Bomber Crew, a World War Two flight-sim game developed by Runner Duck puts you in command of a Lancaster Bomber and its crew, flying missions over Northern Europe during the Second World War. During World War II the brave crews of these bombers only had a 55.6% chance of surviving their nightly missions. The odds of your crew surviving in this game are not much better, but there are some things that you can do to improve their odds.
Recruit the Best
At the beginning of the game there will be several empty spots on your crew, you will need to recruit people to fill those spots. You will get three options for each position in the seven-man crew. You can review these candidates in the recruitment building, you will be faced with a number of candidates normally three for one position and the rest will be made up of candidates for any other open positions on your crew.
Concentrate on the three candidates for the same job at the moment, each will have an overall level for their primary role on-board, as this level increase the crewmember will learn perks and abilities that will give you an extra advantage in combat. They will also gain an additional skill at a certain level, depending on their primary role. We will talk more about this later.
As well as their levels they will also have five different statistics. Armour determines how much damage your crew can absorb. Speed shows how fast they can move between stations on-board. Thermal determines their ability to resist the cold weather at higher altitudes, if a crewmember get too cold they will not be able to function. Oxygen shows how long this crewmember can hold their breath in a low oxygen environment before they start to take damage. The final stat is Survival, which is divided into two parts, land and sea, this determines the survival percentage of a crewmember that is forced to ditch or crash over that environment.
Looking at the three candidates going for the same position gives you the best chance of selecting the best candidate. You should pick the crewmember that has the best mix of all of these statistics combined, to ensure your crew is as efficient as possible. Once you have picked a candidate the rejected ones will file out to be replaced with more for the still open positions, again giving you a better chance of getting the best candidate.
Equip Them Well
Once you have recruited your crew you will have to kit them out with gear before you can send them on missions, after all a military without a uniform is just a mob. There are different pieces of equipment that you can buy that will improve a crewmembers stats. For example buying a winter jumper will increase that crewmembers thermal stat. At first you have a limited selection of clothes to buy so you will have to buy everyone the starter flyer set, and if you can afford it a few winter jumpers.
The more missions you fly in Bomber Crew will unlock more equipment, remember to return periodically to upgrade ensuring the crews continued survival, as their missions get harder. I have found that the best way to do this is by using the pre-set gear that becomes available for each job and augmenting it with better flak vests and thermal gear, this should give you maximum survivability.
Diversify Their Training
As I said earlier as your crew members level up they will be able to learn a second job aboard the plane. The level at which this second skill unlocks depends on what their first job is, the bomber unlocks his second job at level three but the pilot has to wait until level seven. As you unlock these skills you should insure that you have a second person able to take on each role on the plane, this means that should a crew member be killed you will have someone to take their place.
I have found that, in Bomber Crew it is best to train the bomber and engineer to be extra gunners and have them man the two spare gun turrets when they have nothing else to do in flight, this will give you maximum firepower most of the time. You should also train at least two first aiders, to help deal with the inevitable casualties.
Fly High
One of the main threats that your crew will face is anti-aircraft fire from enemy flak guns. These guns are at their most effective when you are flying at low altitudes, therefore if you fly at medium altitude you will avoid the worst that these guns will dish out. The problem is that in the early stages your navigator will not be able to give you new waypoints at this altitude, and your bombardier will not be able to see their target.
Therefore the best strategy is to fly at a low altitude until the navigator gives you a waypoint then head up to medium altitude until your pilot complains that he needs a new one. Then head to low altitude again and repeat, this should keep you out of the worst of the flak. Once you spot your bombing target you will have no choice but to keep to a low altitude in the early missions, however if you have avoided as much enemy fire as possible up to this point you should be able absorb the damage the enemy guns dish out until you have destroyed your target.
Add More Guns
We have finally found a world where Donald Trumps solution works, too bad Bomber Crew is only a game. At the beginning of the game you will have a small amount of money to upgrade your plane adding another turret should be the first thing that you do. This will give you just that extra little bit of firepower that you need to get you through when facing enemy fighter craft.
You will also have the opportunity to upgrade your turrets from time to time, this shouldn’t be your first priority but if you have the cash to spare start by upgrading the tail and mid-upper turrets first, as they see the most action. The ventral turret should be next on your list, and the nose turret last as that is the one that is manned least often. A word of warning though not all the turret upgrades will increase your damage therefore only invest your hard earned money if the upgrade will increase your damage per second or you run the risk of making your guns less effective.
Armour Up
As you progress through the game you will unlock more upgrades for your plane, these include the ability to add armour to different sections of your plane. You should do this as soon as possible starting from the tail end, and wings, which are most often in the line of fire then moving forward through the rest of the plane. Doing this will add weight to your fuselage you will therefore have to upgrade your engines too. You will have a few options here to but you should always go for the next numbered engines. The armoured engines are good for defence but they do not increase the maximum weight your plane can carry. Meaning that you will not be able to add more equipment to it.
Prepare Well
At certain points in the game you will be offered key missions, these are missions that are supposed to represent key moments in the war. They are harder than the other missions that you will have undertaken up until that point and therefore should not be tried until you are as well prepared as possible. Fortunately you will always have at least one other choice of mission to undertake, you should do these missions until you have upgraded your plane to the highest spec you can achieve at the time.
These strategies should help you succeed the first few missions of Bomber Crew without any casualties, however if that fails there is one last thing that you can do.
Cheese It
If you find that most of your crew are dead, your engines have fallen off of your fuselage, there is a raging fire in your bomb bay and you feel that all hope is lost, there are a few things that you can still do. You can try and have your crew bail out or your pilot attempt an emergency landing. There is a chance that some of your crew will survive and be rescued.
However if you don’t feel like trusting your luck you can pause the game and select the “quit to main menu” option. This will as the button suggests take you back to the Bomber Crew main menu, when you reload your game you will be back in base before your plane has taken off making it like the whole disastrous affair had never taken place. This is a cheap move but if you just can’t bear to lose your precious crew, we wont judge you.
Thank you for reading. If you enjoyed this guide you can find more on other games at www.thezombiechimp.com.
Share this article:
Ben Satchell
Ben has been playing games for nearly thirty years, there isn't a game genre that he hasn't tried and enjoyed. His favourite genres are action adventure games, RPG's, and the occasional FPS. Ben is relatively new to the world of game journalism, and writing in general. However he enjoys the opportunity to share his enthusiasm for all things gaming related. He also enjoys various types of books, T.V, and films of all genres
Ben is also a fan of outdoor sports. When he isn't playing games he can be found climbing up or kayaking down something steep, that he probably shouldn't be on. The injuries that he receives from doing these things then leaves him more time for games.
Warcraft Tavern
Warcraft DB
Diablo Tavern