Bombing Guide

Don't know who wrote this one, but it was posted by Blind


aim to help up and coming B-Gear pilots undertand the workings of Bombing Mode in order to prevent some questions or even frustrations while trying to learn this complex--but deadly-- skill.

Many higher level players should know much of what I have to say before they even read this guide, but perhaps I made a mistake, or maybe my style or viewpoint on a certian aspect differs from your own.


The Basics

Ground Bombing Mode is first available for use at level 20.

- It uses 3 Skill Points per second. (It is a toggled skill.)

- It gives an addition to your minimum and maximum damage of your advanced weapon.

- It adds damage to the proximity explosion of those weapons (50m), which will detonate on impact. Simply, spash damage.

- Finally, it adds +2 (Until level 47) to your multishot of the adv. weapon. That's the second number, meaning a 1x2 weapon would become 1x4.

While you are in Ground Bombing Mode, you will not fire your advanced weapon as you normally do. You will notice that there is now a target on the ground showing the area in which your missiles (now bombs) will hit. Your missiles will come out of your Gear and head towards that target no matter what direction you are facing, be it vertical, horizontal, or strafing (on your side).

The most notible level for Ground Bombing Mode (hereafter dubbed "GBM") is level 47, at which the multishot addition becomes +4, further increasing the amount of missiles "spewed" by GBM.

Preparing for GBM

Stats:
Attack - You will want to have enough for your engines, and that is it.
Defense - Same as above.
Agility - Same as above.
Fuel - Enough to keep your weight under 70%. A Fuel stat of 27 is good up through the 50s. (Items get heavier and heavier as you gain levels, so expect to increase it every so often)
Shield - Don't even touch it.
Spirit - Ground Bombing Mode uses 3 Skill Points(SP) per second. Naturally, you're going to want to get as much Spirit as possible.

Things to note:
- These statistic reccomendations are for the common "Spirit Build" B-Gear. There are other variations that you may choose to use, but this build is highly reccomended.

- The B-Gear's 0m/s (speed) engine is a level 50 unique item (rare), the B-X. It has stat requirements of 48/48/48 (Atk/Agi/Def). This will probably be the "final" engine that you will want to use. It probably wont actually be the final engine you'll want to use. There will be engines for high level B-Gears, but I hope that by then you don't need me to tell you how to stat your gear.

Equipment:

Engine:
For GBM, you will want to use the slowest engine possible. Ideally, you want to have a 0-Speed engine, but keeping in mind that the B-X is extremely rare, you will likely settle into the level 40 engine from the shop. It has a minimum speed of 55m/s.

A low minimum speed will prove useful as you begin to use GBM. This advantage will be explained later.

CPU:
You will eventually want to try and get your hands on a CPU with high Spirit. If you're lucky, or very rich, the Toon Square PS FG-6A unique lvl 1 CPU is a nice touch, giving +20 to Spirit. At level 50 the Predude 7001 ARC is available, giving +15 to Spirit. At level 60 you have the ability to use the Tenpole Line 8 DDR, which gives a whopping +30 to your Spirit.

If you aren't lucky enough to have those CPUs, it is up to you to decide which CPU to use. I feel that the additions to Spirit that all other CPUs (Level 40 CPUs and lower) are negligible.

Weapons:
You are going to want to look at a few stats on your Advanced weapon in order to maximise your GBM effectiveness.

Minimum and maximum damage per missile: Notice that this is not DPS. You most likely never have the opportunity to fire an endless stream of missiles at your opponnent. Therefore, if you are only able to fire at your opponnent once you want it to count. That is why you want to have a good amount of damage per missile.

Amount of Volleys x Amount of Missiles per Volley (#x#): This is one of the most important things to look at for your missiles. GBM will add to the amount of missiles fired per volley, the second number. Multiply the first number by the second number and you have the amount of missiles fired per shot. This can make or break your damage per shot.

Induction Angle: This will affect the flight path of your missiles while in GBM.

Probability: Yes, probability does affect GBM! However, it's debatable as to whether or not evasion has any effect on GBM. In my opinion, evasion still affects GBM, but in a much diminished amount. I say this because you can fire 100% probablity missiles in GBM and still miss (although it's uncommon). Therefore, I like to aim for a probability around 90%-100%.

