Newbie Questions

[SLB]

First time newbie - after reading/searching the manual and forums, and playing the game 4 turns, I have several questions:
1. The effect and selection of bomb loadout is not clear. The best answer appears to be instinct. Have I missed anything?
2. Will artillery in a Corp HQ support combat by its suborinate units, if it is 2 hexes from the combat hex or does the artillery need to be assigned to the Divison?
3. As WA, during the German phasing, there is the scrolling summary text on the lower right of the screen. Is there anyway of seeing an AAR report in a popup similar to when the WA is phasing? Also, during the amphib movement phase, is there anyway to extend the interdication report duration so I can read it?
4. What are the steps to assign AA from an HQ to a city?
5. Anyway to change the font to stop text overlap?
6. The following appears to be generally automatic: (a) repair of ports, factories, airbases; and (b) railroads/yards repairs, but can you use railroad repair HQs to change speed/priorty
Thanks

[Helpless]

1. The effect and selection of bomb loadout is not clear. The best answer appears to be instinct. Have I missed anything?

Code is quite complex to describe it in details, but you won't get wrong if you follow (instinct) logic. Smaller (more numerous) bombs = more chances to hit but with less effect, bigger bombs less chances to hit, but bigger effect, firebombs are good for night (manpower) bombing, naval load outs have bonuses when plotting naval interdiction, etc..

Will artillery in a Corp HQ support combat by its suborinate units, if it is 2 hexes from the combat hex or does the artillery need to be assigned to the Divison?

Yes, if it is passes (initiative) leader rolls.

3. As WA, during the German phasing, there is the scrolling summary text on the lower right of the screen. Is there anyway of seeing an AAR report in a popup similar to when the WA is phasing?

Playing AI you can look at the enemy air execution report, I guess. It should be exported to the save folder.

Also, during the amphib movement phase, is there anyway to extend the interdication report duration so I can read it?

You can increase Combat Resolution Message delay in the Preferences.

4. What are the steps to assign AA from an HQ to a city?

Select hex with the city, press on the city name in the top right corner, click on the Assign text button on the city detail screen and select AA unit from list.

5. Anyway to change the font to stop text overlap?

You can decrease system font size or change font sizes in the game as described here - tm.asp?m=2645378.

6. The following appears to be generally automatic: (a) repair of ports, factories, airbases; and (b) railroads/yards repairs, but can you use railroad repair HQs to change speed/priorty

Yes, you can directly repair rail with rail HQs. To fasten city repairs you can attach engineer unit directly to the city.

[bomccarthy]

I’ll take a stab at No. 1 – I’ve only been playing for 9 months but I have been immersed in the air game and have learned a few things from personal observations and the older posts in this forum.

The consensus from the developers and most players is that the best loadout choice is “Auto” – the computer will choose the most appropriate loadout based on the air directive mission and range (and altitude? – not sure).

However, I have found that it almost always chooses an incendiary loadout for Bomber Command strategic missions, even when you select a daylight raid against fuel, heavy industry, etc., instead of manpower (incendiary loadouts are better for manpower, while high explosive is better for other targets). Therefore, I manually select a high explosive loadout for Bomber Command when flying against targets other than manpower.

The problem with manually selecting a loadout is that the group in question uses that loadout for all its missions. Thus, if you create separate Bomber Command air directives for manpower and fuel and leave group selection to automatic (which gives the most flexibility, since one air group can fly both air directives if you assign each directive to a different day), manually choosing a high explosive loadout for your groups will lock them in to that loadout for both air directives.

Another instance where I manually select loadouts is in drop tanks for P-38s. With two 300 gallon drop tanks, a P-38 group can reach Ploesti from a (very) few Italian bases. This means that you can have your P-38s sweep Ploesti early in the week, then escort a heavy bomber raid to Ploesti later in the week. Of course, the P-38s handle like pigs with this loadout and many or most will drop the tanks if they encounter Luftwaffe on the way in (which means there will be times when no P-38s make it to Ploesti). But that’s part of the gamble.

On a similar note, auto loadouts for heavy bombers seem to usually select extra internal fuel tanks I guess to give some level of “comfort”. This is usually okay, but you can take another gamble and manually select an “all-bomb” loadout for targets just within the edge of a group’s range. I don’t know if this affects fatigue or morale, or even operational losses (damaged planes running out of fuel before they reach their home base). Again, though, manually choosing this will “lock in” this loadout for the group, which may make it incapable of flying in another air directive to a more distant target later in the week.

[SLB]

Thanks.