Target audience for this guide:
1): Every player who wants to utilize the rather rare option in (prop) Air RB for tactical / strategic game play outside the TDM option
2): Every player who has lost or won on this map by tickets - but has no clue why.
3): Every pilot who has played 5-8 vs 1 there and managed to lose by tickets.
Why creating this guide?
Prop Air RB is extremely boring on new (or old, but revised) maps. Norway is a very unique map which allows to play around mostly pre-determined outcomes - as the MM decides most of the matches. This either by unbalanced lobbies (regarding player skill and/or vehicle distribution), questionable nation pairing or plain stupid BR settings by gaijin.
Depending on daytime and your server choices you might get this very old legacy map often or not. Usually you play there in smaller lobbies with the old axis vs allied matchmaker (GER/IT vs US/UK/France).
Sometimes gaijin adds the USSR, France and even Israel to the axis powers, but i saw it never (exception France) the other way around. These exceptions look like classic matches (=USA vs the World) during peak times on the NA server - so no axis vs allies MM.
What i have noticed:
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Based on my perception almost nobody of the players in both teams knows what is necessary to win there outside the TDM option as almost nobody has a clue how the game / ticket mechanics on this map actually work.
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As i played the map over the years way too often (and won often without or just a single kill alone vs up to 8 enemies) i decided to create a guide regarding the best strategies for both sides.
Important:
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The map is one of the few maps (like Malta) in which bombers can ensure ticket wins as it is a 3 bases map - killing them triggers an additional ticket drop which is usually decisive if tickets decide the outcome.
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In deviation to most other maps killing ai ground targets like aaa or arty and even landing craft / ships have no ticket impact. Exceptions are very late spawning landing craft (3 groups, 6 in each) and bases.
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I summarized my view on challenges (and dos and don’ts i see almost every time on this map) for both sides considering the setup for 95% of the matches happening there.
As a rule of thumb:
Allies tend to lose more matches lower than BR 5.0 / 4.7 but win most of their matches above BR 5.3. But actually decisive is quite often the plane and payload choices of US players and the BR distribution - meaning as soon as your highest BRs are occupied by 4-engine bombers (like a 3. men squad of 5.7 B-24s in a full downtier - had this last year😂) its getting complicated…if allies have 3 or 4 UK (not US) 5.7 Spitfires the picture changes.
Main challenges for axis teams outside the TDM option:
Summary
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As axis pilot it is often decisive (for matches decided by tickets) that you kill enemy bombers & bomb carrying strike aircraft / fighters before they kill your 3 bases. Usually you face a mix of some high flying B-17s / B-24s / Lancasters and low approaching A-26s, Wyverns and standard fighters.
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Locating the high bombers is rather easy (and 99% fly straight from spawn to a base) but for locating low level targets you need to watch for aaa fire of own ai ships between the allied spawn and your bases to locate them in time.
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The challenge here is to kill those bomb carrying aircraft in one pass as you will get swarmed by allied fighters. If all 3 bases are destroyed (like you are too late or low flying enemies took them out) it makes sense to disengage and to focus on fighters or to defend A point (see next point).
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On top of that it is necessary to ensure that allied ai landing craft (which come in waves) do not capture the small axis airfield at A point. Preventing this capture leaves allied pilots just the option to repair and rearm on their carriers and most allied pilots have serious troubles to land on a carrier.
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As axis bomber pilot you have to know that the TNT requirement for a base kill is lower than on maps with respawning bases and that the highest match BR determines the necessary TNT requirement. As i saw during the last grinding event even Bf 109s attacking bases: Your choice, at least try to finish already damaged bases as just destroyed bases have a ticket impact.
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As Me 264 or Do 217 pilot: Trying shenanigans like low level runs or flying straight to a base works actually quite often for the initial drop but this is usually a one way ticket as most players struggle with the retreat part.
Some months ago i watched in a replay a pair of 264s flying an ultra wide loop to the north (the map is actually quite large) and attacked the allied bases from the north taking out all 3 of them and extended back to the north. One of them survived at very high alt and ensured a ticket win.
