Aeronautica Imperialis - How did you arm your aircraft?

[MithrilForge]

Well for "Funsies" i'm going to make (from my eventual next lot of dakka jets) a Goff "Ace" in a Dakka jet called "Da Blak Barun" with a set of Kustom Big shoota's... he'll stand out big time cause all my other Orky aircraft are very Bright coloured -blue,red and yellow.

And yes...Skyfire thunderbolts is a good idea  

 

Cheers, Mithril 

[The_Chaplain]

Really hate to ressurrect such an old thread-- but what are some loadout recommendations for Eavy Bommers?

[Firedrake Cordova]

Really hate to ressurrect such an old thread-- but what are some loadout recommendations for Eavy Bommers?

The Eavy Bommer has a surprisingly weedy bomb bay (it's the equivalent of a single set of wing bombs), so it's somewhat reliant on the ordnance loadout.  Looking at the numbers (assuming hitting on 4's, and that I haven't goofed on the maths):

• A pair of wing bombs should cause ~2.3 damage
• A pair or big bombs should cause ~4 damage

This means that:

• Giving it 3 lots of wing bombs means you can drop 2 pairs of wing bombs twice (once you factor in the bomb bay), giving you two bombing runs causing ~4.5 damage each, or you can go with one overkill drop causing ~9.25 damage.
• Giving it 2 lots of big bombs mean you can drop one pair with the bomb bay (~6.25 damage), and another run with just the big bombs (~4 damage).  Or you can go with one overkill drop causing ~10.75 damage.

Of course, you don't have to fully load it up with ordnance, but that's not very Orky. ;)

 

Don't know if that helps?

[Mandragola]

I'd agree with the above. Wing bombs in general just seem cheaper and better than big bombs.

[Arendious]

So the take away here is that Orks need an 'Eavier Bommer?

[Mandragola]

From what I can tell, the two planes are very different. Grot bomms are a serious threat to planes, as well as ground targets. You'd need to use at least two grot bombs to take out even a single objective (they seem to have 3hp so if two bomms hit one will usually do extra damage), though the cool thing is you could do it from pretty far away, beyond AA range and they can't be shot down on the way. So actually, that sounds pretty good. On the other hand it has awful flying stats and barely any firepower except to the front, so enemy fighters (or at least those that survive the bombs) will take it to bits.

 

Eavy bommers instead have quite a lot of all-round firepower and some bombs. I wonder though if you would be better off to just field a load of fighta bommers instead. These can take the same number of wing bombs but are also reasonably good fighters. That said, an eavy bommer is twice as tough and not a whole lot more expensive, and it can throw a lot of bullets in most directions. It looks very vulnerable to things like thunderbolts tailing it at medium range though.

 

Finally both have transport capacity, and grot bommers seem like pretty good transports. The grot bomms will make life a bit awkward for enemy fighters and they can do a bit of strafing themselves on the way in - since even they won't be outmanoeuvred by a static ground defence. Eavy bommers have transport 2, but since they're less effective at fighting against planes and worse transports, I think you leave them at home in these missions.

 

From what I've read people seem to field a lot of grot bommers and few eavies, if any. That makes sense to me.

[The_Chaplain]

 

 

Really hate to ressurrect such an old thread-- but what are some loadout recommendations for Eavy Bommers?

The Eavy Bommer has a surprisingly weedy bomb bay (it's the equivalent of a single set of wing bombs), so it's somewhat reliant on the ordnance loadout. Looking at the numbers (assuming hitting on 4's, and that I haven't goofed on the maths):

• A pair of wing bombs should cause ~2.3 damage
• A pair or big bombs should cause ~4 damage

This means that:

• Giving it 3 lots of wing bombs means you can drop 2 pairs of wing bombs twice (once you factor in the bomb bay), giving you two bombing runs causing ~4.5 damage each, or you can go with one overkill drop causing ~9.25 damage.
• Giving it 2 lots of big bombs mean you can drop one pair with the bomb bay (~6.25 damage), and another run with just the big bombs (~4 damage). Or you can go with one overkill drop causing ~10.75 damage.

