noobee (4) bombing airfields

[djeezman]

And ah, another thing;


In order to maximize the destruction of enemy planes (fighters and bombers ) of an enemy airfield how should I balance the following;
(not considering quality of pilots and planes)

bombers with escort fighters... of course max. bombers per single attack (so to face only once the enemy CAP) but then, just enough escort fighters to get through the screen of defending CAP fighters and have the remaining fighters sweep that airfield (and at what elevation?)? Or use Max fighters as escort (maximize destruction of enemy CAP). Or have the remaining fighters (really fighters, not fighterbombers) do another airfield attack ?

And what about the bombing elevation?; have the various bombergroups attack at different elevations and the escort fighters ALL +1000 ft above? Or have the escorts mixed elevations between -2000 ft and +2000 ft around the bombers elevations ?
And what is a "good" bombing elevation (b17, blenheim) ? 11000 ft? 7000 ft ?

[&o]
Mike

[Feinder]

Bombers - More is better obviously. Varying the attack altitudes will probably help, as it might spread out the defending CAP. Usually, "more attacks is better". I haven't tested whether if it would launch one strike or multiple strikes if you bombers are at different altitudes. But usually, the follow-on strikes meet with less CAP resistence (and less effective CAP). Note that anything below 6000' will acctually decrease your accuracy for level bombers, and you'll take a morale hit. You might fly at 6k, 10k, 14k, 18k etc. Also note that as altitude increases from 6k, that accuracy diminishes. You might want to put your less experienced pilots at the higher altitudes, since they're not likely to get as many hits anyway, and putting your more experienced pilots at 6k, will get you the most bang for your buck (altho at greater risk from flak and CAP). But hopefully, your less experienced pilots flying higher, will help to break up the CAP, so that your more experienced pilots flying lower will be more effective. Dunno, try it out, and see if it works.

Frankly, I'm too lazy to change the altitude setting on my bombers, unless I get jumped. 6k for everything works well enough. And you do get a defensive benefit for "quanity" - having 80 Hudsons all flying in formation makes for fair defensive fire (even for Hudsons). I did recently try putting some TBs at 1000' and DBs at 18k (with escorts) to see if it would spread out the CAP, and maybe one formations would suffer lighter casualties. Didn't work tho. However it was against mega-KB with experienced pilots, so it could be that everything was going to get slaughtered anyway.


Fighters - For the most part and all things being mostly equal, CAP trumps escorts. Exp is major, so if you CAP pilots suck vs. escorting elite pilots, you -will- die. But generally equal exp and generally equal planes, CAP will score better than escorts. Sweeps before a raid are good, if you can get altitude advantage. Sending AVG on sweep at 29k vs. Oscars on CAP at 34k means you're going to lose several of AVG (even as experienced as they are). But if you can send in sweep above their CAP, your sweep will help to break up CAP before the bombers arrive. You might only trade 1:1 in fighters. But it breaks up CAP and it will lose some effectiveness before the bombers get there. Fighters on escort, you don't have much control of their altitude. Fighters automatically fly at about 3k above the bombers they are escorting, so it's entierely depenedent on the altitude of the strike bombers. The altitude setting of fighters on Escort, is the altitude for the percentage assigned to fly CAP. If you've spread out your bomber altitudes, the escorts will be spread out, depending on which formation they're escorting; but you don't have any control over that.

[saj42]

Just have a couple of points to Feinders reply.

'Sweep' sets your fighters to attack any CAP in the hex - not sweep the airfield.
If you want fighter to 'strafe' the airfiled then set them to 'Ground attack' at 100'. (can fightrs do that? or is that just for FBs - bad day at work and my brains gone to mush)

[djeezman]

yes, yes..the idea is to wipe off the most of the enemy planes, not the runway hits or supply points etc..
That's the word..strafe! Aha..so that's Ground attack and 100ft..Roger!
(but what if there are also enemy ground forces ? groundattack attacks them ? Or still only the parked planes ?)

So as example say I have50 bombers (5x10) and 30 fighters (3x10) versus on the enemy airfield say 80 bombers and 40 fighters, but with a Cap of 15 fighters (assuming constant ).

Best to set the missions (over a couple of days) ;
Bombing : 50 bombers, Escort 18 fighters and groundattack at 100ft with 12 fighters ?
or more towards
Bombing : 50 bombers, Escort 40 fighters  ?

or perhaps
Bombing : 50 bombers, Escort 10 fighters (allowing a destroyed fighter and bomber) and groundattack at 100ft with 20 fighters ?


I will do the mixing of bombers altitudes Feinder .



And while i'm at it; how much effect is a RUNWAY HIT ?
How many runway hits disalllows one plane to take off ? Or is the effect an increased chance of damaged landings ? How much is that ? Roughly ?

[Feinder]

I don't know that anyone has done a qualitative evaluation of how much damage a runway hit does.

Runway hit = Runway damage
Airbase hit = Service damage

The difficutly of achieving, and the amount of damage for each runway/airbase hit, is dependent on the size of the airfield. Hits are harder to achieve, and less damaging vs. an AF(6). Comapared to an AF(2), where hits are easier to achieve and more damaging.

Granted, and AF(2) will repair faster tho.

Supply hits wipe out 1% of supplies, regardless of how large or small the stock-pile is. It also burns supplies to repair the runway/service/port. So those hits also burn supplies (indirectly).

Runway damage keeps planes from taking off (or reduces them by a percentage).
Service damage affects how quickly they repair (more service damage, fewer planes repaired).

An AF will continue to launch "some" planes on strike missions, until runway damage = (size * 5) + 20. So
AF(2) is closed for offensive missions at 30% damage
AF(4) is closed for offensive missions at 40% damage
An AF with damage, but not closed, will launch fewer aircraft, and they will take greater losses on return (it's tough to land on a cratered AF).

An AF will continue to launch CAP until runway damage = (size * 5) + 50. So
AF(2) will launch CAP until 60% damaged, it is then fully closed.
AF(4) will launch CAP until 70% damaged, it is then fully closed.
Again, more damage = less CAP, and more damaged aircraft when they land.

[dtravel]

Just to clear up some confusion I see.
 
If you want your aircraft to attack the airfield, set them to Airfield Attack.  Ground Attack will make them target combat troops in the hex, not the air base.
 
You do not have to set your fighters or fighter-bombers to 100' altitude to attack.  If you do then yes they will strafe.  They'll also get shot at by every yahoo with a slingshot.  If you set them to higher altitudes they will act as divebombers dropping bombs.
 
If you set your fighters or fighter-bombers to attack the airfield, they will NOT double as escorts.  The game will treat them like bombers and defending CAP will chew them up accordingly.  If you want them to be able to dogfight, then you have to set them to either Escort or Sweep.
 
 
My advice: Bombers bomb, Fighters fight.  Set all your fighters to Escort or Sweep.  Let the bombers handle dropping bombs.

[Hoplosternum]

ORIGINAL: dtravel


My advice: Bombers bomb, Fighters fight.  Set all your fighters to Escort or Sweep.  Let the bombers handle dropping bombs.

Spot on [:D]

In RL the straffing policy worked quite well. But in WitP you get chewed up by the flak of all the ground units there. Plus bombing at such a low level kills morale in a single sortie. Best leave 100' attacks for the occasional skip bombing attack by level bombers for the allies. Or to clear out PT flotillas after their CAP has been driven off for the Japanese.