Up for air...got a few questions...

[GBS]

Did the tutorial and have read the primary parts of the manual. I am playing Road to De********k and an see some things I don't understand.
Using air power. - I use auto recon first and it worked great. I then used bomb airfields on auto..worked great. I then tried to use bomb units on auto and nothing happened. I tried it manually as per the manual and got a quick message that all bombers were out of range. I know this is not correct as I see air fields 5 hexes away with bombers. Is this because all their milage was used up bombing airfields? If so how do I tell what mileage air units attached to air fields have left to fly?Need advice.

I am trying to convert damaged rails and have found one unit that I can move and have done so but the progress is slow as one would immagine. There are other rail repair units present but they have 0-0 on the unit counter and can't be moved. Please explain what is going on here. Need advice here as well.

When attacking a stack, is there a way to anticipate the resistance those units will put up other than the CV on the counter and the entrenchment number? I've had some surrender and some hold and I don't know why.

On the combat resolution screen - I will attack one soviet division with two axis divisions but on the resolution screen, there may be several battalions listed as attacking as well. Are these units that the HQ sends to help out of it's attachment pool? If so is there something I can do to help affect this more?

All for now. There will be more. Love the game. Lots going on under this hood!

[karonagames]

I then tried to use bomb units on auto and nothing happened.

Some actions have to be the first action an air unit undertakes in a turn, and bomb unit is one of them. You have to do it before running Airfield missions.

The "0-0" units are the AI controlled construction battalions that are backfilling the rail grid behind the railheads you are creating with your FBD units, which are restricted to how much they can convert in a turn.

I did write the tactics guide, trying to emphasise that the numbers that you see are only a guide to actual combat value. Once you "roll the dice" there are a myriad of factors that can swing the result one way or another. I did write that no one factor has the most influence, but I might be changing my mind to say that relative leadership ratings could be a major factor in deciding the outcome. The amount of air support you do or don't get can also make a difference.

Yes the support battalions are sent by higher HQs, and again the commanders ratings will determine how much is sent.

[ComradeP]

Using air power. - I use auto recon first and it worked great. I then used bomb airfields on auto..worked great. I then tried to use bomb units on auto and nothing happened.

Sadly, you can only bomb units as the first action made by bombers during a turn (so when they have 0% mileage flown). It's not something I'm in favour of, but it's there.

I am trying to convert damaged rails and have found one unit that I can move and have done so but the progress is slow as one would immagine. There are other rail repair units present but they have 0-0 on the unit counter and can't be moved. Please explain what is going on here. Need advice here as well.

They could be frozen, or they could be automated rail repair battalions send out by the HQ, who will automatically return to HQ that send them after the turn.

When attacking a stack, is there a way to anticipate the resistance those units will put up other than the CV on the counter and the entrenchment number? I've had some surrender and some hold and I don't know why.

You can never mathematically predict how an attack will go. Sometimes you get great attacks that you've been planning for a while and sometimes those supposedly great attacks don't do much harm to the enemy. The on-counter CV display is only a rough indication, as is the CV displayed at the start of a battle. Difficult terrain hexes can greatly reduce the combat power of units like Panzer divisions. Hasty attacks into a swamp, heavy woods, rough, mountain or urban hex are often pretty much doomed to fail even when using three divisions.

On the combat resolution screen - I will attack one soviet division with two axis divisions but on the resolution screen, there may be several battalions listed as attacking as well. Are these units that the HQ sends to help out of it's attachment pool? If so is there something I can do to help affect this more?

The battalions are probably send out by a HQ, but they may also be attached to one of the divisions.

The most direct way is to attach the support battalions directly to divisions. In that case, they'll always fight alongside that division in battle, but won't help any other units. You get certainty at the cost of reduced flexibility.

You can also limit the amount of non-construction support battalions in a HQ, as higher numbers might increase the chance that one of them will be committed, but will reduce the chance more of them will participate. I personally never place more than 5 combat support units in a single HQ.

[karonagames]

I do the short answers , Pieter does the longer versions! [;)]

[ComradeP]

Yes, it's amusing how we testers ninja eachother constantly.

