Arado 234, B-17, P-47 in Strike
 

What do you think about these?

Unlocked the Arado today and was anxious to give it a shot in Strike. Gotta say, it does very well in a balanced room. However, a jet bomber with no guns draws jet fighters like a supermagnet the next round and gets shut down. LOL
Otherwise, it's pretty dominant. One of those that might ""keep the game from being as fun" kind of dominant. 2nd largest bombs as well. It's fun to fly though, this guy is FAST. I got to 490 mph level flight before running out of map.
However, it is part of the game. The B-17 and P-47 are also part of the game. I figure I'll keep it parked except for rounds where the bigger guns are brought in. I'm fine bombing with the HE-111 and A-20 until I get the B-17, but people should know you unlock this thing in the single missions. Play through Battle of the Bulge's missions and you've got it. Go into a room with a B-17, you need to have this thing ready to go. Even an HE-111 has a very hard time competing with the B-17 loadout.If I go in with an HE-111 and a B-17 shows up, or I'm the one bomber vs 2+ on the other side...yeah, I plan to bring it in.

I think it would be good for the B-17 to be available to everyone, but maybe that in addition to limiting the years planes are available from, we should have a simple "Jets on/off" toggle and a dlc on/off toggle.
Ideally, give us all the B-17 and P-47 right away, it's not easy building to 50 wins in Strike with the few rooms out there, and most going for 20 minutes.


Thoughts about using these 3 planes?

I hate jets in general, but especially the Agado in Strike, since it's actually useful. If you play with normal people, that enjoy piston engines more than jets, you'll outrun everybody, so there's no stopping you. Basically cheating. I agree with the jets on/off button, or just a kick option for the host. As for the B17.. it should be easier to unlock, 'cause it's pretty much overpowered.... but I sure love flying it :D

The B-17 (I unlocked mine last night :grin:) is well worth going for - hard work, maybe, but a real 'prize' for your labours.

It is a smidgeon overwhelming - but this is countered by the appeal of shooting one down (attracts enemy fighters like wasps to an ice cream cone).

It also has a slower release rate on its payload, forcing you to adapt new techniques.

Yeah what's with the slow bomb drops?

I would like to know as well what people think of the P-47. I dont have the pre-order code...so I cant get it. I wonder if they did a better job on the P-47's flight model... than on the P-51 flight model.

The P-47 is supposed to fly worse than the P-47 (though its very wel armoured), but in this game, I cant immmmmagine something flying worse than the P-51.

So, how does it fly?

I just played a round against a pretty good player using the P-47, and he was 0 for 6.

And Raw, what do you mean by, "people should know you unlock this thing in the single missions"? I assume you mean the HE-111? And not the B-17.

srry...dont get this ?:P you beat him 0 to 6? if so..with wich plane?

I think he was referring to the Arado 234

I did'nt get the chance to ingage him.

The US planes need a serious upgrade.

The US single engined planes in IL2 do feel slightly handicapped. Why...i've no idea!! But with a bit of luck the patch will address known issues and then everyone can start flying the P51 online....


Now

the Arado carries three 500lb bombs, does enough damage to a target and its fast, but its drawback is its speed!! its that fats that once you have dropped your bombs, you need about 25 miles to be able to turn back onto your target for another pass. The best tactic i could find was to line up a few different targets. Hit the first, then without having to make a huge turn, just go for the next which was lined up nicely for me.

Compared to the B17.... id take the B17 all day long!!!

the arado only carries the three 500lb bombs, but its fast.
the B17 carries eight bombs (diff weight classes can be unlocked) and does tremendous damage!! what it lacks in speed in makes up for with brute force.


when i play strike i play with a friend who also has the B17. between the two of us we can cause considerabel damage to enemy tickets.

Its all down to personnal choice in the end. Each to their own :)

I still don't mind using the P-51D. It does good damage, but you have to treat it like a lady. And I have to believe it preformed better then BoP gives it credit for.

And the B-17 is a friggin' beast. It takes alot to bring one down.

I was in a pretty good strike room last night, I think Raw Kryptonite was there too. One guy had a B-17 and everyone was clambering to get on his team. I really understood why once we got in the game.

