Air force in WitE2 - is it good or bad

[EddieTheTrooper]

I have a question about air force system and it effectiveness in War in the East 2. One of my colleagues said that air force is(or was) very weak and mostly useless in PVP competitive games? He even said that for German player it is best to move it to the reserve to prevent it from consuming precious supply? Is it true? Or maybe it was true but it has been fixed in some patches?

[Sammy5IsAlive]

I think that the 'meta' amongst the hardened PvPers is to send the Level Bombers to the reserve. As the thinking is that they don't do enough damage to justify the supply that they use up.

Personally I'm not sure I would go as far as to send them to reserve. They have long range and so you can base them further back in areas where there is less competition for supply. I would be very limited in how often I use them though as I agree that they don't do a lot of damage. But sometimes not a lot is better than nothing and might be the thing that tips you over the edge to win a crucial battle. If anything they might act as a distraction for the enemy air defense allowing more of your tac bombers to get on target and do damage.

The rest of the Air Force is useful and stays on map as far as I am aware.

[HardLuckYetAgain]

I use my airforce now. No longer do I send to reserve or send next to Berlin. With a much better understanding of logistics there is no need for the old mindset.

[EddieTheTrooper]

Thank you, that's what I wanted to know

[dankhippos]

I have a question about air force system and it effectiveness in War in the East 2. One of my colleagues said that air force is(or was) very weak and mostly useless in PVP competitive games? He even said that for German player it is best to move it to the reserve to prevent it from consuming precious supply? Is it true? Or maybe it was true but it has been fixed in some patches?

I'd say your friend is spot on for most players. Feel free to use the bombers or not. German fighters are worth keeping on map though in every case. German Bf 110's and Ju 87 are sometimes useful in edge cases

[tyronec]

There are two issues for Axis in the game.

One is the difficulty with keeping bombers supplied during the offensive in '41 and '42. There is a balance between how much supplies you can get forward, what is needed by the Infantry and Panzers in particular and how much the Luftwaffe draws away. Get it wrong and the Panzers won't have enough MPs to do their job. Where there are less rail lines available this is particularly difficult.

The second is that if you advance beyond fighter cover then the Soviets have the possibility to seriously trash your lead units with GA.

Advance slowly during the early period of the game and this is not a problem, and once you go on the defensive Axis should be fine to use the Luftwaffe to the full.