Fighter-bomber missions

[DTomato]

I've tried to send fighter-bombers against radar stations. I select New Bombing Mission, then switch Fighter Attack to on. I pick a bomb-carrier like the P-39Q, but it does no damage to radar. Is it the wrong type of target, or do I need to set a certain altitude?

[Hard Sarge]

might just be bad luck

I sent out 4 fighter raids to radars and 1 to a airfield

3 of the raids got zero, the other got 100%, the raid to the airfield got 74 and 94 between the squadron of 38s and FG of 39s

(I try to be at 12000 or a little above, helps it works as a divebomber, but...)

[DTomato]

Nope. First turn of the '43 campaign, four Kittyhawk III squadrons coming in at 12,000 feet against the four southern Italian radar station. Did this twice, for a total of eight attacks, and no damage at all to the radar.

[Nicholas Bell]

I have experience similar frustrating results on and off (not always) with Spitfires, P-47D-6s, P-40s, etc. No problem with Hurricanes, Typhoons or Mosquitos though. My conclusion is that the larger bomb loads (or rockets in the case of the Hurricanes) make a big difference. And luck too - the radars are small targets.

Edit: Try using the Apaches. [:)]

[DTomato]

ORIGINAL: Nicholas Bell

I have experience similar frustrating results on and off (not always) with Spitfires, P-47D-6s, P-40s, etc. No problem with Hurricanes, Typhoons or Mosquitos though. My conclusion is that the larger bomb loads (or rockets in the case of the Hurricanes) make a big difference. And luck too - the radars are small targets.

Edit: Try using the Apaches. [:)]

The common denominator is that Hurricanes IVs, Typhoons, Mosquitoes and Apaches appear in the regular bombing mission menu. The others only appear when Fighter Attack is switched on, which makes me wonder if there's a bug in Fighter Attack missions.

[harley]

DT - when you hover over a unit in the add units to mission screen, do they have bombs in the popup that comes up? If not, then they will escort only.

[DTomato]

I don't see a popup. I do New Mission, click on target, Add Lead Unit, Fighter Attack On. I don't get popups anywhere there.

[Hard Sarge]

when you add the planes, you can move the mouse to that unit and you will get a pop up telling you the bomb load (for bombers this helps with long range missions, where the load will be different then normal)



let me get a snap shot of it

but as my screen shot shows, I did damage with a pure fighter with bombs (the others you talking about are fighter bombers by class)

[Hard Sarge]

okay here

I pick a P-40L as the lead, then go to add in the escourts, using CE, these will do the same as the lead, so on CE they will bomb, on HE, they will fly escourt

[Hard Sarge]

ahhh, screen shot don't show it, but the mouse is over top of the lighted button

here is a P-39

[Hard Sarge]

and here is the P-38, is not carrying bombs

if on CE, they will also make a run on the target, but won't have bombs so, won't do anything

[Hard Sarge]

the over all raid

[Hard Sarge]

I also sent out fighters to other targets, I did damage to Power, and Ports and Airfields, and have done damage to a radar site (as shown in top snap I posted)

but, will say, radar looks to be a Very HARD target for pure fighters

do know, that Radar is a very small target with in the game, and fighters are also "weak" vs most targets, other then Troops and Airfields

[harley]

Fighters also get a significant penalty in accuracy.

significant.

[Hard Sarge]

well, that is what I meant by weak

[Deadmeat1471WITP]

Is it only me who thinks this is realistic?

[kaybayray]

Hey DicedT <S> [8D]

My results are like some of the others are posting. Kind of hit and miss. You might consider running a Recon mission to Radar you want to hit with FB's. It should help them locate and ID the target. As Harley and Sarge are saying. Very hard for them to find and hit Radar due to the relatively small size as compared to most other targets.

I tend to keep my FB's focused on Rail, AF and Radar targets and usually I get the lowest results against Radar targets. It also makes sense to me that I should be seeing this as it is a small target and not necessarily easy to find and accurately target.

Later on in the 43 Campaign you will have more FB Groups with much better Ords and capability for attacking various targets, but Radar sites will still be very small targets. My advice is to be patient and try not to push your forces too hard. Try to just keep the pressure on without breaking your Groups. Over time you should be able to wear the Axis down quite well. Remember Good Missions by your Groups is still wearing them down. So rest them often and keep a tight eye on Morale, Fatigue and Experience.

Later,
KayBay [8D]

[Erkki]

I'm afraid another exploit has been found: the FBs can ingress at very high altitude - it seems this doesnt affect their accuracy at all(as they dive bomb) but they are not shot at by flak at all before they turn back(max 1-2 damaged) and miss the balloons...

EDIT: I had 8 balloon barrages, 6 heavy flak guns and almost 70 light flaks on a radar site. The 24 Typhoons came at 23000ft. Not one was even damaged by the flak, and site was destroyed...

[Hard Sarge]

ORIGINAL: Erkki

I'm afraid another exploit has been found: the FBs can ingress at very high altitude - it seems this doesnt affect their accuracy at all(as they dive bomb) but they are not shot at by flak at all before they turn back(max 1-2 damaged) and miss the balloons...

EDIT: I had 8 balloon barrages, 6 heavy flak guns and almost 70 light flaks on a radar site. The 24 Typhoons came at 23000ft. Not one was even damaged by the flak, and site was destroyed...

what kind of tests do you run ?

I sent out 6 raids at 23,000 feet, AA worked just like it always does

just because there is a balloon there, does not mean something is going to fly into it, every time

[Nicholas Bell]

ORIGINAL: Erkki
I'm afraid another exploit has been found: the FBs can ingress at very high altitude - it seems this doesnt affect their accuracy at all(as they dive bomb) but they are not shot at by flak at all before they turn back(max 1-2 damaged) and miss the balloons...

EDIT: I had 8 balloon barrages, 6 heavy flak guns and almost 70 light flaks on a radar site. The 24 Typhoons came at 23000ft. Not one was even damaged by the flak, and site was destroyed...

Must be bad luck. I'm in November 43 and have run hundreds of raids on radar sites from all altitudes over the course of 95 turns, and have lost plenty of fighter-bombers from flak - a lot less flak you mention too. But you have to understand that not every raid is going to take losses. Run 6 radar attacks and I might lose 1 or 2 planes total. Often these are damaged planes which crash on the return flight.

Note that the fighter bombers dive down to 1000 feet to attack no matter what altitude the raid is set at.