Ger Air Super vs Interception

[matchwood]

I'm going to run a test around Paris in 1943 as the Germans: 10 turns with fighter squadrons assigned to Air Superiority, versus 10 turns with the same fighter squadrons left to intercept.

I'll measure total airframe losses, pilot losses, morale, and experience.

Any guesses on the results? Maybe more victories with Air Superiority because of the more reliable interception and height advantage, but also more losses from flying unnecessary missions?

Matchwood

[kentkroeckel]

WitW system says air superiority should intercept more than squadrons set on intercept. But it will be interesting to see the results. I am also under the impression that the type of air mission the enemy is conducting could have an effect.

In your case it would be interesting if you run a test against strategic bombing missions in Germany along with tactical bombing (ground) missions in France. Results will be fascinating.

[matchwood]

So...an interesting result so far. I put four Luftwaffe squadrons near Paris. Ran 10 turns on AS and then reloaded to 10 turns on intercept.

Key results:

• The results strongly favoured Air Superiority.

• AS caused slightly more Allied losses, but the big difference was German preservation: roughly 233 German aircraft lost on AS versus 457 on intercept-only.

• Allied losses were about 1,105 on AS versus 974 on intercept-only.

• German pilot losses were also much lower on AS: 154 versus 310.

• Fw190 had much better kill/loss ratios than the Bf109

• AS also preserved morale better, while intercept produced harder fighting and some experience gains but much worse morale damage. The Fw 190 groups performed especially well on AS.

The first picture is 10 turns on Intercept. The second 10 turns on AS. There were a small number of extra operational losses on AS but these were dwarfed by the additional losses on Intercept.

| German aircraft type---Air Superiority kill/loss ratio | Intercept-only kill/loss ratio |
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------: |
| **Bf 109G-6--------------------- 1.4 : 1------------------------------1.1 : 1
| **Fw 190A-5---------------------11.0 : 1-----------------------------2.6 : 1
| **Fw 190A-4---------------------6.9 : 1------------------------------2.3 : 1
| **Overall-------------------------4.4 : 1------------------------------1.9 : 1

[matchwood]

Variables I controlled for:

Weather - may not have been exactly the same but fairly similar over the 10 turns.
Morale - each turn I rested squarons under 50 morale. Interestingly, on Intercept by about turn 7 some of the German squadron morale was plumbeting.
Aircraft involved - on the Allied side I had exactly the same suadrons and missions planned on auto.

[kentkroeckel]

Mr. Matchwood, your findings are incredible. Excellent research!

The system suggests air superiority missions would engage a little better than just left to simple intercept but wow. I had no idea such a difference existed. Moreover, I have not noticed anyone talking about this, with evidence. All I can say is well done Matchwood. I think this will give reason for a German player to make several air superiority missions over Germany and occupied territories.

As a game player of WitW, I say thank you Mr. Matchwood for your work on this project.

Best wishes, Kent.

[matchwood]

Thank you, much appreciated.

When I get a chance, I might repeat the exercise for the 8th Air Force over Germany.

One thing to note is that I flew the Luftwaffe AS missions on alternate days, in order to manage the fatigue build-up that can happen from flying every day.

It is possible that this became one of the differences between AS and intercept. When set to intercept, the squadrons may have flown more often, built up higher fatigue, and then suffered higher losses as a result.

The other possible difference is the number of Luftwaffe aircraft actually making the intercept. I would need to study the data in more detail, but it looks like some of the high LW loss rates on intercept involved relatively small numbers of LW aircraft engaging much larger Allied packages.

It is possible that AS missions produced larger Luftwaffe concentrations in the same battle — more of a “Big Wing” effect, if you like.

A third possible factor is altitude. In several AS combats, the Luftwaffe seemed to engage from a higher altitude — for example, around 25k against Allied aircraft at 19k. By contrast, some intercept combats appeared to take place at similar altitudes, such as 19k versus 19k. If that pattern holds across the wider data, AS may not only be concentrating more aircraft, but also giving them more favourable engagement conditions while better controlling fatigue.

Matchwood

[LiquidSky]

Three reasons why Air Superiority missions are bad for the Axis.

1) Fighters on Air Superiority must fly and fight anything in their chosen box. Not just bombers. You give the allies the ability to target only your fighters by flying their own A/S missions that intersect your A/S box.

2) Fighters on Air Superiority don't fly any other missions. They will not intercept say...air field attack missions unless your air fields are also in that box.

3) You only fight the bombers once they are in the box. If you can disrupt/damage them in many little combats in the stream towards the target, you can take less damage to your industry by removing them from the stream, and also inflicting high enough morale damage so they don't fly the next turn.

That's not to say you should never ever fly them. A/S is an offensive tool. Sometimes you may need to have your fighters near the English Channel and you don't want to be intercepting all over England on auto. Instead you may be attacking allied planes at an invasion site. Similar if you use them in Italy.