Cadet II/Stealth bomber

Stealth Bombing

Stealth bombers are like stealth fighters, except they are slower, even less maneuverable, less stealthy, and have less hitpoints. They make up for all these downfalls simply - they can mount SRM Anti-base. They are cheap $250 per craft.

However they can only carry 2 missiles per rack and, considering how easy they are to kill once eyed, this means sb pilots must work in teams with very good timing in order to destroy a base. In the hands of a good team sbs can be devastating, eliminating bases before the enemy even realise they're under attack. In the hands of a bad team they can be useless, with different pilots flying to different enemy stations instead of teaming up.

The Loadout

Right, this one is actually pretty easy. Keep or toss snipers/util, it doesn't really matter, take off your missiles and shields, stick missiles in the cargo hold. Fill your cargo hold with at least two racks of AB and fill the rest with a mix of AB and hunter. You're probably only going to get two AB off, but you might get lucky or might be able to hit an alternate target. Me personally? I take no hunters along. Any ship can kill a scout, but only *I* can kill a base. If you have a heavy cloak, take it in cargo. If you don't it's not a big deal. Just make sure to have at least two racks of AB missiles.

Target Selection

Whatever the com tells you to! Seriously though, techbases get priority, and that expansion needs to go down asap. Pulse probes make SBing a bitch (though not impossible!)

Picking Your Route

Although the shortest distance between 2 points is a straight line, you can't apply this logic when stealth bombing. First there is the problem of getting from one sector to the one where the target is located. Before launching stay in base and check out the commanders view, look for probes that have been spotted, caltrops on the alephs, drones on the aleph and if there are any scouts/figs camping the alephs you need to go through. Look for rocks to use as a shield from your opponent.

There are a handful of general rules to follow when picking your route:

1. Try to not take a direct path from one of your bases to one of their techbases
2. Try to enter techbase sectors from other sectors the enemy has bases in
3. Try to pick alephs far from the enemy's base
4. Try to convince someone to fly escort in a heavy int or advanced SF or whatever, especially if alephs are likely to be camped. Even a scout will do sometimes.

Once you have selected your route then you launch and instead of going straight for the alephs take a moment to hit f3 and look at your sector map. Instead of blundering into those probes that the opponents' scouts have laid and your team hasn't found, go a little out of your way to within 1k of the aleph (sometimes 2k if a lot of probing is suspected), then cloak and proceed through.

It's vitally important to always be cloaked whenever you enter an aleph... whether it's friendly or not. So, yeah. Always be cloaked when entering or exiting alephs.

Wait until you are at least 2k from the other side of the aleph before dropping your cloak (this allows you to be clear of those nasty little probes that have been placed around the aleph). Rinse and repeat with every sector you have to go through till you get to the target sector, then you won't uncloak until you get set up for the attack.

Eventually you will make it to the target sector. Now under some circumstances this calls for a direct charge to the target, but under most it's time to hide. Different factions have different scan ranges for their teleports, refineries, bases and outposts. Also to complicate things further you have to worry about if the enemy has pulse probes or not (in which case you must try to stay about 6,000m from them or the nasty little things will find you). This is where use of TEK will benefit you immensely. Take the time to play with SB's and base comparisons in TEK. Learn the basic scan ranges!

As soon as you are in the sector, head away from anything that can scan you. Select your f3 mode and make a waypoint somewhere at least 5k from the target. Remember the map is 3 dimensional, so either go high or low when you make the waypoint. Be aware of the scouts and fighters in the sector, and choose your waypoints accordingly, the further away the better. Monitor the situation and move your stealth bomber as the enemy appears. When you reach the minimum distance from the target and keeping all enemy assets at least 5k from you, uncloak and recharge.

Coordination

Now if the target is only a teleport or a refinery you may be soloing this, sometimes outposts are suitable for this tactic, although it's not recommended against the tougher factions such as IC etc. Know how many missiles it is going to take to destroy your target. Know how long your reload and arming times are. These are critical factors often overlooked on a solo run by a newbie.

This makes the coordination of several stealth bombers a prerequisite to the destruction of the large target- mAs in all missions PAY ATTENTION TO THE CHAT. Determine who is going to call and coordinate the run The one calling this attack sets the range and then all stealth bombers move into position and report they're ready for the attack. All ships will then cloak and move toward the target from different vectors. Usually 3 stealth bombers can take out a tech base or a shipyard, but to insure success a higher number can (in many case should) be used.

Many teams will employ multiple offensive moves at the same time. Send an eyed bomber to one sector, have an attack start on some miners in another sector, start a solo SB run on another target in another sector. The whole idea is to draw off the defenders from the primary target.

