Matrix Games Forums

Hi all

I have had minimal success with iron bombs in the game. Usually I bomb as low as possible with them.

I have just played the Strike#1 tutorial and the first bomb run is with 82's. It suggests just designating the target and letting the AI plan the bomb run. The AI decided to bomb from 36000 feet. I wasn't too surprised when the bombs missed by nearly a third of a mile.

What do other people do to get better results from iron bombs?

I just go in as fast and low as possible, Granby style.

Yup, that's why they're called dumb bombs [:D]

To be fair, there's little that can be done about that - and as the British concluded quite early in World War II, high-altitude bombing with conventional, unguided weapons is not suitable for precision targeting (which was why they quickly adopted the doctrine of area bombing instead).

And so it is for CMANO - it's go low, or hit areas where missing one target might mean hitting something else (assuming that's a desirable outcome for the scenario). Mk-82s and the like are very effective when you get down low (my favourite altitude setting for "dumb" bombing is 2000 ft) - but that comes at the cost of exposure to ground fire, and is really only feasible with fighter-bombers that have the agility to dodge most of it.

I have played around with iron bombs on modern aircraft, and you can be quite accurate up to 15000 feet or so, as long the aircraft has advanced INS bombsights. Mk84s even to 18000 feet. It's so accurate in fact that I consider them viable alternatives to guided weapons if there is no significant medium altitude SAM threat. MANPADs are no real threat to aircraft equipped with such bombsights I feel.

Of course, target destruction does not mean there's minimum collateral damage...

you can be accurate with INS bombsight if the winds aloft aren't too bad. if the winds are shifting all over the place then you are going to miss by quite a ways and there is little you can do about that (save get lower)

i'd never really bomb anything in real life from higher than 10,000 without either 1. tons of bombs released in a ripple and aligned as best as possible with the wind or 2. GBU/LGB

I would also check the weather to see I am not above cloud cover or fog in the area or what not...

Thanks folks all good advice. So many details in this game.