Bombers run to find entry points, not bomb walls. Why?

Because for this particular behavior, (attacking a building for a few seconds, then moving on) they haven't. This info predates gold walls, or even PH8. Bombers have always attacked buildings to soften them up. I wondered about this way back in October, and that was the explanation given. This behavior is by design.

 

Okay, so the softening up (ADD as I called it in my post) is intentional, but others have noticed that they shy away from high hit-point walls, and the devs haven't offered an explanation or claim it doesn't happen? Is that the concensus?
Also, my observations were that they'd be at a wall and bombing, and then go off at high speed to somewhere else? Others have noticed this, yes? Do we have any answer on why? Is this an unfixed coding error (sorry Bugs went away with vacuum tubes, code that doesn't work correctly is an error made by the coder), by design, or just a mystery?

 

And they will completely take out a building alone on a small island, put there to help prevent Total Destruction, at least in my experience, so that's a nice touch.

 

The High-HP wall avoidance (more accurately, they seek out the lowest level wall to attack) seems to occur for most troops. There was a strategy around for awhile where people would deliberately place a lower level wall in a strategic place to "encourage" troops to move towards it. It worked with some success. However, there also seemed to be a point where higher-level troops begin ignoring the siren song of the lower-level walls, and just go for the closest one.

Yes, this is a wonderful thing they do. However unless there are no buildings left to destroy, they will sometimes leave a high HP building standing, and move on. Weaker structures, such as outhouses, huts and the like, they almost always stay and destroy.

 

So I was pretty much spot on with my ADD description. They can't stay focused long enough to take out the higher HP building. They see a pony somewhere else and go after it...

 

Haha.. Just had 3 bombers 'soften' up a PH (down to about 10%) then move over to the ship and attacked it to about 10%.. Them move over to take out a lighthouse that was close by, then back to finish off both the PH and the ship. Talk about a short attention span. But was fun to watch...

 

I just hit a base that should have been vulnerable but the bombers REFUSED to blow the walls even though there was nothing else in the vicinity to blow up. Clicking Kaboom did nothing. The bombers ignored me even though they were not in an excited state; ie, no exclamation marks above their heads.

NOT HAPPY!!! Really CRAPPY A.I. !!!

 

They go for the opening because it's *easier*. Dead man's trigger + kaboom will solve your problem - I bomb through triple max walls in every attack.

Exclamation point does not prevent kaboom ability. Some people complain that the ability button sometimes does not work, but I have never seen this. Maybe it happens on some devices?

 

Few things..

1. There is a short delay from when you hit Kabooom and it activates.

2. As stated earlier, when a bomber is attacking something, the explosion from Kabooom will almost never damage that structure. An attacking bomer is standing too far away. Kabooom only works well when the bombers are running between buildings (and thus, closer to them) and when stuck in a multi-layer wall.

 

i just send all bombers in a tight pack and wait for them to start running along the wall to hit kaboom.

 

I send them in groups of 5. If the first group gets distracted, the second group will *usually* go for a wall.

 

I send one pack of 15.

 

Clump together/row/ or depends?

 

He said in a tight pack. So I think clumped together.

 

Just curious because when I do that 2 or 3 mortar hits take them all out

 

I rely on that! By clump I mean I rapid-tap my finger as fast as possible to deploy all 15. They might end up in a short line but definitely not a long one. I send one jugg ahead of the bombers only if there is green grass that might have a mine. Then I send the clump of bombers, who either start bombing the wall automatically, or I use kaboom as soon as they are next to the wall. Then they will continue bombing the wall automatically after that, and as defenses fire on them, their self-destruct damage blows the wall open further. The second kaboom trick is interesting but not really necessary or beneficial in most cases (and will be fixed in the upcoming update). Then I send in the rest of my troops, by which point the wall is either wide open, or with one damaged piece remaining for brutes & skellywags to finish taking out. I rely on the bombers dying both because of their self-destruct damage, and because I then revive them before sending in gunners, to keep defense fire off of the gunners.

 

Thanks for that @Raptelan

 

The key is deploying in the right spot such that all the bombers stick together and reach the wall still grouped. If they split up you might as well surrender. They will split up if you deploy them in the center of something they need to walk around, or if you misjudge what their target will be, etc. Remember that the bomber's target is the closest BUILDING (defenses included), not wall, to the deploy point. It will change only if that building is destroyed before they get to it - in that case their new target will be the closest building to their current position - this can cause them to break up if they are almost equidistant from two different buildings and some choose one and some choose the other. Safest is to deploy them only when there is no remaining risk of other troops destroying their initial target before they get to it. They will only bother with walls automatically if the wall in the way does not seem more convenient to walk around. They will be drawn to weaker points in the wall that seem like less effort to get through (as will all other troops), which smart layouts usually have protected with a Ground Pounder. They, like all other troops, will only walk between buildings, even when those buildings are destroyed, and will not walk between certain adjacent buildings, such as a touching ship and guild ship, guild hall next to the ship, or certain smaller buildings next to the guild ship. Usually the best way in to a base is the strongest-looking part of the wall, but it requires getting the bombers next to it to kaboom and self-destruct to get them working on it.

 

Sorry if this is a dumb question but do you get them clumped together better this way than by just holding your finger down to deploy them all?

 

Yes.