Why can't bombers have more skills?

[lakespeed]

Why don't bombers have skills, like Spoil Aim or Anticipation? I think skills that take cards away or that take something away from attackers that makes sense would help defend bombers a little more.

[Guest Mike]

They get "spoiled attack", which seems pretty useful sometimes!!

[bartbert]

There are no technical reasons why bombers couldn't be given some of the skills you mentioned. I suspect the reasons are more philosophical. Since a bomber pilot's main job is usually to stay in formation so as to maximize supporting fire, most people would probably consider it less skillful than a fighter pilot.

[Guest Mike]

I'd have said differently skilled rather than less skilled - patience and forebearing are requisite qualities for a bomber pilot IMO - knowing there's sweet FA you can actually do......

[lakespeed]

I thought it might be a cool idea to give bombers a few different things, seeing how the last 2 times in a row I had a pair of FW-190's blast my bombers on the first turn, then a 4 vs 2 quickly turned into a 4 vs 0..... :eek:

Has there been any thought to giving comtrols of the bomber's cards to the player, out of curiosity?

[bartbert]

We considered giving players control of the bombers during the early development, but it didn't seem worth the effort because there really aren't very many interesting decisions to make.

Granted, the current system gives players NO decisions to make, but sometimes not knowing what the bomber has in his hand can add a little tension to the game.