Friendly/enemy air phase advice

[cato13]

Anyone got any tips on when to set naval interdiction or air superiority missions to fly and what phase?

Do i want to be flying both phases when trying to protect invasion fleets?

[fritzfarlig]

when you want to intercept the enemy enemy phase
protect your own friendly phase

[cato13]

So for an invasion would i be right in saying naval interdiction should be both phases, friendly to protect shipping and enemy to maintain supply to beachheads or does that matter?

[cfulbright]

Yes, naval interdiction is cumulative and has a decay rate, so flying both phases both builds up your own naval interdiction values and keeps them from decaying during the enemy phase.

In advance of an invasion you want to be flying naval interdiction both phases, and also fly air superiority at least 3K' over your NI AD's. If you ditch the Sutherlands you can fly you NI's as high as 19K'. My own experience is that flying higher results in less air losses, but others recommend flying at 6K'. The problem with that is that the Allied FB-F's are at a disadvantage v. Bf 109's at such a low altitude.

I fly seven days a week in both phases. I rest half the NI squadrons in each phase and fly the other half, then alternate in the next phase, to keep them fresh and with low fatigue and high morale.

If you're playing the 1943-45 campaign or the May 1944 campaign, start flying NI's over the Channel and your target bases at least 4-5 turns before your earliest invasion date. That works best against the AI, because if you're playing a human and you're invading in an unusual location, flying NI offshore of that location will probably tip your hand.

Cary

[Seminole]

Another aspect to keep in mind is you want to maximize effect during the correct logistics phase.

If I’m German and trying to hold open a port for my defenses I’ll want to fly my naval patrol in the enemy phase to have effect at the end of his turn when the German logistics run.

[cato13]

Brilliant stuff cheers guys!

[cfulbright]

One other thing on the Sutherland air groups. For some reason they have a maximum of 9 pilots and AC per air group. If you replace the Sutherland with a land-based AC type (e.g., Liberator GR.V), the max immediately goes up to 12, like the other PA air groups. Don't forget to immediately "add pilots".

Cary