Matrix Games Forums

Forward Planning
Put this new combined strategy in place for a full week, instead of chopping and changing every other day as I have been doing.

PRIAFs
Assign raids in order of the least damaged. If unable to assign units to a particular target move on to the next up the list.

RADAR Sites
Assign targets as usual.

IND Targets
I have talked (above) about the need to keep a lid on FC numbers, and looking at the a/c related industries I have caused an estimated 50% damage to the CFACs. This looks like a good one to build on. A largish night raid on each of the three chosen, using a PF unit for each.

Minor Raids
A few strays to avoid getting too predictable, so top-off a few south coast industries (and use the Norway-based units of course).

Recce
Pre-raid for all above and possible future strikes.

EDIT...
I had intended to post a complete list of the raids planned for the day, but I forgot to take a screenshot before finishing the turn so... [:(]

Components is easy to replace as the RAF have an abundance of factories producing them.

Go for the EFAC, as that is the least produced parts that a complete fighter need.
The biggest producer of engines is a factory that produces 8 engines a day. Destroy it and even if they get moved in total, he will be missing the 80 engines over 10 days [;)]

ORIGINAL: Derfel

Components is easy to replace as the RAF have an abundance of factories producing them.

Go for the EFAC, as that is the least produced parts that a complete fighter need.
The biggest producer of engines is a factory that produces 8 engines a day. Destroy it and even if they get moved in total, he will be missing the 80 engines over 10 days [;)]

That's a very good point, given that the Rolls Royce Derby works accounts for 9 oo 24 points production, totally destroying it would take out about 37% of his capacity. But that's a big factory to reduce since I'm already up to 50% on CFACs I think I'll stick with it - although probably my slightly obsessive nature is to blame for that as much as the actual pros and cons..

Thanks for the suggestion though, it's good to know that someone out there is not only reading this stuff but thinking about it as well [:)].

Kev

Turn 20 <edit to correct turn number from 21 to 20!>

Overview

RADAR

As the table below shows quite a good effort at keeping the lid on things, but as the map below shows, you just need one failure for things to get out of hand. A single CH station as Easington gives the enemy coverage over a huge area.

As last turn I will not be trying to suppress the damaged sites in Scotland, and will let them gradually come back online, to save resources.

PRIAFs
As the table shows I have made some progress over the past couple of days in reducing 10 Group's sector airfields (Red) and for a short time AS actually hit 11 yesterday.

This is a good time to talk about Air Superiority in general as this spike has to be offset against the final score for the day of just 7.

Sorry for the long break, due for family circumstances I'm having to take some time off the forum, but will be posting again as soon as I can.

Kev

Sector AF damage has increased every turn for 5 turns, and has nearly doubled in that time, and yet AS slumped back to 7 last turn. Why?

It's important to realise that AS is VERY sensitive to RAF ready numbers. The formula for AS is:

AS = (LW ready aircraft + Sector AF damage)/RAF ready aircraft

This means that a small change in RAF ready numbers can have a dramatic effect on the overall AS figure.

The chart below shows the figures for the past five turns, and you can see how the large increase in damage has been insufficient to keep AS climbing, because of a small increase in RAF aircraft available.

NOTE: The red star on the chart marks the latest AS figure, which is 7.958 to be more precise, but 8.0 to the nearest 2 significant figures. Just four less RAF ready aircraft would have pushed AS to 8.004, rounding down to 8.

As victory now looks fairly close, I will be ordering more caution, so there will many fewer unescorted raids, only those against RADAR and a few other coastal targets in radar-free zones. Double missions will still be allowed though, in an attempt to crank up the pressure against the Brits.

This is the mission list for the next day, except for the 50-odd recce runs.

Missions

Nos. 1 - 11
RADAR strikes, again leaving Scottish sites (and the one in West Wales) to come back online, as I do not consider it to be worthwhile to continue to suppress them (and in the case of Scotland probably not possible either, given the fact that I have moved some of the bomber gruppen from Norway further south).

Nos.12 - 21
Sector AFs. Church Fenton is the target of both No.12 & No.13. The earlier raid is intended as a distraction, with the second more major raid arriving by the route shown below. It is not possible to provide a significant escort to any raid against this most distant of Sector AFs hence the (hopeful) distraction.

With other Sector AFs, if it has proved impossible to launch escorted missions they have been skipped, with the next one up the list being selected.

Nos.22 - 30
Others
Night raids against three CFACs each led by elements of KGr100, plus some assorted day raids against IND targets, mainly to 'use up' unallocated resources.

Nos.31 - 34
Fighter-bombers.
FB raids against secondary AFs, avoiding heavy concentrations of LAA and hitting occupied bases.

Turn 21

Overview

RADAR

Excellent Result, with all important sites being kept well under control. All targetted sites hit for 99% damage except for Rye (72%) which was not hit at all. The decreasing number of sites needing to be hit shows that previous strikes and recce missions have worked wel..

Sector AFs

The drive to damage 12 Group's Sector AFs is going well - sans Church Fenton that is. It may be a bit of a backwater, but it features state-of-the-art defences. The distraction raid found it, bombed it and missed, while the main raid couldn't break through the invisibility shield and instead bombed a nearby power station - and missed completely, so the defences presumably also have some sort of advanced laser system for blinding bombardiers. I am determined to get it next time

Air Superiority

So, what has this done for the overall picture?



I can't remember how to replace the generic '1... to 7' with 'Turn 15... to Turn 21' on the table, but I'm sure you get the idea.

Mission List

Less and less bombers are available in most units due to the pace of operations, and the crews in most units are becoming more and more frazzled. Therefore, tackle the essentials - All RADAR targets and a few of the Sector AFs further down the list. Plus two night raids, a pair of fighter sweeps and a few miscellaneous INDs with the gruppen with the highest MOR. Hopefully the rest will do the LW some good [:)]

Edit: To add image [:(]

My First ACE

As always I checked the 'Top Pilot List' this turn to see if I finally had an ace. Imagine my surprise when I realised that I had! The funny thing is that the day before I didn't even have a pilot by that name!

According to Wikipedia, Fajtl served in the Czechoslovak Air Force, the Armée De l´Air, the Royal Air Force and the Soviet Air Force. No mention of the Luftwaffe though!