Anyone ever bought a Bomber in PBEM?

[iolo]

And won?

I agree that strategic bombing campaigns against german-controlled France can be pretty effective. Over 50 MPPs/ turn, which is decent.

But these are always conducted by Fighters, which begs the question, what are the Bombers for?

Any thoughts? Personally, I think that since the bombers aren't very effective at attacking units, they should just be made a lot cheaper. Or they should be made more powerful and cost the same.

Bombers can really be a fun element in a game. Recall Axis & Allies. Who could resist a bomber when they had a huge surplus of MPPs? They were expensive but they kicked butt.

[P z B]

You can do without bombers, but if you research a few advances and train a few units, they're real killers against naval units.

Bombing cities and preventing the enemy from purchasing new units or operating units into them, is also very efficient!

However, it is a problem that units will be targeted first if you bomb a city or harbour...

[Canuck_para]

Ground units can never stop bomber raids on harbours and few ships would want to stay in one when the bombing starts as it is too expensive.

[iolo]

But has anyone actually bought a Bomber in PBEM?

It's true that they wreck havoc with naval units, but so do Fighters. Fighters are also effective at dislodging units garrisoned on resources. Bombers are not.

[DevilDog]

My opponent Jolly Guy did to suplement his 6 Lvl 3 fighters. Game is still in progress. Will let everyone know how it turns out.

[Jollyguy]

I like bombers as Axis or Allies, but only buy one when playing as the Axis.

As the Axis I have mainly used bombers against naval units (to devastating effect). I also use them to lower the entrenchment value of land units, prior to hitting them with my land and fighter units. The longer spotting and striking range are also a plus, but secondary. Bombers are only 100 MPPs more than a fighter, which isn't an extreme price differential to the German player.

As Allies I've never bought an additional one to supplement the English bomber provided at the game's outset, as the Allies have so few MPPs they can't afford that extra surcharge. This even though I get plenty of play out of the British bomber, hitting ports and mines when possible.

I believe the sparcity of Allied bomber deployment in the game needs to be addressed in future patches and/or SC 2, because as the game plays, there is simply never an Allied bomber campaign of large scale. I've never initiated one, and have never been subjected to one. This is extremely a-historical, as the actual Allied bombing campaign was so large, that is has been questioned if some of the resources committed to bombing wouldn't have been better directed elsewhere.

One solution could be 26 turns per year per player(rather than the current 14 1/2). The additional turns could be used to spread some resources around. As it is now, the Allied player is under tremendous pressure to open up a second front to help the Russians, which simply doesn't afford the luxury and cost of heavy bombers.

As the Allies I favor fighters, which are strong against tanks, infantry, and other fighters -- the most pressing need to be addressed after Allied ground units hit the beach.

[Titan]

I get a few now and then as German,good for warding off the allied ships doing abit of recon around france

[Compassion]

I had some German bombers used against me as the Allies to devestating effect... But that was after the Allies were well on their way to folding. The German used them to shoo away Brit/US naval power as well as pound out entrenchments in the East as well as putting the coup de grace on a few units..

It should be noted that my opponent was Jollyguy, a well known proponent of airpower and he used about 4 bombers to compliment his ~10 airfleets.