Strategic Bombing

[Night]

How will the system work in SC2?

Currently as you all know the strategic bombing system is all but non-exsistent.

The main principles that make bombers un-effective and un-realistic is that they cost to much making it impracticle to do enough damage to the enemies MPPs without bankrupting yourself.

Also, cities and resources with units on them cannot be strat. bombed, meaning the best targets in most cases cannot be hit at all the entire game. Can you imagine if all Germany had to do to save Berlin from the massive bombing raids was post a Corps there?

If these two fundemental problems can be addressed, then we would have the kind of Aerial War we saw in real life.

How will it work in SC2?

[Desert Dave]

Also, cities and resources with units on them cannot be strat. bombed

In SC2-Blitzkrieg! resources CAN be bombed no matter what you put there.

Not only that, but some consideration is being given to having each resource factor that is reduced, say, from size 8 to 5... somehow costing more to repair.

So that the amount you spend buying your Strat Bombers will be commensurate with the damage inflicted, though, not exactly so, since Allied bombers also concentrated on other intangible factors, such as reducing home-front morale... which is not a part of SC2.

This will require that either Axis or Allied player give much more attention to researching Anti-Air Radar... yet another way in which you are provided CHOICES so that there can no longer remotely be ANY such thing as "cookie cutter" games.

Safe to say that the new strategic bombing will be much more in line with historical actuality... you can trust that Hubert will improve this important area, just as with so many others. :cool:

[Edwin P.]

An issue that I had with the Strategic Bombing in SC was the range of the Bombers. In SC you could not replicate the long-range bombing campaigns of WWII. Especially as developments in Long Range gave equal increases to the Air Fleet and Bomber attack range.

I might be wrong, but I always felt that Bombers should gain a three or four to one increase in attack range, not spotting range, as opposed to Air Fleets for each increase in Long Range Tech Level. Then you could duplicate those long range bombing missions that targeted cities in Germany and the oil fields of Romania.

The famed B-17F was produced from May of 1942 through September of 1943 with a total of 3,405 aircraft built. It was powered by four Curtiss-Wright R-1820 radial engines that produced in excess of 1,200 horsepower each. The aircraft was capable of a maximum speed of 288 miles per hour and it could deliver a 4,000 pound payload over a range of 2,000 miles.

B17G - Range 5,200 km, 3231 miles

The B17 was born out the obssession of the United States with "pinpoint" Strategic Daylight Bombing. While almost all of the other great powers concentrated on tactical and medium bombers, the United States stood virtually alone in the conviction that a large four engine bomber with heavy defensive armament could penetrate enemy defenses to lay waste to their defense production and infrastructure - and do it in daylight. It might also be added that the United States was about the only country that could display the industrial might to be able to dedicated the huge resources necessary to produce such planes in large numbers.

The result was the most famous heavy bomber in history. The Fort was very durable, and handled very well. However the American "theory" that unescorted heavy bombers could perform strategic bombing during daylight was to be sorely tested. The British, under "Bomber Harris" virtually abandomed daylight bombing as simply too costly and resorted to night bombing. The Americans however persisted in their daylight efforts. Unescorted raids deep into well defended German territory proved very costly. The Forts took a horrible pounding at the hands of the Luftwaffe until adequate fighter escort could be found. During the famous Schweinfurt raid, the 8th Airforce lost 60 bombers - 600 men - in one raid. A very costly endeavor.

The Boeing B-17 "Flying Fortress" is a World War II bomber used primarily in Europe. B-17s from the Eighth Air Force participated in countless missions from bases in England. These missions often lasted for more than eight hours and struck at targets deep within enemy territory. Because of their long-range capability, formations of B-17s often flew into battle with no fighter escort, relying on their own defensive capabilities to insure a successful mission.

[ April 20, 2004, 11:58 PM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]