Any suggestions for best employment of B-29's?

[Andy Mac]

1. Stand down if the target region is Thunderstorms or Heavy Rain (ops losses and effectiveness minimal so waste of time)
2. Recon n daylight to raise D/L of base
3. Have experienced pilots
4. Air HQ with good leader in any Super fort hex
5. Fly at night unless you are 100% certain of no fighter cover
6. For low flak bases at night 6k feet, large flak bases 15,000 - 20,000

Missions they are good for
1. Port mining
2. Port bombing
3. AF Bombing
4. Strategic Bombing - target specific industries e.g. engines or aircraft factories but don't waste your time until you can mass 500 or can go in during daylight
5. Strategic Bombing Manpower - until you can launch a 1,000 bomber raid don't waste your time

Note BEWARE of High Flak bases in high moonlight at 6k - 10k - you will get shredded I lost 10% of the bomber force in one night when I launched 1,600 B29's at Tokyo at 6k feet - that hurt BAD

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Andy Mac

1. Port mining

As a JFB, I have never suffered any damage from port mining ever.

[RangerJoe]

When you can cover the tanker fleets moving in the DEI and/or back to Japan, set them at 1000 feet with pilots trained in Low Nav . . . [X(]

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

ORIGINAL: Andy Mac

1. Port mining

As a JFB, I have never suffered any damage from port mining ever.

I tried air-dropped mines way back, and IIRC you had to do it in daylight. Consequently, the Japanese could see the mines being dropped and promptly swept them. So I exposed my aircraft to CAP for nothing! Never did it again, and I suspect that other Allied players think it ineffective too.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Andy Mac

1. Stand down if the target region is Thunderstorms or Heavy Rain (ops losses and effectiveness minimal so waste of time)
2. Recon n daylight to raise D/L of base
3. Have experienced pilots
4. Air HQ with good leader in any Super fort hex
5. Fly at night unless you are 100% certain of no fighter cover
6. For low flak bases at night 6k feet, large flak bases 15,000 - 20,000

Missions they are good for
1. Port mining
2. Port bombing
3. AF Bombing
4. Strategic Bombing - target specific industries e.g. engines or aircraft factories but don't waste your time until you can mass 500 or can go in during daylight
5. Strategic Bombing Manpower - until you can launch a 1,000 bomber raid don't waste your time

Note BEWARE of High Flak bases in high moonlight at 6k - 10k - you will get shredded I lost 10% of the bomber force in one night when I launched 1,600 B29's at Tokyo at 6k feet - that hurt BAD

I suspect the experienced pilots and good leaders (for the air group) are most important. On the few occasions when I got to play with B-29s I was appalled at how bad the experience and leadership was when the groups showed up.

Re: hitting bases with no CAP, I would add that adjoining bases with heavy CAP can have lots of spillover CAP into the base with none.

[AW1Steve]

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

ORIGINAL: AW1Steve

I'm very late in 1944 in my slog against the Gorn I've tried many explorations of various historical and unhistorical tactics. I've also been using them in some pretty unorthodox roles. But I'd be very appreciative of any suggestions to get the most efficient use of them. They do spend an inordinate amount of time in the "body and fender shop". [:D] Thanks in advance for any suggestions or comments.[&o]

What have you used them for to date, Steve? And have you excluded historical (aka LeMay) uses of the things-mainly nighttime 'manpower' firebombing industrial centers and cities?

Actually I've mostly used them out of Oz, particularly to train up the crews. Since most B-29 crews arrive with pitiful training , I immediately take them away from those crews and give them whatever cast off stateside junk I have available and send them back to primary training. I then select some of the better crews that have been in Oz for a couple of years and give them the planes , which then spend a while bombing a training range (that is a Japanese held island well inside my lines that is a "self-guarding POW camp" that makes an excellent training range. The next step is to employ them in all kinds of attacks. Mass high altitude, mining, city attacks and in general try them at a little bit of everything. The idea is when the B-29-25s arrive , they can do the strategic bombing campaigns with highly trained crews. Those were the 1st B-29s that were equipped for night bombing. (Yes I know that the game can't tell the difference from night/day training , But I DO try to be accurate when I can.


