Idea for USN DBs

[SeaKnight_1990]

I've been thinking this over for a while, but here goes:

 

USN dive bombers, in real life, were usually split into "scouting" (VS) and "bombing" (VB) squadrons. VS units normally carried 500lb bombs, while VBs carried 1,000lb bombs. I thought, how about if those get introduced, they have the same functions as AP and HE shells? 500lb-ers don't do much base damage, but have a small chance of setting a target on fire, while 1,000lb-ers don't have a chance of setting a fire but can penetrate armor. I seriously doubt this will ever get implemented, but those are just my thoughts. What are yours?

[RipNuN2]

They have mentioned a plan to introduce AP bombs but no time line, perhaps when they overhaul the CV interface.

[TenguBlade]

1000lb HE bombs are already used by T8+ American carriers.  AP bombs aren't likely to happen until we get more CAs in a match, because those would wipe one out instantly.  Last thing we need is even fewer cruisers, especially as far as keeping CVs in check is concerned.

[Carrier_Lexington]

1000lb HE bombs are already used by T8+ American carriers.  AP bombs aren't likely to happen until we get more CAs in a match, because those would wipe one out instantly.  Last thing we need is even fewer cruisers, especially as far as keeping CVs in check is concerned.

 

Umm, I think you're wrong. Currently, almost everything has Defensive Fire at high tiers. USN Destroyers, Carriers, Cruisers... the only things that don't have defensive fire are Battleships, and those are usually AA-specced anyway, so they can just wipe-out squads on their own, especially USN and KMS ones.

 

CV's aren't running rampage, if anything, they're suffering. German cruisers just happen to have better AA at Tier 8+ than American Cruisers with their already ridiculous AA? That's called AA power-creep, and, although it does make Baltimore players feel pretty useless next to a Roon, it makes the T7 CV who is playing against the Roon feel even more useless.

[TenguBlade]

Umm, I think you're wrong. Currently, almost everything has Defensive Fire at high tiers. USN Destroyers, Carriers, Cruisers... the only things that don't have defensive fire are Battleships, and those are usually AA-specced anyway, so they can just wipe-out squads on their own, especially USN and KMS ones.

 

CV's aren't running rampage, if anything, they're suffering. German cruisers just happen to have better AA at Tier 8+ than American Cruisers with their already ridiculous AA? That's called AA power-creep, and, although it does make Baltimore players feel pretty useless next to a Roon, it makes the T7 CV who is playing against the Roon feel even more useless.

And given the current damage formulae, a 1000lb AP bomb would do almost, if not more than, 20000 damage, not to mention having enough penetration to guarantee citadels on CAs due to the better penetration angle.  1 hit.  I don't care if all ships have DF at high-tier, that's not helping when bombs can still hit you with DF active.  All DF would do is reduce instant-death to near-instant death.

[pyantoryng]

Dive bombers hitting citadels with the existing HE bombs do happen, only that it is very rare...perhaps even rarer than detonations by a bomb hit.

 

...bombs should be able to fall into chimney, dealing full damage and destroy engine...

 

Though so long as dive bombers has extremely crappy accuracy compared to torpedo bombers, no amount of buffs is going to be enough to help them be competitive.

[StoneRhino]

Agree with TenguBlade, no AP bombs.

 

But also agree that that USN (auto drop) circle should be a little smaller

[WanderingGhost]

And given the current damage formulae, a 1000lb AP bomb would do almost 20000 damage and have enough penetration to guarantee citadels on CAs.  1 hit.  I don't care if all ships have DF at high-tier, those things hurt like hell.

 

Okay, lets take out for a second that AA is already out of control, the other CV, and the RNG that is DB aim.

 

HE damage is high on bombs as it is so they actually have some level of effectiveness. They've been buff multiple times because ships shrug them off. And that maximum damage is only if it pens and believe me, thats few and far between. Most cruisers, to my knowledge, have their citadels basically under the superstructure as opposed to just the deck, meaning that you have to pen in order to hit the citadel the superstructure, deck, the citadel roof and anything else inbetween. At it's weakest point, Leander would have about 30 mm of protection from bombs. Not factoring that, like AP shells, they'd likely bounce off angles. Not to mention an AP bomb is more likely going to have less explosives in it.  It's also different overall from normal AP as is. Lets take Gnei and Essex. A 1000 pound bomb from an Essex DB probably maxes out at about 600 mph, maybe less but it never breaks the sound barrier. As opposed to Gnei's shell that travels about 2-2.2 times the speed of sound and has double the weight. So my money would be on way lower penetration, and lower damage than an HE bomb, let alone a BB shell, the ability to ricochet or straight up non pen, or even over pen anything that isn't a BB depending on design. Using those ships again, the DB bomb would need to have enough penetration to go through 145 mm of armour to get to the most exposed part of Gnei's citadel. Meaning it's like just punch right through the  30-50 mm of armour of a Leander and go straight through before detonating. Basically akin to the way the Fritz X over penned every ship it hit.

 

1k bomb would likely max out at 7500 damage on a citadel hit, likely closer to 5000.

 

AP has been in the works for a while, they just need to finish it, for all nations. USN gets the heavier and arguably more accurate and durable DB's, it doesn't need an edge on that front or fighters, just loadouts.  But CV's just need an out right overhaul because they are just straight broken.