Actually Escorting the Bombers

[Lanconic]

I am having a hell of a time making my fighters escort a strike (land based)

The fighters seem to like to go along and bomb and strafe, but not shoot down enemy fighters
nor protect the bombers

It doesnt seem to matter if the HQ are the same, or if they are all on the same airbase

Sometimes, fighters on CAP from a different airbase show up to help

[Smeulders]

What orders are you giving the fighters ?

[Alfred]

Lanconic,

Firstly, read this thread tm.asp?m=2382494, it is LoBaron's stickied thread on air co-ordination. It is the first thing to be studied in the never ending struggle to get airplane co-ordination.

Secondly, you are clearly not handling your fighters correctly. No fighter on bomber escort, and which is clearly visible at the combat animation with the bombers, will bomb and strafe. Even if the escorting fighters fail to link up with the bombers, they still do not bomb or strafe notwithstanding the messeage which is then flashed on to the screen.

Thirdly, fighters on a nearby base on CAP cannot "show up to help" your bombers. There is no dedicated CAP mission as such. CAP is provided only by a nominated percentage of planes subtracted from another mission (ie "escort" or "sweep"). Furthermore the bleeding of CAP to nearby bases is very limited in range.

Alfred

[Smeulders]

Alfred, I believe he is right when he says that "CAP" from nearby bases shows up. He probably has the groups in the other bases on escort with a CAP percentage, while the ones he wants to escort the bombing missions on the orders for a bombing mission as well.

[crsutton]

I am finding that if I want escorts over a hex, just put your fighters on Long range escort over the target hex. They will generall participate in any fight where your bombers show up-even when there are multiple flights of bombers and they will generally be there in greater numbers than if you set regular escorts in the hex. They don't seem to die as easily as normal escort.

Anybody else trying this?

[undercovergeek]

LRCAP or long range escort - not looking at the game right now but i cant remember a long range escort option