Of course, you don't have to fully load it up with ordnance, but that's not very Orky. ;)

 

Don't know if that helps?

That helps immensely, thank you.

[Mandragola]

Looking back over those numbers, this isn't as simple as I'd thought. The big bomms do have slightly more damage output - 8 damage between them instead of 7 for the wing bombs. A pair of eavy bombs will tend to destroy a 3-damage ground target, though not as reliably as dropping two sets of wing bombs on it. An Eavy bommer with big bomms can hit 3 targets, for 4, 4 and 2.3 damage. One with wing bombs can only really hit two, for 4.6 both times.

 

I wonder if the right approach could be to give fighta bommaz wing bombs and eavy bommerz big bombs. The fighta bommers can hit ground defences and maybe drop two pairs of bombs on an objective if they get a chance. Eavy bommers just head straight for the objective. However, you could definitely argue for giving a fighta bommer 2 sets of big bombs, to just go straight for the objective.

[Ahistorian]

I've just picked up a box each of Thunderbolts, Lightnings, and Valkyrie/Vendettas. How do folks recommend building the Navy ships for a cohesive squadron? And for the AM ships, what would you recommend for them in a purely ground assault/delivery role. Vendettas all the way?

[Arendious]

Are you thinking more "units on a tabletop" or "snapshot of a 'real' formation", Ahistorian?

[Ahistorian]

Are you thinking more "units on a tabletop" or "snapshot of a 'real' formation", Ahistorian?

The Navy ships will be a snapshot (hopefully for use on the table), while the transports will be pure game pieces.

[Firedrake Cordova]

According to the background, Thunderbolts are used as heavy fighters and fighter-bombers.  Thunderbolt Furies are supposed to be less common than regular Thunderbolts due to their ability to chew through all of their ammunition in not very long and therefore needing to be "protected" by the regular Thunderbolts.  Lightnings are supposed to be air superiority fighters and interceptors, but the Lightning Strike is supposed to be a ground-attack role, using multi-lasers and hellstrike missiles. 

 

Don't know if that helps or not..?

[Ahistorian]

It does indeed. How does this look:

 

Flight 1: 3 Thunderbolts, 1 Fury

Flight 2: 4 Lightnings, 2 Strike

 

I figure I can add a third flight when the plastic Avengers come out.

 

How would you put together the Valkyrie frames?

[Firedrake Cordova]

It does indeed. How does this look:

 

Flight 1: 3 Thunderbolts, 1 Fury

Flight 2: 4 Lightnings, 2 Strike

That's broadly like how I've assembled mine:

• 2 Thunderbolts as ground attack
• 4 Thunderbolts and 2 Thunderbolt Furies as fighters
• 2 Lightnings with multi-lasers and 2 with lascannons, all with skystrike missiles
• 2 Lightnings with multilasers and hellstrike missiles

This gives what look like "partial flights" for the ground-attack ones, but you could argue attrition of a mixed flight of Thunderbolts and Lightnings.

 

How would you put together the Valkyrie frames?

That's something I've deferred my decision on (read: procrastinated).  At the moment they're assembled except for the weapons ... I'll probably do a mix because I want one assembled as a traditional Valkyrie (for no particular reason), but I do like the look of the Vendetta with just the single twin-linked lascannon, although this is rule of cool rather than anything else.  I think for tabletop effectiveness, Vendettas with as many lascannons as you can get on them is probably the way to go.

Edited July 23, 2020 by Firedrake Cordova

[Ahistorian]

Aces, good to know I,m on the right track!

 

Attrition covers a multitude of sins ;)

 

I am leaning toward Vendettas for mine, though I will definitely have at least one Inquisitorial Valkyrie!