Recommendations and Dos & Don’ts for axis teams:
Summary
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In case your (fighter) aircraft can carry bombs and your bombers failed to kill all bases entirely and in case you face just a few remaining enemies - it is actually smarter to rearm at your main airfield, load the most effective bomb load (C 250 or C 500 best choice) and finish hopefully the last base (either to get a ticket lead or to at least equalize the tickets) instead of trying to find the last enemies on this ultra large map. Alternative: See #5.
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Do not waste you ammo with attacking ground units on the island with the 3 allied bases - killing arty or aaa has zero ticket impact and the aaa fire reveals together with the kill feed your location.
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Do not try to kill the 3 aircraft carriers near the island with the 3 enemy bases. Even in the unlikely case you would manage to kill them all - they will respawn. I managed this together with some other Ju 288s around 2018/19 (usually a B-29 somewhere in orbit as last enemy) multiple times (1 hour matches) - after around 5 minutes they come back. In the years after this the carrier aaa became quite nasty, carriers got way harder to kill and the mission score is rather disappointing.
Recommendations:
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In case you (as a bomber) have a ticket lead and bombs left and all 3 enemy bases are gone and allied ai landing craft captured your small airfield at A point - the airfield is then marked as bombing target. Trying to kill this base is technically seen impossible in 25 minute matches but you can (depending on remaining payload) get the rather rare Tsunami reward (5,000 SL) as the landing craft “park” in clusters at the shore.
Ofc trying to score a bomb kill of a landing/repairing/rearming allied aircraft is the better option. -
As an alternative to point #1 and based on your experience level: In 5.0-6.0 battles it is quite common to see that even if you have 3 Ju 288s, a Me 264 and 5-6 GER/IT 5.0 fighters your bombers still fail to do their job - either they overspeed in their race to the bases (or team kill each other on their way), get intercepted by carrier fighters taking off from the 3 carriers near your bases or bomb the same bases without killing all of them. In such cases it depends on your expectations how they might / will perform - it might make sense to strap bombs under your Italian P-47 D-30 in order to finish just partially damaged bases. Fly a very large loop towards via the north - if you see they were successful in killing all bases you can drop your bombs - (re)arming with bombs later in the game is often impossible in case you are outnumbered / your team collapsed as your main airfield will get camped.
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In case the allied team has just one guy left (running to ensure ticket win) and you have no bomb payload options (to equalize tickets or to get a lead by killing bases) you still can win (in theory if gap is not too large) - by attacking the 3 clusters of landing craft which spawn very late game. Like on other legacy maps (like Sicily or Stalingrad) you have to kill all craft in a cluster before you see a ticket reduction. These landing craft will spawn at 20:30 game time in Grid F3 (=north of A point) - whilst the 3 clusters for allied teams will spawn in Grid G 3 (= south of A point).
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In case a team mate tries to re-capture A point (after allied ai landing craft captured it) - stop them from trying this - there is no airfield capture by players in Air RB. They will get automatically captured by the game or are just a free target for a strafing run when they try to land or take off . You see this quite often that players try this on Saipan (B point airfield) or Malta (small axis airfield B point).
Main challenges for allied teams outside TDM option:
Summary
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Based on my perception of matches on Norway in the last 2 years it happens quite often that your team manages to kill some (if not all) 3 enemy bases, but loses the team-fight as too many players carry bombs leaving the few dedicated fighter players outnumbered.
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With some experience you can even predict such outcomes quite accurately by analyzing the whole lobby before you spawn.
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That means: Your match plan is actually strongly connected to your team composition. So depending on your team, their used aircraft and (looking at US players) their chosen payloads you have to be flexible and react to their choices instead of trying to play like usual.
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Even in case you are an exceptional pilot flying a P-38 K able to wipe out entire lobbies the ticket mechanics will decide the match against you if one or two smart enemies know what to do.
For non-exceptional players like me some examples:
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Example #1: You see in the loading screen a bunch of Wyverns and one or two A-26s. It is fair to say that most of them will make it to a base and they will die after the drop - but they will create a ticket lead for your team so it makes sense that you try to intercept axis bombers trying to bomb your own 3 bases on the island in the north in order to deny the axis team to equalize the tickets.
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Example #2: You see in the loading screen a bunch of rather good Spitfire pilots and basically no bomb carrying aircraft but you noticed that the enemy team consists mainly of (squadded) fighter players with some guys looking like bomber players.
