Below is a table of every bomb size with total damage, radius, and tier and nations the bomb is accessible. Individual planes are not included in the table because representatives of all three types can equip the modules.
This table will be used for all references.
*yes, the radius is listed only in meters. This is because this is a UI option that can be changed while the weights are part of the name and ID system. Currently there is an inconsistency because bomb blast radii are receiving a change in 0.5.3 with most if not all receiving a decrease. Because of this, the metric and imperical conversions are not up to date since the numbers are rounded to whole values in the system.
All can be seen when right clicking the module and then selecting information.
DAMAGE
This needs to be the first variable noted when researching or equipping a bomb module onto your plane. Damage variables differ among the sizes.Currently the smallest size is 20lb. These do 300 damage each. The largest size is 1600lb. These do 22000 damage each.
The reason this is important is because all units, buildings and planes, have set hit point values. So although bombs are damaging to everything, if they explode on a target that has more hit points than bomb damage, the object still stands. The HQ will always have the highest hit point value of any ground target in a battle. These hit point values scale based on tier.
Here is a list of all HQ hp values in their tier increments:
1500 for tier 1
3000 for tier 2
4500 for tier 3
6000 for tier 4
7500 for tier 5
9000 for tier 6
10500 for tier 7
12000 for tier 8
13500 for tier 9
15000 for tier 10
It actually now looks like all brackets receive the toughest targets available for the bracket, which means that tier III planes in III-V battle will face tier V health targets.
The important thing is that if you are carrying bombs with the intention of destroying the HQ, you know how much damage they can do and use the target numbers displayed in the UI to check your relative capability. Since all targets of the same type have the same hp value on both teams, at the start of a battle you can use the numbers on your team targets to anticipate what to expect from the enemy.
This means that if you are an F3F loaded with 2x 100 lb bombs, both of your bombs combined will still not be enough to destroy any enemy HQ you can face as the combined 2400 damage is not enough on its own.
To be truly effective with your bombs it is essential to optimize their usage on targets that they can surely destroy.
RADIUS
This needs to be the second variable noted when equipping bomb modules or even if you are a fighter chasing a plane that can drop bombs.The reason the radius is important is because this is how far away the bomb can be from the intended target and still have an effect. There is a small damage dropoff based on distance from the explosion epicenter, which is why you can drop a bomb on a target that it should destroy but it only does a nonlethal percentage of damage instead.
A plane can also be far enough away from the epicenter to not be one shot, but it can still take damage and crew can sustain injury. This is rarely seen though because of numerous variables such as lag spikes, sudden position changes, and in some cases tier/armor values.
Knowing the radius of the bombs available to the plane are extremely useful for timing and evading bomb kills.
Since the delay timers currently set off bombs dropped from low altitude (radar) relatively very close behind the plane, knowing the radius can be helpful in both timing the trap if you are dropping in addition to knowing how far you can pursue if you are attacking a plane with bombs.
For use defending against an attacker, one only needs to time a countdown from the distance of the chasing enemy to place the bomb where they believe the enemy will be when the timer reaches zero.
To anticipate this, knowing the radius values gives the chasing plane an altitude that they should not drop below if they want to be completely immune to a bomb blast.
Using the radar determined altimeter is best for both methods since, while not entirely accurate due to terrain shifts, it gives the best quick reference for both sides of the tactic.
STAT EFFECTS
This is the final variable that should be noted when equipping bomb modules.Bombs are heavy. Some are very heavy. Because of this, just equipping them will have an effect on your flight performance.
Bombs will only ever alter your speed and your maneuverability. If the bomb module is not part of a chain with a research prerequisite, you can view all changes just by clicking on the module in either the tech tree window or in the module tab in the main hangar.
The heavier the bomb, the larger the loss of performance. This is why some planes can have more of a smaller size bomb equipped.
The reason it is important to make yourself aware of these stat changes is because of how it affects your plane. Even though releasing the bombs does grant back some of the performance, the numbers are still a little vague and secret as to exactly how much performance is returned.
If you're in an attack role aircraft such as an Il-2, this makes little difference as the plane already has a large turn radius. If you are in a light fighter however, the difference can be very effectual; so much so that without releasing the bombs the plane might lose in a turning engagement to an enemy it otherwise could have beaten. That is why knowing how these modules affect your performance is critical in every battle when they are equipped.
All of this information is usable for a variety of tactics, which is why it is so important to know the weapons that you use. Updates to this page will be made as changes to the numbers come in future updates. The numbers currently listed are as they are seen in the 0.5.3 update.
Edited by bearrick, 30 September 2013 - 03:55 PM.