Normally I win a lot of Strike games in my trusty He-111. But even with our team flying at their best, the B-17 just singlehandedly erased all our tickets!

B17 is a beast. Me and my friend wil lboth fly them...we will form up, then head to a target (one agreed between the pair of us), en route we keep an eye out form enemy fighters who want us, and we inform our "little friends" where they are. They go for the fighters and engage.

Any that are lucky enough to get through then have a wall of fire coming from 2 B17's to get through.


Makes for some truly great games.

lol, maybe for you guys. The players on the other team are probably ripping their hair out! :D

It does look good when the game starts....

two B17's forming up, then just above us a couple of friendly fighters to protect us.... first sign of trouble.... it looks superb when you watch the fighters peel off to engage the enemy. Hahaha, i love it!!

flying to the target in the B17's getting buzzed by 109's who are being chased by spits. Great games.

Yeah, I think I was there for that!

Everyone wanted to get on the B-17 player's team. I did see a player flying an He-111, was that you? I stuck with a Ju-87B-2 because I was trying to unlock the Ju-87D-3.

Sort of off-topic there, hehe. :-P


But yeah, the B-17 is a beast of a machine.

If you don't mind, give me your GT. I would love to fly cover for a pair of B-17s.

Dont mind at all. Im on the 360, you?

if your on the 360 my GT is STAR FOZ83

"Spell: Outclassed"
"Can you use it in a sentence?"
"Outclassed. As in, the entire enemy team were outclassed by the single B-17 player"

Yes sir.

Edit: I work the night shift here in the US, so when I play I should see you more often than not.

Although the B17 is hard to take down, it's possible and I've done it, enough to win every now and then against a B17. The Arado however is impossible to take down unless you have a jet. And although it does have a big turn radius, the time you take turning is the time you gain by being at your target way before anyone else. On top of that, I don't think the time you take to make a decent 180 with a B17 is that much shorter than what you do with the Arado. Turn radius is not important, rate of turn is.

Me too. With a P-51D no less. :-P

sssttt, when the devs read that they might go: 'ah you see, it is a good plane', and they wont fix it

I was going to try the Arado earlier on whilst playing a Strike mission, but opted for the Hurricane instead. Very few players, only myself and three others, but for some reason our two opponents both chose Bf-109's, instead of planes equipped with bombs or rockets.

It took ages to destroy the three ships on the Dover/Channel location. I'm not sure, but I reckon they must have withstood at least 50 bomb runs each before they sank, not helped by the fact that my wingman flew a He-111, got shot down once and quit.

I'm going to try and use the Arado later on. Hopefully the heavier bombs will improve the rate of destruction.

I was really, really hoping for the P-47 in the game as an unlock, if i knew it needed a pre-order code, then i would of done it. Its definantly up their in my top 5 planes. My friends grandpa flew one over Europe in WWII and Korea and ever since hearing from him, it has been one of my favorites.

No, no, no! It took three lives!:grin:

Oddly enough, it was a pre-order bonus in the UK only.

Just took the Arado 234 for a spin in a game of Strike... Wow is that plane awesome.

Obviously the rate of destruction goes up when using the Arado. In my opinion it's cheating though. The B17 is on the edge, but at least it's destroyable, how hard it may be.

True enough, though I would say that if you're after the B-17, the significant lack of games (especially on PS3) means that the Arado becomes quite an inviting substitute, at least to get those 50 strike wins.

Also, epic fail at the P-47 not being in the game unless you had the bonus codes. If i'd known that you had pre-order, I would have done.

Speaking of bonus codes, I bought the inFamous special edition and got the Gigawatt Blades bonus code, despite it being a pre-order bonus. To be honest, I don't see the point of keeping some planes out of the game for the sake of the whole pre-order thing. It should be more like World At War; you pre-order, you unlocked the M1A1 Carbine early for multiplayer (or something like that). You have to get to Level 65 if you didn't pre-order, but you could still get it :)

The bonus planes are supposed to be released in the DLC as well, as far as I know.
I know the Arado is tempting, just like using drugs in the Tour de France is tempting.. still lame imo

But I assume you have the B-17?

As for the DLC, has anyone from 1c mentioned it, or is it the community making merry with their wishes and imagination?

This thing grew like a weed overnight! Nice feedback.

Correct, I meant the Arado is unlocked in the single missions.



No, the Arado comes with 500 *kilogram* bombs. That's 1100 lbs each, releases 3 at at time. Still far behind the B-17 with 2000 lb'ers, but better than an A-20 or HE-111.

bomb kg tickets per bomb
100 lb 45 0.35
50 кг 50 0.5
100 кг 100 2
250 lb 113 4
500 lb 226.5 5
250 кг 250 6
1000 lb 453 12
500 кг (1100 lbs) 500 14
2000 lb 907 24(!)


I don't begrudge someone the right to use the B-17, they worked hard for--I sure intend to. I do wish people made an effort to balance the teams though. Too often I'm the only full sized bomber with a B-17 and another bomber on the other team (clearly in a party, so they want on the same team). In a case like that, I'm in the Arado. If we're all HE-111's, then I'm following suit---I prefer props too. Teams need to figure out what's needed to balance out. Move players around, bring the right aircraft.

I'm not playing Strike without a bomber until I get the B-17, but it's disappointing that another trend is the other entire team takes nothing but fighters and they turn the game into team battle. They need to remove any points for shoot downs, they should be defensive only IMO. Keep the game on target. 2 bombers vs. that will likely win, but again, it takes the life out of the game.

If you'd take out points for killing, everyone would just grab a bomber and then it would only come down to who can hit the target the most times, most precise in the least amount of time, totally ignoring the other team. I would hate to see this happen, especially because the 'overpowerement' of the B17 would become even more obvious. As you said, it's still likely you'll win when flying bombers against a figher-only team, so once everyone has figured that out you'll see it less. People should be a little more variable in their setup though, switching between fighter and bomber (although I fully understand you want to unlock the B17 and thus only fly bomber), and should always pick a team, not random. This way it's easier for everyone if they should change type or not.

It would still make sense to have fighters, to deny the enemy from hitting your bunkers, but you're right, it would probably devolve into a bomber race. I think they said they had something in mind for this. Maybe reducing points for taking out bombers, or better yet, assigning bomber and fighter slots in the lobby. Not sure how that would work with varying room sizes though.
It's a lot of fun to be on well balanced teams, I hope something works out on this.

On the one hand I totally agree with you. Strike is a great way of playing the game. It should be bombers that do the job and fighters to protect them, and/or attacking the enemy bombers of course.
I agree the balance is out in many games, but when you take points away for shoot down, people wont use fighters, and then the whole 'Strike' charm is gone. Also the fact that there are bonusses related for using fighters (like 10 wins on the Bf109E3 on Strike) does not help the game play.
Good point mentioned though.

I do wish there was some better way to assign teams though... I just had to play a 3 vs 3 Strike game-

My team:
Ju-87B-2 (me)
Bf-109G-2
Fw-190A-5

Their Team:
Arado-234
A-20G
Ju-87D-5

I hate this... Every time I play as a Ju-87B-2 (in order to unlock the D-5) the enemy always packs the best bombers and because of that I always lose.

Ouch, not sure that was worth the time it took to play it. LOL

I see what you mean.

Actually, alot of people seem to go on about how brilliant the B-17 is, but i've been looking at the unlock list and have spent about half an hour building up Spitfire kills for that Spit Mk XVI :D Looking at about 50 or so at the moment

On that note - some people on IL2 are damned cowards. I've just finished a match that had 3 spitfires, 2 109's and a 163 in a 3 on 3 match. The match ended 15 - 6 in my favour, with all the kills being claimed by me in a Spit Mk IX. But it also ended at 2 on 1 (the hard way), with me against a Spit Mk II and the 163. So a note to anyone who quits because they're losing - please stop.

