What is the advantage to Bombers?

Supposedly Bombers are another significant milestone unit in the game just as comp bows, x-bows, and artillery are, right?

The problem is that unlike other ranged units, bombers take damage when they attack. To me, this is by far one of the biggest advantages that ranged units have over melee, that they can attack without taking damage.

The fact that a bomber cannot attack without taking damage basically just makes it a melee unit that can attack from afar and does not take up a physical hex tile on the map, does it not?


If this questions seems ignorant please keep in mind that I almost exclusively play on multiplayer, and not in NQ, so games almost always end before modern/atomic era and thus I don't have much experience on these things past a certain point.

At the 3rd (or 4th if NQ) promotion you can get Air Repair. Which repairs bombers every turn.

But even with taking damage (provided they're not intercepted) you can get quite a few attacks in spite of taking damage.

Bombers basically need to be built in the city with the most +XP upgrades to be useful early.

But you're right, most MP games are over long before bombers are in use.

Bombers are the only ranged unit that I select the auto-heal promotion before logistics. It's painful every time I click it. I have found that going logistics first means you get the same number of bombards in at much higher risk.

Good point about the similarities between bombers as a "ranged" unit and normal melee units. I like the dynamic, but it definitely causes you to play them differently. I play in single player, so bombers are relevant in almost every game. A few need to be built, even in peaceful games, just to shut the AI up.

Bombers can be a very big advantage, even if they take damage! Ever played a game where your nearest enemy get's them before you have researched Ballistics or Flight? It can be a pain in the ass having no defence against an enemy that spams bombers. I agree that it is stupid that something like a Privateer or Lancer can damage an aircraft but even with that, they are a great advantage!

Athenaeum said:

The fact that a bomber cannot attack without taking damage basically just makes it a melee unit that can attack from afar and does not take up a physical hex tile on the map, does it not?

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There's also another bonus you've neglected to cover - the enemy cannot actively kill your bombers. You have to decide to put your bombers in harms way (to get them killed by interception, or overuse) in order for them to die.

As opposed to normal ranged units which the enemy can target, this is a pretty large bonus.

There are big advantages even though the bomber gets damage when used: the big range, the fact that they cannot be attacked on the opponents turn, they earn more xp so they get faster to air repair then they heal 25 HP/ turn (55 with Faith Healers).
They are basically sniper units, if you have a city filled with bombers with land promotions you can clear a carpet of doom in 1-2 turns, without risking any units.

Chum said:

There's also another bonus you've neglected to cover - the enemy cannot actively kill your bombers. You have to decide to put your bombers in harms way (to get them killed by interception, or overuse) in order for them to die.

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They can die if the city they are based in is captured, or gets caught in a nuke blast zone however.

Athenaeum said:

To me, this is by far one of the biggest advantages that ranged units have over melee, that they can attack without taking damage.

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I disagree. The biggest advantage of ranged attacks is loading damage onto a single tile/target. If melee units didn't take damage, or as much damage, they would still only be useful in small numbers. Infantry completely surrounding a target can only stack 6 attacks, and rarely are you going to be able to fully surround a target... realistically you are looking at 2 or 3 attacks.

Bombers are the ultimate late game progression of stacking damage. Massive range, and bomber stacks based in multiple cities can essentially stack damage until the target is dead, regardless of health.

Also keep in mind that they heal quite a bit since they are always healing inside your borders, so it isn't like waiting on a red-lined infantry unit healing 10 health per turn outside of your borders.

Chum said:

There's also another bonus you've neglected to cover - the enemy cannot actively kill your bombers. You have to decide to put your bombers in harms way (to get them killed by interception, or overuse) in order for them to die.

As opposed to normal ranged units which the enemy can target, this is a pretty large bonus.

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No this is what I covered when I pointed out that they don't take up physical hex tiles on the map - thus they can't be attacked.

Matthew. said:

Also keep in mind that they heal quite a bit since they are always healing inside your borders, so it isn't like waiting on a red-lined infantry unit healing 10 health per turn outside of your borders.

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That's a good point. Now a general question. When fortified (and without Air Repair) Bombers heal the standard 20 per turn right? Someone above mentioned that they heal 25 per turn and I was wondering if this was because bombers inherently heal an extra 5 per turn, Air Repair adds extra healing rate, or if he assumed that the bombers are based in your capital.


The Faith Healers idea was pretty astounding too, what a great way to make use of an otherwise trash pantheon.

Units heal 25 in a city garrison. Bombers are considered always in garrison.

Oh, I thought the 25 was only for your capital.

Any city. You can also park a unit (I prefer AA units) with medic promotions in a tile adjacent to your city for additional healing. (Don't park the medic unit inside the city because it appears the medic unit only heals units in adjacent tiles.)

Chum said:

There's also another bonus you've neglected to cover - the enemy cannot actively kill your bombers. You have to decide to put your bombers in harms way (to get them killed by interception, or overuse) in order for them to die.

As opposed to normal ranged units which the enemy can target, this is a pretty large bonus.

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This. Whereas ranged units are usually put in harm's way in order to make an attack, and you can sometimes lose one to an unseen counterattack (e.g. from a fast mounted unit), there's pretty much no way to counterattack a bomber, except as someone noted with a nuke.

Bombers' invulnerability to counterattacks (except by taking/nuking cities) is a significant advantage, but what I think is even more important is their ability to rapidly concentrate firepower exactly where you need it. Ranged units are powerful in a 1upt based game not only because they can attack without taking damage (though this is certainly important) but because, by nature of not needing to be on the front line, they allow you to make more attacks than you could make with melee units alone. In the same manner, air power adds another layer of firepower without taking up spaces near the battlefield that could be used by ranged units. Perhaps even more importantly, Bombers are fast. Instead of needing to crawl across forests and hills, they can simply rebase to a nearby city and start attacking. Their speed lets you launch invasions faster and, just as importantly, makes you harder to catch off guard, providing a level of flexibility that more than makes up for for the need to spend a few turns healing.

And beyond the broader advantages of air power, Bombers are strong because of the context in which they appear. With the Gattling Gun line of units limited to one range (without promotions), Artillery is the only option for back line ranged support in this stage of the game, and Bombers obliterate Artillery while also far surpassing its damage to units. Bombers, in short, would fill a valuable niche whenever they appeared, but the weakness of contemporary land based ranged units is what makes them absolutely dominant.

Do keep in mind the tech gap between artillery and bombers is quite big. Artillery are super weak if they ever come under fire.


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Browd said:

Any city. You can also park a unit (I prefer AA units) with medic promotions in a tile adjacent to your city for additional healing. (Don't park the medic unit inside the city because it appears the medic unit only heals units in adjacent tiles.)

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Great info!

I was not aware that it would help heal.

Thanks!

Bombers are also good for Anti-submarine warfare. An A/C loaded with Bombers, having anti-naval upgrades, combined with a screen of destroyers can be a very powerful sub-hunting combination. Using the bombers to make the kill means the destroyers only need to be brought within visual range, and don't need to spend a turn making the attack.

Aea said:

Do keep in mind the tech gap between artillery and bombers is quite big. Artillery are super weak if they ever come under fire.

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Absolutely, Artillery is great when it first comes around. It just sticks around for a very long time before it has a chance to upgrade, and by the end of that range (when Bombers show up) it's getting to be pretty lackluster against units.

Artillery gets destroyed by great war bombers also. The tech gap is not that big there.