How to get BDA of air base?

[tabasco_joe]

I've built a scenario and am testing it out but I can't seem to get a BDA from the enemy airbase. I fly all types of recon over it and nothing. What am I missing?

[TitaniumTrout]

What is the terrain type? What type of recon asset are you flying over it? What altitude?

I'd try something that is recon specific, at a low altitude, and let it linger for a moment. Or to test just drop a MQ-9 with Gorgon Stare.

[Gunner98]

It's best to go to Unit mode (V or Keypad 9) to check BDA. Also as TT mentions, match your sensors to the conditions, check the cloud layers and get low, or at least low enough to see with the sensors you have. If your sensors have a slant range remember that it is attenuated by altitude so you often have to fly directly over the target.

[tabasco_joe]

I'll have to try those tips. I'm using the cold war era data base. As a test I set up a small area around the base and put five different recon types in the area and see if anything shows up. So far nada.

[c3k]

Just a WAG, but if cold war era, do the recce jets have to land in order to have the data they've collected get disseminated? E.g., no real-time data transmission?

[tabasco_joe]

Could be. But I'm using a number of late 60's aircraft with ground scanning radar which shouldn't require returning.
I out mission boxes over the bases and had multiple types of recon aircraft patrolling.


So far I can't see BDA damage in the unit window on the right side of screen.

These are Cuban 1960's era bases so while somewhat hardened the aren't like modern bases.
I set up tests an pound these with literally hundreds of flights. Including 40 B-52s and 50 F-4s with 2,000 and 3,000 lb bombs.
Even hit it with a Hustler with 4 nukes.

Still survives.

I know it can be taken out with multiple ICBMs but that just makes the scenario unchallenging.

Ultimately I want to model a US attack in 1963 assuming the Russians didn't back down. Take out Cuban bases and missiles with conventional forces.

[TitaniumTrout]

So in Group mode the surviving stuff shows this :



But if I go to unit mode I get this :



The RF-4E is quite low but detected the damage almost immediately after it occuring.



But in all cases if you look at the entire thing in GROUP mode you see no damage listed under BDA.

[thewood1]

My understanding is, just like ships, damage is not group damage, but damage to individual units/components. All recon before the late 80s has an inherent game flaw in being able to instantaneously transmit recon results back to base. Now even in the 50s some form of high-level BDA was done verbally by radio. But detailed assessment had to wait hours, and sometimes days, after the unit returns to base.

Using comms control and sometimes side control, you can create very realistic lag in passing recon info back to HQ. I have a couple example scenarios floating around somewhere that show it without using Lua. In fact, at the time, there were no comms options.