Stealth Fighter Bunker Busters

[Me Myself & Pi]

I resently discovered that Stealth Fighter Bunker Buster Bombs will clear out any garrisoned building! That includes Palaces, China Bunkers, & Tunnel Networks! (Vehicles won't get destroyed, but that get pushes out of the tunnel! If this is followed by an aurora at just the right time, then the vehicles will get destroyed!) I knew that they cleared out tunnel networks because it says that in one of the game hints that appear after a game. This will be very nice to know, espiesally for clearing out Infantry General Bunkers. Note. This doesn't work for clearing out vehicles.

[Daishi]

Yeah, it's pretty cool, but you have to sacrifice a lot to get your hands on it.

If you get the chance, try using them on Internet Centers. ^^

[Derek]

This isn't anything remotely new, this is what bunker busters have always been meant to do and has been known since the day Generals came out.

[Daishi]

Yeah, but still :3

Use Tomahawks/avengers instead deal with those inf bunkers.

The Stealth bomber actually has some worth against field units (never misses vehicular targets unlike the raptor), but it gets owned even in that role by all the standard anti-USA combos, so no matter your situation, you're better off avoiding it on official maps.

[drgNz~]

I resently discovered that Stealth Fighter Bonker Buster Bombs will clear out any garrisoned building! That includes Palaces, China Bunkers, & Tunnel Networks! (Vehicles won't get destroyed, but that get pushes out of the tunnel! If this is followed by an aurora at just the right time, then the vehicles will get destroyed!) I knew that they cleared out tunnel networks because it says that in one of the game hints that appear after a game. This will be very nice to know, espiesally for clearing out Infantry General Bunkers. Note. This doesn't work for clearing out vehicles.

Welcome to Zero Hour Online 1.04. Is there anything else you've only recently discovered about the game that you feel is worth sharing with us?

[Zancloufer27]

If stealth fighters didn't require a Gen point, and where cheaper... ...wait thats USAF! Yeah, they are useful to send crap flying to. Micro'd Stealth Fighter + Tank = No more tank. (I sent one flying, and it crashed of the map :D )

[Daishi]

It the stealth fighter could hit aerial targets as originally intended...

Let's just say they removed that feature at the last minute because it was too powerful. 0_o

[Me Myself & Pi]

Bohoo :cry: Bunker Busters don't work on internet centers! :( :cry: But still, I think it's worth it to clear out buildings, though it does cost you $1,600 for the fighter & $1,500 for the upgrade. Although it may very for Air Force Generals. But, the enemy loses the money he paid for the infantry & you save the money that your've lost for losing your units to them.

[Star Wars Man]

I couldn't help but laugh at your spelling of "bunker". :lol:

Anyway, yeah, the bunker buster is a really cool weapon. Nothing like sending a Chinese Supply Truck up in the air, only to have it come crashing down again. One of my favorite moments. :D

[SgtRicko]

I remember the first time I saw the bunker buster in action. I was thinking, "eh, it's probably gonna just cause an effect similar to a flashbang or bomb truck", then BOOOM!!! F***ing enemy inf in the bunker flew all the way to the other side of the screen in under 5 seconds, and I could've sworn that the nearby quad cannon caught about 3-4 seconds of airtime!!!:lol: :rofl: :lmao:

[Zancloufer27]

Would stealth fighters be worth it if they started with bunker busters? Seriously though, they can really disturb enemy movement, and a well placed one can send tanks flying so much, the landeng will KILL them :D

[Daishi]

Yes, indeed, but it would be devastatingly overpowered on chokepoint and urban maps like TI, where USA already gets flashbangs. The best solution in my opinion is to make the stealth fighter cheaper, closer to the raptor, so that it has some use/expendability even without the upgrade. Plus, it would be nice to increase the damage the bunker buster did against structures to slightly less than you can attain with the raptor.

[Derek]

Stealth bombers will probably never be really useful, they do crap damage to everything except base defences. Tossing tanks around is fun, but it doesn't serve a significant purpose, the tanks take no damage and recover in a few seconds.

[Zancloufer27]

Actually, some hits if placed well enough will damage/Destroy the tank. I'll see if I can get a Shot or replay of it.

[Burning-Wheel]

don't the bunker busters tip over chinese supply trucks??

[Zancloufer27]

Yeah, they disturb veicle movement in General. Sometimes it can be serious.

[drgNz~]

They're fair useless against everything.

a) There should be no base defences for you to target
b) Whatever a Stealth Fighter can do, a flashbang/tomahawk can do just as good.

[Derek]

Their one use is to force-eject vehicles from a tunnel, followed immediately by either Auroras or Commanchee rocket pods.

[Alpha and Omega]

Honestly, they should be permanently shealthed while in the air. They shouldn't have to become visible to attack. Make them visible on the ground. The only way to see them should be with advanced radar on certain defences. I've had too many stealths get owned by quad cannons to put up with this balancing garbage.

[drgNz~]

Trying to balance Stealth Fighters ends up un-balancing other things, so it's not really worth it.

USA has MDvees. The bitter, ugly truth is that that's all they need. ;[

[SgtRicko]

An idea might be to make the shockwave do minor damage, abeit over a large radius... it might make the stealth fighter useful in larger numbers then!

[Alpha and Omega]

Trying to balance Stealth Fighters ends up un-balancing other things, so it's not really worth it.

It doesn't unbalance anything if the unit is worthless as it is. Try balancing high instead...every unit should be important.

