Using level bombers against ships

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All Forums >> [New Releases from Matrix Games] >> War in the Pacific: Admiral's Edition >> The War Room >> Using level bombers against ships

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Using level bombers against ships - 1/15/2013 4:21:51 AM

RichM

Posts: 22
Joined: 10/18/2003
Status: offline

I am a week into the grand campaign, and I have been using B-17s and such against every enemy TF in range, I guess because thats all I have in the Philippenes. There was an old SSI game where this was effective, but I admit that it seems a difficult task to bomb ships with a heavy bomber. In this game though, I have yet to see any kind of a bomb hit at any altitude from 1000 to 10000 feet. Should I not be trying to do this with my level bombers?

Post #: 1

RE: Using level bombers against ships - 1/15/2013 5:18:46 AM

rms1pa

Posts: 370
Joined: 7/4/2011
Status: offline

a common house rule is no heavy bombing below 10k feet.

for all the propaganda, early war Army Air Corps [AAC] pilots had few naval bombing skills. and no realistic doctrine for it.

your b17s and b24s are far better suited to search/recon and airfield destruction. if you wish to make the effort and investment in training AAC pilots in naval bombing skills go for it. but do not expect much for about a year.

rms/pa

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(in reply to RichM)

Post #: 2

RE: Using level bombers against ships - 1/15/2013 5:46:49 AM

artuitus_slith

Posts: 141
Joined: 11/22/2009
Status: offline

Another thing to consider is that there are both High and Low ground/naval attacks, and each is a different skill. I use two of my 'training squadrons' to train low ground and low Naval attack skills from day 1, later in the war you will get some pretty decent anti-shipping medium bombers that carry a 75mm Cannon (of course this means you also need to train strafing to take advantage of it). Also I think* that skip bombing uses low naval skill, and skip bombing is very deadly (if the pilot is skilled enough). Also Low Nav seems to raise defense skill faster than any other setting for bombers, and Defense skill is critical in 1)getting your bombers through to the target and 2) keeping your pilots alive long enough for them to be useful.

(in reply to rms1pa)

Post #: 3

RE: Using level bombers against ships - 1/15/2013 7:54:40 AM

jmalter

Posts: 1673
Joined: 10/12/2010
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you'll get few hits from 4E & 2E bombers, using Naval Attack. they'll bring better hurt against docked ships, when set to Port Attack (where they use their GrdB skill). so you are better off conserving your Phillipines bombers, then unleashing them against a port (such as Legaspi) when the anchor symbol shows that enemy ships are docked there.

1E DBs w/ 1000# bombs are the real ship-killers, they are the ones you must train in NavB (train NavB at 5k', attack at 10-15k' to get the DB advantage).

later in the war, the Allies will get 'Attack Bombers', such as the B-25D1, B-25G, & A-20G. these guys are nasty, they carry a full bomb-load at low-level (non-attack bombers carry a reduced bomb-load at low level). so you want to train their pilots at 1k' (NavB or GrdB depending on your desired target), then train them more at 100' (either NavB or GrdB) for strafing skill. when set to attack at 1k', they'll bomb the target, then strafe to suppress flak. their 500# bombs can mung IJ CAs w/ deck-penetration hits.

& don't forget that USN Cats can carry 2 torps each. grab 1 or 2 of your PBY groups and train them for NavT. they might help you defend Port Moresby! but be careful how you task them - if the group mission is Naval Search, they'll only carry bombs. you must set the mission to Naval Attack (using torps), then you can set a %age of the group to search, leaving the remainder un-assigned for possible strikes. also, you'll need a friendly airHQ to provide the torps.

but all bets are off if you try to strike into heavy enemy fighter defenses without your own fighter escort. if you expend your highly-trained strike pilots and airframes, your efforts will be wasted.

(in reply to artuitus_slith)

Post #: 4

RE: Using level bombers against ships - 1/15/2013 9:18:15 AM

Alfred

Posts: 6685
Joined: 9/28/2006
Status: offline

RichM,

You should read this thread.

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=2580654&mpage=12&key=naval%2Cattack�

It was opened by a newbie who regularly raised issues not dissimilar to those you raise in various separated threads.

With regard to your question raised in this particular thread, viz LBA attacking ships, go to page 12 of the provided hyper-linked thread and see posts #354-356, #359 from LoBaron and myself.

Alfred

(in reply to jmalter)

Post #: 5