13 replies to this topic

[bearrick]

I started this back a long time ago in closed beta. With 0.5.3 on the horizon, it seemed like the right time to do this again. The first edition focused primarily on the delay times for the purpose of showing distance covered after a bomb was released. This edition will include a rough inclusion of this as well as a more generalized understanding of the weapons as they exist in this game. No historical or real world references will be used.
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.

Spoiler                     

Weight.....Damage.....Radius(m)...Tier...........Nation
20 lb......300........40..........2..............UK only
30 kg......800........50..........2,3............Japan only
100 lb.....1200.......70..........2,3,4,5........USA only
50 kg......1500.......70..........2,3,4,5........USSR and Germany
60 kg......1600.......75..........4..............Japan only
100 kg.....3000.......80..........4,5,6,7,9......USSR and Germany
250 lb.....3300.......80..........3,5,6..........USA and UK
470 lb.....5500.......80..........2..............USA only
500 lb.....6000.......100.........3,6,7,8,10.....USA and UK
250 kg.....7500.......100.........5,6,7,8........USSR and Germany and Japan
1000 lb....12000......115.........7,8............USA and UK
500 kg.....15000......120.........5,6,7,8,9,10...USSR and Germany
1600 lb....22000......125.........8..............USA only

There are three important factors that should be noted about the bomb stats when considering loading them and when facing any plane that can potentially carry bombs: Damage, Radius, and stat effects.
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

When in a 3 tier bracket, the target hp values are selected by the middle tier. I'm currently unsure how target values are
selected for a two tier bracket.
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.

[Panzer_Leader_3]

Excellent,as usual.

[Lou]

All good advice, +1

[Sheolraver]

And thanks Mr. Bruin. +1

[A1SF]

i use bombs to kill planes, and shoot and rocket down a HQ, bombing single targets is out of the question for me, waste of a bomb when you can aim good with guns or rockets

[bearrick]

A1SF, on 26 September 2013 - 06:21 PM, said:

i use bombs to kill planes, and shoot and rocket down a HQ, bombing single targets is out of the question for me, waste of a bomb when you can aim good with guns or rockets

Some planes aren't as viable with that option though, especially with the apparent change in gun damage to ground targets in this patch.

While for GAs and a few heavy fighters guns are still the better choice because of the theoretical unlimited quantity of bullets, those other planes that don't fit in line with that tactic and load bombs "because they can" often do waste the bombs on targets that weren't optimal choices.

I site the F3F multiple times specifically because this plane being a low tier that can carry is often seen doing so and dropping bombs on targets they can't destroy.

Other planes have been seen doing the same thing because the inferred tactic is to destroy the HQ ASAP, which isn't always best practice if you actually can't do that with the equipment on hand.

[Akaei]

When bombing (or straffing) HQ is there an optimal aim point?  Center of brackets?  Fuel tanks?  Buildings?

[bearrick]

Akaei, on 05 October 2013 - 12:25 PM, said:

When bombing (or straffing) HQ is there an optimal aim point? Center of brackets? Fuel tanks? Buildings?

With any singular target, as close to the center as possible.  Currently there are no modules on large structure targets.  Because of this and how bomb blasts have a damage dropoff, just try to aim as close to the center of the target to ensure maximum damage.

With grouped targets, such as a building and AA gun on a shared platform, if you have a large enough bomb or they are both damaged then you can aim the drop for halfway between the targets and get a two for 1 bargain.

[Akaei]

Sounds good.  I've noticed on strafing runs that the cylinders (that I speculate represent fuel tanks) *seem* to be more susceptible to fire.  But my A6 bombs are so weak I really have to question their value considering the hit to flight performance... as small as it is.

[bearrick]

Adding information:

When flying low and level over water, there appears to be an inaccurate display of the bomb sight crosshair.

If you are flying low and level to drop onto a ship, aim the release for a little bit in front of the crosshair circle.  Otherwise the bomb will arc over the ship and not deal full damage unless it's one of the larger bombs.

This mostly applies to flying below 2~300 feet.  Above a certain altitude the projection shift doesn't seem to happen, but this altitude is hard to identify visually.

It is unclear if this is a recent issue or something that has been in place for a while.

[pizzastorm]

Wow! So much awesome information. Thanks for taking the time to post this. It will definitely come in handy for me seeing as I have yet to really dive into attack planes.

[GodRugal]

i want to post this today so i don't forget.
during a battle last night i was shooting a plane from above, and that plane dropped a bomb on a ground target that killed me while i was still at least 100m above him. i was literally directly vertical to the plane and the blast force only damaged me.

is this how the bomb damage is supposed to work?

[bearrick]

pizzastorm, on 09 October 2013 - 04:39 PM, said:

Wow! So much awesome information. Thanks for taking the time to post this. It will definitely come in handy for me seeing as I have yet to really dive into attack planes.

Thanks.
Always happy to share what I learn.

GodRugal, on 09 October 2013 - 08:57 PM, said:

i want to post this today so i don't forget.during a battle last night i was shooting a plane from above, and that plane dropped a bomb on a ground target that killed me while i was still at least 100m above him. i was literally directly vertical to the plane and the blast force only damaged me.

is this how the bomb damage is supposed to work?

For the most part, yes.  It used to be a full kill if you were anywhere in the blast radius.  0.5.3 brought changes to bomb blast radius and so the damage only zone is slightly larger than it used to be.

Also, a few patches ago reduced the amount of damage that bombs did to friendly planes, including the one that drops.  This was implimented to help reduce the number of accidental suicides and team kills.  Planes that drop can still damage themselves and teammates,  but the planes now have to be much closer to the blast epicenter for it to happen.

[lostmuskrat]

bearrick, on 08 October 2013 - 04:24 AM, said:

Adding information:

When flying low and level over water, there appears to be an inaccurate display of the bomb sight crosshair.

If you are flying low and level to drop onto a ship, aim the release for a little bit in front of the crosshair circle.  Otherwise the bomb will arc over the ship and not deal full damage unless it's one of the larger bombs.

This mostly applies to flying below 2~300 feet.  Above a certain altitude the projection shift doesn't seem to happen, but this altitude is hard to identify visually.

It is unclear if this is a recent issue or something that has been in place for a while.

I've gotten around this by making my approach bow- or stern-on, so the ship is in a straight line along my flight path. Seems to work, especially for dropping two smaller bombs on the same target.