Anyone that has played in the Normandy maps is familiar with the balloons around the map. These can be rather hazardous to aircraft unless shot down.
The suggestion is rather simple. Allow us to use the engineer squad to build these structures and even set them as high or low as we like (within reason).
Cap the number at 2 or 3 and it seems quite balanced.
I would like to note that I believe this would help to deal with the kamikaze planes to some degree. By making it potentially more difficult for them to get a good line up on their targets without getting tangled by the cords or even the shots blocked by the balloons themselves if they are sitting rather low toward the ground.
That’s not the case.
(Direct from Wikipedia)
Balloons were intended to defend against dive bombers flying at heights up to 5,000 feet (1,500 m) , forcing them to fly higher and into the range of concentrated anti-aircraft fire: anti-aircraft guns could not traverse fast enough to attack aircraft flying at low altitude and high speed.
IF it were, then why are they on maps where that mechanic isn’t a thing (it’s only that way on airfield).
As someone that has fought hundreds of battles on airfield, and some of those others with them, I can 100% assure you that these make a very noticeable difference to gameplay.
Nope. Only airfield. (Where it specifically states that this is a mechanic.)
The other maps they are there specifically to make it more difficult for divebombers to make effective attacks on those targets or from those directions.
As a fan of serial aircraft attacks
I think this would be a good way to cover the tank’s view
And let them create smoke after destruction
This way I can’t mark those tanks early at a distance of around 2000 meters
When I dive from an altitude of 1000 meters, I will not be able to see the enemy position.
I believe 1 baloon per person is more than enough. 2-3 per person could potentially meant 8-12 baloons built just by one 4 stack. And that’s quite significant number.
We shouldn’t allow yet another feature which would make stacks even more toxic.
Balloons are basically the big brother of houses on urban maps or trees on Ardenns which already make it much harder to find ground targets.
I think they’re a very effective Anti-Air defense, and they also improve the situation with plane cycling AND lack of engineer building options. These address so many things at once it’d be mad not to introduce them.
2-3 is needed in order to make one person using them effective.
Consider the fact that it doesn’t take much fire at all from an enemy aircraft to take them down.
Therefore the cost should not be as high as 10, rather perhaps 6-8 at most.
As far as stacks making use of them:
again, aircraft can bring them down with ease.
AA, tanks, HMGs, etc can all bring them down also.
The only time in which a stack using them would be completely overbearing is when there isn’t a single player on the enemy team with at least one braincelll trying to shoot them down with any of the methods that they have!
Yeah me too.
And when there is a good enemy behind me, I will fly close to the balloons, hoping to shake him off or that he will crash into one.
Sometimes it works!
A large portion of aircraft needs to pass directly over the area they are trying to hit. This means that balloons in that area could prove quite fatal.
planes like the JU188 and Sb-2m would be unable to shoot them down, correct. For all the other aircraft, that still means they need to line up and shoot them down. which leads me to my third point.
balloons would be relatively low cost, but the point is that they be used in ADDITION to AA. balloons could help to restrict flight paths, making it much easier to line up effective shots with AA.
Even if they are lining up to shoot down the balloons, that is still an additional opportunity to shoot down the aircraft more efficiently.
Also, do keep in mind that by setting them at different heights, they can be even more helpful. The cord they are attached to is just as lethal as the balloon itself.
So if you set the balloon high, the pilot may not notice the cord until it is too late.
Likewise, if it is set high, you can entice a pilot to fly at a certain height making it much easier to hit them with the AA guns.
As I always say with my suggestions, don’t think about how it works with just it alone, think about how it works alongside other elements.
only map where balloons are partially effective is on airfield and that effectiveness doesnt last long. reason for that is massive number of them alongside with their spread over wide area.
there are 2 scenarios for player built balloons:
they are built in narrow area in the way of bombing run/dive → easily destroyable regardless of height they are deployed at from distance before initiating bombing run/dive
they are built in narrow area not in the way of the bombing run/dive → easily avoidable
like i said before this would basically only affect few planes that dont have controllable frontal guns and would make absolutely no effect on over 90% of the pilots unless they are brain dead (but then again if you take into account average skill level of enlisted player…)
player built balloons wont affect my gameplay unless other player builds balloon in front of me 2 seconds before i hit it (then we can discuss toxic gameplay).
You are skipping right over the point.
Right now, if a player hears incoming aircraft, they have to look around a bunch for where it is coming in.
By comparison, if players learn how to utilize the balloons to their advantage, it narrows down the flight paths by a fairly significant amount, even with just a few balloons.
IF the aircraft chooses to avoid the balloons, they fly in a path that is watched by an AA.
IF the aircraft chooses to ignore them, they run the risk of hitting them.
IF the aircraft chooses to shoot down the balloons, they spend time doing that instead of attacking the objective, AND put themselves in range and sight of an AA.
