Fighters (and fighter-bombers) on "Sweep" doing strafing...

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

According to WitP manual at page 132:

7.2.2.10 Impact of Altitude Selection

Planes on a Sweep Mission will always drop to 100 feet and strafe (taking flak at their set altitude and again at 100 feet).

So... this implies that user can set the fighters (or fighter-bombers) for "Sweep" mission at 10000 ft and they would still drop to 100 ft to strafe after air-to-air combat is done...


But I can't recall ever seeing my fighters (or fighter-bombers) that were doing "Sweep" mission at whatever altitude except 100 ft to strafe.


Can someone please confirm this?


Leo "Apollo11"

[Terminus]

I've only ever seen strafing if they go in at 100 ft.

[AmiralLaurent]

Seems to me that this altitude change occurs only when fighters have orders 'airfield attack'

[Mike Wood]

Hello...

Rule changed long ago. Must set altitude at 100' to sweep and strafe. Usually no strafe, if enemy fighters met.

Bye...

Michael Wood

ORIGINAL: Apollo11

Hi all,

According to WitP manual at page 132:

7.2.2.10 Impact of Altitude Selection

Planes on a Sweep Mission will always drop to 100 feet and strafe (taking flak at their set altitude and again at 100 feet).

So... this implies that user can set the fighters (or fighter-bombers) for "Sweep" mission at 10000 ft and they would still drop to 100 ft to strafe after air-to-air combat is done...


But I can't recall ever seeing my fighters (or fighter-bombers) that were doing "Sweep" mission at whatever altitude except 100 ft to strafe.


Can someone please confirm this?


Leo "Apollo11"

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

ORIGINAL: Mike Wood

Rule changed long ago. Must set altitude at 100' to sweep and strafe. Usually no strafe, if enemy fighters met.

Thanks for info and clarification Mike!


And please keep up your fantastic WitP work - we are all in debt to you (you are our WitP hero)!!! [&o][&o][&o]


Leo "Apollo11"

[Captain Cruft]

It's been like that since UV ...

Personally I would like to see the effectiveness of this type of attack increased. In reality it was used a lot but in WitP I never use it because the results aren't worth the flak losses.

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: Mike Wood

Rule changed long ago. Must set altitude at 100' to sweep and strafe. Usually no strafe, if enemy fighters met.

So, if you set to 100' and there are enemy fighters present, they fight at 100'? Boy does that suck for the attacker. I guess you send an escort with them then.

[Bradley7735]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

ORIGINAL: Mike Wood

Rule changed long ago. Must set altitude at 100' to sweep and strafe. Usually no strafe, if enemy fighters met.

So, if you set to 100' and there are enemy fighters present, they fight at 100'? Boy does that suck for the attacker. I guess you send an escort with them then.

That's what happened in reality. If no opposition, then sometimes top cover would come down and strafe, but not always.

edit: damn, quoted wrong post. I wanted to quote Captain Cruft's post.

[Captain Cruft]

I'm OK with how it works getting to the point of where they strafe. It's the almost total lack of effect of the strafing that I am contesting

[Mike Solli]

I've usually done strafing from about 6000' or so. Maybe that's why it never really worked...

[doktorblood]

ORIGINAL: Captain Cruft

I'm OK with how it works getting to the point of where they strafe. It's the almost total lack of effect of the strafing that I am contesting

Especially when you caonsider that strafing attacks were the #1 airplane killer in the war.

[BlackVoid]

Strafing is not worth in the game. If there are enemy fighters you will be caught at low alt which is bad. If no enemy fighters then flak will cause a lot of damage.

[Captain Cruft]

ORIGINAL: doktorblood
Especially when you consider that strafing attacks were the #1 airplane killer in the war.

Is that true? I know not.

What I have read about, albeit in the European and North African context, is the many "fighter sweeps" which were performed at the point of the enemy landing or taking off. Catching them when they are most vulnerable. WitP does not model this AFAIK, but I suppose those planes could be considered "on the ground". In which case a strafing attack should occasionally be quite devastating in terms of planes destroyed.

[Sharkosaurus rex]

I found fighter sweeps at 100ft way tooo expensive. And the Japs doubly so because of their flimsy negligee and lack of armour

[riley555a]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

I've usually done strafing from about 6000' or so. Maybe that's why it never really worked...

Don't worry about it. It's usually just as weak at 100'. Even if it wasn't it wouldn't be worth it because you're so much more vulnerable at 100'.

[Mike Solli]

Well, based on this thread, I think I need to find a new way to kill those planes on the ground. I've found that invasion of the hex is the best way, but not always feasable. From the air, massive bombing from Ki-48s and 21s (100+) can do the job, but I can't do that in more than 1-2 hexes at a time. Any ideas?

[riley555a]

I always just mass medium and heavy bombers to neutralize every airfield in my path. Works great. It's probably the most effective way to destroy planes on the ground as well as damage the hell out of the airfield (If you wanna go that far). If you mass up enough bombers with enough experience i'm sure you could destroy every plane on a targeted airfield in a single turn. I usually do it in 3-5 turns. Although the bulk of the enemy planes are destroyed in 2 turns.