It makes sense either trying to intercept enemy bombers (example #1) or trying to kill at least one base (like with a P-47 or an FR-1 with seamines) with a sneaky attack profile (near map border from 4-5 km after most of the enemy team is spotted fighting above A point) in case you assume that you team might be able to kill all approaching enemy bombers. Even if both teams are exclusively fighter aircraft (which is not uncommon) a single base kill might be decisive.
Your strategy should consider also the BR range of your match:
Summary
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Example #3:
You fly a P-47 D-28 and you face a full uptier to 5.7. Your own 5.7 players are all rookies (just check vehicle stats) and the rest of your team is carrying bombs. You face GER, IT, France, Israel and the USSR. That means that even their bloody 5.0 I-225s will catch you - so it doesn’t matter if you can clap the 109 K-4s - You will end up playing 1 vs all.
In such cases i recommend trying to kill a high flying enemy base bomber and extend to the north - flying completely away from the island with your remaining bases and (ofc) the Island with A point.
The idea behind this is obvious:
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Your team has (as usual) managed to create a significant ticket lead and most enemy axis players have no clue that they need to kill bases to at least equalize the tickets whilst killing standard ground ai like aaa or arty has zero ticket impact. Fighters chasing you can’t load bombs in order to kill or finish your own bases.
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That means that all you have to do is to stay alive in order to win.
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Most dedicated fighter players are min fuel spammers - meaning over time the number of chasing enemies will get smaller and guys breaking off won’t have a 2nd chance to be a threat if you keep up your speed and high alt.
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I described in this post how i managed to win 1 v 8 with a single kill (Jewish B-17 on axis side😂) and by outfueling my most dangerous enemies.
In order that this strategy works you have to use orders - usually your US/UK team dies rather quick. If you play in such 1 vs all situations you have to find the right balance between staying alive (and hidden at best) and preventing enemies from killing your bases. In the best case you can combine this with a single order.
Example: As soon as your last team mate dies and you saw in the kill feed that bomb carrying aircraft (like IL-10s or Su-8s) are still alive activate an anti-mech order. Most players completely forget base bombing and start ground pounding like there is no tomorrow - despite that their tickets will not be reduced. In addition you won’t get “blind-hunted” by the enemy team.
Summary
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Example # 4:
In case you get a 3.7 - 4.7 match you are fine if you have more UK players than US players in your team. In case you have a full US team your team gets usually totally outclimbed whilst your bombers fly straight to the enemy bases. In almost all of those matches below 5.0 your team is unable to kill all bases and your US team mates manage to die within minutes. On top of that a lot of Ground RB players using planes like Do 335s or Do 217s and will attack your bases.
Recommendation #1:
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Accept that you will play 1 vs all after 6-10 minutes. Anything else is highly appreciated but not granted - as either you have an ultra- exceptional player with you (and he kills everyone) and all you have to do is flying top cover for him (happens) - or (way more likely) your last teammate is a rookie in a stock plane without time or passion for a strategic game play. But as mentioned usually you are rather quick the last guy in your team
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Try to convince one or two own fighters to intercept axis bombers heading for your bases in the north
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Expect that your bombers or strike aircraft won’t be able to kill all 3 bases
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If you fly a P-47 or FR-1: load bombs / sea mines - your main goal is to finish damaged bases after your bombers and strike aircraft died and after the enemy interceptors retreated from the area as they either fly towards the center or try to repair on A point or their main airfield
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Be patient and activate a random 5 minute order in case your team dies too fast. Anti- mech works great as they will head towards A point or your bases
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Use an attack profile / attack route which allows you to finish or kill bases and extend from the bases away from the center of the map at the same time as aaa will reveal your location on top of the vanishing base markers and the sudden ticket drop will alert enemies
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That means in an ideal scenario (and if you look on the map from direct above) you extend towards the west below the enemy airfield and initiate a high speed shallow climb as your main goal is to create the maximum level of horizontal distance as fast as possible
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Distance is important as the map does not end in this corner - you can actually fly very long straight and climb way behind the enemy main airfield whilst in addition your red square is not visibble for enemies near A point as the map is very large
