Matrix Games Forums

Strategic Bombing in inclement weather seems too effective. In fact I think it does the same damage as good weather, but with less interception?

In reality strategic bombing raids in any bad weather were completely ineffective.

ORIGINAL: sveint

Strategic Bombing in inclement weather seems too effective. In fact I think it does the same damage as good weather, but with less interception?

In reality strategic bombing raids in any bad weather were completely ineffective.

Depends on the level of technology and the size of the target.
Electronic aids like radio beam or radar to find targets were constantly evolved and improving.

Also if you primary target - directly or indirectly - is the size of a city or part of a city. It is a lot easier than a pinpoint target like a factory, dock or infrastructure.

So under those circumstances it is exactly what you are saying.
Less interception, as long as they are not all weather trained and/or capable, and unaffected bombing.
Again, you will not hit that synthetic oil production facility with cloud cover, but the city blocks housing its personnel is a different matter.

And the bombers won't fly in very bad weather

ORIGINAL: Simulacra53

Depends on the level of technology and the size of the target.
Electronic aids like radio beam or radar to find targets were constantly evolved and improving.

Also if you primary target - directly or indirectly - is the size of a city or part of a city. It is a lot easier than a pinpoint target like a factory, dock or infrastructure.

So under those circumstances it is exactly what you are saying.
Less interception, as long as they are not all weather trained and/or capable, and unaffected bombing.
Again, you will not hit that synthetic oil production facility with cloud cover, but the city blocks housing its personnel is a different matter.

ORIGINAL: sveint
In fact I think it does the same damage as good weather, but with less interception?

OK so you are both saying the same thing, the effectiveness of bombing should be reduced in bad weather.

ORIGINAL: sillyflower

And the bombers won't fly in very bad weather

Depends on where the clouds are, home or the target area.

I did not say that.
In fact even in good weather so-called precision bombing was exaggerated.
Area bombing was the best most crews managed, dropping on queue from a lead bombardier or pathfinders.

Talking of pathfinders, there is also a difference between day or night, or the AF in question - RAF, AAF or Luftwaffe, or 1940 vs 1945.

Well as far as I can tell it's better to do strategic bombing in rain or snow.

I believe the loss of strategic bomber should be lower, most times they lose more production point than it destroyed, like "times" more.

and yes, indeed in snow and rainy weather they performance better is wrong. In these circumstance they have to lower their flight altitude, which causes more danger and lower it's bombing range.

At lease in current version, these escorting fighters can't protect their bomber at any way, their existance only make opponent interceptors suffer loss. So bad.

Again it depends on where the bad weather is located, low to medium over airfield, bombers cannot take off and group safely.

Poor weather / cloud at low medium altitude over target, reduced “precision strike” capability, but area bombing less affected, especially when aided by radar or radio beams.

Compare day time all weather operations with night time bombing,
As long as the general target can be located, area bombing is possible.
Area bombing was more rule than exception.

The point being that defenses were more impacted by local bad weather than bombers.

Of course perfect weather would increase the chances of hitting precision targets.
But it also favors defenses.

Yes, and i agree with most of your words.

But in WW2, bad weather in target area would affect their target identifying. Cruising upon the clouds, flying hundreds of miles only navigated by astronomy, that is not any kind of precision, they may went to bombing altitude(which is below the clouds) and found themselves nowhere.
So Bombers either fly low earilier to make sure they are in correct position, or just bombing places they are not sure to be the target at all. To make their flight counts, the danger they face more serious.

Interceptors ususally don't have to worry about that. Their identifying has nothing to do with clouds.

I agree, that’s why most forces adopted pathfinding / master bomber techniques.

As for fighters.
The concept all weather fighter was developed for a reason.
Whereas heavy twin engined (night) fighters were more capable of bad weather flying and more important their crews were better trained, single engined fighters were not well equipped nor their pilots trained to do so. Bad weather or even low cloud severely impacted interceptors. The Jagdwaffe later included Wilde Sau units as night and all weather single engine units, but that not make it less of an exception.

Of course Warplan is a game and not a simulation.
Meaning that the OP has a point.

“In fact I think it does the same damage as good weather, but with less interception?
In reality strategic bombing raids in any bad weather were completely ineffective.”

If we generalize the OP is right.

Bad weather affects both
Less effective bombing, less interceptions (or more fighter losses)

Good weather affects both
More effective bombing, more interceptions and more bomber losses)

If we refine based on available technology, tactics and training however you may see a shift in favor of the bombers. Bombing a city sized target during poor weather is less negatively affected than bombing a pinpoint target. Now what does Warplan try to model? Average bombing results might be less impacted than ideal bombing results. WW2 bombing wasn’t that precise under ideal conditions.

Typical result during rainy weather.

Which year is it? Just to evaluate the advancements of both sides

Actually I forgot to put weather modifier for strat bombing.

Thanks Alvaro!

I knew something was up. As the Allies I've been reducing Berlin to rubble in mid-winter.