I've found that they are very good at hitting bases well "behind the front line" where there is little chance of much opposition , but that DOES require sending them out at near their MAX range. [:)]

[RangerJoe]

Has anyone tried dropping mines at isolated bases to reduce the chance of subs delivering supplies?

Or for defensive minefields at newly captured bases? That might surprise a surface task force looking for trouble.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

Has anyone tried dropping mines at isolated bases to reduce the chance of subs delivering supplies?

Or for defensive minefields at newly captured bases? That might surprise a surface task force looking for trouble.

Haven't tried it, but someone told me that you cannot air drop mines at your own bases. That is a shame if the best stock of mines is the air-dropped ones.

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: AW1Steve

I'm very late in 1944 in my slog against the Gorn I've tried many explorations of various historical and unhistorical tactics. I've also been using them in some pretty unorthodox roles. But I'd be very appreciative of any suggestions to get the most efficient use of them. They do spend an inordinate amount of time in the "body and fender shop". [:D] Thanks in advance for any suggestions or comments.[&o]

Park them in Great Falls. They are too precious to lose.

[:D][:D][:D]
[&o][&o][&o]
[X(][X(][X(]

[Ambassador]

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

Has anyone tried dropping mines at isolated bases to reduce the chance of subs delivering supplies?

Or for defensive minefields at newly captured bases? That might surprise a surface task force looking for trouble.

Air dropping mines is a kind of City Attack, so you can only target enemy bases with a port.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

ORIGINAL: AW1Steve

I'm very late in 1944 in my slog against the Gorn I've tried many explorations of various historical and unhistorical tactics. I've also been using them in some pretty unorthodox roles. But I'd be very appreciative of any suggestions to get the most efficient use of them. They do spend an inordinate amount of time in the "body and fender shop". [:D] Thanks in advance for any suggestions or comments.[&o]

Park them in Great Falls. They are too precious to lose.

[:D][:D][:D]
[&o][&o][&o]
[X(][X(][X(]

Or melt them down, and make something really useful, like toasters with them.

[RangerJoe]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

ORIGINAL: AW1Steve

I'm very late in 1944 in my slog against the Gorn I've tried many explorations of various historical and unhistorical tactics. I've also been using them in some pretty unorthodox roles. But I'd be very appreciative of any suggestions to get the most efficient use of them. They do spend an inordinate amount of time in the "body and fender shop". [:D] Thanks in advance for any suggestions or comments.[&o]

Park them in Great Falls. They are too precious to lose.

[:D][:D][:D]
[&o][&o][&o]
[X(][X(][X(]

Or melt them down, and make something really useful, like toasters with them.

Wrong answer! [:@]

Beer kegs!

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: mind_messing

ORIGINAL: Ian R

1. Switch them all to night ops.

2. As Alfred says, restrict them to normal range.

3. Put them on 50% rest. Maybe 10% training, 40% rest.*

4. Send them in at 5000-7000 feet and bomb manpower to start fires.

5. As PP allow, give them inspiring non flying COs with decent skill ratings.

[* or rotate groups.)

#3 is a mistake. They should all fly, just leave sufficient rest periods of at least 5-7 days between missions.

Ideal altitude is 9k, this avoids balloons and the majority of IJ flak (which are 20-40mm guns). You can drop to 8k, but any lower lets the common 25mm guns start to fire.

I like turning IJA divisions into chunky spaghetti sauce in open terrain at 2000 feet. Maybe 6000 feet. I don't think I ever went as high as 9K.

Fighters are the real danger, not so much flak.

[PaxMondo]

I have to admit, when the AI gets into low (2000) night bombing with 4E's, it ain't fun. They simply don't miss anything. Sure I may get a few, but whatever base they hit is a total write-off. And that doesn't include the supply loss, which can be considerable.

[AW1Steve]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. Hey! What happened to the bowing smily?! [:(]

[Chickenboy]

[&o]

[&:]