Since the latest update, both the HE rounds in tanks and the effectiveness of bombs (even the 250kg / 500lb ones) have been reduced to near buggery.
Firing a HE round from say a Jumbo straight at a pack of enemies (say two squads so 10-12 units) would usually wipe out 70-80% of them if they were closely packed. Now it would be lucky to kill three and maybe take down another 2 even if the group were the same size and packed like sardines.
Additionally prior to the update, a Jumbo HE round would be able to take out a German Puma with a well placed shot right at their round/shell rack - now it just does nothing, doesnât even penetrate to injure the crew inside. A Puma wasnât that well or thickly armoured but now itâs pretty much invincible to HE rounds regardless of where you shoot it - heck even the tires are now made out steel pretty much. Only the AP rounds do damage as you would expect but you would think that a HE round would do something to a lightly armoured vehicle as itâs still a 75mm cannon itâs coming out of.
Now with the bombs - geez have the developers really nerf the crap out of these. Youâre in an A-20 and drop your 4x 500lb onto a near team of enemies for what only now renders like 10 kills if youâre lucky (before it would wipe them out, as a 500lb pound bomb would probably do). But now the blast radius is barely anything to the point itâs just as effective as a grenade pretty much (seems like the blast radius is more vertical than horizontal - basically an upright stick versus a flat plate). Bombs have shock waves - shock waves kill regardless or standing up or going prone. This update basically makes going prone the equivalent of wearing a blast suit and able to withstand a flipping bomb landing right next to you yet survive with next to full health.
Same deal with tanks - drop a bomb next to a tank, you expect it would render the tank heavily damaged if not blown up (as bombs blow stuff up if itâs right next to the target). But nope, just some shrapnel bouncing off and the tank is fine. On multiple occasions Iâve dropped 500lb bombs right next to a tank (which before the update would be a near guarantee kill) only to have it cause next to no damage???
A message to the developers - you need to either fix the blast radius and damage caused by both HE rounds and bombs or just return them to how they used to be as now they are pretty much just grenades / explosion packs being shot out / dropped by a tank / plane. A 500lb bomb should cause more damage than a grenade and a HE round is meant to be more effective against infantry than AP. Hopefully this is addressed in a future update as I surely canât be the only one thinking this.
Agree, i think they might have overdone with this âcone blast radius/realismâ thing. Before this update bombs were pretty decent but still not as OP as 2-3 months ago. Blast/shockwave radius is so much less deadly that said ârealismâ thing made them unrealistically weak. Of course iâm going to also test them out a bit more but first impressions are just like OP described.
and where would the problem be? you only described that now the jumbo and A-20 no longer do 300kill per game, I agree that the new system should be improved to make impact hits more lethal but continuing on this path not returning to the old press âkeyâ to win
This
When people bunch up the bombs are still just as effective provided they donât go prone or dive to cover.
Havenât tried HE since Iâve been playing Tunisia all day yesterday though
Iâm mostly talking from the perspective of using American units as thatâs what I use most - perhaps German units havenât seen the same effect but wouldnât be surprised if they have since why wouldnât they
If anyone wants to âdisagreeâ with what Iâve mentioned regarding the effectiveness / lethality of HE rounds and bombs then I suggest you quickly jump into the âPracticeâ mode and hope into whatever tank you may have in your squads - select HE and shoot at the tanks at the range then you will see that a HE round will now no longer penetrate anything at all. What Iâve mentioned with the Jumbo is only an example as I mostly play on the US side in the Normandy campaign but I imagine itâs the same across all factions and tanks. Prior to the update, a HE round from the Sherman or Jumbo would be able to knock out a Puma providing you aimed at its ammo rack or at a minimum be able to penetrate the light armour - now nothing.
As for HE rounds and infantry - obviously a HE round is an explosive so should cause radial damage to any unit nearby the explosion which was evident prior to the update. Now itâs explosive damage is nerfed to that of a frag grenade - you cannot argue and say that a HE round would only cause the same damage as a hand grenade. I play a lot in tanks hence why I noticed the difference straight off the bat and I can definitely say it has certainly been reduced to what seems like 50% of itâs effectiveness.
