RO-86 Alkonost Appreciation & Discussion Thread

[IceDree]

   Introducing the RO-86 Alkonost.

 

"What's the Alkonost's biggest selling point? speed? agility? terrifying aerodynamics? how about enough ordnance to sink a midsize island? or the fact you hit a decent altitude it becomes invisible to radar? scared yet? if not, we can only assume your'e already in the cockpit."

 

- Warstock Cache & Carry description.

 

 

Photo Credit: Rockstar Games

 

Price: $3,262,500 (Trade Price)\$4,350,000.

Status: Out Now.

Class: Personal Aircraft, Customizable at the Hangar.

Size: Extra large
Capacity: 2 Occupants.
Unique Options: Becomes invisible to radar at high altitude.

Armament: Bombs, comes with Cluster Bombs by default.
Inspiration for RO-86 Alkonost: The RO-86 Alkonost is a cold war-era soviet strategic bomber, mainly based on the Tupolev TU-160 with a bit of a Rockwell B1 Lancer influence.

 

Spoiler

 

 

The wings are permanently fixed, there's NO variable wing action.

Edited December 19, 2020 by IceDree

[Scottiedog123]

Jeeeeez look at the size of that thing!

[SkylineGTRFreak]

No variable wings...

 

 

I am gonna be honest, this is a HUGE letdown When you copy a plane that much and omit one of its main features... ugh

[Tofu86_]

Wait, the wings can't change position? What was the point of them modelling the wings to look like variable wings if they don't function?

[CrysisAverted]

35 minutes ago, SkylineGTRFreak said:

No variable wings...

 

 

I am gonna be honest, this is a HUGE letdown When you copy a plane that much and omit one of its main features... ugh

 

On the bright side its wings are stiff enough to effectively land 

Spoiler

by jamming the wing into a billboard 30 feet in the air

 

 

[Volatollotalov]

What a ridiculous, missed opportunity. Why not go for variable wings, when the whole point of the thing is that it has variable wings?

[CrysisAverted]

Just now, Volatollotalov said:

What a ridiculous, missed opportunity. Why not go for variable wings, when the whole point of the thing is that it has variable wings?

 

A S T H E T I C S

I'm disappointed too, i kept fiddling with buttons to see them move but nope

[SummerFreeze]

31 minutes ago, CrysisAverted said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YumZDjhuVyk

Look at this noob buying cluster bombs.

 

EDIT: Wow, you have to be really high to go off-radar. Seems like the B-11 speed change altitude if not higher.

Edited December 15, 2020 by SummerFreeze

[Pedinhuh]

So let's see:

 

-It takes about 75% of the spots in your hangar to display this;

-Downright obnoxious price tag;

-Wings aren't variable(how f*cking dumb this is?);

-Obviously not suited for dogfighting, too big, handles like a 20 ton truck;

-Literally has the same reused cockpit from the Bombshuka;

-Lietrally DOES NOT have a proper animation to get in and out of the airplane...How f*cking pathetic.

-Only holds 50 bombs...Not even 100 like the Volatol.

-Survives only a single explosion.

 

The only saving grace of this so far is the off-radar function, but you need to be so high up in the air that it doesn't even f*cking matter to be on radar or not.

 

Please tell me the top speed of this sh*t isn't complete garbage and the there are at least some interesting weapons on it, so it's not a complete waste of HD space like the Volatol is.

 

And if they are able to fit this big boy in the hangar, then there's no excuse to NOT allow us to own the Cargo Plane and shove it into the hangar, clipping be dammed.

Edited December 16, 2020 by Pedinhuh

[Aghakhi]

So, one needs to be at a pretty high altitude to be off radar, but the plane has the same pathetic bombs as every other plane in the game? 

 

How is that even supposed to work, really? High altitude bombing in this game simply doesn't work. You might as well just throw firecrackers at your targets and still have a better chance at killing them.

 

And no variable wings. Everything is just adding to the utter disappointment right now  At least it looks good

[SummerFreeze]

3 minutes ago, Aghakhi said:

How is that even supposed to work, really? High altitude bombing in this game simply doesn't work. You might as well just throw firecrackers at your targets and still have a better chance at killing them.

I guess it's just for trolling. Randomly drop bombs on people and hope one hits.

[Pedinhuh]

8 minutes ago, SummerFreeze said:

I guess it's just for trolling. Randomly drop bombs on people and hope one hits.

They can't hit anyone, they despawn once they fall about 1000ft of altitude.

 

The stealth of this thing is literally worthless LMAO

[SummerFreeze]

5 minutes ago, Pedinhuh said:

They can't hit anyone, they despawn once they fall about 1000ft of altitude.

They can hit players. The bombing is weird in that the bombs fall through the map at a certain altitude range, but not above or below it. For me at least.

 

 

EDIT: Here's a short video from our favorite helicopter @Happy Hunter:

 

Edited December 15, 2020 by SummerFreeze

[Scottiedog123]

3 hours ago, SkylineGTRFreak said:

No variable wings...

