More pointers required

[JudgeDredd]

Ok - so I listened to you all and started another week long LW campaign. This time, I sent a whole load of recon birds to all my potential targets. I set them to run at 7am and 20,000. Most of them made it (lost a few).

However, the bombing raids were not very successful. I planned to take out all the radar sites from north east (Norfolk) to west. However, being as they were only radar sites (small) I only assigned between 25 - 35 bombers to each site. I set them to 20000 and attacking at 11am. Not only that, but I only gave them 1 unit of fighters as escort (set to High and 3,000 above). These apparently didn't fair very well, with only 3 radar sites knocked out!

Clearly one unit of bombers each time was not enough.

When you are attacking a target, what is your logic in determining how many bombers to send? Also, what fighter to bomber ratio (or bomber to fighter)?

Do I have to do recon after a raid? Or am I simply doing recon on targets? When doing recon, is the intel available immediately? I sent the recon birds out at 7am. I didn't send any bombers until 11am...I was thinking if I sent them at 7am, they wouldn't have the intel...is this programmed into the game (intel delay on recon)? If so, how long should I wait for recon to be available to the bombers?

[sven6345789]

20000 feet is to high to hit effectively. lower them to 10000 (actually, anything above 6500 is ok (the max. range of the light flack)
regarding recon, you have it as soon as your recons get back home. If they get home before the bombers start, you have it. so check how long your recon planes fly, and send the bombers out afterwards. regarding the numbers of Bombergruppen for an attack, the Jagdgruppen are your limiting factor here. sending them in unexcorted kills them. Also, ad at least one fighter unit as close escort, since they distract those fighters that get through the high cover.
so smallest raid would be one BG + 2 JG (or ZG), one close, one high. At least that is how i am doing it.

[harley]

ORIGINAL: JudgeDredd

Ok - so I listened to you all and started another week long LW campaign. This time, I sent a whole load of recon birds to all my potential targets. I set them to run at 7am and 20,000. Most of them made it (lost a few).

+1 what sven said. At 20,000 feet in ED you are in the single-digit % chance of a hit.

Do I have to do recon after a raid? Or am I simply doing recon on targets? When doing recon, is the intel available immediately? I sent the recon birds out at 7am. I didn't send any bombers until 11am...I was thinking if I sent them at 7am, they wouldn't have the intel...is this programmed into the game (intel delay on recon)? If so, how long should I wait for recon to be available to the bombers?

Yes, recon is updated when the recon or bomb flight lands, so if your raids reach the target after the recon is landed you will have better success. We have no way of tracking the time of day of recon, so if it's current when over the target, then it's current.

[jomni]

Is 25 to 35 bombers enough?
 
I usually bring more and hit less targets per day.
I dunno if that's efficient or not.
 
I think I'll have to lower bombing altitude because I use 13,000 to 15,000.

[TechSgt]

When playing BtR and I want to take down coastal radar, I try to send in the fighter bombers @ 10.5K with a single high escort.
The base rule of dive or skip bombing, balanced against the cloud base and type of AAA at the site usually determine the actual altitude.
British units have a number of 24 a/c, but I find 15 to 20 a/c enough to do the job -- 90 to 100% damage. Oh, I do not use recon before or after.
These attacks seem to keep the station down for 3 to 4 days.

It seems to me that Dive Bombing is the most accurate, so a smaller number of planes are required to destroy this the "smallest" target.

I also try to schedule them as the first mission(s) of the day, and to TOT at the same time. The FB's are fast, get in and out before the defense can react.
With the new version I find myself flying second missions as the last mission of the day to set up tomorrow's "hoped-for-bombing- route".
In the Dover area and along the Gustav line, I keep these site down always. I do not like the enemy looking into my backyard.

Unfortunately, FB's seem to be in short supply and they are useful for so many other things. [;)]

TS