Matrix Games Forums

After 2 days of the 1943 Campaign as Allies:

1: What is the best use of Recon ?

2: Do escorts stay with the bombers on the return, or since they are faster move ahead of them therefore no longer providing escort ?
I`m usually seeing small boxs ( Fighters ? ) well ahead of the large boxs ( Bomb Groups ? ) on the withdrawals.

3: Does the Black Squares with a white outline represent the AI patrol areas ?

4: Does high Cap work ? I have yet to see them bounce anything in about 60 bomb missions . What is the best way to set that up so they contribute
something ?

5: Does the AI move it`s fighters from airfield to airfield very often ? They never seem to be where I`m bombing..[&:]

6: What`s the best use of the Night Interdiction Sqds ?

7: Not a question, but by 1943 the RAF was not bad with decent AC, but they and the Yanks seem to take huge losses from the German fighters. They almost never get to " bounce " even in sweeps set to cover the BG`s return route.

and.....Great Game, best $$$ I`ve spent in a long time !![:)]

Thanks !

Against the AI, recon your planned targets for the next days, or get BDA's on the one's you've hit at night. Try to recon anything you will strafe or use FB's on under 10,000 feet to find out how much LAA there is. Against a human, do the same, but be sure to go overboard so he can't workk out what you are going to hit.

High escorts stay around the bombers till bingo, then go home. The close escorts might go strafing... I forget to be honest.

3 No, that's a an axis unit, the bigger the square, the more AC there are.

4 Interception range is around 2000 feet, so a high cap at 5000 over the bombers might only catch enemies on bounce bombers, as they will also be over the bombers. Ron can probably answer this better.

5. Yes.

6. To shoot down Night Fighters... they will loiter over an airfield and take down units that come in to land.

7. Give em time. And better jugs. The 15th AF can be pretty cool, as the groups are broken into squadrons, and can cover more ground. Often these squads can rival the 8th AF groups for kills.

and... thanks...

Probably missing something obvious, but in BTR how do you set your Brit Night Fighters to loiter over an airfield to try and shoot down landing enemy nightfighters ?The nightfighter AC are listed in the Interdiction menu and there is no " patrol" command for that in the commands menu screen. Now, they just fly to the base and return even when set to 1000 feet ?

Thanks

ORIGINAL: harley

6. To shoot down Night Fighters... they will loiter over an airfield and take down units that come in to land.

They need to be set as single plane missions.

Use multiple planes in the bomber stream - they will fly one at a time, a few minutes apart and will pick up and prosecute contacts (very low odds though). Use single planes to loiter over airfields.

Regarding loitering/goal-hanging with NIs, as Harley says! I have just written an explanation on another thread here...

Hope it is of some help.

EDIT - in case it is not obvious: when plotting an NI mission, there is a button that is, by default, marked "Single Plane". This will send a single aircraft to the Target Point where it will loiter until it is out of fuel, then head for home. So make sure that the Target Point is a Nacht Jagd base, and time it so that the intruder is there when the NJs head home after a hard night pestering Bomber Command, and Bob's your uncle. If you click on the button, it will change to multiple planes - usually three or six - for that plot. As Harley says, these will instead fly out to the Target Point, then fly home. MAYBE they will get lucky and bounce an NJ en route should one cross their path.

Don't send them too low - go at 20k feet. If a loitering NI spots an NJ trying to land, it will dive down and get it.


David