Look if you had one load out, one tactic, to bomb a base, would you do it or just not waste your time?
I spaded the A-7D exclusively in Ground RB which took a little time because of the lower RP gain but it was quite effective from the start til finish delivering a positive 50%+ win-rate and a great experience with multiple tactical options for different situations, you could get away with dropping dumb bombs in the beginning, I routinely had multiple kills with the Mk81’s.
For the F-106 event I decided to spade the A-7E in Air RB and boy was I in for a slog.
Here are my stats:
83 games, 37% win rate, died 68 times, killed 10.
Now maybe I was just unlucky with the matchmaker, the last two modifications took 15 games which had a 27% winrate and I was trying to experiment with a different tactic using the AGM-62s in some of those.
Now for the good part, you don’t actually become more effective in Air RB as you grind modifications, the extra speed you get has a negligible effect on your performance when it comes to gaining RP, because your first loadout is the most effective load out you get, so there is literally no gain from playing Air RB. The Mk 81’s is the only viable load out if you want any research points.
The reason is simple; the Mk 81’s can destroy 2 bases with two 16 bomb drops if you are lucky and the game decides to let you drop 16 at once, it only has a like 80% reliability for me for some reason even if I keep the space bar depressed. And they have a very low speed penalty which is paramount because you only have one viable tactic. Which is to fly nap-of the earth as fast as possible though the middle of the map and hope nobody notices you, that way you have like a ~65% chance that you get to bomb a base before you die.
If you fly high, you die, if you flank, you die, if you try to use heavier bombs, you die, if you try to fight, you die, go for ground vehicles before the match is effectively won, you die. Everything you meet is faster, more agile, more lethal than you. You are their dream RP pinata, a voluptuous bus of no recourse free RP hurling down a straight line and your countermeasures only delay your inevitable end as cannon fodder.
I tried being fancy using the AGM-62 as standoff, then go for ground targets, but you can’t get in range of a base in time, you meet the enemy too early and can’t drop or if you are lucky enough to drop them, then a teammates swoops in with napalm bombs and takes the base before the bomb land.
I don’t know why the speed penalty is so great just going from Mk81’s to mk82’s but it’s massive and it only gets worse as you go up in “caliber”.
So don’t do it, don’t lose yourself with this aircraft.
But I am no ace, did I miss something?