Okay, guys at Rubber Duck...

[destruya]

Dial it down a bit. Please. I'm getting double-digit cannon-equipped planes on MEDIUM difficulty missions. Just tried the *medium* difficulty Sardinian resistance supply drop mission to build money before a high risk mission (out of *necessity*), and you have Me262s, Me163 Komets, and Sparvieros following me the whole ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ way back - I now have Focus *plus* AP and incendiary ammo, as well as Mustang support. All of my crew are heavily armored as well and the level of injuries are *noticeably* more common and frequent than the British/Secret Weapons campaign. Lightweight Mk3 all around and it still isn't enough. Don't *make* me use a trainer (when one comes out that supports USAAF) to enjoy your game - every single mission in Secret Weapons - even the most difficult ones, were easier than some of these "medium-difficulty" missions. I like a challenge in games, but there is no ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ way I'm going to start over with a nugget crewmember this late in the game.

Also, I'm getting hangs when I try to exit the game, which necessitates a Ctrl-Alt-Del to manually close it.

I like challenging games. I don't particularly care for *sadistic* games, and that's part of the reason I nixed Frostpunk from my games drive recently too.

[boris.glevrk]

If I haven't mistaken, the difficulty is more determined by your campaign progress rather than the mission you picked.

[Felinewolfie]

I cancelled secret weapons dlc.
No more Komets

[destruya]

Well, that's interesting, because the Critical Missions are really easy in comparison to the non-Criticals. The Sardinian resistance support mission I'm sure is intended as a tutorial for how to thread the needle through radar coverage, but unfortunately the radars are too densely packed.

I'm up to the final critical mission - I'll do it later when I'm not quite so damned tired.

Also, minor quibbles:
1. The planform for both the landing icon and engineer's screen still shows a Lancaster.
2. Less landing gear hits, please - I've had to save scum twice now because even though I got everyone up to 100% health, moved my ball turret gunner to a front nose gun to get him out from under the plane, and made doubly sure I was free of ordnance, made sure I was lined up on centerline, and selected emergency landing at the flare, 80% of my crew still died twice. Are we supposed to belly land instead of single-wheeling it?
3. Temper the "Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe" spawns. I liked the 'minibosses' in the original game and DLC (not the bosses, but rather the instances of rocket launched interceptors and the 'stealth' ace, but you're just throwing way too much at people too early.
4. I really enjoyed firing up the original game and Secret Weapons DLC every so often - it had replay value. If I wanted to kill 20 minutes and *not* play something like Hearthstone, I could play Bomber Crew. And I've been waiting eagerly to play this - I can't see myself enjoying replays of it once I 'beat' it.
5. I was hoping that there'd be an option - albeit a very expensive one - to upgrade the B-17 to the "G" variant with the electronic turret in the nose. One of the best things about the Lancaster was being able to jump the BN from the bombsight to the top nose turret with a modicum of fuss. As it stands, the front turrets in my particular build are seldom ever used, because quad Mk3s and waist Mk3s provide enough coverage. It'd be nice to be able to keep my mechanic as my upper turret gunner and have the BN have a secondary position to control the frontal turret.
6. Missions where you're tasked with specifically going after fighters just doesn't feel right. You're a bomber - I understand that in challenge mode, and I do know there were B-17s that were retrofitted to be 'trap' aircraft with double the armament and armor to sucker in fighters to get chopped to pieces, but at least when you do those missions, if there's nothing to bomb, *don't give us bombs*.
7. The game routinely crashes on exit. Thankfully it keeps my progress, but at least for my configuration, it's been a 100% thing. I get a screen flicker, have to Ctrl-Alt-Del, and it's even odds that it soft crashes or I get a 'hung process' error.

Things I enjoy:
1. You added meaningful topography! In a few missions I've flown long circuitous routes for easier completions using Lean+. I noticed to the south of the airfield you added mountains, so people who aren't paying attention who do the same thing could find themselves smacking into them if they don't keep apprised of their surroundings. The topography in the original game was non-existent. If you ever did a "Secret Weapons" DLC for the B-17, perhaps a mission in the Alps where you have to wind your way through the peaks using custom navigation? Just a thought. =D
2. The "Disney Bombs" are fun - more fun than the Grand Slams...which, again, are the planforms used in lieu of something that looks like the DBs.
3. Nice use of geography - though I wish you'd add notes for Malta and Gozo, they've been my turning points northward for strikes on the mainland. vOv
4. It's a friggin' B-17!