Kamikazing in Il-2

[Alien]

As you may know, being a kamikaze in Il-2 is quite difficult and unpleasent. That's because of low damage to ships when you hit them with your plane and hitting effect. That's just a small puff which disappears after a few seconds. But it shouldn't be like that. So my request to TD is to look at this aspect and if you can, please improve it.

Here's a video of planes hitting some ships:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kj-xkobaRuE

[mmaruda]

Kamikaze had planes filled with explosives. These were not indented for anything else than crashing into the objective - such planes are not modelled in IL-2. Anyway I don't see the point of playing as a suicide pilot.

[Aviar]

Kamikaze pilots took many lives and caused a lot of destruction in the latter part of WWII. In IL-2, some of my favorite missions include elements of Kamikaze (for AI pilots, not human).

So I agree with Alien that it would be great to have a more dramatic effect tied to Kamikaze attacks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamikaze

As a mission builder, I always wished there was a 'Kamikaze' setting. I like to arm the AI with a bomb, which seems to inflict more damage to the ship. However, this also adds ammo to the plane. Consequently, the Kamikaze pilot, if attacked, will drop his bomb and try to dogfight.

In my 'Kamikaze' setting, I would be able to load a bomb with no ammo (the AI won't dogfight without ammo) and the AI would not be inclined to stray from it's intended mission.

Aviar

[IceFire]

I've successfully used Kamikaze attack runs in my Facing the Wind campaign (http://www.mission4today.com/index.p...etails&id=3110).

If you set the GATTACK correctly with no additional waypoints and use the target select the aircraft will ram ships with no problems. It doesn't take too many hits for a destroyer to go down. It's not unlike the kinds of damage that were received in real life. What you don't see in IL-2 is all of the secondary damage... as the model doesn't change much. Just normal, damaged, smoke from individual gun batteries, and sunk.

[secretone]

Yeah, I have tried playing the role of a divine wind pilot many times in IL2. I find it is hard to get through the wall of flak put up by battleships and aircraft carriers in game just like in the video. Actually, the flak in the game seems pretty realistic to me. Modeling this activity has given me a lot of respect for those Japanese pilots! Fanatics, hell ... they were young, brave and alone fighting for their homeland and families and emperor.

[Aviar]

In many of my coops, after the AI Kamikaze has failed to sink a target, I have seen human players decide to Kamikaze the target themselves, for the sake of the objective. I always wondered if they would have made the same decision in real life.

Aviar

[IceFire]

To my understanding most kamikaze pilots flew with extra armament such as various bombs attached or even strapped to the bottom of the aircraft. The Zero and Oscar bomb attachments are apparently intended for kamikaze use... so in all of the missions where I set that up the aircraft were carrying full armament. Just the plane itself is a fair bit but not enough damage.

As for the AI...give them no more waypoints when enemy contact is assured. So take off, a couple of altitude waypoints and then the GATTACK waypoint so they don't do anything except focus on the objective.

[swiss]

Originally Posted by Aviar

I always wondered if they would have made the same decision in real life.

Aviar

Depends on the position you're in.
As an aggressor probably not, as a defender - in a heartbeat.


I know of at least one Kamikazestuka around Malta, that was stupid though.

[Alien]

Just today I tried to kamikaze in a stuka against a tanker in Clod. That was weird. The game acted like I'd just hit the water, not the ship and a launch (I don't know if I used a correct word now, I asked Google Translator; I mean the small wooden boat on the side of the ship) went into the air and landed about 50 meters away. Il-2 is way better in this aspect, but not perfect. I know that they had bombs (with current fuzes they won't even arm in players' planes) but the fuel is present in each plane and with this kind of energy (a 5000 kg plane with at least 400l of fuel hits the 20-60 thousand ton ship with more than 450 km/h of speed) will surely heavily damage the unit.

[Pursuivant]

I'd love to see Kamikaze load-outs for the late-war Japanese planes, such as extra fuel and internal or non-jetissonable bombs.

Kamikaze attacks were an important feature of the fighting in the Pacific in 1944-45. It's a shame not to acknowledge them.