Matrix Games Forums

Hi there,

is the skip-bombing tactic activated from the start of game or activated in 1943 as historical?

Cheers,
Wittmann

It is activated from the begining. Just set your bombers to flight Naval Attack at 100ft. But dont expect hits early. You need experience and LowNaval skill high.

Actually it seems pretty effective right from the start, overly so. Dutch bombers at 100ft seem to get more hits than my Nells and Betties at 6000ft. Maybe its just me [8D]

Thanks for the answers

I guessed so that is not coded in detail starting in 1943. I think skip bombing was a brutal effectic way of sinking ships..

Maybe an suggestion for an upcoming patch?
Just my 2 cents...

I think some of my bombers have skipped bombing altogether.  [;)]

ORIGINAL: bjmorgan

I think some of my bombers have skipped bombing altogether.  [;)]

I was convinced that mine were the only ones that had done that, now I don't feel so bad. While its painful to watch, to see those Bettys come in and drop their torps and make the hits, (and survive the flak) yet my much smaller and faster B-25's can't hit a volcano and die in droves to the world renown japanese AA fire

One day my guys will have that magic expeirence number [8D]

ORIGINAL: oldman45

ORIGINAL: bjmorgan

I think some of my bombers have skipped bombing altogether.  [;)]

I was convinced that mine were the only ones that had done that, now I don't feel so bad. While its painful to watch, to see those Bettys come in and drop their torps and make the hits, (and survive the flak) yet my much smaller and faster B-25's can't hit a volcano and die in droves to the world renown japanese AA fire

One day my guys will have that magic expeirence number [8D]

Being a proud memeber of the Didn't Finish The Manual Club (Hey! A second T-shirt oppo!) I didn't know skip bombing was A Thing. Level bombing from any altitude--1000 feet included--with any model yielded zip results. Now, thanks to my buds on the forum, I have B-25s at 100 feet in late 1942 (with low-level experience in the 20s and 30s) bombing the snot out of AKs at anchor in Lae. I mean like four hits per mission with seven planes. Thanks forum buddies!

Wish I could go back and re-defend Java now. Oh, well, next game.

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

ORIGINAL: oldman45

ORIGINAL: bjmorgan

I think some of my bombers have skipped bombing altogether.  [;)]

I was convinced that mine were the only ones that had done that, now I don't feel so bad. While its painful to watch, to see those Bettys come in and drop their torps and make the hits, (and survive the flak) yet my much smaller and faster B-25's can't hit a volcano and die in droves to the world renown japanese AA fire

One day my guys will have that magic expeirence number [8D]

Being a proud memeber of the Didn't Finish The Manual Club (Hey! A second T-shirt oppo!) I didn't know skip bombing was A Thing. Level bombing from any altitude--1000 feet included--with any model yielded zip results. Now, thanks to my buds on the forum, I have B-25s at 100 feet in late 1942 (with low-level experience in the 20s and 30s) bombing the snot out of AKs at anchor in Lae. I mean like four hits per mission with seven planes. Thanks forum buddies!

Wish I could go back and re-defend Java now. Oh, well, next game.

Yeah, that's exactly why I have HR forbidding it before a certain date. The results are just unbelievable.

ORIGINAL: Fishbed

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

ORIGINAL: oldman45




I was convinced that mine were the only ones that had done that, now I don't feel so bad. While its painful to watch, to see those Bettys come in and drop their torps and make the hits, (and survive the flak) yet my much smaller and faster B-25's can't hit a volcano and die in droves to the world renown japanese AA fire

One day my guys will have that magic expeirence number [8D]

Being a proud memeber of the Didn't Finish The Manual Club (Hey! A second T-shirt oppo!) I didn't know skip bombing was A Thing. Level bombing from any altitude--1000 feet included--with any model yielded zip results. Now, thanks to my buds on the forum, I have B-25s at 100 feet in late 1942 (with low-level experience in the 20s and 30s) bombing the snot out of AKs at anchor in Lae. I mean like four hits per mission with seven planes. Thanks forum buddies!

Wish I could go back and re-defend Java now. Oh, well, next game.

Yeah, that's exactly why I have HR forbidding it before a certain date. The results are just unbelievable.

Well, to be fair, so are the Betty torpedo attack results. Not only hits, but lack of shoot-downs while low&slow. (Not to mention the AI's mid-ocean satellite recon capabilities.)

You never have enough Betties, they owe much of their accuracy to the limited cadre of good pilots, and they are made of gas-soaked tissue paper. But everything can skipbomb.

