Are air units useless?

[FishintehPond]

(this doesn't count guppies) Both strafers and bombers can't do anything vs deep creeper, and there are better ways to deal with thin creeper. And Bomber take a lot of AC to use, and there's never enough ore to feed one.

[J]

Bombers were initially designed for deep creeper like cw1 drones, strafers for thin creeper. Now bombers are loaded with ac instead of bombs, which is better for thin creeper.
Strafers are now good against digitalis. If you can cut it off near the emitter an entire branch of digi will fade away. Strafers are better against deep creeper than thin creeper, but I prefer bertha's for that. Strafers do use less energy though.
Bombers can be used to clear a distant area for a guppy to land. It doesn't only clear the (thin) creeper but also keeps it away for some time.

The air units are useful sometimes, but it depends on the map.

[teknotiss]

(this doesn't count guppies) Both strafers and bombers can't do anything vs deep creeper, and there are better ways to deal with thin creeper. And Bomber take a lot of AC to use, and there's never enough ore to feed one.

speaking as a strafer mad "overkill via hot laser death from the skies, MWAHAHAHAHAHAAAA" type of player, i'd have to disagree with the postulation!
strafers are actually very good, however they do, i'll concede require a lot of power (but, of course, so do most weapons). bombers have their uses but i'll waffle about strafer tactics for a bit first.
as J said they are very effective against digitalis, so putting a group of 9 or 18 strafers on an emitter can stop D being an issue for you.
but personally i like to deploy them, in addition to anti D duties, in huge numbers against every emitter and at points key to advancing.
if the map is basically max size, i'll use 27/36 per emitter in the end, building up my energy as i expand to allow for large numbers of strafers, and using the strafers as i build them to push back at the creeper.
while they don't have the spectacular impact of a bertha, they do have a cumulative effect in keeping down the C. and deep creeper isn't immune on low pressure maps.
on high pressure maps berthas are more effective, but strafers can still keep the D back!
Bombers are very good for taking landing zones on island maps, and good for backing up attacks on inhibitors.
i often build large numbers of bombers, starting early, if there are 5/6+ mines, even if i can't use many sprayers being able to use 54+ bombers to simultaneously drop on a LZ or near an inhibitor can be a fairly effective strategy.
I have made a few maps with LOTS of AC or ore mines (other have too, and remember if there are AC emitters your sprayers can gather AC and send it to your CN's), try some massed bombers on those perhaps, fun if nothing else to watch all that C disappear  ;)
hope that helps or enlightens a little, feel free to ask for more info if you like 8)

[Dragonkat]

On those maps with a larger amount of mines or AC emitters to support it? Try building PZ bombers, then lets talk "useless"  ;)

Granted a PZ bertha does it better still, but when I have the ore supply I love alternate tactics. And bomber overkill is a personal favorite. (TonyP2000, conquest 2, 40 bombers by the end.)

The only real reason I could see air units getting a bad rap on some maps is because 4/5th of the time that you're building a large amount is the time when a map is for the most part won already.

[Grayzzur]

For many maps, if you're just turtling and overbuilding, yeah, air units aren't the best use of your resources.

Some maps lend themselves to certain strategies. You can sometimes cut off large chunks of digitalis with Strafers at choke points, keeping Runners away from your units and not having to waste ammo on Snipers.

Bombers can help build a beachhead on island maps to start an assault on the next island. Berthas are good at clearing the creeper, but Bombers are good at laying down a blanket that helps your units survive longer during the initial establishment of that beachhead, keep those Guppies and Mortars alive.

Then there are the maps where the author wants to make things "hard" by creating insane emitters and no berthas. You can only fit so many pulse cannons and mortars in range of an emitter, but you can go nuts on air units.

Useless? No way. They are tools, they have a purpose, and that purpose just does not apply to every map. Just like you don't need Snipers if there aren't any Runner Nests.

[stewbasic]

Some digitalis/runner heavy maps would be almost impossible without strafers.

However, I haven't had much desire to build bombers since I found out you can just fill up a sprayer and destroy it as it flies over...

[pawel345]

Destroying a sprayer works better for sudden assaults but bombers require less micromanagement. I usually use bombers to saturate an area with AC when I have little space available and don't want to waste it for a AC guppy+sprayer.

[Dragonkat]

Cause I'm all about the bombs, bout the bombs, no bertha's!  ;D

[iamltr27]

Cause I'm all about the bombs, bout the bombs, no bertha's!  ;D

You said it, and I understood it ... I can't decide which is sadder :).