Use of Air Attacks

[dogancan]

I got a couple of questions regarding both gameplay and historical uses of airborne. Hope someone will answer:

1) Which one is the best option to use your air bombardment against: HQs, Bases or heavy artillery?

2)When bombarding bases, is there any chance to hit ammunition-diesel storages and put enemy in serious trouble for the next couple of says? Or any chance to kill a commander?

3) Is the probability of exploding enemy tanks with air attacks is higher when you are attacking on light tanks rather than heavy tanks, or is it the same?

4) Does bombarding a crowded area increases the chances of success?

5) How realistic is the bombardment of a requested point within 5 min when planes are ready above? I mean, was it really that quick in WW2 to contact with airforce?

6) How realistic do you think CotA reflects the role played by airforce in operations in Greece and Crete? And is there any prospected developments on this issue in BftB, or in long term?

and lastly, it is really a great game.

thx in advance...

[06 Maestro]

ORIGINAL: dogancan

I got a couple of questions regarding both gameplay and historical uses of airborne. Hope someone will answer:

I'll give it a go.

1) Which one is the best option to use your air bombardment against: HQs, Bases or heavy artillery?

I would hit the artillery-that is usually what is causing most of your casualties. Suppressing an HQ would be meaningful if it was engaged in an attack, but arty is still my main choice.

2)When bombarding bases, is there any chance to hit ammunition-diesel storages and put enemy in serious trouble for the next couple of says? Or any chance to kill a commander?

There is a benefit to hitting supply units in that you could kill transport. The less transport a supply unit has, the less supply it will be able to move to using units. I am not aware of being able to actually destroy supplies directly, but it could be considered to have occurred if the supplies cannot be moved.

3) Is the probability of exploding enemy tanks with air attacks is higher when you are attacking on light tanks rather than heavy tanks, or is it the same?

I don't think so-especially at this stage of the war. Although I'm not certain, I think that most a/c machine guns would rip through the top of a tank turrets or the engine grills quite easily.

4) Does bombarding a crowded area increases the chances of success?

I have always assumed so. I can't say that I've tested that, but it is clear that arty is more effective in crowded areas-a/c should have similar abilities. Arty fire has more punch, so it is more likely to affect more units in a given area vs a single a/c. Arjuna will have to answer that one.

5) How realistic is the bombardment of a requested point within 5 min when planes are ready above? I mean, was it really that quick in WW2 to contact with air force?

Air force ground support teams (air force fire support teams) became common during the war. I am sure that the Germans had an ability to call for strikes in a fairly specific location during the early part of the war-that is what they trained for; army support. It is a safe bet that most sorties for all sides were interdiction missions, but that is not in the scope of these scenarios-combat support is what these a/c are engaged in. I do not know when the British started employing air force ground controllers with front line units, but I'm sure they were trying some direct combat support for the army from early in the war. If ground controllers were present, then 5 minutes would be plenty of time.

6) How realistic do you think CotA reflects the role played by air force in operations in Greece and Crete? And is there any prospected developments on this issue in BftB, or in long term?

It is probably pretty close. I am tempted to think that there were a few more sorties in some of the larger battles than what is represented in the game. It is true that air power was rather thinly spread for that campaign-even for the Germans. There were never enough air units to satisfy all the requests for air support-also, initially, air bases were a good distance from the fighting in Greece.

and lastly, it is really a great game.

Yep-the best operational level game on the market-even not considering the the great ai.

thx in advance...

Hope that helps.

[dogancan]

many thanks for this very very helpful reply.