Who else prefers Transport over Planes?

[Necksahn]

I just do not like planes. The first hit is fine, but then they do a wide return loop or pick a horrible next target if first target is dead.

With transport you can drop safely and the paratroopers are great meat shields that stay in front of rifles and howies.

I am guessing I am the exception as I only ever see people use planes over transport.

 

[Manifesto]

Firstly, planes don't pick a 'horrible' target, they pick the building next to the one that was just destroyed.
Deploying just one or two planes might be the problem. One plane doing that crazy loop will attract fire from all towers in the area.
Deploying multiple planes on several buildings will limit the amount of fire each one takes.
However, l have used paratroopers when they first came out, they do a great job of taking out towers inside walls.

 

[mkm1g15]

Transports take too much attention to properly use, whereas planes can get rid of defending tanks, and most importantly suppress defensive buildings, My strike fighters kill the silo in just one strafing run which means I don't really need to split my army even for war attacks!

 

[Manifesto]

Transports take too much attention to properly use, whereas planes can get rid of defending tanks, and most importantly suppress defensive buildings, My strike fighters kill the silo in just one strafing run which means I don't really need to split my army even for war attacks!

Also this.

 

[Necksahn]

I think planes take much more time. With transport I safely drop troops with rest of troops and done. They move ahead and keep AOE damage away from rifles and healing trucks keeping them alive. This also move healing trucks with rifles so snipers are not taking them out. At the end of a battle I’ll easily have many of them still alive.

Regardless, I understand that planes do have many other advantages and I’m giving them another try. I’m being much more careful with them in MP so they don’t die.

 

[Festivus]

Planes are also one of the best ways to deal with full SH troops. Pop a decoy, strafe with planes, and usually the SH troop problem is solved.

I have 5 supersonic fighters and they're tremendously useful in selectively targeting buildings that pose a threat to whatever part of my army is advancing a given area. And of course, as mentioned, a single strafing run takes out most missile silos, if they aren't defended well with towers and AA.

 

[mkm1g15]

Planes dude, the only way to go, I've seen pros struggle with paratroopers, when the sh is filled. 3 spots, for 30 seconds worth of 3 troops. Na man I'm good using planes. Go ahead an argue, still won't see a point

 

[yemen]

Both bombers and transports could be situationally useful, but overall irrelevant. There are a few times when I wish I had one. But far more when I don't, so I just build the fighters.

If you look at the numbers, all of these units are the biggest oil investment in the game. Fighters are a lot, bombers and transports even more. For amelia fighter upgrades are about 850k total, transports are 2.2m, and bombers another 1.1m. And bomber and transport armory upgrades cost about 20k oil more than the fighters for each individual level (transports don't start until global, so fewer total upgrades helps).

So basically, you can grind oil forever to get all three maxed, and then pick. Or you can just do fighters, and not worry about trying to get everything up to the max possible.

 

[melheor]

Basically what yemen said. Fighters synergize well with other fighters and the rest of your army, the other air units are situational. They may be useful against some war layout, but the high investment cost for the air upgrades only justifies committing to one of them.

If they're not working for you, maybe you're being overly aggressive with them or haven't committed enough into the research. It may not seem much because each one is only 1-5% HP boost but they add up. Also, as others pointed out, fighters work in groups. If you send out a lone fighter, it will die. That 4th fighter you unlock in Global does a lot more than just 25% damage boost, it's a game changer to the survivability of the other 3. Rule of thumb: it takes 4 plane attacks to take down a tower, that's 2 planes. With 4 fighters you can disable networks of towers rather than individual ones.

Plus when those field howitzers come out of the TC, are you going to send your paratroopers at them or fighters?

 

[sileepuppee]

It's situational for me but for use in war, you have to use planes. As mentioned above, just the ability to shoot down the stronghold troops, defenders or town center troops (Because of the damn radius glitch on the town center) makes them the best use as well as the suppression they give you. I like transports as well as they have slightly more precision to them however any sudden change whether the game freezes or lags or you use a tactic incorrectly, the transport is unforgiving since you have the cool down whereas the planes allow you to adjust. Transports would work better against weaker bases but when you have mk4-mk5 tanks coming at you, 3 paratroopers won't save you other than be a short lived distraction.

