Some more Q's

[greg_slith]

Hey HS,

I've been playing my old copy of the game (just patched it up, thank you) and have a couple of questions:
1) The game runs fine (always has) but on my XP many of the letters (n,m,s) are just white boxes and the number 3 is a symbol that I've never seen before. Also, on some of the screens the numbers overlap the letters ie a line of a/c lost would have Bf-109/G6 and then 120 but the "120" woulod be superimposed over the end of the a/c type. Is there something I can do to fix this?

2) I've been bombintg the snot out of fuel (storage, refineries, chem, etc) and I realized that this is probably hurting my AS score since the LW is continuing to make planes (so what if they can't fly) therfore the raw numbers don't change enough to increase my AS score. Is this right?

3) I've since started to bomb airfields but am VERY dissapointed with the results. For example: I sent 5 groups of B-25's at 500ft to bomb a recently recon A/F that had 32 FW-190's at it. None of the interceptors took off so they all were there (I assume). The raid came in, got chewed on by light flak, and bombed away. Probably 98% of the bombers dropped their load but I only saw 1x FW damaged. Sure the field was shut down for a bit, but man, I was hoping for a lot of a/c destroyed on the ground. Was this just an unlucky fluke, is there a better way, is this a known "issue"?

4) I've sent some B_24's to Italy to hit Romania. The two groups are now Det-446 BG and Det-448BG (I think). Both groups have about 28+ planes. At the same a/f there are two more "Det" elements of the same BG's that each have between 9 and 12 a/c. This actually makes the groups much bigger than the should be. Do the little elements continue to grow to full size (32 a/c)? How can I combine them?

Sorry if this was a bit wordy, I'm at work and doing six things at once.

[wernerpruckner]

1

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=1508224

[wernerpruckner]

4
 
move the detachment back to the parent unit,
but never detach a detachment, because those will not recombine....

[wernerpruckner]

3
 
for A/Fs with few A/C on them sweeping is better,
but if the enemy moves several units on an A/F your bombing attacks will be more worth it.
repairs of the runway is very fast
 
bombing attacks may destroy the fuel on the field

[wernerpruckner]

2) I've been bombintg the snot out of fuel (storage, refineries, chem, etc) and I realized that this is probably hurting my AS score since the LW is continuing to make planes (so what if they can't fly) therfore the raw numbers don't change enough to increase my AS score. Is this right?

 
anti fuel attacks are difficult as a main strategy, you need to destroy huge amounts of fuel.
 
AS is connected with the ready A/C on A/Fs => it is possible to go for a high AS via fuel,oils,rr,a/f,oilr attacks, but not in 43 or early 44 - you do not have enough air power for that.

[greg_slith]

Thanks Swift! I'll give everything a try when I get home![&o]
Regarding your answer for #2, does ready a/c without fuel make an AS difference? What I mean is having a lot of planes that don't fly actually help the LW because fewer are being shot down?

[wernerpruckner]

A/C without fuel is not an ready A/C
 
if you know what you are doing, you can block the supply of fuel to certain areas...but it takes a major effort ( attacks on A/F, port, rr, und fuel targets )
 
BTW:
size of OILS do not matter in certain things....more important is that there is a rr or port near => the small OILS near Hamm has most often the highest stock on the map....( there are also other primary OILS...but I will not tell [:'(]  ) 

[greg_slith]

Is there anyway for the allied player to figure out such things? In real life OIL was a primary target. Seems the game should reflect that a little[8|].
Is there a "strategy guide" for BTR? Looks like I need a lot of help[:)]

[wernerpruckner]

yes it was a main target...but it was not a main target in 43 and also not in the 1st half of 44, because the 8th and 15th AF had not enough bombing power....and also later they were often not too successful with bombing fuel sites because of the small bombs...the German reports tell that the BC did often much more damage because of the bigger bombs ( 2000lb+ )

BtR reflects somewhat the situation in WW2 in the cases of targets.
so, as long as you do not have the reach and the bomber power the stock will build up. So you have to try to eliminate the transport of fuel ( RR and ports ), let the enemy fly as many missions as possible to burn fuel, bomb A/Fs to destroy fuel and also attack fuel oils and oilr.....not that easy in 43 and early 44.

the nice thing with all fuel targets is that they do not have many replacement FACs ( only a few fuel sites...depending on the OB/OA )

[wernerpruckner]

ORIGINAL: ecwgcx
Is there a "strategy guide" for BTR? Looks like I need a lot of help[:)]

I am sure that there will be a few

there will also be discussions about the "Golden bullet"

( A/C industry vs Power vs Chem&Rubber vs Steel&Arm vs Fuel vs pilots vs terror vs......)

been there, done that ( as have all of the beta testers in the last 9 years of BtR gaming [:D] )

[wernerpruckner]

forgot to mention Alum [8D] and BBFAC

[wernerpruckner]

some industry info:
 
power: loss of too much power affects all industry around it, or even in all of the Reich
 
BBFAC - you need the ball bearings for the ARM and the A/C industry => not enough ball bearings will slow down the production of weapons and planes
 
steel: necessary for the production of ARM, slows down the production of A/C and repairs of A/C
 
RUBBER: important for ARM and therefor also A/C repairs and production
 
AFAC: produce A/C ( so hitting them will stop that [:'(]  )
 
EFAC: no engines no planes
 
CFAC: no A/C parts no A/C.....also maybe useful for A/C repair.....
 
ARM: weapons are important for the war.......[X(]
 
FUEL: aviation fuel is produced here - no fuel no sorties......but be aware the the jets fly with cheaper fuel ( diesel )
 
OILR: produce fuel from oil
 
OILS: main storage for oil and fuel
 
CHEM: important for Rubber and fuel......and for other things ( if implented.....)
 
ALUM: important for production of A/Cs
 
 
most of the industries are critical industries => if they fall below a certain level the German industry gets a massiv problem, but the Germans will start a major R&D session => critical level goes down => and therefore the Allied need to hit more stuff to affect the industries the same as before

[greg_slith]

Does the allied player have any idea what the "critical" thresholds are? I mean without cheating[:D]? Or is it a % that holds true for all industries?
I'm not really looking for a golden BB, but I don't want the effort I make to be totally wasted. I try to play quasi-realistically so if certain game mechanics have an unexpected impact I'd like to be forewarned[:)]

[greg_slith]

By the way...the change properties thing worked like a charm[&o][&o]
 
You rock
 
Now just reassure me that the new BTR won't be coming out the same week as WitP AE[:'(].  If it does my already dismal social life will be in danger of extinction[:D]

[harley]

Does the allied player have any idea what the "critical" thresholds are? I mean without cheating? Or is it a % that holds true for all industries?

There is a counter for each industry subject to fog of war... It's based on damage estimates after attacks or recon, so can be very out-of-date if the player doesn't recon enough.

The new recon system should help - past recon was one site only. Now I have it recon the primary, plus random sites on the return journey. These will usually be in a cluster with the primary...

[von Shagmeister]

The new recce system works really well, just like RL multiple targets on a single sortie. This can limit the work load on the Allied player, instead of having to plots masses of recce to get decent coverage you can now get more target coverage for less effort - but having said that you can never have enough up to date recce data.