Planetside 2 Liberator Bombing Confirmed!

[Malorn]

Bomber ace platinum twice over back in the day, I know a few things about bombing.

High Altitude was useful when you wanted to hit a target, avoid infantry-based AA, and buy a little time before aircraft would be on you (because they had to fly up to the flight ceiling). It also required you to know where the target was and worked best on targets that were stationary, namely an AMS, but also areas where you just wanted to put some suppression so ground troops could make a push.

Bombs have two advantages

1) Potential for a lot more damage. While a 150mm cannon is more precise and better at suppressing an area, the greater distance the more inaccurate it becomes. It's effectively a low-altitude bomber. Sure you can use that cannon on stationary targets at high altitude, but it's about tradeoffs. Bombs are just as good at stationary targets and potentially a lot better at suppression. So you make the tradeoff for accuracy of the cannon vs the power of the bombs. Less accuracy, more pilot skill required, and more restricted in target choice, but it could be very good at suppression and taking out galaxy anchors.

2) Effectiveness at high altitude. Bombs can be effective at high altitude because you don't need to be super precise, and if they're strong enough even one hit can be enough. At high Altitude a lib will have fewer ground threats, and the tailgunner would be in an advantageous position against enemy aircraft. Chances of getting over the target to apply the payload is much higher at high altitude vs low altitude where one can easily pick up an enemy fighter and be more susceptible to infantry and tank-based AA. Flak is also more effective at close range when more shots can hit the target and with less delay.

A lot of strategic lib runs are suicide missions, but if they take out their target that 2 or 3-man crew could make a significant impact on the immediate battle.

That's why I loved the Liberator. It was something that, if used correctly, could make a huge difference. It was like an Orbital Strike on demand, only better. If a lib takes out an AMS by the time it gets replaced the position may have already been lost. By taking out a cluster of vehicles at a repair silo you can give your own tanks a bit of breathing room to make a push. By hitting the vehicle pad you slow down vehicle production. By carpet bombing a hot hill you can give close air support to infantry. All good things that impact the flow of battle. That was the value of the lib and its bombs.