[GBS]

[quote]ORIGINAL: ComradeP

[
They could be frozen, or they could be automated rail repair battalions send out by the HQ, who will automatically return to HQ that send them after the turn.

If so then is it helpful if I move an HQ with construction units attached to an area where ther is need to fix rail damage?

[ComradeP]

One thing worth remembering is that the automated rail repair units will only fix 1 rail hex along a certain line each turn, whilst FBD units can fix 3 or 4. Example: hex A includes a friendly rail line, hex B next to it contains a recently damaged rail line in your territory and hex C next of hex B includes another recently damaged rail line in your territory. The automated rail repair/conversion units will only try to fix hex B, no matter how many units are available. They'll try to fix hex C next turn.

Construction battalions also help with fort construction, so I'd suggest trying to keep the corps HQ's and the like at the front so the construction battalions can help with the forts. The higher HQ's will do the rail repair for you. As the Germans have mostly battalions to do the rail conversions/repair for them, the AI will tend to place 3 in each hex, whilst the Soviet AI will tend to place multiple battalions or a brigade in a hex.

One thing that was recently changed was that rail repairs are now carried out within the command range of a HQ. 5 for corps, 15 for armies, 45 for army groups/fronts and 90's for high command HQ's.

Keep in mind that construction and engineer units "dodge" the support units settings unless they're locked, so setting a HQ to 0 is guaranteed to move all non-engineer combat units out of it provided the higher HQ's are not locked, but some construction and engineer units will remain.

For construction and engineers, the automatic support unit movement system tries to achieve the following per HQ level:

(construction/engineers)

Corps: 2/2
Army: 3/3
Army group/Front: 16/4
High command: 0/0

[Zovs]

My only disagreement (at least from a Soviet perspective) is that I always do Air Recon first and then bomb units (bombing airfields is too costly for the Soviets IMO) at least in the late war this works reasonable well.

This morning before I left work I became a traitor and loaded the Blue scenario and set the AI on Challenging and played as the Axis (please don't shoot me, comrade), first thing I did was Air Recon, and then I bombed a few air bases up in the northern quadrant and then hit Sevastopol a few times with bomb unit. I then went back and bomb airfields in the south a bit and then came back and got 2 or 3 bomb units through on some reserve Soviet tank corps.

But if you air recon and bomb airfield to the max both Bob and Pieter are correct. A nuance to learn, or not.

[karonagames]

Just need to clarify that using Auto bomb instead of manually controlling units that fly, means that you probably don't have un-flown air units that can do "Bomb unit" missions.

If you manually control flights you can ensure units are available for "Bomb unit" missions later in the turn.

[GBS]

Is there somewhere in the Air base counter that shows how much flight time has been used by an air unit?

[karonagames]

yes:

[Clod100_slith]

HI! I found in the manual something about an EW aircraft. What can it do? Same as an recon aircraft? The Game is the best I ever played! 

[Great_Ajax]

What is an EW aircraft?

Trey

ORIGINAL: Clod100

HI! I found in the manual something about an EW aircraft. What can it do? Same as an recon aircraft? The Game is the best I ever played! 

[Clod100_slith]

electronical warfare, page 154, Type of aircraft.

[LiquidSky]

edit: already answered

[Great_Ajax]

Hmm. I'll have to look that one up. I don't recall there being any kind of aircraft in-game that performs any function like this.

ORIGINAL: LiquidSky

edit: already answered

[Clod100_slith]

Thank you! Well, maybe only as an nightfighter. That would make sense. Maybe. 

[ComradeP]

The manual mentions "electronic warfare devices such as radar". Some German night fighters have radar. Modern electronic warfare isn't in the game.

[stewartbragg]

So from what I gather...if you use the AI to bomb airfields then what percentage do you get to support your ground attacks. I have found so far that if I bomb with the AI then I get fewer if any support missions.

[elmo3]

Yes, if you bomb airfields you will have fewer aircraft for other missions.  You can adjust this in the Air Doctrine screen.  As other testers mentioned it's worth bombing as many airfields as possible on turn 1 of the 41 campaign but after that you should pick your spots.  And do recon first to increase your bombing accuracy.