May I enter the debate with trepidation. Like Chug I have also navigated the Hastings. I have also navigated the Lancaster, but the question really is about target sets.
And industrial target has many layers. There is the means of power and the dams raid was an example of a strike against that target. Then there is the product, the means of production, and equally important the work force.
Area bombing could destroy the product, it could disrupt the factories and as importanly, disrupt or kill the work force.
A raid that was I believe successful in most of these targets was Peenemunde. Had the Peenemunde target been in a city then the city would have been bombed.