- Yes
- No
The Problem: Bomber Obsolescence
For years, the survivability of bombers in War Thunder has fluctuated through various buffs and nerfs to airframe durability and defensive gunner AI. Currently, bombers are in a precarious state. At lower BRs, they can be anywhere from easy to moderately difficult to shoot down, but as we move into the Jet Age, the balance completely collapses.
Standard bombers currently spawn at roughly 4–5 km altitude. While this was acceptable for WWII-era prop combat, it is fundamentally broken in the era of supersonic interceptors. Aircraft like the F-104 Starfighter, F-106 Delta Dart, and Lightning can reach 5 km in a matter of seconds. Combined with maps that grant these interceptors an air spawn, bombers are often intercepted and destroyed before they are even halfway to their first bombing base.
The Current Crisis: The “Nuclear Thunder” Experience
The recent addition of legendary strategic bombers like the Tu-95M and B-52H has shown how deep this issue goes. These aircraft are incredibly popular, leading to long queue times, yet the gameplay experience is often “Spawn and Die.”
Despite their massive size and historical roles as high-altitude platforms, they are forced into the same 4–5 km spawn window. In a typical match, they are intercepted by jets before they can even level out their speed. Historically, these aircraft were designed to operate at altitudes exceeding 10,000 meters (10 km) to stay above the effective ceiling of many early interceptors or to give them time to react to incoming threats. In the current game state, they are merely “target practice.”
The Proposal: Selectable Spawn Altitudes
To fix this, I propose that bombers should be allowed to choose their entry altitude on the spawn screen, similar to how players choose fuel loads or weapon presets.
- Available Altitudes: 4km, 5km, 6km, 7km, 8km, 9km, and 10km.
- Mechanic: Upon selecting a bomber in the spawn menu, a dropdown menu allows the player to select their desired altitude.
- Balance: To prevent bombers from being “untouchable,” this feature would primarily benefit high-tier strategic bombers that currently lack any defensive utility against Mach 2 interceptors (For example, Rank 5 or BR 7.0 and above).
- Exception: Jet bombers. This is for the jet bombers that we have in the game currently and for those that will be added in the future (i.e Tu-16, Tu-22, Tu-160, B-1, Valkyrie). Also depending on their speed and how quickly some bombers can achieve high altitude. B-2’s maximum speed is only 630 mph on the other hand, even though its a jet bomber.
This suggestion is not going to massively benefit bomber players, interceptors will still be able to shoot down the bombers but it will take them longer to do it, possibly allowing bomber players to have more time to react and defend themselves.
We are slowly heading into a new phase, where bombers in War Thunder will become missile carriers, nuclear bombs carriers for future game modes and for the first time in many years, “bombers” will become dangerous again (if you remember Tu-4 players wiping out bases and airfields you’re a legend).
Please let me know what you think, share your thoughts and suggestions here.