Setting up

Congratulations, you've made it into the enemy's sector and they haven't seen you yet! From here on out, stealth bombing is a piece of cake. You need to set up at x distance away from the base, and wait for the others to setup. The distance "x" depends on a few variables. Well, ok, just the one. You want to set up 5-6k from the base and off the beaten path, unless they get pulse probes in which case you want to be about 7-8k. This is just a rule of thumb, so if someone's running the show and says "6k" against a team that doesn't have pulse probes, just go "6k." If your com says "Set up at 6k" and you know they have pulse probes, press "`2" and say "they have pulse probes" and then say "set up at 8k." Sometimes the commander doesn't realize they have pulse probes, sometimes the commander's just an idiot who's never seen a stealth bomber before let alone flown one. In any case, don't be afraid to be cautious

Once you're X distance away, deloak and let your energy recharge. A lot of people will tell you to "look away" i.e. to face away from the enemy ships/station. This can both help and hurt you. It will make it more difficult for people trying to find you by hunting eye, but it also means you might not see a scout tracking you till it is too close.

Now you wait for the right moment. Right when everyone's ready, you should turn around and look before you leap so to speak. Once you hear "ready" you know the run is about to start, so turn around. If they've got a bunch of defence out (say a corvette is there) then you guys get to say "no, no, let's wait a second." Wait a second (SB is about patience), and then try again, or wait for a distraction.

Actually making the run

Easy peasy from here on out. Engage full thrust and use your forward thrusters, milk yourself for every bit of that 80 m/s you've got. Engage cloak at 8k if they have pulse probes, 6-5k if they don't. Equip missiles at 2.5k, fire at 1400. Keep shooting until you're dead or the base is dead. If by some miracle you survive (unlikely), dismount missiles and try to fly off.

Note You will probably get podded on this run. If you get off 2 anti-base missiles you have done your job, so don't worry at all about losing your ship. Try to keep it alive, but keep in mind it is SUPER UNLIKELY that you'll be able to do so.

Alternate techniques

Technoflux

TF sbs are painfully slow, and imo are the worst SBs in the game. Some people feel differently however, and that's great for them. Since you have no missiles you can actually do a fairly easy uneyed run, but you don't have the nice 1400 range, meaning that heavy cloak runs aren't quite as effective. Also they're slow. Still, these are stealth bombers, and are still amazingly effective. Note that you can choose between two anti base guns; EW-AntiBase and PE-Ion Blaster. Ion Blaster is stronger but needs ammo(=limited firetime). Start your run with shield and 4 racks of ammo in cargo. I use EW-Anti Base only if my team has AB3.

Rixian Unity

Some say Rix are the best stealthbombers in the game. I disagree, but that's only because there's something inherently wrong about Sig Cloak 3, Heavy Cloak 2, sig GA 2 Bios AB3 SBs. "Wait, our base just blew up? WTF?" Rix can be the same way. See, station drone 1 has a range of about 1k and station drone 2 gets 1.2k, so you can hang out at like 1.1k from the base and blow it up without them knowing you were there. You can get no closer than 1k, btw. This is epic, but I still feel like you shoudln't be trying to solo techbases. Instead, get a team of three Rix SBs. SBing with rix is a little different too: instead of going straight towards the base, try to end up moving around the base at 1000m, dropping the combat drones the whole time. REMEMBER: You have to have the base targeted!

Omicron Hive

Omicron Hive SBs use front-mounted PW weapons like the Technoflux sbs. This gun is slightly less fast firing, and is the basic PW Hammer that the OH Bbrs use, you know, the one researched in the sup. Much like Technoflux and Rix, these benefit from PW range and PW damage GAs, while most SBs use missile damage GAs to modify their damage output. OH Sbs also have a turret, but don't let anyone board it: all they'll do is get you eyed and waste ammo that you need for your PW Hammer.

Belters

You get booster, feel free to take it and an extra fuel pack along (minimum 2 racks of AB though). Use it just before the 1400m to try and boost that range to 1500m, or use it to help get you into a sector by boosting before the aleph. The other point about Belters SB runs is that Stealth Fighters can nan. So in many cases it is worth taking a SF nan with each bomber for the extra survivability.

Nerve Gas

Nerve gas is far more difficult to use, but the payoff is much larger, as your team ends up with a base. Nerve Gas Bombers are a separate type of stealth bomber which..

• Have signature increased to 150%
• Have only missile available, which is SRM nerve gas (costs $1000 each)

They are far more difficult to use as in addition to the greater difficulty of sneaking around (with the increased Sig.) you need another bomber (normally a stealth bomber or three) to remove the shields. After the shield is down you can capture the base with the expensive nerve gas missile (so don't miss and waste that cash). The missile moves very slowly, and it can be shot down easily by some switched on defenders. The missile has a range of 100m and a lifetime of 8 seconds. So it's true range is 100+8*80= 740m if you go full speed. It is really hard to use, but if you are successful, you get a base for free. Mount the missile at 3.5k and pray.

Heavy Cloak

If you have heavy cloak, do the above except before you switch missiles, switch out your sig cloak for the heavy cloak. Then load missiles and stay at 1k, firing missiles into the hull while uneyed.

Summary

• No shields or missiles loaded, carry at least 2 racks of AB missiles, heavy cloak if you have it.
• Try to take an indirect route, try to have an escort
• Always cloak when entering an aleph
• Hide at 7k, 10k if they have pulse probes
• Cloak at 6k, 8k if they have pulse probes
• Load missiles at 2500, fire at 1400
• Stay at 1000 if you have heavy cloak
• Enjoy your ride home!