How to use bombers without micro

[Valki]

With most of my gaming time going to Starcraft 2, generally I like to micro a lot here. I have no problems with bombers when I micro them, I give them targets manually one at a time, or spam targets and hit Shift+G.

However, when I just want to send 10 bombers to do some damage to an advancing army, or to a base and I just sent them they hardly seem to do any damage.
Once I sent 5-8 bombers against a large group of mantis (with defending interceptors), the bombers made 1 or 2 passes before being destroyed and not a single mantis seemed to have been destroyed. In this instance I used Alt+move.


I have tried three things, all seems to result in the bombers hardly doing anything:

• Alt-move
• Patrol over target
• Assist friendly unit near target (usually ACU)

So please, some advice. How do I command my bombers if I do not have the time to micro them?
Or, if I cannot micro them, should I hold them back until I can because they are useless on their own?

If it matters I usually play Aeon, sometimes UEF.

[Resin_Smoker]

First off you have to realize that bombers are not defensive units as they're made for attacking. This is compounded by the fact that the bombers have a turn multiplier which is randomized. This can lead to bombers overshooting their targets without attacking if the turn radius is too short. Too great a turn radius and they risk being shot down before they can attack. All this makes their potential DPS uncertain at best and at worst ineffective.

In short if you're still using T1 bombers after the first 5 to 6 minutes of gameplay it's a waste of mass.

Resin

[Aurion]

First off you have to realize that bombers are not defensive units as they're made for attacking. This is compounded by the fact that the bombers have a turn multiplier which is randomized. This can lead to bombers overshooting their targets without attacking if the turn radius is too short. Too great a turn radius and they risk being shot down before they can attack. All this makes their potential DPS uncertain at best and at worst ineffective.

In short if you're still using T1 bombers after the first 5 to 6 minutes of gameplay it's a waste of mass.

Resin

I disagree. T1 bombers are great for killing clumps of auroras (one hit and they pay for themselves) or engineers assisting a factory. Softening up armies is also usually worth it if they hit lots of units at the same time till late in the game. Keep in mind that they usually only get one pass and it's still worth it to build them in quite some situations.

[Resin_Smoker]

Well thats just it... Bombers are just one big IF.

Great if they hit but most often they wont without heavy micro. This is pretty much the case the the original author of this thread. Notice that he used multiple bombers without a single kill...

So either he needs to defend his bombers with a limited number of interceptors or he should refocus his efforts / mass else where.

Resin

[Aurion]

Well thats just it... Bombers are just one big IF.

Great if they hit but most often they wont without heavy micro. This is pretty much the case the the original author of this thread. Notice that he used multiple bombers without a single kill...

So either he needs to defend his bombers with a limited number of interceptors or he should refocus his efforts / mass else where.

Resin

Well, I'd hardly call it micro to provide the bombers with a target. But if that's the problem of OP then yes, with random targeting they do nothing meaningful.

[Kalvirox]

Aeon bombers are really good because they have EMP, so for killing units the are actually pretty alright.
I agree though, if you are not going to build bombers to kill power or engineers then there is little point in building them unless you get air control early and you can afford to build bombers to kill units. Then go for it. Abuse that air control. ... But even then I would build a bit more power and get gunships anyway.

[Valki]

Thanks, this clears things up for me.

I thought I was doing something wrong but they are just 'difficult units'. I usually set a few on patrol around my area for scouting and to defend isolated mexes, and as their numbers slowly build up I want to use them against enemy armies as well.

I think I will no longer build more than 1 or 2 in my standard force, and get gunships sooner, unless I have a plan.

[Aurion]

I thought I was doing something wrong but they are just 'difficult units'. I usually set a few on patrol around my area for scouting and to defend isolated mexes, and as their numbers slowly build up I want to use them against enemy armies as well.

You need ground units versus ground units unless you get gunships (but you still need a significant ground force excluding some navy maps I guess). Patrolling bombers to defend stuff is really inefficient at least.

[Valki]

You need ground units versus ground units unless you get gunships (but you still need a significant ground force excluding some navy maps I guess). Patrolling bombers to defend stuff is really inefficient at least.

Auroras are not cost effective when defending against raiding early on, to defend against 2 mantis, without radar coverage and micro, you need 5 auroras or so. That's why I want an early defensive bomber, just to get those annoying raiders that are difficult to chase or got close to my auroras.

I just thought I could easily call upon them to help with big frontal assaults, but apparently that just doesn't work.

[ZLO_RD]

talking about t1 bombers:
-Bombers are not very effective against mobile units, unless land units are moveing in formation, or tightly packed just by accident or players micro.
-Against bombers you can change direction where your army going just before bomber wants to drop and it most likely will result in bomber missing targets or not dropping at all
-Aeon and Sera bombers are much better against mobile units

you can use them to defend against raids, but from my experience it is not very effective

My answer would be to use attack move, but still bombers would be not very effective without micro

But if you play on a big map and game goes long you can sometimes start continuosly making bombers from 2-4 factories and send them to different sides, with attack move right from factory, in order to harras opponent expansions and attansion, or force him to spend interceptor fuel on patrol, or split his air force (so you can fight with your air only against half of his air) or making him build t1 aa everywhere... bombers will also work as scouts xD.

also possible to make them to fly couple circles on your territory before attack move, so any time you will have some bombers available, so you can micro them and target enemy radars or reclaiming engineers or shields that went offline, or maybe even t3 mobile arty that left it shield cover