The strange case of the bouncy bombs

[Conte Zero]

I took a HE111 for a ride on the country, with a heavy payload since I wanted to see the explosion nice effects everybody is talking about

So I was flying low over the fields and I dropped my bombs, working on F2 key and freeview to have a good angle to see my plane and the explosions on the ground

Surprise: after a short fall, the bombs hit the ground and started bouncing around like balloons. After a few second, they actually exploded, quite far from the point they were supposed to hit

I never had any problem with the patches, I only enjoyed the benefits, but this time I have this annoying problem (same with other planes, like Stuka, etc)

Anybody else?

PS - by the way, the explosions are actually very well done.

[335th_GRAthos]

If you watch the Black Death track, some of the bombs dropped by the ME-110s at the airport will bounce as well (unfortunately).

[Conte Zero]

If you watch the Black Death track, some of the bombs dropped by the ME-110s at the airport will bounce as well (unfortunately).

Well, at least this tells me 2 important things, 1) it's not just me and 2) probably this is a known bug and hopefully will be fixed soon, right?

Thank you, no I still haven't seen the Black Death bench..

[Saintblu]

You sure it's a bug? Maybe you have a delay set? Did some stick in the ground at all before they exploded?

[b101uk]

If your to low your bombs wont have time to transition into a nose down attitude of there ballistic arc so will bounce because the have excess forward speed and a long fuse time given they are low drag bombs, if they are dropped from high enough the forward speed is carried into there vertical speed thus exceeding there natural terminal velocity.

Also a bomb with a long fuse delay hitting something hard its fairly obvious what can happen with excess forward speed (as Sir Barnes Wallis made a point of proving most notably with the Upkeep bouncing bomb on soft water) its also in part why high drag bombs came about.

With respect to the game it may be possible that a crude unseen greyscale base texture may be employed on the terrain to show a value a “hardness”

[Wolf_Rider]

difference being they were skipped, these ones were dropped ;)

[Conte Zero]

I didn't know I could set a detonation time or similar, but maybe I have seen a "detonators" option somewhere, right?

yes, actually I was very low during my tests, will try again tonight.

I also would like to bomb a ship with my Stuka, but got no skills at all and I miss them always

[Vengeanze]

Skipbombing is how we did it in Pacific Fighter; go in low and high speed to make the bomb bounce of the water into the ship. So no bug - like already said it's a mix between forward speed, alt and delayed fuse.

[Conte Zero]

I really could never imagine that - Im not such an expert - I thought the violence of the impact would make the bombs explode immediately, regardless of height and speed. thank you.

[BigPickle]

Skipbombing is how we did it in Pacific Fighter; go in low and high speed to make the bomb bounce of the water into the ship. So no bug - like already said it's a mix between forward speed, alt and delayed fuse.

I think you may be confused, maybe its possible to skip with a stuka maybe if they were dropped horizontally, but the idea of the dive bomb is so the bomb is falling as near to vertical as possible.
Same too with the He111 with the bombs being stored vertically when they release they tumble at first then after TV they are going near vertical with not as much as horizontal movement compared to horizontal loading

[Vengeanze]

I think you may be confused, maybe its possible to skip with a stuka maybe if they were dropped horizontally, but the idea of the dive bomb is so the bomb is falling as near to vertical as possible.
Same too with the He111 with the bombs being stored vertically when they release they tumble at first then after TV they are going near vertical with not as much as horizontal movement compared to horizontal loading
He was flying fast at low alt so the bombs where probably not armed on impact. Can't see how the stacking and dropping of the bombs would affect anything in that situation. But like you said I'm a bit confused. :grin:

[Conte Zero]

30 more minutes at work, then I'll be free to fly and test tactics and techniques for the bombing thing. Can't wait, CoD is really addicting now that the first patches gave it a good health level.

I want to try the vertical dive bombing with the Stuka, too.