ORIGINAL: FatR

You never have enough Betties, they owe much of their accuracy to the limited cadre of good pilots, and they are made of gas-soaked tissue paper. But everything can skipbomb.

I play the AI, and it has hundreds and hundreds and HUNDREDS of Bettys. I've shot down over 600 in ten months, and they keep coming.

The AI cheats? Oh my!

ORIGINAL: bjmorgan

The AI cheats? Oh my!

The AI doesn't cheat, it just has strategic reserves [;)]

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

Well, to be fair, so are the Betty torpedo attack results. Not only hits, but lack of shoot-downs while low&slow. (Not to mention the AI's mid-ocean satellite recon capabilities.)

We most probably don't play the same game. My betties die in droves and half of them never seem to be able to get to their target as far as Deboynes or Russell islands.

So you want to "cheat" because you believe the other side to be "cheating" too? Interesting.
Agains the IA I may understand though, but against a human opponent... Just check à EU Banana's kills with Mitchells in the guad campaign...

ORIGINAL: Fishbed

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

Well, to be fair, so are the Betty torpedo attack results. Not only hits, but lack of shoot-downs while low&slow. (Not to mention the AI's mid-ocean satellite recon capabilities.)

We most probably don't play the same game. My betties die in droves and half of them never seem to be able to get to their target as far as Deboynes or Russell islands.

So you want to "cheat" because you believe the other side to be "cheating" too? Interesting.
Agains the IA I may understand though, but against a human opponent... Just check à EU Banana's kills with Mitchells in the guad campaign...

you sure play the same game. You want to know the difference? He´s playing the Allied and you´re playing the Japanese...[;)]

Well I played the Allies during my first PBEM. Hit shokaku with two devastating skip bombing 500lbs with Mitchells and sank it. Been there, saved my ass, but wasn't very fair [;)]
Although I lost quite some planes in the process (they apparently needed 3 or 4 days or ininterrupted sorties to start hitting things).
We did accept it in July 1943 as being kewl (although well I don't think northern Pacific is the best place out there to use skip-bombing in the real world... Usually it's tough when the waves are higher than what the bomb can be expected to jump[:D]), but well both my opponent and me are not too found of it now that we're playing in August 1942...

ORIGINAL: Fishbed

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

Well, to be fair, so are the Betty torpedo attack results. Not only hits, but lack of shoot-downs while low&slow. (Not to mention the AI's mid-ocean satellite recon capabilities.)

We most probably don't play the same game. My betties die in droves and half of them never seem to be able to get to their target as far as Deboynes or Russell islands.

So you want to "cheat" because you believe the other side to be "cheating" too? Interesting.
Agains the IA I may understand though, but against a human opponent... Just check à EU Banana's kills with Mitchells in the guad campaign...

It's not a cheat if the game allows it. Prevent LBs from going to 100 feet? It's possible in the code. Prevent that until a hard date? Also possible.
The game is the game; it isn't perfect history. Did all USN torpedoes suddenly heal themselves between 2359 and 0001 on New Year's Eve 1943? No, individual skippers and crews got imaginative (or they didn't) and some boats' fish worked pretty well long before the official fix. Did every aircraft maintenance crew fix planes at the same rate? No. And so forth.

I've only used skip bombing against moored cargo vessels, and I'd expect devastating results. I don't plan to allow myself to use the tactic in the open sea. As said elsewhere, sea states should make it impossible, or at least non-productive, but I doubt the code exists to model this, so I won't do it. But in NG, in late 1942, pierside? Yep. I consider it compensation for the AI having lost over 1400 Betties in ten months (I checked; my memory was off), with no reduction in sorties, or any percieved morale or fatigue effects in their crews.

The Allies used skip bombing against ships in the open ocean quite effectively, though.

ORIGINAL: John Lansford

The Allies used skip bombing against ships in the open ocean quite effectively, though.

In my experiecne the sea varies a good bit. Open ocean behaves very differently than shallow water in terms of wave behavior and randomness. I don't have a comprehensive knowledge of PTO skip bombing, but I'd bet that a lot of the successes were within sight of land.

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

ORIGINAL: John Lansford

The Allies used skip bombing against ships in the open ocean quite effectively, though.

In my experiecne the sea varies a good bit. Open ocean behaves very differently than shallow water in terms of wave behavior and randomness. I don't have a comprehensive knowledge of PTO skip bombing, but I'd bet that a lot of the successes were within sight of land.

If you use bombs made in California they like the waves.