AA unit defense protecting a fighter unit

[Christolos]

I had a situation (in a PBEM game) where one of my Russian fighters, adjacent to a Russian AA unit, was attacked by two German Tac bombers, where the fighter unit, set to auto, never intercepted the bombers. Instead, the AA unit was the only thing that fired back defensively. Is this WAD? Does the AA unit firing first defensively have priority, and if so, why/what is the rationale? Perhaps the fighters can't intercept because they would get in the way of the AA fire, but in this case, shouldn't the player decide what to use for defense if only one of them can be used, especially if one would be more effective than the other?
My fighter unit was severely mauled (from strength 10 down to 5) and so I wonder whether they would have faired better if they intercepted the bombers without the AA unit ever firing...

C

[Tanaka]

ORIGINAL: Christolos

I had a situation (in a PBEM game) where one of my Russian fighters, adjacent to a Russian AA unit, was attacked by two German Tac bombers, where the fighter unit, set to auto, never intercepted the bombers. Instead, the AA unit was the only thing that fired back defensively. Is this WAD? Does the AA unit firing first defensively have priority, and if so, why/what is the rationale? Perhaps the fighters can't intercept because they would get in the way of the AA fire, but in this case, shouldn't the player decide what to use for defense if only one of them can be used, especially if one would be more effective than the other?
My fighter unit was severely mauled (from strength 10 down to 5) and so I wonder whether they would have faired better if they intercepted the bombers without the AA unit ever firing...

C

Yes unfortunately this is the the way it works which like you said can lead to issues like this. There needs to be some sort of coordination because it can lead to situations where having AA units is actually a negative thing...

[Christolos]

I guess it comes down to positioning AA and fighter units where they would have maximum effects. Especially if the fighters or the AA units are upgraded such that one would have more AA defense over the other.

C