite its amazing detail, it doesn't reflect all of reality. I think that if you set the bomber to 1K altitude for a ground run, it will also strafe under certain circumstances. If you set it at 100 feet, it will always strafe and bomb as well. The difference is that it will take flak in the first instance at 1K feet and in the second at 100 ft. In the first instance it will NOT drop down to 100 ft and strafe if there is considerable AAA fire present (it aborts the strafing aspect of the event) where in the second instance it has been assigned to strafe no matter what the AAA fire is....

So, since the code does not allow to fly a P-40E with MGs only at 100 feet, the best would be to set it at 1000 feet to better simulate a realistic strafing-bombing run, right? I think I will do away altogether with Ground Attack mission at 100 feet for any F-FB aircraft carrying bombs and always set them at 1000 feet.
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Yaab
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RE: Strafing and bomb ordnance

Post by Yaab »

Wait, one more thing.

Actually, in combat animations, it says many times "P-40E strafing" instead of "strafing and bombing" when attacking at 100 feet in Ground Attack missions. Does that mean they don't bomb at all and they come back to base with their 500lb bombs intact?
Alpha77
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RE: Strafing and bomb ordnance

Post by Alpha77 »

ORIGINAL: Yaab

Wait, one more thing.

Actually, in combat animations, it says many times "P-40E strafing" instead of "strafing and bombing" when attacking at 100 feet in Ground Attack missions. Does that mean they don't bomb at all and they come back to base with their 500lb bombs intact?


AFAIK if you set 100 ft. the report/anim will only say strafe, but they will bomb too. Did you see blasts in the pic ?
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RE: Strafing and bomb ordnance

Post by Numdydar »

ORIGINAL: Yaab

Wait, one more thing.

Actually, in combat animations, it says many times "P-40E strafing" instead of "strafing and bombing" when attacking at 100 feet in Ground Attack missions. Does that mean they don't bomb at all and they come back to base with their 500lb bombs intact?

Typically ordnance was dropped prior to landing to avoid any 'surprises' during landing and post flight care.
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m10bob
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RE: Strafing and bomb ordnance

Post by m10bob »

Yaab, if you look at your after turn combat reports, you will see that in spite of the altitude you set your plane at, the combat report may show the planes actually attacked higher or lower, of their own accord depending on the mission..
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Yaab
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RE: Strafing and bomb ordnance

Post by Yaab »

OK, I watched the combat animations for the following reports. On both occasions the message said the aircraft were strafing.

Now, combat reports:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on 16th Division, at 79,77 (Manila)

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid spotted at 12 NM, estimated altitude 7,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes

Allied aircraft
P-40B Warhawk x 3
P-40E Warhawk x 9

Allied aircraft losses
P-40B Warhawk: 1 destroyed by flak

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x P-40E Warhawk bombing from 100 feet
3 x P-40B Warhawk bombing from 100 feet
6 x P-40E Warhawk bombing from 100 feet



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on 16th Division, at 79,77 (Manila)

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid spotted at 6 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 1 minutes

Allied aircraft
P-35A x 5

No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
7 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Aircraft Attacking:
5 x P-35A bombing from 100 feet
Ground Attack: 2 x 100 lb GP Bomb

----------------------------------------------------------

Two things:

A)combat reports say aircraft were bombing. I have a vague recollection that at 100 feet naval attack reports say "strafing and bombing". Maybe it involved attack bombers?

B)why P-40 are missing 500lb bombs in the report, while P-35 have their 100lb bombs listed? Both were set to 100 feet Ground attack, both have bombs by default in such missions.
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crsutton
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RE: Strafing and bomb ordnance

Post by crsutton »

You are overthinking this.[;)] It is pretty much an abstraction. But fighters set at 1000 feet will still drop down to bomb and strafe at 100 feet. Bombers will not. Fighters set to any other height will just level bomb. However, my test showed that they always use the bomb no matter the altitude and it is the bomb that does the bulk of the damage-not strafing which does hardly any damage at all. Attack bombers will suppress flak when strafing but fighters and fighter bombers do not seem to do that. Consider the 100 feet as just a base line. There were many ways to deliver a bomb when attacking at that level. A common tactic was for the aircraft to go in at treetop level to protect them from flak then quickly pull up to gain altitude and release the bomb while pulling up or as they started to dive back down. Essentially lobbing the bomb at the target. I suppose that the fighter could also use delayed action bombs. There are just some things that the game is not going to model.
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Yaab
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RE: Strafing and bomb ordnance

Post by Yaab »

Great info. Many thanks!
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RE: Strafing and bomb ordnance

Post by pelthunter »

Did you mention high drag bombs?
I made exceptional effort to understand why one would try to deny existing fact and disclaim well documented history. I failed.
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Dante Fierro
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RE: Strafing and bomb ordnance

Post by Dante Fierro »

ORIGINAL: pelthunter

Did you mention high drag bombs?

Bombs in drag? Covert bombing?
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rustysi
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RE: Strafing and bomb ordnance

Post by rustysi »

I had a Nick FB set to ground attack at 6k feet strafe on at least one occasion.
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Yaab
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RE: Strafing and bomb ordnance

Post by Yaab »

OK, I have found a workaround for the bomb dilemma. For P-40E and Airacobra just enable drop tanks. This will eliminate 500lb bomb in CL position and create pure 100-feet strafer aircraft with MGs/CLs only.
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RE: Strafing and bomb ordnance

Post by LeeChard »

ORIGINAL: Yaab

OK, I have found a workaround for the bomb dilemma. For P-40E and Airacobra just enable drop tanks. This will eliminate 500lb bomb in CL position and create pure 100-feet strafer aircraft with MGs/CLs only.

Cool idea!
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