ORIGINAL: sandman2575
ORIGINAL: loki100
Strong suggestion GA-interdiction trumps GA-unit attack almost every time.
There are times you might want to do a unit attack, in connection with, or to replace GS for an attack but in general its interdiction that hurts.
As the Allied player you don't see the harm you are doing as most of it never gets reported as a battle report. But anything that moves in that hex takes losses. So trucks, fresh manpower, supplies, ammo etc all get degraded (& that is if no counter moves). Units moving into a hex, reserve reactions from a hex, retreats all give you move losses.
This is good to know -- I do wish the game made some of this visible to the player, though.
Any suggestions for effectively using FBs for interdiction? I get that FBs are the best interdicting aircraft. But I'm also seeing my flights of FBs getting shot to hell by concentrated AA. I made the mistake initially of sending in interdiction strikes at 6,000 ft. That was a bloodbath. One sortie of 24 Thunderbolts lost all 24 aircraft. I boosted it up to 16,000 ft. and the losses are less severe, but still substantial.
Is that just par for the course -- i.e. concentrated interdiction strikes with many hundreds of FBs over a relatively small area, say, 5x5 hexes, over stacks of heavily AA defended panzer divisions, is going to be costly no matter what? I suppose the answer must be yes. But would love to know how to mitigate these losses somehow.
ORIGINAL: loki100
You may still get blocked in Italy (I think in the campaign the AI over-commits) but your reward will come in France, or when the Hammer and Sickle hangs off the Reichstag.
I hope you're right -- although at the moment France is shaping up to be another deadlock (...and I haven't even taken Caen yet).
As bomccarthy says, if you set your FBs for 15,000' they will dive on the target, so that is a good default option. Broadly 8-12,000' is asking for trouble ... I forget the exact parameters but its at this pt that both heavy and light flak can hit you.
Its worth trying things out, go in at 1,000' and see. You don't have Il-2s designed for this sort of attack but this cuts out a lot of flak (but you pick up more operational losses) and your FBs can really hit their targets (esp if they carry rockets). There's a lot of odd quirks in the air game and being willing to play around (and sometimes get a complete battering) can be very informative.
edit: For France I've started to think that the area on the Normandy/Brittany border is a good target. You don't have the protection of the bocage (but of course don't have to fight your way through it) and all that clear terrain helps your air power. Other creative spots are at the mouth of the Seine or even the Pas de Calais (the good thing here is it is so close to the UK that your airpower is fully maximised - no need for fuel tanks just take bombs [;)]
But in the main its good to fight the Germans where you are well surprised, it can be tricky if they retreat in good order back into Belgium as your supply lines get badly stretched.
ORIGINAL: GeneralDad
..
It is a really good AI - really an accomplishment for Gary and the team to have written it.
I just broke through on the east side of Italy - the AI hit back hard - my guys retreated. Then the big surprise - the AI pulled back 3 hexes (2 north of Rome) on the west side even though I was stretched thin there. So I will take Rome on historical schedule after all.
Does the AI or the Axis get more movement points? My fully supplied 1st Armored div has 44, the AI has two stacks with 66 and 75. None of my Armor has more than 50 mp. The Schmalz PzGr brigade is sitting isolated in Regio Calabria (tip of the boot) - it teleported there from Lido di Roma when I invaded Salerno - even though at least one rail hex was destroyed.
GeneralDad
the enemy stacks show attack cv-defend cv (regardless of your own display options), so nothing can have over 50 regardless of other issues.
