High altitude - worthless?

[TamaDasha]

Subj. Supposedly some fighters can't follow you up to high altitude, but I was cruising at max and still followed by 109s. The only other use I can see for it is going above flak.

The drawbacks are - your crew is going to be slow as ♥♥♥♥, and you can't navigate from high up.

So what's even the point?

[Team Triss]

Originally posted by metalcallous:

In game, only th oxygen seems to work that way. (If a crew leaves his station, he has to rely on his oxygen bottle). Though then again I don't know if the Lancaster's systems worked differently from the B17.

My post was just a corollary to the comment about Churchill having to bundle up, but it's probably likely they were pretty different.

I'm not a WW2 historian, no do I play one on TV, but I think someone elsewhere on here mentioned the B-17 was designed for and/or exclusively used for high altitude carpet bombing, which would explain the heated flightsuits, whereas the Lancaster probably was not, hence woolen mitts for all.

[TheRealKestrel]

it takes a lot of money to buy enough gear for your guys to go to high altitude
but youre relatively safe up there

[shde2e]

Then again, flak jackets, helmets and medkits aren't cheap either.

[Nate Mc Bow]

High altitude is useful in some situations. Standard AA guns and most flak is rendered useless at mid alt. But High Alt is quite handy when flying long range through massive security of flak, both low and mid range.

Of course it is kind of hard to use if you dont have some O2 and heat gear, but if you got a straight line set for your target and an idea of the ETA, you dont need to star navigation. Although that ability helps alot.

Typically i only go high altitude if there is a mountain of flak even at med altitude. Or if im more willing to risk the health or my crew for some reason. (Like if your plane is already a flying wreck.)

[Outis]

Seems like only ME262/163s can reach you at High Altitude, so you avoid flak and most fighters. I had like 12-15 fighters chasing me across germany that could not attack me cause I was so high, and my gunners were just firing away at them...granted they couldn't hit anything, but still I was much safer at high altitude.

[Unpatchable Luigi TTV]

Originally posted by Makro:

Subj. Supposedly some fighters can't follow you up to high altitude, but I was cruising at max and still followed by 109s. The only other use I can see for it is going above flak.

The drawbacks are - your crew is going to be slow as♥♥♥♥♥♥ and you can't navigate from high up.

So what's even the point?

Actually you can give most fighters the slip or at least in my experience you can. Flying high becomes a better option when you get thermal gear and the advanced oxygen masks. The star navigation is NECESSARY or your stuck. Mainly after getting beat up you should go high to avoid flak and fighters. But also the pilot's evade flak manouver is just as good as long as your gunners can shoot down planes.

[ANDREALEONE95]

The high altitude is necssary for missions with Grand Slam bomb.

[Maiskolben]

high altitude is pretty usefull if you can navigate. You can run whole missions like this if you are lucky with the clouds and can see your target.

[GenBrien]

Originally posted by Makro:

Originally posted by Rayne:

Safety as long as your people are alive, anyway. I can never actually GET to high altitude because everybody's freezing to death before my climbout has escaped cloud-cover.

You need warm clothes. Having equipped my guys with ~40 cold restistance, they can sit at the ceiling comfortably. Not that it's that useful.

33 of cold resistance is ok
dont need more than that

high alt should gives less fuel burns and should be rewarded for long trip to conpensate for the bigger burn of the climb IMO

[[RBBOT]SirMoric]

Originally posted by Slick:

Originally posted by LoR Team Triss:

Does that affect engine efficiency negatively, though?

Engine generates far less power, but the amount of fuel needed to maintain the correct fuel/air mixture is also much less. At least that's my understanding.

The lack of air can be overcome by adding a "supercharger", that can compress and add extra air to the engine.

[Prometheus]

The might of the necromancer.

[shde2e]

Beware the nosy wizards with tiny bearded entourages!

[Lord-Knight Fandragon]

My question is how damn high does your Thermal need to be before your crew stops freezing at high? I flew up there a few times, and with my entire crew around 28-35 thermal, they still freeze. IM wearing pretty high lvl gear.....

I find high altitude to be pretty pointless though. I only flew up there a few times to escape a sea of flak, but beyond that, medium and low works fine.

[Talon]

You need 40+ thermal to prevent them from freezing. The thermal flightsuits from the Secret Weapons DLC coupled with thermal mittens and boots are usually enough to do the trick. If you don't have the DLC you'll probably have to move up to electrically heated mittens and boots to make up the difference.