Frisian Flag: any tips?

[CaptCarnage]

Hi,

I seem to suck at AirOps-only stuff - but that's possibly due to my lack of airforce capabilities.
I have spent all weekend with the Frisian Flag scenario.

Is there a way to survive with without too many losses?
I have gotten to the point where I have a self-imposed No-Nav zone around Helgoland with a 20 nm radius to avoid SAM attacks. I get 2 Typhoons in on a 2-axis approach (north and south) because if they approach from the same direction the SAM will just wipe out the incoming Alarm missiles. Sometimes the enemy launches a Fulcrum or 2 who then shoot missiles immediately at my Alarm missiles. Very annoying.
I don't go after the Roland as its attack range is not very big. I just reduce the NoNav-zone around Helgoland to stay out of the Roland's reach.
Then I send a few F16s to Helgoland to drop their GBUs on selected targets such as the Radar and airport facilities.

This way I save 2 Typhoons for the Cuxhaven SAM which I attack in a similar 2-axis approach.
If I get that, the Busum and Cuxhaven targets are easy bait.

All ground attack aircraft are then sent towards enemy aircraft because they all have AA capability.

But the biggest problem I have with the air threat. There is a constant throwing back and forth of missiles and it seems hard to control this airfight. I never have the upper hand there - it's almost a 1:1 kill-loss ratio. How to approach this one?

[Tomcat84]

As the scenario author I should hopefully be in a position to give you some pointers

There is a way to survive without many losses. I think my best attempt lost me one fighter while taking out 95% or so of the targets. Of course I had an advantage since I knew all that was gonna happen [:D] Still, after a few playthroughs you probably do too.

If you want to be really successful, you have to micromanage, that's pretty much a fact of life in Command. AI is nice but for air to air ops especially if you want to have some useful tactics you will have to take care of everything yourself.

What I would recommend (possible spoilers I guess?).

Get all your fighters airborne and in the holding on the west side of the airspace. I group them all in flights of four. Push out initially with some of the OCA fighters to start cleaning up the airborne CAPs.
Try and use your AMRAAMs efficiently. Take shots, not at the very very max range (it will give you a PH degradation for range) but not too close either. Make sure you are at high altitude and max power when shooting. When shots are on the way, slow to loiter speed and crank your fighters (ie turn a direction and put em at the edge of radar coverage). This maximizes the range you preserve. When the AMRAAMs own radars go active, you can turn around if needed.

The best way to defend against enemy air to air missiles in my opinion is to disable automatic evasion and not go to the notch, but turn your fighters around with cruise speed then go max ab to run away. You need to get a feel for what range you should do this at to trash the enemy shots. Too late and theyll catch up to you, too soon and your own missiles wont be active yet. What you also need to decide is how many missiles to shoot per target. One each preserves the most missiles, but the chances of getting a kill go down. Two or more will give you a higher chance of a quick kill but you'll run out faster.

You also want to make your whole operation go as fast as possible. The sooner your strikes are done, the less time your OCA needs to cover against enemy fighters.

The SAMs are also something you have to deal with. The ROLANDs arent a problem as long as you fly above 20 thousand (low level tactics are so 1980s ) The SA-11s are what will need to be taken out. You have noticed that they are capable of downing ARMs, so just flying at them and shooting a few ALARMs wont cut it. I think it is indeed smart to send your typhoons in from 2 directions, however I would take the whole four ship. So with 2 pairs from different directions and then also split the pair up into singletons and fly into the ring. Wait for missile launches to start. Once the battery starts firing, figure out who is being targeted and have them abort so the missiles wont make it. Do this until you have like one untargeted guy left (or if everyone gets targeted just wait till the last one) and have him fire his ALARMs. If this doesnt work you might have to do two feints before firing your missiles, I cant remember off the top of my head. You can also use some OCA to draw missiles. Just dont forget to turn around in time. You'll want your OCA close by anyway cause theres probably some Fulcrums about to get airborne. So it's a balancing act right now between getting the SA-11 taken down and keeping the Fulcrums downed. Your strikers need to be en route too so that as soon as the SAM is down and the Fulcrums have been splashed you can take out the airfield, killing any Fulcrums that may still be parked and taking Helgoland out of the equation. No need for a no nav zone.

Then take inventory of what OCA you have left missile wise and put them in a CAP near the enemy fields. Not right over cause then you'll get shot at, but at a nice range where they can monitor it and easily intercept something that comes airborne and not let it get to a striker. It might be useful to have one OCA 4 ship hold in the west at first to cover the egress. When everyone is low on missiles and running back west after bombing etc and the original OCA sweep is also out of firepower, they can head east and shoot whats left off everyones tails. Or send them in right away also to maximize initial firepower, it's a tactical tradeoff you'll have to decide on

Good observation that all your strikers have air to air capabilities. For example the Polish Vipers are pretty nice. Once they drop their bombs on target they are an excellent air to air platform to help out your OCA which is probably starting to run out of missiles by now.

So yeah, be aware of enemy shots and defend against them. Take your own shots and dont always be too conservative with taking a few missiles on the same target when it really needs to die. And try to assess who the bandit is attacking and use that info.

I hope this helps. If you have follow on questions I'll do my best to answer.

Hope you are still enjoying the scenario though, it's not supposed to be a walk in the park [:)]

[CaptCarnage]

Thank you for the extensive advice!

I will try tonight again! And yes, it is an excellent scenario for sure! It is definitely challenging and I am learning a lot about the air warfare side of things. And the overlays make it especially cool.

[Tomcat84]

Alright man good luck. Let me know how it goes!