Well, there's always gonna be quitters.. the curse of being good is that not everyone appreciates it, especially the enemy ;)

if someone one the other team is using the jet bomber why not use the
he-162a2
afterall that was what the germans were designing it for fast bomber intercepter ??
a few times during strike games i have been told NO jets but the other team have b17 and can end all your teams tickets in a very short time if you dont have a b17 on your team how you supposed to stand a chance ???

also what has put me off strike games is that most of the time the guys on my team all went fighters and soon as the games started they all fly off to grab as kill im then left on my own as the only bomber by the time i get to the targets (if i make it that far) the other teams fighters are buzzing me and 9 times out of 10 i dont even get to drop payload before spiraling to earth in a ball of flames :-x

for me the arado is a valid choice for strike if not then whats the purpose of having it in the game i mean its not like anyone is going to choose it fo a dog fight

Tried the Arado, and I have one word for it;

Crap

It's terrible. Always choose the Ju-87, He-111 etc over it

Yeah, well said.

On the note of quitters, I was in CTA a moment ago and the host left because his team was losing (:@). I'm now working on 100 kills in the 109 series, so do I lose the kills for that game?

Tried the Arado, and I have one word for it;

Great

It's awesome. The only thing I don't like about it is that it is so cheap!

I'll tell you the biggest let down for me; lack of guns!

The Arado had rear-firing guns in reality. That's what the sticky-up thingy is for - a periscope to aim them with!

About the B17's: true. They're overpowered, and I hope they're a bit more accessible when the patch comes which enables SP unlocks. The B17 however can still be taken down decently, despite it's gunners, whereas the Agado can only be taken down with other jets, which leads to games where only jets will be used. Not my idea of a nice IL2 game. I have no idea why the designers added the jets, since they're in a whole other category from the piston planes. If I wanna fly jets I'll play Ace Combat. Somehow though, people fail to understand how jets are extremely game-deteriorating.

I can't argue with that, but even the lack of guns is made up with the speed.

Because jets were used in late WW2, that's why.

So was the nuclear bomb, they didn't add that. And the nukes also actually played a significant role in the war, unlike the jets.

Well, as far as I know, the only nuclear bomb dropped was in Japan, so why would they add that?

the nuke would be the pacific theater ;), and thats not in this game.

Anyways, if every one has the B-17, there is no need to take another bomber (except for the arado).
But if not every one has it, it isnt fair..

I dont see a real way of this working out :(

The only way to work it out would be to have certain bomber/ fighter slots in Strike as was mentioned before...

(if everyone used Arado's or B-17's) It would limit the amount of those bombers and force the remaining players to use fighters.

But I wouldn't expect anything to be done about it anyways...

I was hoping no one would notice that, but well, nothing gets passed you guys. Anyways, apart from that, I bet they wouldn't add it in a Pacific theater either, since it ruins the game balance, just like the jets. As I said (maybe in another post :| ) if there's an Arado in game, someone else has to grab a jet, then another finds it wouldn't be fun in his Spit, etc. etc. and finally you end up with a WWII Ace Combat wannabe.

Logically reasoning leads to that conclusion, but many people still use a variety of aircraft if there is an Arado or B-17 in a match, or even if they have the Arado unlocked. One thing that is a problem about teams:

-Player A has an Arado and his team will be chosen randomly
-Player B decides to use an Me-262 to fight the Arado
-Player B's team will be chosen randomly
-Player A and B end up on the same team

OR

-Player A has an Arado and his team is set to A
-Player B, C, D, F, and G set their team to A
-Remaining players (H, I, J, and K) are put on team B


On the second example (particularly when Player A has a B-17 and not an Arado) players just join the team which has the best bomber. But, going back to the first example, if the best bomber's team is chosen randomly, and there are other bombers (possible an Arado or two), then there is still a good chance that one team will have all the good bombers, the other team fighters/medium bombers.

Unashamed Arado user...I want the B17...Arado = probable win

If you don't like the arado, set a date limit on the game...

two spit users teamed up and took me out on a dive run...Good work fellas...a good pilot can take out the ardo in a decent prop plane...

as for points for fighter kills in strike, Hell YEAH! Makes for interesting games!

ps got my first kill in the arado...someone had landed a yak on strike(?)...seemed rude not to bomb him.

pps making certain unlocks easier would help alot us time-strapped adults!!

