Leaders

[Culiacan Mexico]

I have read the manual many times, but I can’t seem to find the information I need. I would appreciate any help I could get.


LEADERS
“Leaders in the game will greatly influence the fortunes and performance of the formations under their command… You should avoid placing leaders in a command where their weakness can hurt you.”

“The procedure for determining the leader for land- based air operations is similar to that for land combat, but leaders will have their Aggressiveness halved when rolling for the active leader. Also, if there is an air operations leader assigned to the HQ in charge of the airfield, his Air Rating will be used instead of a higher level HQ Leader, if Random (8) is less than his Aggressiveness Rating (not halved).”

STRATEGY AND TACTICS
Air Operations
“Make sure that you have a good air leader in charge of your air operations.”


Question:

How does the Air Operations rating effect land based air combat?

[sulup]

I have always wondered this myself. I think that the leader of the army HQ is usually in charge of air operations for all airgroups within that HQ. I think the rating affects, along with disruption levels of the base, how many planes get flown up into the air to engage in combat. I also think the air rating determines how many planes are used to engage in each round of dogfighting.

[Culiacan Mexico]

Originally posted by sulup:
I have always wondered this myself. I think that the leader of the army HQ is usually in charge of air operations for all airgroups within that HQ. I think the rating affects, along with disruption levels of the base, how many planes get flown up into the air to engage in combat. I also think the air rating determines how many planes are used to engage in each round of dogfighting.

What you say makes sense, but…

I attacked Wake Island with 12 Bomber Groups and 1Fighter Group for twelve turns. Each turn I changed Base and Army Leaders going from having the best possible leaders to having no leaders in the entire chain of command. There was no variation in the number of aircraft that were flown.

Results

90% of the Bomber Group flew the 1st mission (36 aircraft).
80% of the Bomber Group flew the 2nd mission (32 aircraft).
80% of the Fighter Group flew the 1st mission (40 aircraft).
70% of the Fighter Group flew the 2nd mission (35 aircraft).


I also set a single weak B-29 Group to attack a Japanese base defended by 5 Fighter Groups, and for twelve weeks roughly 2/3rds of the fighters (150 aircraft) intercepted the B-29 Group. Again changes in Leadership had no effect on the number of aircraft flown.


Perhaps you are right when you say, “air rating determines how many planes are used to engage in each round of dogfighting”. This will be a little harder to test.

Other than affecting the strength of your carrier group strike, have you noticed Air Leadership Ratings influencing air combat in your games?

Thanks for your help.

[Optha]

I only found somethin in the "PACIFIC WAR PLAYER CHECKLIST and TACTICS (version 11)".
A hint about replacements are influencend by the air-rating of the commander...

[grumbler]

Ya know, CM, I am halfway convinced that you are right, and that air leadership ratings for LBA is one of those things that just never got implemented.