Improved Bombing System

[timber moth]

While NO's mix of release timer and impact position indicator work well for nuclear delivery, I find they're somewhat lacking when I'm trying to deliver conventional munitions. I don't know enough about aircraft displays to say whether NO's bombing aids are realistic (though I believe they are or are at least realistically plausible) but from a gameplay perspective I feel they could be better.

Specifically, they don't tell me:
-How much gliding ability the bomb has- is the displayed POI maximum range or the purely ballistic range, and if the latter, what is the maximum range?
-How close to the intended target the projected POI has to be- what sort of corrections can the bomb actually perform?
-What range I can get out of a loft, and what attitude I should put the nose at to achieve it.
-The projected POI if pitched above horizontal.
All of this can be discovered through trial and error, but I feel like, given the importance of stand-off in NO the range and precision information especially should be given to the player.

My personal thoughts for some improvements are that
A: Incorporate the right-side range ladder from the missile firing aids to display the maximum range of a dropped bomb given current speed, altitude, and attitude, as well as the maximum possible range with an optimal loft given current speed and altitude,
B: Keep the Projected Point of Impact indicator on at all times while gravity bombs are selected,
C: Allow the circle of the POI Indicator to expand or deform to display a reasonable approximation of the bomb's possible strike area,
D: Include an added indicator on the level bombing timer's vertical line which indicates the optimal attitude for lofting, approximate range at loft release, and a Time-to-Pitch-Up timer (so in execution you'd approach the target level until the pitch up timer reaches 0, pull up, and when the release timer reaches 0 drop the bombs, at which time your nose should be facing the loft attitude indicator)

[mighty stag]

@timber moth what you've described is actually pretty close to what real aircraft show. the F-15E has bombing modes that support showing the range of the bombs, including optimal release times with a popup loft mode (also includes automatic weapons deployment!), so yeah I'd say some improvements in the long term would be handy

[amber pagoda]

also the ccip timing lies when divebombing.

(BTW they had D. in the 1960s, with an analogue computer. so its totally possible.

[nocturne grail]

would be nice if the ballistics computer could guess whether the bomb will be blocked by terrain or not, when lofting over hills

[signal lance]

What I'd like personally is, if I have bombs selected and no target, the MPD should default to showing the Projected Point of Impact. And if I do have a target selected the HUD should have the release line and timer always displayed instead of switching between PPI and release timer depending on if the target is 'visible' to me.

[mighty stag]

nah I like having both modes, it helps when diving