Bombing HQ and airfields

[STEF78]

First PBEM, playing the germans and now turn 19

My opponent is regularly bombing my airfields and HQ. Most of time, there is no result but sometimes he destroys 5 to 10 planes on the ground or 300 to 500 soldiers for HQ. These effects can be neglected but it has impact on the morale of the units.

What should be the right answer?
- Stacking HQ with others units in order to benefit from their AA
- Lowering the level of air interception
- Attacking his airfield

Thanks

[carlkay58]

What version are you both playing at? These things have been changed over several versions.

In general: stack airbases with each other - they will defend MUCH better. If you have at least one airbase with some fighters for interception, this works really well.

HQ bombing is VERY dangerous if it is not stacked with another unit. If it is not stacked with another unit, there is a high chance of killing off your commander. Many people house rule this one out of contention because of this.

Raise the level of your air interception. Most of us tend to set it at 300% - the interception routine is kind of flaky and needs all the help it can get.

Attacking his airfield could be a possibility - however it probably will not pay off very well if your opponent is stacking the airbases or is supplying them with additional AA.

[STEF78]

ORIGINAL: carlkay58

What version are you both playing at? These things have been changed over several versions.

In general: stack airbases with each other - they will defend MUCH better. If you have at least one airbase with some fighters for interception, this works really well.

HQ bombing is VERY dangerous if it is not stacked with another unit. If it is not stacked with another unit, there is a high chance of killing off your commander. Many people house rule this one out of contention because of this.

Raise the level of your air interception. Most of us tend to set it at 300% - the interception routine is kind of flaky and needs all the help it can get.

Attacking his airfield could be a possibility - however it probably will not pay off very well if your opponent is stacking the airbases or is supplying them with additional AA.

I'm playing 1.06.19

So I will stack my airfields. Currently, they are spread (one airfield per hex).

For the german HQ, stacking it with units implies that they will be often on the front line... not too dangerous?

And I will raise the interception level

[swkuh]

"Raise the level of your air interception. Most of us tend to set it at 300%" Please some help to understand this a little better.

I thought that there are two sorts of data items in the air doctrine panel. 1st item sets the % that need to respond to the mission classes to meet air doctrine requirements. All following items give absolute numbers of mission classes that must respond. So, if 1st item says 50% then any following mission class need only muster 50% of the absolute amount that should respond. Mission response then are the maximums that would ever respond.

Does 300% really mean 300 units? or

Does 300% apply to all missions, meaning that any air mission needs 3x the given amount?

Since I do Axis vs AI only (so far) maybe this 300% thing is a Soviet feature.

[carlkay58]

The Air Doctrine is probably the most misunderstood, badly stated, thing in the entire game. I believe (which means I could be wrong) that the Air Doctrine for Interception says that you will send as many planes that the computer AI would have at 100%. At 300% you will send three times as many planes into the mission that the computer AI would have. By tripling the amount of aircraft assigned to the mission, you are more likely to have an effect. It is not uncommon that a single aircraft gets assigned to a mission which tends to have little or no effect on anything (unless it is and Interdiction attack by the Axis AI against my Soviets - in which case I will lose several hundred men to the tactical nukes they carry).

I tend to set my interception rate to 300% for both day and night and it seems to do a MUCH better job in protecting my airfields. It really does not seem to do as much against any other air missions, but it does seem to affect the enemy airbase attacks.

[swkuh]

Hmmm... this may require some experimentation to resolve. Carlkay58's answer suggests that specific assignments to mission classes are compared to what the AI would do if the AI were doing the missions. For me, that's counter-intuitive, given the manual's instructions.

I keep Axis participation % (the first term) as low as 40% and then set all the following terms to common values, like 80 (task units) & 100 (escort units). I get respectable air action on all engagements and overall aproximately 8:1 losses advantage through 1st full year. Evens up a bit later.

But for the experiment, how would one know what the AI would send?

[STEF78]

ORIGINAL: rrbill

Hmmm... this may require some experimentation to resolve. Carlkay58's answer suggests that specific assignments to mission classes are compared to what the AI would do if the AI were doing the missions. For me, that's counter-intuitive, given the manual's instructions.

I keep Axis participation % (the first term) as low as 40% and then set all the following terms to common values, like 80 (task units) & 100 (escort units). I get respectable air action on all engagements and overall aproximately 8:1 losses advantage through 1st full year. Evens up a bit later.

But for the experiment, how would one know what the AI would send?

I have modified my air combat parameters. I will tell if something changes