B-29 Tips

[Major Shane]

It's 5 Mar 45. I am Allies playing against AI. I have tried everything to make my B-29 raids successful, but I haven't had any sustainable success.

I am flying from Saipan and Tinan. Plenty of supplies. I tried day and night, high and low altitude. I have tried Toyko, Kanoya, Nagasaki, Kagoshima. I have used airfield and City attacks.

I suffer losses which is expected. But I get miserable results which makes the losses even worse.

I am look for advice on how to get results with B-29s bombing the Japanese homeland.

Thanks in advance.

[Barb]

1) Do not fly on extended range (get bases closer to targets)
2) Do not fly against big air opposition (CAP decreases accuracy of bombers)
3) Avoid big flak concentrations (Flak doing the same), fly above light flak, you can even skirt some medium flak.
4) Sweep before bombers (so they do not encounter opposition)
5) concentrate on one thing at a time - Either you want to attain air superiority (AF Attack), sink ships (Port Attack), destroy particular factory (Engine/Fighter plane - but this wont work against AI as its pulling air-frames from thin air), gain strategic poitns (fire bombing), or mine some port (city attack/mine). Do not jump around targets.
6) Use correct models off B-29 for correct things (B-29 and B-29As on Daylight raids, B-29Bs on night raids)

[GetAssista]

What kind of city attacks did you use? Until you have fighters in range to sweep & escort, nighttime manpower bombing of relatively large cities is the most practical in terms of VPs. DAytime attacks would be costly, and you don't have DL to effectively bomb smaller targets like factories and such. In terms of game efficiency, you need to move closer, capture bases in normal range of B-17/B-24, recon/sweep/bombard the bases and then move in with the bombers.
Depends on the AI level too. Bombing Ironman is almost useless due to its quality of pilots and quantity of modern planes.

[Major Shane]

ORIGINAL: Barb

1) Do not fly on extended range (get bases closer to targets)
2) Do not fly against big air opposition (CAP decreases accuracy of bombers)
3) Avoid big flak concentrations (Flak doing the same), fly above light flak, you can even skirt some medium flak.
4) Sweep before bombers (so they do not encounter opposition)
5) concentrate on one thing at a time - Either you want to attain air superiority (AF Attack), sink ships (Port Attack), destroy particular factory (Engine/Fighter plane - but this wont work against AI as its pulling air-frames from thin air), gain strategic poitns (fire bombing), or mine some port (city attack/mine). Do not jump around targets.
6) Use correct models off B-29 for correct things (B-29 and B-29As on Daylight raids, B-29Bs on night raids)

Ok. I didn't know about the B-29B being better for night. I only thought it was for the A-Bomb squadrons. I didn't see any equipment that gave it special night capability.

[Major Shane]

ORIGINAL: GetAssista

What kind of city attacks did you use? Until you have fighters in range to sweep & escort, nighttime manpower bombing of relatively large cities is the most practical in terms of VPs. DAytime attacks would be costly, and you don't have DL to effectively bomb smaller targets like factories and such. In terms of game efficiency, you need to move closer, capture bases in normal range of B-17/B-24, recon/sweep/bombard the bases and then move in with the bombers.
Depends on the AI level too. Bombing Ironman is almost useless due to its quality of pilots and quantity of modern planes.

I have DL of 9 to 11. I haven't tried the night manpower attacks yet. I have moved P51s close enough to sweep at extended ranges. I hope your tips work.

[John B.]

If you have a large carrier force and the IJN is gone you can also move your carriers in to do sweeps. You should have plenty of fighters to fend off attacks on your ships with squadrons left over to do fighter sweeps over the cities you plan to bomb.

[Barb]

ORIGINAL: Major Shane

ORIGINAL: Barb

1) Do not fly on extended range (get bases closer to targets)
2) Do not fly against big air opposition (CAP decreases accuracy of bombers)
3) Avoid big flak concentrations (Flak doing the same), fly above light flak, you can even skirt some medium flak.
4) Sweep before bombers (so they do not encounter opposition)
5) concentrate on one thing at a time - Either you want to attain air superiority (AF Attack), sink ships (Port Attack), destroy particular factory (Engine/Fighter plane - but this wont work against AI as its pulling air-frames from thin air), gain strategic poitns (fire bombing), or mine some port (city attack/mine). Do not jump around targets.
6) Use correct models off B-29 for correct things (B-29 and B-29As on Daylight raids, B-29Bs on night raids)

Ok. I didn't know about the B-29B being better for night. I only thought it was for the A-Bomb squadrons. I didn't see any equipment that gave it special night capability.