Same thing in regards to the planes and bombs - jump into âPracticeâ mode and just try to knock out the tanks with either the A-20 or Ju-88 which would normally do it with easy provided you drop the bomb beside it. It would be a sure kill or at least render the tank near dead with the amount of damage caused, now itâs just mostly fragmentation bouncing off the armour and doing next to nothing. Yes you can still knock out a tank with the bombs but it definitely requires a lot more exact precision to where the bomb is placed to cause any damage.
Yeah I havenât tried Americans yet since I already have m2s though I have have seen an a-20 getting a lot of kills per strike and in general being an annoyance for my teamâs assault
Any player who mans a plane and knows where to actually do strikes will cause a lot of damage and hence be âannoyingâ to the other team but itâs only a small amount who seem to know where to actually do strikes and cause the most damage (a lot of people just play the plane and have no idea where to actually shoot or drop bombs).
Generally a JU-88 is more annoying than an A-20 since it carries 6x 250kg bombs so a person who is smart can effectively do 3 quick bombing runs before needing to go back to refill versus that of just 2 runs with the A-20.
Of course this is all in relativeness that the opposing team isnât just full of guys who just bunch up during invasion matches as thatâs when most of the damage occurs haha.
Rather have them overnerf it and buff them to perfection when needed. The overhaul in general seems to be good for the game just the numbers might need some tuning. Had some really tight infantry duels since the patch.
Agree on the puma btw, it is easier to kill a Pz4 with HE than it is to kill a puma. The thing seems invulberable to HE, it does not even make the wheels yellow or orange just 0 dmg done.
And how bombs wasnt op as 2-3 months ago? Last change to to bombs was universal HE (fragmentation) change that buffed bombs and allowed killing over 100metres away⌠there hasnt been even single nerf to bombs after cbt, except that planes cant be spawned in forst 60secs
Agreed, was playing Normandy yesterday and it was weird. Never saw an A-20 or P-47, the the two Ju-188s I saw both got a whopping <10 kills in their two runs. In some ways I really enjoy it as I love the infantry gameplay, but I do feel it makes tanks much much stronger. I was in a IV H on D-Day in the infamous spot and they could not do anything about me since their bombs were so weak. Ran into a Jumbo on Airfield camping in the grey and had to basically suicide bomb with my Ju to make sure all my bombs hit directly.
Tank HE is also weaker. But that has been wack ever since the arty/HE changes from a while ago. Please explain to me why shooting wood means the explosion gets absorbed???
Also as a side effect, fighters are kinda useless now. People are barely flying, coupled with weaker/no CAS on fighters, and I just quit playing them since there is nothing to do in the sky. Which is a shame because I really enjoyed dogfighting and shooting A-20s/Ju-188s out of the sky.
I think there needs to be a middle ground. Bombs were too much before, but they/other HE are hardly noticeable now.
Iâm glad the nerfed the bombs(although it does seem excessive), was getting sick of dying 100m away from one and getting spawn killed also 100m away but the HE definitely are too weak I use the M8 Scott right now and always was able to take a puma out in 1 shot but this makes it take 2-3 non-HE now (I fired 5 HE and they do 0 damage like stated above) and I still get taken out in 1 hit from Panzer IV and planes and even the panzer III does . Also can no longer use the MG when switched to the gunner which means the commanders head is sticking up for no reason and any grenade nearby still kills half the crew. This tank got screwed this last update, I can still do good with it but one shot from a tank or a nearby grenade and Iâm either dead or down to the driver and gunner. Also pumas can easily outmaneuver an M8(speed and turret rotation speed are way higher) so being able to get that kill fast using HE is important especially in those rounds where your team doesnât seem to use any AT weapons.
Not sure what game youâre playing. HE rounds on my panzer IV feel no different. Still killing blobs. Iâve only dropped 1 bomb so far but the 250 still did what I expected. Then again I only ever drop bomb on tanks specifically. Farming infantry was never priority.
I tried grey-zone camping in a tank last night to test this, I must say I was pretty cozy. Stuka would drop bombs, I would move a meter or 2. Took him like 5 bombing runs to kill me once.