Good to see everyone on last night...good times!(15kill dogfight win) and bad (getting downed 15 times for 6 kills...)

love this game...awesome variety...see you all soon :grin:
________
Weed vaporizers

I dont think it would you would only need one jet to counter it i mean if your team talk to each other i could go something like this our jet pilot mission is to take down that jet bomber the other fighters spits etc your mission is to escort our bomber to the target area and troll for kills ... i think that would make for a good balanced game also the guy who is flying the jet fighter has a mission to take down that bomber that to me would be fun :):)

i mean when the nazis rolled out the me 262 fighter did all the b17 bombers refuse to fight the war becuse the jets could out perform them ?? nope they adapted there tactics and fought back players in this game should do the same
adapt your tatics explote sp. the planes weakness and use it against them

A good reason why people should always choose teams on strike, and adapt to eachother's choices of planes. I myself like to bomb, but if there's too many bombers on my team I don't mind flying a fighter.
As for the jet that should counter the Arado, this will just exclude those two players from the rest of the game.
And please stop with the arguments of, in real life they would adapt blabla, in all fairness, this is still a game, and balancing is a major factor. If a game is unbalanced, however realistic it may be, it stops being fun quite quickly.

really ?? one is trying to bomb the enemy targets and the other is trying to stop him pretty much what strike is all about id say ??

Not really, it means that two players are flying all over the map at speed basicaly rulling them out for teamwork. Its much better in Strike to play as a team and fly as a flight rather than a bunch of lone wolf players.

I Agree it is much better to play as a team but it rarely happens yesterday i was in a few stike games using a he 111 all the fighters took off trolling for kills so i was trying to bomb targets without fighter escort at the mercy of my ai gunners other team having b17 depleted all our tickets before i even got a decent line on the target now if id have used the arado i would of least managed to get a few bombs on target

start game fly near to target get shot down on account of no fighter support rinse and repeat = not fun

Yeah, it's better to play as a team, but so few people do that. I've been in some great rooms where people would do that, but for the most part each team is made up of individuals doing their own thing. Maybe they're in a party with another person, but in most cases I doubt it. People 90% of the time don't say a word or acknowledge you if you ask if anyone has comms. It's just as rare for the team to set up well with aircraft. I pretty much always have a bomber, not just because I want the B-17, but because usually no one else runs one, except for the 2 B-17's on the other team. LOL

Well in strike I try and play the Escort role myself. However it is rather hard to do, so dont be to dismisive of people flying off. Once I lock in a target I try and take it out, so basically I get a bit of target tunnel vision. Its not that Im doing it to get the points per-say, its more that I need to ensure that the enemy is downed so the bomber can slip through unharmed.

I for one believe that some people will adapt (blabla) and some people won't. Those who don't, it's probably because they just want to fly a plane they want. I know I do, I'm not going to fly some jet that I can barely use just because the enemy has an Arado on their team.

And I also believe that this won't turn into a jet-fest. Jets are the fastest, but they are still worse in all other ways compared to propeller planes.

My 'adapt blabla' was referenced to an earlier comment about how pilots in the actual WWII would adapt to the jets and all that.
Worse in what?
Arado:

• Payload? Not as much as the B17, but that's compensated for by the short time it takes to reach the target, drop bombs, respawn and come back again.
• Gunners? Not as much as any bomber, but that's compensated for by the speed, with which no piston pilot can even dream of flying.
• Manouvrability? It'll turn just as hard or easy as a B17. Admittedly, it's less agile then the He-111, but that's compensated for by payload.

Fighter jets:

• Armament? Me-262 has some nice cannons on there, with less recoil than similar planes.
• Manouvrability? Obviously compensated for with speed.
• Armor? So what? It's not like anyone keeps up.

I have respect for people that can B&Z, and with some planes you must, but all the planes that are designed for B&Z instead of T&B are still vulnerable to other aircraft, except for the jets. A master of B&Z will be invincible in a jet, period. Unless someone else grabs a jet.

As I mentioned earlier, though having done a bit more research, the Arado should have two rear-firing 20mm Cannons to defend itself with

Maybe 1-on-1 it doesn't work out, but with some teamwork, 2 planes can coordinate an attack and take down jets. Jets aren't invincible. Now, that's all I'll have to say on that topic, because that really belongs in the 'I'm surprised jets are not used more' thread.

So where did you have to pre order the game from to get the P-47?

Depends, an ME 262 can be easy to shoot down unless you have experience pilots who knows not to out turn a piston fighter..