"B-29-1 Superfort" in game terms corresponds with the production run of basic B-29 model (Wiki nomenclature) built in Boeing-Wichita, Bell-Atlanta and Martin-Omaha. Had a lot of gun turrets and basic bombload of 20x500lb

"B-29-25" model in game conforms roughly with what Wiki names a B-29A model built in Renton-Washington. The number of machine guns in forward dorsal turret went from 2 to 4 and basic bombload remaining same 20x500lb.

"B-29B Superfort" in game conforms to the B-29B model named on Wiki. Most of the machine gun turrets were deleted, range and bomb load increased to 36x500lb.

Actually both B-29-1 and B-29-25 models were field modified to B-29B model when most of the Groups switched to night low-level city bombing although few groups probably retained the turret guns for daylight attacks.

A Silverplate (atomic bomb delivery) were modified from planes taken from the production run (actual plane list of combat B-29s were from 9x-36 models, 2x-40 models, 2x-45 models and 2x-50 models. In game terms the A-bomb functionality is a "trait" given to a unit (not plane model) - 393rd BS of the 509th Composite Group.

[Major Shane]

ORIGINAL: Barb

ORIGINAL: Major Shane

ORIGINAL: Barb

1) Do not fly on extended range (get bases closer to targets)
2) Do not fly against big air opposition (CAP decreases accuracy of bombers)
3) Avoid big flak concentrations (Flak doing the same), fly above light flak, you can even skirt some medium flak.
4) Sweep before bombers (so they do not encounter opposition)
5) concentrate on one thing at a time - Either you want to attain air superiority (AF Attack), sink ships (Port Attack), destroy particular factory (Engine/Fighter plane - but this wont work against AI as its pulling air-frames from thin air), gain strategic poitns (fire bombing), or mine some port (city attack/mine). Do not jump around targets.
6) Use correct models off B-29 for correct things (B-29 and B-29As on Daylight raids, B-29Bs on night raids)

Ok. I didn't know about the B-29B being better for night. I only thought it was for the A-Bomb squadrons. I didn't see any equipment that gave it special night capability.

"B-29-1 Superfort" in game terms corresponds with the production run of basic B-29 model (Wiki nomenclature) built in Boeing-Wichita, Bell-Atlanta and Martin-Omaha. Had a lot of gun turrets and basic bombload of 20x500lb

"B-29-25" model in game conforms roughly with what Wiki names a B-29A model built in Renton-Washington. The number of machine guns in forward dorsal turret went from 2 to 4 and basic bombload remaining same 20x500lb.

"B-29B Superfort" in game conforms to the B-29B model named on Wiki. Most of the machine gun turrets were deleted, range and bomb load increased to 36x500lb.

Actually both B-29-1 and B-29-25 models were field modified to B-29B model when most of the Groups switched to night low-level city bombing although few groups probably retained the turret guns for daylight attacks.

A Silverplate (atomic bomb delivery) were modified from planes taken from the production run (actual plane list of combat B-29s were from 9x-36 models, 2x-40 models, 2x-45 models and 2x-50 models. In game terms the A-bomb functionality is a "trait" given to a unit (not plane model) - 393rd BS of the 509th Composite Group.

Thanks Barb. That's very helpful. Understanding the abstracts the designers did with the various models is key for me. I like to play as historical as I can. I been amazed over the years how much more operational and tactical insights I have gained about WW2 history through this game and the forum.

[Major Shane]

ORIGINAL: John B.

If you have a large carrier force and the IJN is gone you can also move your carriers in to do sweeps. You should have plenty of fighters to fend off attacks on your ships with squadrons left over to do fighter sweeps over the cities you plan to bomb.

Thanks. I am in a position to try that in the next couple of days.