 

 

I am gonna be honest, this is a HUGE letdown When you copy a plane that much and omit one of its main features... ugh

 This is classic R*..

[SkylineGTRFreak]

Okay so after thinking about this for a while I'm not really letdown anymore...

 

 

I am utterly pissed instead. 

 

Seriously, what purpose does this serve. Never though I'd ever say this but the Volatol is the better alternative... More bombs, defensive weapons, takes more damage to kill. All of this would not matter that much to me if they just gave us the variable wing eyecandy at least.

 

And if they wanted to add a stealth bomber (lmao) so bad, why not just give us a B2-esque bomber instead with something like guided bombs or anything.

 

As has already been pointed out, it's sole unique feature is utterly useless with standard bombs.

 

f*ck.

 

Rockstar. f*ck. Man. Why you disappoint me so hard. I was soe xcited for just this plane and then... Meh. In all regards.

[Marciliojunior01]

It takes 3 rockets to explode not one. It has the same armor as any other plane from SR. 

[IsekaiExpress]

3 minutes ago, SkylineGTRFreak said:

Okay so after thinking about this for a while I'm not really letdown anymore...

 

 

I am utterly pissed instead. 

 

Seriously, what purpose does this serve. Never though I'd ever say this but the Volatol is the better alternative... More bombs, defensive weapons, takes more damage to kill. All of this would not matter that much to me if they just gave us the variable wing eyecandy at least.

 

And if they wanted to add a stealth bomber (lmao) so bad, why not just give us a B2-esque bomber instead with something like guided bombs or anything.

 

As has already been pointed out, it's sole unique feature is utterly useless with standard bombs.

 

f*ck.

 

Rockstar. f*ck. Man. Why you disappoint me so hard. I was soe xcited for just this plane and then... Meh. In all regards.

Rockstar botched it.

At least, you as a mod artist still have now inspiration to show R* how it's done properly...

I think i'm realising now, that Rockstar indeed makes ugly persiflages on IRL hardware on purpose.
Flying tank? Give it paper armor.
A BRRRRT with unholy power of destruction? A pedestrian can survive its cannon.
A beautiful machine of grace? You better botch its cockpit so it looks like Nimrod MKII and make its wings 'look' like they have variable geometry.

Rockstar Games. Offend people. Laugh at their confusion. Make money.

[MotantanTrantantan]

If we stem from the name and paintjob that it is a Tu-160 then I have a triple letdown.

I want to say that I did not expect the plane to have a stealth option at all, as real life White Swan isn't stealth, nor is B1, so it's not a letdown for me personally.

 

HOWEVER
 

1) Real life White Swan and B1 have variable wings and they could give it a unique speed boost feature with this. As a compensation they could block weapons during said boost and reduce maneuverability.

2)Real life White Swan is a nuclear bomber and what's the point of adding nuclear bomber If it carries same payload as any other plane? I'm not saying it needs a nuke. but they could have added much more powerful bombs or missiles, but made them few, like 3 or 4 per plane and they would have to be refilled at the hangar after you ran out of them.

 

3)As far as I know, Tu-160 is one of the fastest mass produced bombers ever, only losing to B1A. Speed is one of the main features of both, considering they are bombers. What's the point of stripping them of that?

[IceDree]

R* promoshot:

 

Edited December 15, 2020 by IceDree

[Black-Dragon96]

This thing is f*cking pathetic.

Every new f*cking bomber has been worse than the previous one.

The freaking Bombushka can atleast defend itself with an explo canon so its somewhat decent. The Volatol does atleast have f*cking turrets and an ok bomb capacity.

And this thing? No guns, 50 Bombs and utterly pathetic amor.

This thing can die in a plane crash for all I care.

Hard pass.

[Volatollotalov]

1 hour ago, IceDree said:

R* promoshot:

 

 

 

Damnit those wings very much look fully-extended in that promo shot. It's fraudulent!

Edited December 15, 2020 by Volatollotalov

[Aghakhi]

1 hour ago, MotantanTrantantan said:

2)Real life White Swan is a nuclear bomber and what's the point of adding nuclear bomber If it carries same payload as any other plane? I'm not saying it needs a nuke. but they could have added much more powerful bombs or missiles, but made them few, like 3 or 4 per plane and they would have to be refilled at the hangar after you ran out of them.

 

I had hopes that Rockstar for once had learned from past mistakes and seeing that there wasn't any visible turrets on the plane in the trailer artwork I was almost certain that this plane was going to be a real bomber, something that at least could destroy ground targets reliably. But nope, instead what we got was a pretty much featureless, botched husk of what should have been a bomber. It spoiled the update right away for me because I was genuinely excited for this plane. At least we have some gems in the car department, perhaps I can forget this unfortunate development.

