I’ve noticed that in at least the Normandy and Pacific campaigns, bomber come from the wrong direction? On Guadalcanal, US bombers come from the mainland and Japanese from the sea, and on Normandy British bombers come from the continent and German from across the channel (???). Should be reversed.
Bombers should bank and turn back to their point of origin after dropping their payloads. This should be an easy enough animation or script for them. Pretty sure with the exception of the Doolittle raid, no bomber in history has continued flying straight into the enemy heartland after hitting their target. Plus, it will gives fighter pilots and AA gunners a little more sport trying to shoot them down, both by making their movement less linear and by having them stay over the combat zone a little longer."
The thing is though, with the chevron pattern they drop in, they are most effective flying in from the directions they come in currently.
As far as being the “right direction”, that’s like saying aircraft don’t turn and line up for effective bombing runs. In my aircraft I might start flying from our side, but I rarely attack from that angle. I find whatever angle is going to increase my chances of causing maximum damage. The same should be considered for the bombers.
Well in Normandy allied bombers flying from France doesn’t make sense because they would have to have flew miles into 100% enemy territory and fly back to bomb the beach which means they risked everything just to attack from “a different angle”
IMO the devs just lazily slapped a direction for bombers and didn’t question if it made sense.
It makes sense for GAME BALANCING. Just not perhaps for historical accuracy.
In addition, by doing it the way they currently have it, the opposing side is given just a little bit more time and opportunity to shoot them down, which CAN make a big difference.
This might be true for tactical bombers that linger over the battlefield for targets of opportunity, or that need to zero on a specific target and account for wind resistance when diving. It doesn’t make any sense for strategic bombers like the ones we’re discussing. For them, the no. 1 consideration is usually fuel and fuel conservation, and the no. 2 is gonna be avoiding enemy radar or air defenses, and each of these will only affect the flight route to the minimum degree possible. They’re carpet bombing an area, it’s not meant to be exact, and in fact, strategic bombers in WWII frequently missed their targets or even bombed the wrong city on occasion. Factors like wind were usually ignored, and if accounted for at all, would only impact where the bombardier chose to release payload, and not the flight path itself.
That being the case, it still makes the most sense for strategic bombers to come from behind their friendly army’s frontlines and to return in the same direction.