New player question regarding FAB 50 bombs

[Woke Up Dead]

Level bombing in any plane that does not have a special level-bombing gunsight is very hard, even against a long target like a train or a column of vehicles. Try dive-bombing in a quickstart mission, it might be easier than you think.

The compromise is to approach and release at a shallow angle, less than 45 degrees, not quite dive-bombing but not level either. Do choose the low level option with the 5 second fuse, you're bombing a WWII train not a modern French TGV, it doesn't move fast enough to need much lead. Do some quickstart missions and start by releasing your bombs just when the target disappears under your nose, watch the replay and adjust as needed.

The hardest part when attacking a train should be not the required lead or timing, but rather aligning your plane with the length of the train. If you're off by a few degrees then an imperfect drop will miss the train, and a FAB-50 will be too small to cause damage. If your alignment is perfect, then you'll still hit even if your timing is a bit off.

[IceFire]

Two important bits.

Press TAB in flight to see (amongst other things) the bomb fuse settings. You'll see the drop altitude and the delay timer. Very useful in figuring things out.

Also the bomb fuse type is important. With the FAB-50 you have options of Instant (with a short delay as an option), Delay (with longer delays), and Low-Level which allows you to drop the bombs at very low altitudes.

You may want to employ the Low-Level option while attacking the train. Low level with a significant delay (but not too long as the train will have moved along.

You should be able to destroy box cars with the 4 machine guns but you may not be able to get the locomotive with guns alone. Not those anyways.

[alanschu]

I had just noticed the bomb fuse while messing around with some SBD missions, and that should help haha.

I'll continue messing around with the mission. Thanks for the heads up. At least I can definitively know the altitude haha.

The Soviet Campaign (in the 2 or 3 missions thus far) seems a bit more enjoyable than the Pacific ones.

[IceFire]

Originally Posted by alanschu

I had just noticed the bomb fuse while messing around with some SBD missions, and that should help haha.

I'll continue messing around with the mission. Thanks for the heads up. At least I can definitively know the altitude haha.

The Soviet Campaign (in the 2 or 3 missions thus far) seems a bit more enjoyable than the Pacific ones.

The east front dynamic campaigns that ship with the game are much better than the Pacific ones (which I think were thrown together in a hurry).

I also highly recommend downloading new campaigns built by the user community here: http://www.mission4today.com/ (you need an account)

There are tons of them up there and many are historically or semi-historically based and very well researched and put together.

[Woke Up Dead]

Originally Posted by IceFire

Press TAB in flight to see (amongst other things) the bomb fuse settings. You'll see the drop altitude and the delay timer. Very useful in figuring things out.

Do you find this often does not work in Soviet planes? Always works in German planes, usually in American ones, I don't think I ever saw it to work in Soviet bombers or ground attack planes.

[IceFire]

Originally Posted by Woke Up Dead

Do you find this often does not work in Soviet planes? Always works in German planes, usually in American ones, I don't think I ever saw it to work in Soviet bombers or ground attack planes.

In my experience it works 100% of the time. The only time it does not is if the advanced bomb fusing system is off. Then all of these features are hidden.

[Aviar]

Originally Posted by Woke Up Dead

The hardest part when attacking a train should be not the required lead or timing, but rather aligning your plane with the length of the train. If you're off by a few degrees then an imperfect drop will miss the train, and a FAB-50 will be too small to cause damage.

Exactly. So when I have small bombs, I prefer to attack trains from the side, at a 90 degree angle. I come in low and fast and basically skip-bomb the target. If done correctly, the bombs should bounce once, hit the train and drop right there. When they explode you should get yourself at least a couple of train cars.

Now, skip-bombing is a skill that takes a while to master. It's also my preferred method of attack vs most ships.

Aviar