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Activate another 5 minute order direct after your first 5 minute order ended
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As soon as you are above 6 - 6.5 km you are safe - even Bf 109 Zs or G-6s have severe issues to get even close to you
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This strategy works great with a P-47 D-28 or a FR-1, the main difference is that your top speed advantage of the FR-1 requires lower altitudes (4.5 - 6 km) whilst the P-47 shines above 7 km
Recommendation #2:
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In case you fly a USN or FAA fighter: Use the carrier spawn (no bombs as long as carrier take-off is bugged) and intercept low approaching bombers or strike aircraft
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Ignore incoming fighters (like 109s/190s) with bombs - those guys are no threat - no need to waste ammo
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Trust your team that they kill more bases that the axis team (whilst you try to kill their bombers / attackers before they can drop)
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In case there are no low or high approaching bombers or strike aircraft: Extend to the north as you got spotted by the guys which climbed above their own bases looking for bombers and you will get jumped if you stay too long in that area
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In 80% of the cases you play then 1 vs X whilst you have a ticket lead
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Based on the kill feed data and the guys already spotted it depends on your plane performance and applicable skill how to proceed - either delaying enemy blind hunt orders or to attack in case you can get a winnable 1 vs 1 and you don’t lose too much energy so that you can be caught and get swarmed by the remaining enemies
Dos and Don’t for allied teams:
Summary
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Act like you play on a Pacific map - meaning landing and repairing on one of the 3 carriers is very risky and puts you in a severe disadvantage vs enemies - therefore you have to avoid damages at all cost and conserve your ammo
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Assume every time that you have a 25 minute match - take enough fuel (and conserve WEP) as it happens rather often that (axis) strike aircraft kill all of your ai landing craft so A point does not become an allied airfield
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Try team chat to prevent your own fighters from attacking airfield aaa and arty on the small airfield at A point - even if they face inexperienced enemies these guys are not stupid and can read the kill feed too - especially as axis aaa is either located at A point or near their bases and killing aaa and arty has no ticket value
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Avoid dogfighting above A point - even if the af aaa there is not as deadly as on standard maps you will get damaged and then see point #1…
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Don’t over-commit as long as not all enemies are spotted and you have a rough idea where they are. Know your planes and those of your enemies - disengage if you are sure your enemy won’t make it back to his main airfield due to ongoing oil/water leak
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As these matches are usually decided by TDM “rules” your main goal should be to identify the best enemy player and the most dangerous aircraft. Usually its the same guy, but certain planes (even flown by rookies) can put so much pressure on you that all your planning was useless - that’s why you should also track these guys and extend far enough from them as your goal is in most cases to secure the ticket win for your team.
Current example regarding effectiveness of tactical game play:
Summary
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I played with my FR-1 two days ago Norway in a rather rare 3.7-4.7 match and played as described in Example #4, Recommendation #1. ([replay link]
(Gaijin Entertainment - Single Sign On)) -
The main reason why i chose the base bombing approach was quite simple: I noticed whilst waiting in the loading screen that my sole 4.7 team mate was a rookie and i expected as worst case 4 Bf 109 G-6s on the other side. In addition i had 3 bombers (2 x B-25, 1 x SB2C-4) and a P-51 Cannonstang (which would get hopelessly outclimbed) in a 6 vs 6 match. The last teammate was in good plane (P-51 C-10) but looked like a rookie - so i decided to play the long game. The 2 later spawning friendlies (leading to an 8 vs 8) did not change my rather pessimistic expectations.
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I finished two partially damaged bases (after distracting the enemy team with a 5 minute order) and created with this an irrecoverable ticket lead; the axis team could not prevent that ai landing craft captured their small airfield (A point) and i was later unable to locate the 2 remaining enemies.
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I had indicators by own aaa (ground and ship based) firing at somebody below me but i had no trust in my rookie teammate to cover me in case i attack one of the two last enemies and get jumped by the other. So even the FR-1 beats any German fighter in a 1 vs 1 - if you can’t reliably assess the time to kill and you have no clue if your target is alone or not it makes no sense to risk a clear ticket win. So i decided to secure the ticket win by extending.
Hope this guide might help a few players to make better decisions whilst playing on this map.
Have a good one!