Report 013: Cluster Bombs news - Vector Thrust

Before we begin, something that should be noted, this update will not have the plane that was promised at the end of the previous report. The reason for this is, during development it has become evident that the resulting news would be very big. To avoid the same size as the report 012, this update was broken in half and the new plane will be featured only in the future report 014.

Without further delay, this week was another one of those reports that was focused exclusively on weapons. And the biggest news is that the cluster type of warhead is now accessible to use.

As previously stated, cluster bombs, are a special type of weapons that during the fall disperse sub munitions that will damage the target in wider area.
In comparison with normal bombs, the cluster bombs are more effective against a group of vehicles, but are less effective against structures and shelters.
Usually these weapons have a specific height which must be dropped. If it is released lower, it might not be able to disperse properly, but if it is released too high the dispersion may be too wide to be effective.

(Note: There are several types of these weapons, each with different characteristics and purposes, however some have complex behaviors or release special ammunitions (like mines), some of these weapons are not yet available.)

Warhead: Cluster/Anti-armor

The Mk-20 Rockeye II (or CBU-100) is a weapon with the main purpose of destroying armored vehicles

Currently for:
A-10A
B-52

Warhead: Cluster/HE

The CBU-59 is the successor to the MK-20, containing almost 4x more sub munitions, it still is an effective weapon against tanks, however is more oriented to be used against soft skinned targets.

Currently for:
A-10A
B-52

Warhead: Cluster/Thermobaric

The CBU-72 has the specialty of using fuel air explosives, and because of that method is different, the sub munitions that disperse are only a tool to expand the radius of the explosion

Currently for:
A-10A
B-52

Warhead: Cluster/HE

The CBU-87 is the new generation of clusters and is compatible with many of the most modern aircraft. The sub munitions that are used are specialized to soft skin units, but it can also be used with less effectiveness against armored vehicles and concrete.

Currently for:
A-10A
F-15A
F-15C
F-15E
F-16C
B-52

Warhead: Cluster/HE

The RBK-500 AO-2 disperse a large amount of explosive fragments and like the CBU-87 is intended to be used against units soft skin units.

Currently for:
Mig-21 Bis
Su-27S
Su-27SM
Su-47

Warhead: Cluster/Piercing

The RBK-500 PTAM-1M specializes in launching sub munitions to penetrate armor and reinforced structures.

Currently for:
Mig-21 Bis
Su-27S
Su-27SM
Su-47

Warhead: Cluster/Incendiary

The RBK-500 ZAB 2.5 SM launches incendiary fragments, and therefore is more projected to be used against fire-sensitive units.

Currently for:
Mig-21 Bis
Su-27S
Su-27SM
Su-47

Warhead: Cluster/ Anti-armor

The Bl-755 is a cluster weapon that uses armor piercing sub munitions, such as MK-20, but a negative feature of this weapon is that it has to be launched at low altitude to be effective, increasing the risk of being hit by anti-air units.

The main users of this weapon are the Sea Harrier, Harrier, Jaguar, and Tornado. (Currently none of them are available for now)

Currently for:
A-10A

Warhead: Cluster/ Anti-armor

The RBL-755 is a BL-755 upgrade that adds an altimeter correcting the problem that required being launched a low altitude. The penetrating power of the fragments was also improved.

Currently for:
A-10A

Now that the basic behaviors of cluster weapons have been completed the only essential type of weapon that remains to be added is the rocket pod. From there, other new types of weapons will be added, but with less priority.

Default Data Overwrite System

This is a very simple but also very helpful system.
One of the most common problems that would occur without this system would have been for example, when a player created a campaign and drastically changed the default values of units or weapons to their liking in order to better suit the new campaign, these changes would also take effect in the official campaigns and probably would have caused compatibility issues.

This problem would be aggravated if the player downloaded a Custom campaign which changed the parameters of some objects, in which case the player would be faced with the choice of deleting their changes or maintaining them running the risk that they would not be the best for campaign they have downloaded.

For this there is a solution, a system that allows in an organized way all the campaigns and battle scenarios to have the possibility of overwriting the default data without changing the original parameters. This system even also allows replacing models, textures, and adding new objects (units / weapons / etc).

It is believed that this system will allow adding custom content without fear of generating incompatibilities with other content. Although it is always possible to change the original data, this system will help a lot in the organization of new content.
And is very simple to use, simply create a folder with the same name as the original in a specific zone of the campaign data, these new attributes prevail over the original when playing that campaign.

• Added Sky Box option
• Added Default data overwrite system
• Added Tumbling effect in bombs

• Added MK-20 bomb
• Added CBU-59 bomb
• Added CBU-72 bomb
• Added CBU-87 bomb
• Added RBK-500 AO-2 bomb
• Added RBK-500 PTAB-1M bomb
• Added RBK-500 ZAB 2,5 SM bomb
• Added BL-755 bomb
• Added RBL-755 bomb

Stay tuned, more reports will follow.