 

How perfect it would have been, variable wings, fastest plane in the game when in "supersonic" mode, low bomb capacity but the bombs themselves have a massive blast radius, unlike anything else in the game. Maybe even an actual bomb sights feature? Guided bombs? Make it so it needs a 2 man crew, pilot and bomber or whatever. Make it have powerful, truly fearsome ordnance but at the cost of being useless solo and requiring some teamwork to use. I'd be beyond happy with that.

 

I really hope the heist itself doesn't suck nearly as much as this plane

Edited December 15, 2020 by Aghakhi

[MotantanTrantantan]

2 minutes ago, Aghakhi said:

How perfect it would have been, variable wings, fastest plane in the game when in "supersonic" mode, low bomb capacity but the bombs themselves have a massive blast radius, unlike anything else in the game. Maybe even an actual bomb sights feature? Guided bombs? Make it so it needs a 2 man crew, pilot and bomber or whatever. Make it have powerful, truly fearsome ordnance but at the cost of being useless solo and requiring some teamwork to use. I'd be beyond happy with that.

 

It could even be missiles, as Tu-160 is exclusively a heavy missile carrier. Only certain additional modernizations allow it to carry bombs.

Yes, I know B1 can carry bombs, but because it has unremovable red stars and is called Alkonost I will refer to it as Tu most of the time.

[SkylineGTRFreak]

18 minutes ago, Aghakhi said:

 

I really hope the heist itself doesn't suck nearly as much as this plane

 

Tbh I just did the heist with 2 friends and it was pretty underwhelming imo. Chose the Alkonost as entry vehicle, halo drop on the island, grab 2 stashes of anything because your bag then is full, enter Rubios house, take elevator to basement, open safe, grab documents, escape, done.

 

Idk, I was really looking forward to this update and tried to keep my expectations inc heck (no island in freemode for example), but the heist itself felt VERY uninspired and quickly done. 

 

1 hour ago, Polynoid said:

At least, you as a mod artist still have now inspiration to show R* how it's done properly...

 

 

See, this is another thing beyond the actual gameplay that is annoying. I thought I would finally get the chance to make plane mods with "natural" sweep wings instead of using door nodes to at least make them somewhat variable. But nope...

 

 

But thanks for the kind words  

[Aghakhi]

15 minutes ago, MotantanTrantantan said:

 

It could even be missiles, as Tu-160 is exclusively a heavy missile carrier. Only certain additional modernizations allow it to carry bombs.

Yes, I know B1 can carry bombs, but because it has unremovable red stars and is called Alkonost I will refer to it as Tu most of the time.

 

You're right. In fact, thinking about it, they really could have adapted or even just reused the guided missile feature of the submarine. What a missed opportunity to make a unique plane this one, really.

 

4 minutes ago, SkylineGTRFreak said:

Tbh I just did the heist with 2 friends and it was pretty underwhelming imo. Chose the Alkonost as entry vehicle, halo drop on the island, grab 2 stashes of anything because your bag then is full, enter Rubios house, take elevator to basement, open safe, grab documents, escape, done.

 

Idk, I was really looking forward to this update and tried to keep my expectations inc heck (no island in freemode for example), but the heist itself felt VERY uninspired and quickly done. 

 

Oh no Well, I'll see it for myself later today. 

[Gaffa]

I mean... I asked for a B1b (TU-160 is fine)... 

But this isn't it... 

I'm disappointed.

 

-

 

The altitude required for off-radar flight isn't too high up, it's around 1500-2000ft or something. I'll have to do a lot more checking when I've got more time. 

Edited December 15, 2020 by Gaffa

[Commche]

I feel bad for anyone still holding out for bomber planes in this game, as it seems the best bombing air vehicles peaked at the Hunter and Akula. Seriously, it doesn't get better than those two from everything I′ve tried. They′re fast, they hover, they′re armored, they have additional weapons, one has countermeasures and the other lets you go in and out of stealth almost instantly.

 

The starling, if you can use it properly, is a close contender. And it has like 1/8th the profile of bomber planes like this so it's much harder to hit. 

[Standard Deluxe 59]

Ahh I'll still buy it, regardless of how "sh*t" it's purported to be. Sure it's a bit disappointing but so was this whole update, pick what you like and chunk the rest. 

[IceDree]

This thing is huge! Humongous! This this so big it have two different zip codes and covers 2 time zones. Its too damn low though, it can't clear the signs next to the tarmac.

 

I'm in the minority here, I really like it and I'll buy it soon.

 

I was gonna treat it as an ISR plane & eventually troll people with it, but since it came equipped with cluster bombs already, Bomber it is.

[Standard Deluxe 59]

I bought it, I like it, I specifically did my first island heist using this as the approach vehicle because I wanted it more than the other approach vehicles and I don't regret buying it. It might be next to useless but it looks cool and that's reason enough for me.  

4 hours ago, IceDree said:

I'm in the minority here, I really like it and I'll buy it soon.

I'll back you on that, I quite like this beast myself.