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Missiles to use
Hawk Class - These are the most commonly used missiles for GBM. This is because they have a firing pattern of 4x1, which will allow you to fire the most missiles possible while in GBM (12 missiles from lvl 20-46, 20 missiles from lvl 47+). Something to note; The level 48 Hawk is called a Speed, paired with your newly acquired lvl 47 GBM, you will literally become a flying bomb.

Advantages:
- The damage per shot is inbeatable.
- You're going to be firing a lot of missiles per shot.

Disadvantages:
- You're going to be firing a lot of missiles per shot. If you don't like spending lots of SPI on your weapons, don't expect to save money here.
- Hawks shoot 4 volleys. You're going to need to hold your target much longer than any other missile you could use.
- Using these as normal missiles will be hard.

Ancient Arrow (Final, lvl 40 one)[BCU Only] - Don't overlook this weapon! It acts in much the same way as a Hawk Class. You can't beat the reload price of 7SPI/100. The damage of these missiles isn't much, only around 100~ per missile, depending on buffs. However, these are great to use when learning how to really bomb well, since you won't be throwing away your SPI. You can still kill with these missiles (I have hundreds of kills on my AAs), it may only require an extra pass or so. The extra practice never hurts.

Advantages:
- Cheap as dirt.
- Same amount of missiles per shot as Hawks, but in half the volleys. You won't need to stay on target very long. (And the time between volleys is noticably shorter than Hawks, too.)
- Everyone gets one. You won't need to be lucky.
- They're Snipers without the multi-target.

Disadvantages:
- It's unique, so you won't be able to upgrade it.
- The damage isn't amazing. (But that shouldn't stop you.)
- Killing high level players (Especially M-Gears) will be a royal pain in the behind. Don't even try to 1v1 anyone level 43+ with these and have it easy.
- They're Snipers without the multi-target.

Arrow Class - This is another often overlooked GBM missile. It still can't compete with Hawk Class missiles of the same level, but if you get a set of Power Arrows (Level 37), they'll do roughly the same amount of damage as the Ancient Arrows (probably a little bit more, but I'm too lazy to really figure it out), only the damage will come from very few missiles.

Advantages:
- You fire a small amount of missiles.
- Large damage per missile.
- Using Arrows without GBM is available.

Disadvantages:
- You fire a small amount of missiles.
- Damage won't compete with Hawks of the same calibur.

Using Ground Bombing Mode

How Ground Bombing Mode Works

The Target
As I explained before, GBM is a toggled skill. You can turn it on and off at will. I also explained how it puts a target on the ground depicting where your missiles will fall. The target is roughly at a 45 degree angle downwards from your Gear. Sometimes it will be hard to see where this target actually is. The higher your altitude, the harder it will be to tell where that target is.

Generally, the target will appear between your Gear and the bottom edge of your screen. This is if you are flying straight and level. If you move your gear up or down this will change.




The target will never move in relation to your Gear, no matter what movements you make. It will move forward as you move forward, and turn as you turn.

Firing
Firing your missiles will be where some factors that we looked at before will begin to come into play.

When you fire your missiles, they will always head towards the target. Depending on the direction that you are moving; be it up, down, turning, strafing, your bombs will shoot out of your gear at a slightly different angle.

However, no matter how you fire your bombs, one thing remains true for all missiles.

When you fire your missiles, they will always come out of your gear from the bottom of your gear. They will then fly forwards a few meters (Roughly 50m, but don't take my word for it, that's a guess). Next, they will begin to turn downwards towards the target. The induction angle of your missiles will affect how quickly your bombs are able to make this turn. After the turn, the missiles will fly towards the target until they hit.




Aiming
Depending on when and where you fire your missiles, the missiles may hit the target dead on, or may miss completely. This is most affected by your distance from the target.

Keeping in mind the induction angle of your missiles, the higher the induction angle, the closer you can be to the ground and have the missiles still hit the white target. If you have a lower induction angle you will need to be higher up to give your missiles the extra time to make the downward turn.



The amount of volleys of your missiles will affect the accuracy of your bombing in tandem with the speed of your gear. This is common sense. If you are moving very fast, and your missiles fire more than one volley, the two volleys will not hit the same place on the ground. There are several reason to use a slow engine in GBM; your target wont be moving as fast, if you fire multiple volleys they will hit closer together, and you will be able to turn tighter.

