B17s are awesome

[KillingMeSoftly]

I know they're an early Modern unit and most people don't like late-game unique units, but the B17 is really awesome. It starts with Evasion and Siege; recruited by a city with Military Academy and Brandenburg Gate (or Total War social policy) then you can have fresh B17s rolling off the assembly line with Logistics, Air Repair, and Siege II.

In my American game as soon as I built four B17s for my two carriers, I declared war on Rome (one of the other superpowers) and completely decimated him. 60-90 defense cities don't last long at all against eight attacks every turn from freely repairing Siege II bombers. Next promotion you can pick up Siege III for even more silly damage to cities.

 

[ggmoyang]

And more good thing is you can make B17 after Stealth so you can build B17 and upgrade to get free promo...

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Great...for late era starts where they make the big difference .

 

[RealHuhn]

Great...for late era starts where they make the big difference .

In my opinion - not really.

On emp/imm difficulty (I never play deity), it's pretty easy to simply play the tech game, save a few GS/build oxford/get two free techs from scientific revolution and bulb your way through a desired late game unit.
Then rushbuy or upgrade and win a domination victory in ~30 turns (depends on the map).

Winning around turn 200-230 (standart settings) is very possible this way. Sure, you can tech to mech infs a bit faster than bombers but B17s are certainly more effective and fun against tough AIs.