[AP] Bombers

[Aidyer]

I've never made a bomber fleet before, so I thought it was about time I got off my as--- (wait... i'm still on it anyway ) and make one. I'll have 6 bombers in my Kyoto, and I'm about to make a complex for it. I have two questions.

1. How do I efficiently co-ordinate the small fleet to destroy stations/capital ships? Individually or as a group? How do I do it?
2. On my previous thread I came to the conclusion that I was going to use Auster Haulers, but I've seen that Phantom Missiles are more powerful than Tomahawks, and the Claymore is a decent ship, so should I opt for the claymore or the Auster?

EDIT: I also worked out if I use Phantom Missile fabs in my complex I can save a lot of money as I wouldn't need another races' factory in it, so I wouldn't need to also have the food and bio factories of that race as well as the Terran ones.

Thanks.

[kurush]

Claymore's missiles pack more punch, but it has less shields that Auster. I actually use both and have factories of both types. Not sure why would you save money by choosing either one as you will need the same amount of additional food regardless of your choice.

[Aidyer]

Not sure why would you save money by choosing either one as you will need the same amount of additional food regardless of your choice.

If I choose the Auster Haulers, I would need to have a few Tomahawk Factories in the Complex, but the Terrans don't have them, so let's say I got one off the Argon. That would mean I would have to get additional Cattle Ranches and Cahoona Bakeries instead of using the existing USC Food supply factories and Protein Paste Blending Factories, which was making a surplus anyway. If I had to have more, I could put in one more of each instead of 2 Cattle Ranches and Cahoona Bakeries. This also means the rest of the stations can be Terran-only, making the whole thing less confusing (Unlike my paragraph just then ) Really I was just wondering if the difference in speed, manourverability and acceleration were significant, making the Claymore the way to go, or if the extra shielding and cargo space made the Auster Hauler a better option.

[kurush]

Really I was just wondering if the difference in speed, manourverability and acceleration were significant, making the Claymore the way to go, or if the extra shielding and cargo space made the Auster Hauler a better option.

Difference is not that significant and shields don't matter much for am M8. I just use M8 that has more missiles at the moment in my cargo hold

[Aidyer]

Okay, thanks for the advice kurush, good to know that there isn't much difference. But can anyone help me here, how do I manage the ships in combat? I've never even owned an M8, let alone have a small fleet of them. Do I manage them individually or in a group? What else do I need to know?

Thanks in advance

[ConCorDian]

ill say personally go with the Auster....

speed and manuverability in a bomber is only good as a player ship... not many people like flying M8's (or at least nobody says they like it) and if they are important to you there is no overlooking the Split Viper

most important thing for a bomber is cargobay space, more missiles you can carry the more damage done... it is that simple... the sheilds are my secondary concern, purely for the fact if your fighting close(ish) to a gate and you jump your bombers in you want them to survive long enough to get your missiles off and get out of dodge...

also for all CW missiles are weaker than the Terran, there is a unique single ship in the Terran arsenal capible of launching them, restricting you to only that bomber... building a Tomahawk complex still at least gives you the option of the other CW Bombers... i personally use the Auster as my bomber group, but i normally end up with 2-3 of each (CW) races bombers as reaction ships... if i come across a lone ship thats a lot bigger than me and cant be bothered doing the duck and weave till i blow it up i call in a local bomber (boron for boron sectors, argon for argon sectors etc etc) yes its role play that makes me do it... ut you still have that option if you wish.

plus you should really try the Split Viper, doesn't really carry a great deal of Missiles compaired to others BUT it can be great fun being the angel of death swooping down at 175m/s pumping out over a mils damage every other second!!!

[ConCorDian]

well im not going to say im possitive here but you can manage them in a group, but i think you lose the barrage command when doing so...

but if you set their weapons to target and so on they should still do it independantly

[kurush]

Thing is, I always use only one of them If you try to manage 6, they will likely nuke your Kyoto fast when some lone M attacks it from the other side. So, basically, I bought 3 Austers but I left two of them on my PHQ and only use one Claymore and one Auster on Kyoto. Other docking ports are filled with two TS loaded with missiles and EC, Springblossom and one spare in case I need to dock something. Technically, you should be able to just set turrets for your ships to one of the attack commands and they might be efficient after that. You can also issue barrage commands for each M8 if you think one is not enough.
I found a problem with barrage command though - it is too damn slow if you use more than one shot there and any J or K will have no problems to shot your missiles down. There is a solution to that, but you have to fly the ship.
1) Select your target, make sure a proper missile is equipped (not mosquito)
2) Press i on the keyboard - target menu should show up
3) Position your mouse on the barrage command in that menu and click
4) Repeat steps 2-3 rapidly. This will fire missiles much faster than just one barrage command would do and should beat in efficiency any number of M8 flying on AI.

[Vim Razz]

But can anyone help me here, how do I manage the ships in combat? I've never even owned an M8, let alone have a small fleet of them. Do I manage them individually or in a group? What else do I need to know?

With individual bombers, you sit it near the back of your group (a little off to the side) and order it to fire barrages manually.

For a bomber wing (~5-8 M8s or so), I like to throw down a nav sat in the location where I want them then order the wing to follow it. They'll jump in and move to position at which point you can safely use the wing command menu's "set turrets for all ships" function to order them to attack capitals or whatever. The group will then just start plinking away at anything nearby.