To actually hit something, you will need to keep some things in mind.

In PvE and PvP, GBM will act differently. This is due to the fact that only in PvP do advanced weapons explode in proximity (excluding A-gears, but that doesn't matter for GBM). Remember how GBM adds a +50m explosion damage to your missiles? It isn't actually adding the explosion, only damage to the explosion.

In PvE it will be extremely hard to hit anything with GBM that isn't larger than your target (the one on the ground). This is because only direct hits will cause any damage to your target. I'd suggest that you only use GBM on things such as bases and bosses while doing PvE.

In PvP things change. Your missile/bombs will have a proximity explosion along with damage to that explosion. They will also cause splash damage to targets on or very close to the ground. You will also have to treat sieging A-Gears (the only ground target in PvP) differently from air targets.



If you want to hit a target that is on the ground, you do not need to have it selected, you will only need to have your bombs explode close to your intended target (technically, a flying target that is 50m or less from the ground may be considered a ground target). If you want to hit a target in the air you must have it selected. Only then will your missiles cause any damage to that target.

Remember, splash damage is not extra damage. Splash damage will only apply to targets other than your selected target. In addition, splash damage will not apply if you are bombing a target that is airborne (bombs won't cause splash damage unless they hit the ground).

Advanced Tactics

Attack Moves

"Air Bombing"
This is the style of bombing that will allow you to hit targets in the air while using GBM. You will need to have a good working knowledge of the trajectory of your missiles, along with the ability to quickly determine your situation and consider distances. You will also need to be skilled in maneuvering.

What you are trying to do with Air Bombing is one of two things. You either want to be able to predict where your target will be in the fractions of a second that will allow your bombs to intercept your target, causing them to explode on them instead of the ground. Or you want to get close enough to your target in order to "shotgun" them with your bombs.

In order to hit a target in the air with your bombs, you must have that target selected. If you deselect the target, or turn GBM off before your bombs explode, there will be no damage. Splash damage does not apply if bombs hit an air target.

Theres really not much to explain. Much of this will come from practice and experience, the best way to learn is to just do it. I can't explain in words how to know when you are too close or too far, or how to move your gear in the right way.

One thing to realize, however. You can damage a target that is above you. If you are very, very close to your target, and they are above your gear, if you fire you will still hit them. This is because you will be close enough to cause your bombs to explode as they are fired.


"A-Gear Circling"
This is a style of control involving strafing, turning, and "Quick Toggling" (explained below) that I use in order to allow myself to bomb A-Gears while minimizing the amount of damage that they can do to me. In essence it is similar to a figure-eight. You will need a very slow engine to do this (65-70~m/s or lower)

This maneuver is harder to explain than it is to do. You may not understand my explination, so I will make a movie when I have the time.

What you want to do is to get very close to the A-Gear that you wish to bomb, you want to be flying right over the A-Gears head. On your approach you want to Quick Toggle over the A-Gear as you fly over its head. As you pass the A-Gear you will then want to strafe to one side while moving your mouse to turn fully in the opposite direction as your strafe. As you continue your turn and A-Gear has just come back into your view or is just about to, switch to strafing/turning in the opposite direction that you were just strafing/turning. This should cause you to swing over the A-Gear's head a second time allowing you to Quick Toggle again. Rinse and repeat.

Alternative: Depending on the terrain that the A-Gear has landed on, it may be possible to circle the A-Gear tight enough to allow for your bombs to hit your target regardles of where you are in the maneuver.

Coming Soon...
- Video

Things to Do

"Quick Toggling"
This is something that every B-Gear player should be doing in order to prolong the life of their Skill Points. In order to "Quick Toggle", you need only to turn on GBM, fire, then turn GBM off afterwards. Keep in mind that if you are bombing an air target that you will need to keep GBM on until the bombs hit. If you are bombing a ground target there is no need to wait.

Thing that you'll want to keep in mind

- Missiles explode on impact. therefore, if a gear is flying by an envoronmental object (warp gate, rock, ground, etc.) within 50m, you can hit that object and cause the splash damage to hit your intended target.