No B-29s?? (and drone questions)

[Zivs]

Now I have only been playing for maybe a few weeks total. And I just love bombing. Man I love the 17s but in single player practice I love to fly the B-29s. I know they are quite expensive, hard to fly, and to get a formation will run you about 300+ perk points. But why do I never see them in the MA? And I know that drones are all screwy on landing and stuff but if you were to use some drone B-29s, I'm hoping your points would be refunded for each drone on landing?

[Lusche]

You get the spent perks back for every bomber you land. And landing with drones ain't difficult at all, just remember to make no radical turns, or you will lose your drones. take your time and descend slowly, or you may lose your control surfaces due to overspeed.

The reason you are not seeing them are:
- They are quite rare (due to their cost)
- Other bombers are actually better suited for most of the bombing tasks in AH
- And you may be looking in the wrong places - B29s mostly cruise around 30k (or more) and are mostly bombing the strats.

[Zivs]

Okay cool thanks for the response. What would be a good way to generate perk points so I can get into a 29? The sorties I have been flying recently have been in a B-17 and I climb anywhere from 25-30k and these sorties last about an hour to 2 hours, awarding 5-9 points. Is this the best I am going to get?

[Lusche]

Okay cool thanks for the response. What would be a good way to generate perk points so I can get into a 29? The sorties I have been flying recently have been in a B-17 and I climb anywhere from 25-30k and these sorties last about an hour to 2 hours, awarding 5-9 points. Is this the best I am going to get?

Absolutely not, you can do much better than that.

If you look in hangar, you will see an OBJ value assigned to each bomber. That determines the perks you get for each destroyed object in a bomber. The higher the bomber's OBJ, the more perks you get for each object. You also may reconsider your mission profile, as getting to excessive altitude also means spending a lot of time. You could do 3-4 medium altitude B-26 sorties in a B-26 (OBJ 20) in the same time you do one 30k B-17 (OBJ 12) mission. You also get perks for shooting down enemy fighters attacking you.
And if you are shot down on such a mission, you will get only 20% less perks than if you had landed your bomber. So taking a few more risks in a somewhat "lesser" bomber at altitudes well below 30k will significantly increase your perk gain per flight hour,

[Zivs]

Cool thanks. I couldn't find a straight answer for any of these questions anywhere.

[Zivs]

One more question. What type of setup (i.e. bombload in terms of larger or smaller) will get me the most damage and what targets should I try and be hitting?

[Lusche]

One more question. What type of setup (i.e. bombload in terms of larger or smaller) will get me the most damage and what targets should I try and be hitting?

That depends on what are you going to achieve.
If you are strictly into perk farming, there are two main targets for you. Town centers and CVs.

You will get a bunch of perks for milking several town centers in a high OBJ bomber, and even in a mid-OBJ bomber the results can be comparable due to the larger bomb load and higher survivabilty (+ perk gain by killing fighters)
However, for many players bombing nothing but a bunch of towncenters will become boring and starts to resemble "work". You could also combine tactical bombings "with a point" (supporting your side by takign out enemy hangards, ammo bunkers and so on witht he occasional town center bombing. Such a "mix" can keep things interesting enough and can help your team while still yielding some nice perks.

The other target, as mentioned, are enemy CVs. Sortie duration is short and you can get a lot of perks for an undamaged CV (needs 8k of destruction to sink). But of course it's alo much more dangerous.



Some recommended perk efficient bombers:

B-26 (best balanced, can do about everything)
Tu-2 (very fast, weak defense, great load, possibly best CV hunter in game)
G4M (High OBJ, climbs like a rocket to 20k, very fragile)
Ki-67 (small payload, high OBJ, fast, has a nice sting with it's top 20mm turret)
Boston III (very fast at low alt, quick climber, high OBJ, small payload, very weak defense)

[WWhiskey]

I use the g4m to  gain some points when I run out,( b-29s are not indestructible )  a good run with the 4 bomb load will net you 40 or 50 perks in late war on a good day with 4 city centers,, use the formation,   Remember that in the hanger is a perk point multiplier box, if that number is high, you can make more points,, if that number is low, not so much,,
I'd be happy to help you on bombing  and or flying them in the training arena if you would like,, the b-29 doesn't cost anything there so you can practice take offs and landings with the formation without fear of losing a bunch of perks

I fly the b-29 in the main arena but unless you fly the strat areas, you'll never see me,, I'm at 30k plus from the time I leave freindly territory  till I get back,, they cost to much to risk them at low alt in enemy territory

One other thing,, when the perk multiplier is high,, the cost of stuff like the b-29 is lower

Anyway let me know if you'd like some pointers,, just PM me if you like

[Lusche]

I fly the b-29 in the main arena but unless you fly the strat areas, you'll never see me,, I'm at 30k plus from the time I leave freindly territory  till I get back,, they cost to much to risk them at low alt in enemy territory

There is not that much risk but a lot of fun involved if you don't fly them at 30k+ all the time. In most cases it's not even necessary if you are really trying to be safe. The 29 is has the most brutal defensive armament available, and that makes it reasonable safe to fly it "only" at 25-29k in most cases - but you may occasionally get something to shoot at

[Lusche]

For the record, the highest single perk gain I ever had in a bomber was 124.80 perks. I was attacking the AA towers at the strats in a Ki-67 formation in midwar. Perk bonus modifier was 4 at takeoff (I was the only player in my country). Losses: one bomber by a P-38.

[WWhiskey]

It's fun to get them way up high as well,, at least for me,, taking off with a big fuel load isn't easy , then fighting all the wind and finding the proper headings for bomb runs,, I like the role play of it all so it's very satisfying !

In Midwar with a 5perk multiplier I've gotten over 150 perks for a near perfect run in the Bettie's ,,  I got 93 a few days ago with it at 2.23

[Saxman]

There is not that much risk but a lot of fun involved if you don't fly them at 30k+ all the time. In most cases it's not even necessary if you are really trying to be safe. The 29 is has the most brutal defensive armament available, and that makes it reasonable safe to fly it "only" at 25-29k in most cases - but you may occasionally get something to shoot at

The speed of the B-29 is nothing to sneeze at, either. Of the bombers you listed, only the Tu-2 and Boston are faster, (however the Tu-2's advantage falls off DRAMATICALLY between 6000-12,000ft, with the B-29 being faster above 18,000. The Boston has a better performance curve and holds a larger speed advantage throughout, but the B-29 overtakes her around 16,000) while the best the Ki-67 can do is match her, and only under 20,000ft.

Looking at the rest of the level bombers, only the Mosquito (which is frankly in a class of its own for speed) outruns the B-29, while the B-29 utterly smokes the other heavies, the Ju-88 and He-111, with speed advantages as high as 60mph or more.

So not only is attacking a B-29 formation brutal due to its firepower, it's not exactly an easy bomber to get into a good position to make an attack to begin with.

[GScholz]

Well... there is the Arado 234...

[Saxman]

Well... there is the Arado 234...

Well, ok, I forgot about the 234, but I'd consider that more like the Mosquito as being in another class altogether.

[GScholz]

Yeah, you could say that.