Strategic bombers

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    • Strategic bombers

      If you played CoW for some time you may have noticed that strategic bombers aren't even used (unless we are talking about noobs that don't really know what they are doing) by experienced players

      I think with the current atributes strategic bombers are somewhat useless, or at least the cost/benefit of developing them is quite bad compared with other aircraft.

      From my point of view the biggest issue is that their range is quite limited for their purpose, with these planes you are aiming to cause damage to economic targets ir unit facilites, wich are mainly at the core of your enemy.

      In the early or middle game there's no point of making them because you need to make fighters and tactical bombers, and in the late game countries are so big that you have enough range to attack only when you have advanced through enemy territory and can build an airfield closer, wich usually means that you already won and you don't need a strategic advantage (by causing economic damage or destroying unit facilites)

      Without making a huge buff (like giving them +5000km range like bombers had back then), like a 30-50% range increment, players would be more interested in this kind of unit and exploring other tactics
    • In HWW map, from London my strategic bombers can reach Berlin and even further. In my opinion range is good.
      And i think that the reason for not seeing strategic bombers is that you play alot of public games. When I am in game myself, i dont bother to make some units like strategic bombers cause i analized the game and i dont see any good players. However 1 stack of 10 strategic bombers can make 1 fully builded city flat by 1 airstrike, like destroy every building in it. And i think that it is well balanced unit.
      Фарис Синановић, Суна
    • Julianc97 wrote:

      we are talking about noobs that don't really know what they are doing
      Lol. Busy watching two noobs stand off in the newspaper. One is talking about how their tank destroyers are going to conquer the other and the other is talking about how their strategic bombers are going to destroy the TD.
    • In order to use them at their best, focus on attacking airfields and infrastructures as these are the buildings that allow the enemy to support their frontlines, and also focus on using the bombers during the night so the enemy can't react and counter them using his interceptors while he is sleeping. I suggest you build up to 5 of them per frontline if the enemy is a considerable threat and use them as such: Send them to attack independently, one after another, in such a way that they will always bomb their target every 5-15 or so minutes, as this way, the enemy won't be able to repair said building without the usage of gold. They are very beefy even at level 1 (it's on par with the level 3 tactical bomber) so you won't have to add any cannon fodder into the stack to soak damage as you'd actually lose more than gain (not to mention that the strategic bombers have the most range of all planes, so i doubt any other plane could keep up with it).
      Most enemies won't even expect you to use those bombers, so most of their frontline airfields will be level 1 airfields. The problem with level 1 airfields is that if they lose even 1 out of their 20hp pool, they are rendered useless. Now you can use any plane in order to render these types of airfields useless as long as they are able to deal building damage, but the damage dealt will be so minimal that the moment they notice and repair said building, it takes at most 5 minutes for it to be back to normal, not only this, but the opponent might also feel the need to upgrade it to a level 2 now as he might expect another attack in the future. By using strategic bombers, you are able to not only completely destroy the airfield from a few runs, but also damage the province morale, which means it will take him longer to build or upgrade stuff over there. Bomb the province for long enough and it might even rebel to you or another country, which means that he now either has to pull units from the frontline to retake it from you or he has to to war with another country just so he can use that province to move around (the bigger the rebelled province, the harder it will be for him to move around). They have to be used to cripple the enemy in the long run unlike tactical bombers, so they do not have an immediate effect on the current battle.
      I do agree they are barely used right now, and they have a lot of reasons to be avoided, one of them being that they are very expensive even at level 1, especially if you suffer from low manpower (which usually happens in defensive wars where you just garrison a lot of stacks per province at a certain border. Destroying the opponent's buildings right now is a must, as you have to cripple his unit production or CAS in order to advance, but sacrificing producing a tank over a strategic bomber can make the difference between another 12 hours of stalling the enemy or losing all of your ground because, keep in mind, you cripple him in the long run, not in the immediate present). Another reason would be that they have next to no purpose if your enemy just rushes through your territory with 20 unit stacks instead of trying to build a frontline around your border. No buildings, no use for strategic bombers.
      They can win you an entire war, but they can also make you lose it just as fast if you use them incorrectly. It's not their fault, it's just the way the game's currently structured that renders them a bad option in most cases.
    • It can be used multiple times. However, I prefer rockets more than strategical bombers is the fact they cannot be shot down. If I wanted to deal with air units. I would just wait until they go refueling then my bombers would follow closely behind to bomb their aircraft when refueling. This would cause havoc to the enemy air wing.
    • Julianc97 wrote:

