Current altitude, some clarification please

[Mugwump]

hello all,

im rapidly becoming immersed into this fantastic game, so much so that my usual stalwart Combat mission has taken a bit of a back seat for the last week or so.

anyway i digress, my query regards "current altitude" and settings for aircraft. now i have RTFM and understand that for
a plane to strafe/sweep it must be set for 100ft etc etc.

1. this alltitude setting, does it only come into effect when
a plane is on an attack run, surely it doesent fly to its target at 100ft?over hundreds of miles

2.if the answer is no, as i suspect, then what is the default
altitude for planes flying on a mission- is it determined by what altitude any escorts may be flying at ?

3. Divebombers seem to be most effective at 1000ft- does that mean that if i set them for say 10000ft- thatwill be the actual height they dive from? little flak damage but wildly innacurate?

4. planes on search,asw, recon etc- if my alt is set to 1000 does that mean i can spot a small area very well( assuming im set to 100% planes flying that mission) and if im im at 10000 ft a large area very badly?

5. or again do 3 and 4 depend on escort height? what if there are no escorts?

its baffling me ............ i have some ideas but dont know how far off the mark i am , and because the coding is so good to take in so many variables its hard to interpret the results of your settings.

thanks in advance.

[Mike Wood]

Hello...

Happy to hear you are enjoying the game.

If the altitude is set to 100 feet, the aircraft will strafe the target at all times. Other than that, the following applies.

Dive bombers and torpedo bombers attack at a specific, hard coded altitude. The altitude you enter is the altitude at they fly to and from the target. Dive bombers start at around 8,000 feet and dive to about 3,500 feet. If you set the altitude at any value other than 8,000 feet they will fly to the target at that altitude and then climb to 8,000 feet before they make the dive. Topedo bombers attack at about 150 feet to 350 feet, depending on model. The same principal applies to these. So, setting the altitude to 5,000 will cause them to fly at that altitude until they get to the target, at which time they will glide down to attack altitude.

Fighter bombers will tend to behave like dive bombers.

Fighter aircraft on sweep missions will dive to 100 feet and strafe.

Level bombers will bomb from the level assigned.

Fighter aircraft assigned to escort missions will fly at assigned altitude until enemy aircraft are spotted and then close to about the same altitude that the bombers are flying.

Combat air-patrol will climb or dive to the altitude of the enemy bombers.

Hope this helps...

Michael Wood

[Reiryc]

Originally posted by Mike Wood
Hello...

Happy to hear you are enjoying the game.

If the altitude is set to 100 feet, the aircraft will strafe the target at all times. Other than that, the following applies.

Dive bombers and torpedo bombers attack at a specific, hard coded altitude. The altitude you enter is the altitude at they fly to and from the target. Dive bombers start at around 8,000 feet and dive to about 3,500 feet. If you set the altitude at any value other than 8,000 feet they will fly to the target at that altitude and then climb to 8,000 feet before they make the dive. Topedo bombers attack at about 150 feet to 350 feet, depending on model. The same principal applies to these. So, setting the altitude to 5,000 will cause them to fly at that altitude until they get to the target, at which time they will glide down to attack altitude.

Fighter bombers will tend to behave like dive bombers.

Fighter aircraft on sweep missions will dive to 100 feet and strafe.

Level bombers will bomb from the level assigned.

Fighter aircraft assigned to escort missions will fly at assigned altitude until enemy aircraft are spotted and then close to about the same altitude that the bombers are flying.

Combat air-patrol will climb or dive to the altitude of the enemy bombers.

Hope this helps...

Michael Wood

This helps, but it begs the question, why does the altitude matter then? What combat advantages/disadvantages take place by sending bombers out at certain altitudes, or fighters, etc?

Reiryc

[Mugwump]

Does this apply also with such missions as ASW and naval search?

ie - do i have to set ASW altitudes low to render them effective against Subs, ive got a jap sub off Noumea at the moment that keeps sinking ships, i have 12 catalinas based there- they are on Alt 100 / at 100% ASW yet they do nothing.

also my previous question about patrols and recon etc- is it the case that if i fly high then spotting abilities are going to be impaired but a greater area covered and vice versa if i fly low?

[worr]

Originally posted by Reiryc


This helps, but it begs the question, why does the altitude matter then? What combat advantages/disadvantages take place by sending bombers out at certain altitudes, or fighters, etc?

Reiryc

Good question.

It matters little in the end...it appears.

Skip bombing is interesting, however. And the fact the enemy fighters have to climb to an attack should give an opportunity to use B17s over Rabul productively.

Worr, out

[elmo3]

According to the manual you get hit by flak first at the altitude you use to fly to the target, and then again at the altitude your planes use for their standard attack. So if you arrive lower you'll get hit by tougher flak than if you arrive higher. I believe level bombers use their arrival level as their attack level so if they arrive higher then their chance of hitting will be diminished.