B-17G Gamebreaker?

[The Legendary Spitfire]

I have the B-17 and use it in Dogfights and Strike and its defensive armanent and bomb load are a little excessive. 1 bombing run almost annihilates a target and it can shoot down almost anything that gets close unless rockets are used. It can even be used in CTA although it is a bit of a target if stationary on the ground.
Is it a gamebreaker? Maybe not with 50 wins to unlock but 30 or even 20 like it seemed to unlock after for me is very little for such a powerful force.

[McQ59]

It can be a good challenge... Cpl of famous fights due to the big motherf*#e'

[Zatoichi_Sanjuro]

I feel most of the bombers, including all the ILs and Junkers, are a bit too resistant to cannon fire. It's true the larger bombers can be taken out more easily by targetting the engines but I think everyone would prefer additional fatal hitpoints. Like the ability to kill the pilots in the cockpit or taking out specific gunports. It's still fun to fly against them in any mode regardless.

The mid-range bombers, on the other hand, are a pain in the proverbial...

[themeistor1]

ME163 works every time,boom and zoom.it has blind spots above and below,isn't that right wanko.

[bobbysocks]

what usually happens in the games i have been in is the person usually asks if anyone has a problem with them flying a 17. if there are no objections the playing field is leveled by others switching planes to combat it and/or teams divided up to even it out. they can be a pain in strike as they can do a LOT of damage quick. someone guards home with a G6 or better they shouldnt have a problem. i have had more problems with Ils than 17s

[irishjg10]

I'm afraid I do not agree with you "the legendary spitfire" when you say its ok for CTA games. If I'm starting into a CTA game and see some lunatic deciding he's up for using a fortress against me, I already know he's brown bread before the game even starts. Firstly you'll have captured the field long before he gets into a position to bomb you or capture the field himself. Secondly with the exception of the po2 153 i16 or Arado (no guns) nothing else as far as i can think would have any problem with boom and zoom attacks on the 17. Thats without using rockets of course. I'm not going to mention the Unmentionable but you all know what I'm talking about there. That one's got a fork in it !!!

[Robotic Pope]

Originally Posted by irishjg10

I'm afraid I do not agree with you "the legendary spitfire" when you say its ok for CTA games. If I'm starting into a CTA game and see some lunatic deciding he's up for using a fortress against me, I already know he's brown bread before the game even starts. Firstly you'll have captured the field long before he gets into a position to bomb you or capture the field himself. Secondly with the exception of the po2 153 i16 or Arado (no guns) nothing else as far as i can think would have any problem with boom and zoom attacks on the 17. Thats without using rockets of course. I'm not going to mention the Unmentionable but you all know what I'm talking about there. That one's got a fork in it !!!

+1

B-17 in CTA is effectivly a non player for his team. Same goes for using a B-17 in a dogfight/team battle, you are relying on getting kills though other people attacking you with the wrong plane and wrong tactics, if you joined a game full of skilled players and used a B-17 you would be ignored by energy fighters and blown away by the heavy hitting bomber attack planes, there is nothing you can do no matter how skillfull you are, you will be useless. B-17s in strike is fine as long as you make sure someone else is in one for the other side too to make it fair. Anyone who tail chases a B-17 should be killed, that is not the way for a fighter to deal with one. As Irish says boom and zoom with a fighter designed to take down B-17s (G6,K4,190D,262,162,163), hit them before they can aim at you. Really the B-17 should take quite a bit more damage than it does in this game, for example all 4 engines act as one so if lose an engine your dead, if you get a very damaged engine you lose throttle and power for the other 3 engines aswell, pilot kill deaths shouldn't be so easy as another of the crew could easily take control.

So you see LegendarySpit how much better the B-17 could have been. Maybe then it would have been a gamebreaker.

[JOED70]

Sadly yes this Plane can be and is abused in some instances , dont blame the plane blame the person on the stick .

[Robotic Pope]

Originally Posted by JOED70

Sadly yes this Plane can be and is abused in some instances , dont blame the plane blame the person on the stick .

I love abusing the abuser with 4x30mm cannons

[The Legendary Spitfire]

Yes those guns have blindspots but tilting the plane can quickly help. I have to say some players are very adept at killing B-17s but they are few and far between.
In CTA the B-17 is easy to land but a bit of a target on the ground and is a bit slow so it is best to use something like the Spitfire XVI.
I also do like to think that I am not an abuser of the plane by overuse but I do sometimes feel guilty about 13kills to 4deaths in a dogfight.
However, as people have said they are killable.
Back to the main point of the game though, it doesn't matter in a dogfight if a player uses a B-17 as long as they have fun. CTA it can be a bit of pain if a teammate decides to use one but it is their choice. I have personally only used it once and can easily see how it could be destroyed but it is a satisfying plane and if anyone decides to tail you, more fool them. I'm not abusing the system by overusing a good plane and if anyone wants to try and shoot me down they are welcome! (although I'm not very good so you probably will shoot me down)