      If you played CoW for some time you may have noticed that strategic bombers aren't even used (unless we are talking about noobs that don't really know what they are doing) by experienced players

      I think with the current atributes strategic bombers are somewhat useless, or at least the cost/benefit of developing them is quite bad compared with other aircraft.

      From my point of view the biggest issue is that their range is quite limited for their purpose, with these planes you are aiming to cause damage to economic targets ir unit facilites, wich are mainly at the core of your enemy.

      In the early or middle game there's no point of making them because you need to make fighters and tactical bombers, and in the late game countries are so big that you have enough range to attack only when you have advanced through enemy territory and can build an airfield closer, wich usually means that you already won and you don't need a strategic advantage (by causing economic damage or destroying unit facilites)

      Without making a huge buff (like giving them +5000km range like bombers had back then), like a 30-50% range increment, players would be more interested in this kind of unit and exploring other tactics
      I will agree that most players don't use strategic bombers at all. But see what you're talking about - you have to push the enemy back to build a forward airfield. I think that's actually good about strategic bombers - they are strategic. If you manage to focus your enemy on your raiding units or your defensive forces, take initiative and suddenly push back, you can then destroy his economy. This makes initiative more important, and also speed, as higher speed allows you to push faster when there's an opportunity. Strategic bombers can be used for destroying airports. They can also destroy nuclear rockets as they have the range to spot the truck before it arrives at the airport and turns into the launcher.

      Also, many people tend to build the production buildings closer to the enemy, so the reinforcements arrive faster and give numbers advantage. Strategic bombers can deny that, so they really are a unit to remember in high level games.
      "In CoW, don't stamp on things before looking. Rakes are everywhere!"

      "Don't underestimate noobs; if they don't know what they're doing, how can you?"

      Hornetkeeper
    • The problem with strategic bombers is that you need air superiority to operate them without taking losses that dont offset gains. And at that point why not just use other bombers, or even ground troops. In order for s. bombers to be effective, I feel like they'd need higher defence against air and/or higher speed.
    • newbgamer101 wrote:

      The problem with strategic bombers is that you need air superiority to operate them without taking losses that dont offset gains. And at that point why not just use other bombers, or even ground troops. In order for s. bombers to be effective, I feel like they'd need higher defence against air and/or higher speed.
      Not true. The problem is that the defence value does not affect how "protected" you are from the attacker, it only affects how much damage you deal back to him.
      This would have some effect still though, as attacking planes receive damage from the target before dealing their own, so more defensive damage would lower the enemy's health and therefore the efficiency at which they're dealing damage. However not even this works, as planes (for some reason) use offensive values to defend, not defensive ones.

      Not many players spend all day checking and play properly at the same time, and this also allows you to gain advantage from knowing when your enemy sleeps. All those units just add nicely to make up a game that rewards you for your activity, cleverness and good strategy and planning.
      "In CoW, don't stamp on things before looking. Rakes are everywhere!"

      "Don't underestimate noobs; if they don't know what they're doing, how can you?"

      Hornetkeeper
    • I never use strategic bomber on enemy cities bc when I conquer the city I cant use the buildings to produce my own units and if the enemy is producing a unit in that city and you destroy the buildings you cant steal the unit unless you rebuild the building.