CBU-97/105 Observations and Possible Bugs

[MagnumHB]

I know we've had quite a bit of discussion on the behavior of CBU-97/105s already, so my apologies if this is getting to be a bit too much dead horse beating, but the CBU-97 thread currently ongoing in the A-10C section inspired me to check out the current state of the CBU-97/105 in World 1.1.2.1. After doing a few tests with AI dropping CBU-105s, here's what I've found, both good and not so good:

 

1. The animation and effects are now much more detailed and accurate to video I've seen of the the CBU-97 in action. A fine improvement.

 

2. Overall, target detection seems to be much improved. My high terrain stress test from this thread, showed 5 out of 7 targets engaged on the first drop both with and without wind, which is quite good considering the hilltop target area.

 

3. Total coverage area per single drop seems to be decreased, but probably more realistic. Target detection exhibits a clear preference for targets as close as possible to the center of the dispenser pattern. Repeated drops tend to engage targets at an increasing radius to the pattern center as closer targets are eliminated. Seemingly random engagement of targets at extreme ranges also appears to be a thing of the past. Although somewhat disappointing in terms of potentially decreased kills/drop ratio, I assume this behavior is as intended, as it jives with what I've heard about target detection "clumping".

 

4. My most worrying observation: The penetrator itself seems to have been nerfed. At first I thought they were simply missing their targets (although this may still be an issue with targets that start moving), but more testing with slow-mo revealed that while the penetrators have no problem dealing with trucks and light armor (BMD-1s for example), they perform quite poorly when engaging heavy armor. The images below illustrate how ineffective they seem to be against T-80s, and their performance against T-55s is only somewhat better. Is this by design, or is it a bug? Two tracks illustrating this ineffective behavior are attached.

 

5. I also encountered an odd issue where the CBU would be dropped followed by the AI immediately diving into the bomb, at which point the bomb would be "absorbed" into the plane, never to be seen again. I encountered a total game freeze while testing that may have been a result of this, but the second track exhibits this behavior without crashing. It can be seen on the second drop.

 

I welcome any and all dev/tester commentary on these observations and possible issues (mostly items 3-5), especially if these things are already noted as WIP or known issues.

 

 

World1121_CBU-105_PoorPerformance1.trk

World1121_CBU-105_PoorPerformance2.trk

[Eddie]

Thanks, I'll take a look.

 

Looking at your tracks their "might" be something not quite right, but with the separation of the T-80s it's difficult to be sure. I'll do some investigating.

[Eddie]

Confirmed and reported. Thanks.

[MagnumHB]

Glad to be of help.

[Rykane]

I've found the CBU's to be a problem when it comes to heavy armoured tanks. I was trying to take out some T-72s and the cluster bomb seemed to do no damage to them. They were fine when taking our lightly armoured vehicles though.

[159th_Falcon]

I've found the CBU's to be a problem when it comes to heavy armoured tanks. I was trying to take out some T-72s and the cluster bomb seemed to do no damage to them. They were fine when taking our lightly armoured vehicles though.

please note that the -87 and -103 is intended for unarmored and lightly armored targets only

the -97 and 105 are intended for armored targets (like T80)

 

(103 = 87 whit guidance kit installed and same is true for the 105 / 97)

 

So make sure to engage the armored targets whit either the -97 or the -105

 

~S~

[cacti4-6]

and i thought i was the only one...