In MP, I actually prefer transports because the goal is different as I'm just raiding for resources and in the off chance you lose all your troops or netted dced, the oil loss isn't as much.

I would never use bombers other than maybe in MP for fun. They are just the glass cannons of the sky. No matter how much you upgrade them, they won't last long in a fight unless you're using to bomb resource buildings or you're using your tactics to protect them. When you first see them as an option in airstrip you get mesmerized by the damage numbers but after using them in war, you realize how much trouble they are. They can make the damage a 100k in a strafe but that's 100k you get to use once as it'll probably be dead after that first run.

 

[Saruman the White]

I almost always use Transports. I already like them and still have a lot of upgrading to do with them. Currently I'm experimenting with a strategy of Transport/Destroyers combo as well as Transport/APC combo, but can't bring you safe results. Another benefit to Transports is that you can have it trained much faster than 3-4 fighters. Of course I cannot underestimate the power of 3-5 fighters combo, especially when used in cooperation with tanks.

 

[duckfromhell]

I do like to use planes over bombers and transports, but thats only since i maxed them at atomic lvl.
At least now they wont die so easily.
What i find terrible about planes, is that they almost never take the 'designated' path to the target, they make large circles from the target and if you are so unlucky that the target is destroyed before your planes get there, they just circle above enemy bases looking for another, not designated target.
On top of that, planes are a pain in the butt rebuilding, with no way to speed up the rebuild.
what i would expect from the planes is that they go to the target the shortest way, attack it, make a small circle (like the bomber behaviour) and get out of there. If a target gets destroyed, i want them to return home. Only in that way i can take control over my attack and use them way longer during an attack. During looting (i loot bases that are easy for me), i dont care, but during wars (i attack ppl my lvl and higher), using planes are a pain cause even my fully upgraded planes wont last much longer then 1 strive (mostly deep into territory for targets like silo's) and thats mostly due to those large circles and 'wondering around'...
so yes they are helpfull (more then bomber/transport), but they surely do have their flaws which musnt be ignored...

 

[Manifesto]

Planes head for the target you select, do a figure 8, then come back.
If your first target is destroyed en route they pick the building next to your original target. It's annoying but not rocket science.
Their flight path isn't flawed. Once you get used to it they're easy to use. If you want to attack deep into territory for silos then planes should be:
a) on their very first run (with full HP) or
b) used when ground troops have destroyed the first line of defense.
Planes are like any other troop, to be used strategically. You can't use them for deep strikes all the time.

 

[Mcnasty]

I agree with manifesto. Planes are awesome when you know how to use them. Their flight path is different from a bomber because they are completely different planes. One drops the other shoots from the front of the plane so realistically it would need to take bigger circles to come around to take the second shot. So when a target is destroyed and it moves to the next target it has to readjust it’s stride so it can hit the target. Having them come back right away if their set target is destroyed is a bad idea. So many times I’ve set them on a target and it gets destroyed before they get there and boom they take the defence beside it that I was gonna hit next and if they did that then that defender you locked onto dies and instead of going for the next one it flys away while they take out your howie. If used right you rarely have to retrain them, maybe one or two here and there. The only time I have to fully retrain them is if it’s war and even then they did what I needed them to do.

 

[Saruman the White]

Another strategy I'm experimenting with is the 1 Bomber / 2 Fighters combo. I'm quite happy so far

 

[Necksahn]

I upgraded my fighters a couple more levels and still like transport (similar level) a lot more. My transport rarely dies and the little paratroopers absorb a lot of damage as they walk ahead of main force.

im guessing this will change after I move into atomic and get APC as it will do the same thing.

Im not one of those players that have to be ‘different’ and will use whatever works best even if everyone else is doing it. In this case I am clearly the oddball.