Beside the false "problem" I highlighted, I think the physics of the bombs are extremely good, they rumble and fall from the bay in a realistic way, you almost can "feel" the weight of every single bomb. Identical to hystorical footage.

[Conte Zero]

guys, I have tried several options, but still my bombs won't explode, no matter what speed or height Im flying at

do I miss anything? for example, on a HE111

ctrl+W to arm bombs
ctrl+B to open bombs bay
button on my joystick to drop the bombs

... and nothing :evil:

[rob63]

Not sure if related but was playing the British campaign and downed a HE111 over the water. Instead of crashing into the water it bounced and rolled several times and then came to rest on top of the water. Definitely a LOL moment. COD is entertaining in unexpected ways. :)

[335th_GRAthos]

I manage to get the 2 x SC500 of the ME110 explode, no problems except for the usual "jumping jack" attitude.
Everything but a dive-bomb will result in bombs jumping like yo-yos (which is absolute rubbish).

The problem I have is with the SC250 of the Bf109E-3B
Only 20% percent of the bombs actually explode, the rest just lands all over the place without detonation.

Go find....

[1.JaVA_Platypus]

I really could never imagine that - Im not such an expert - I thought the violence of the impact would make the bombs explode immediately, regardless of height and speed. thank you.

Timers were set for delayed explosion. I've read somewhere they used 6 seconds. The idea was that the bomb would hit the side of the ship, without exploding or penetrating. The bomb would then sink and detonate beneath the ship. The resulting pressure wave should lift the ship out of the water and 'break' its back.

[335th_GRAthos]

Having done some further testing I found out that:

The SC250 as well as the 4 x SC50 on the Bf109-3B are not exploding 90% of the time!
There is only one way to make them explode every time:
- Start a steep climb with the Bf109
- With the nose pointing sharply upwards, release the bombs
- The released bombs will continue their upward trajectory for a while and then fall downwards.
100% percent guarranteed the bomb explodes!

The ME110-C7 with 2xSC500 has no problems
(I have not yet tested a ME100 with SC250s...)


~S~

[Babi]

it's cool that the bomb bouncing is simulated, but currently seems to be a little overdone. something that weights 250 kg doesnt bounce back like that (not even on hard terrain)... it feels a little unnatural, like dropping a bunch of basketballs.

I didnt see any dust/dirt effect when the bombs hit/bounce off the ground; can anyone confirm this?

[Flanker35M]

S!

The bouncing bombs in CoD are a bad joke. A bug needing a fix ASAP.

[Strike]

Just wanted to add some real-life experience to this....

When listening to the FACs talk about the F-16 dropping bluebombs (concrete bombs practice MK82's that only simulate regular MK82's weight and performance without the bang) I've heard the bombs actually go through the earth, follow the rockbottom under the dirt and then emerge further away from the impact hole... The bombs carry SERIOUS amounts of energy, and if the bomb keeps its shape relatively intact, it should bounce up again like a pingpong ball if it doesn't dig into the ground. Just saying that considering the amount of energy these carry, it should be enough to launch it upwards again.

BUT I agree...

The bombs in IL-2 CloD seem to bounce up without any energy loss that would normaly be absorbed by the ground and deducted from the bomb as it "skips" across the landscape. Normally I'd say the bomb would dig itself slightly into the ground, deforming it before skipping further, now with much less energy than it initially had. So yes, I think it needs to be tuned a little down per "skip".

[Flanker35M]

S!

Strike, also know about this bombs duing the "U turn" under the ground. But in CoD they bounce off the surface like pinpong balls :( No wonder Brits won the BoB as their runways seem to be giant trampolines :D

On a more sreious note. If you run the Black Death track a few times you will notice that the bombs do not bounce later on for some odd reason.

[335th_GRAthos]

I didnt see any dust/dirt effect when the bombs hit/bounce off the ground; can anyone confirm this?

Let's not overdo it! :-)

But, the duds (or unarmed) leave a nice crater on the ground (when you managed to nail the bomb into the ground by dive bombing).