[Derek]

It doesn't unbalance anything if the unit is worthless as it is. Try balancing high instead...every unit should be important.
Ideally, yes, but right now ZH has more pressing issues, like faction balance. If ZH were a game where only one unit was used, then it would be important to make other units more useful, but right now the vast majority of ZH units are useful, it would be too much trouble to make those last couple of units useful.

[Daishi]

It doesn't unbalance anything if the unit is worthless as it is. Try balancing high instead...every unit should be important.

With the exception of the sentry drone, every single unit and upgrade, including the stealth fighter, has its occasional uses. The only faction that has an every-game good use for the stealth fighter though is USAF in combination with late-game comanche sting. (you make KRs instead early game) Eventually you come to love their ability to clear palace and stinger site defenses quickly (with a laser defense to boot) so your comanches can pass unopposed.

[yurihomer]

sentry drone has its use, u can use it as spy drone. ;)

[Daishi]

Yeah, until you realize that its detect range is pathetic. Empty vee with scout drone is just as expensive and can do any damage at all, still with a better sight and spotting range. Add 3 MDs for $900 and you have the equivalent of the drone gun upgrade. Which one do you want to build?

It's a waste of paper, and I've never seen an enemy build it. Maybe in 1.05 you can use it with your laser tanks to help detect, but why not use a flash-pathvee?

[Derek]

Yeah, until you realize that its detect range is pathetic. Empty vee with scout drone is just as expensive and can do any damage at all, still with a better sight and spotting range. Add 3 MDs for $900 and you have the equivalent of the drone gun upgrade. Which one do you want to build?
Equivalent? An MDvee is far more powerful than the drone gun! That thing does pathetic damage.

The Sentry Drone has one use that I have actually seen done before: Owning newbs in the most embarrassing way possible.

[Daishi]

Equivalent? An MDvee is far more powerful than the drone gun! That thing does pathetic damage.

I thought it was clear I was talking about the expenses lol.

Oh, and Sentrydrone/Infantry/Dozer/Chinook/Patriot only vUSA battles are the shiznit. ^_^

[Derek]

That would end up as a drop spam game. If you've ever played a USA mirror where one USA lost all their dozers and WFs, you will know what I mean.

[Daishi]

Hell yes it would, always does! :D

Then someone builds vees and ruins the fun. :mad:

[Sparky9292]

Stealth bombers will probably never be really useful, they do crap damage to everything except base defences. Tossing tanks around is fun, but it doesn't serve a significant purpose, the tanks take no damage and recover in a few seconds.

I've had a strange fascination with Stealth Bombers and the Bunker Buster upgrade lately.

What they are good for:

Killing troops garrisoned in regular buildings.
Ejecting vehicles from a GLA tunnel - follow this up by a secondary strike at those vehicles.
Killing stinger sites, gatling guns, patriot sites. You might think they won't survive going head to head against non-mobile AA defenses, but by the time the patriot/sam site/gat gun starts firing, it's too late to kill off the stealth bomber.
Flying across areas populated by anti-air units that don't have stealth detect technology i.e quad cannons, missile defender troops, RPG troops etc.


What they are NOT good for:

Killing regular infantry, tanks - the resulting blast might flip some tanks but rarely does damage.
Will not kill troops inside GLA Battle busses.
Bombing tanks -- while the SF bomb is deadly against base defenses, for some reason it's puny against tanks, quad cannons, etc.

[drgNz~]

Thanks for the bump, all that information is pretty much covered in the last 3 pages of the thread.

[Sparky9292]

Thanks for the bump, all that information is pretty much covered in the last 3 pages of the thread.

Yeah, but some future noob will appreciate it all being on one post. :scared:

[Delta-4]

Flipping vehicles with a bunker buster? Launching infantry insane distances as well?
Hot damn, I can't wait to get my new CD drive! :hyper:

Maybe someone should try a MOAB/BunkBust combo. See how much launchin' power that has!

Would be hard to pull off, though, as the MOAB does hit rather quickly...
Anyone got any micro ideas?

[Sparky9292]

Flipping vehicles with a bunker buster? Launching infantry insane distances as well?

It CAN do that, although it won't damage the infantry nor vehicles.

However, the fuel-air bomb of the alpha aurora bomber will launch and kill infantry.:devil:

[Zancloufer27]

For the 5th time, you CAN damage tanks with Bunkerbusters.

[drgNz~]

He meant that the flip from the BunkerBuster doesn't do any outstanding damage to a vehicle/infantry.

Surprised they do any damage at all ;s

[Zancloufer27]

Well, sometimes they WILL kill the tank if they send it far enough. Not to mention they become useless while flying around.

[Daishi]

Well, sometimes they WILL kill the tank if they send it far enough. Not to mention they become useless while flying around.

Like the stealth fighter? :p

[SgtRicko]

Well, sometimes they WILL kill the tank if they send it far enough. Not to mention they become useless while flying around.

Works best if there's some impassible terrain or water around.

[C4]

Like the stealth fighter? :p

:lol:. Well..., i'm laughing but i do sometimes use'em with USAf (and in the Nuke challenge they rock).

[Sparky9292]

He meant that the flip from the BunkerBuster doesn't do any outstanding damage to a vehicle/infantry.

Surprised they do any damage at all ;s

Yeah, it's just that the FX is so awesome it looks like it would do massive damage. I get chills when I hear the sounds of the bunker buster exploding.:flame:

I'd like to think that it demoralizes the enemy when I use them.

[C4]

I'd like to think that it demoralizes the enemy when I use them.

It's a man's right to dream, insn't it?:lol: