Scratching my head on air combat

[Graymane]

I've looked through the manual but not having much luck in finding answers to some specific questions I have. Trying to search on "air combat" and similar strings returns the dreaded too many results problem on here. Maybe someone can help a fella out?

Here is a screenshot of a JG54 unit in D21. A fighter squadron with 42 Me-109s.



Here are my questions:
1. On the unit report the Strengths show one set of numbers and the weapon system info popup another set of numbers. I don't understand the differences. Anti Armor, for example.
2. Which numbers do I need to care about when air-to-air combat happens (fighter vs fighter or bomber)?
3. If I put this unit on Combat Support, what numbers would I care about?
4. If I added this unit directly to a ground combat attacking tanks, what numbers would I care about?
5. If I attack an airfield directly with this unit, what numbers would be used against Air Defense in the hex and against fighters or bombers in the hex? What numbers if there is an interception attempt?

Mainly, I'm trying to understand the differences in what numbers I'd use when thinking about air-to-air combat versus air-to-ground?

[golden delicious]

1. The strengths on the unit are the aggregate of all the equipment in the unit (multiplied by unit quality), scaled based on the strongest unit in the scenario (loosely speaking).
2. Anti-air strength is how good the equipment is at killing aircraft when they are in the air (including aircraft defending their own airfield). Defence strength is how hard the aircraft is to kill.
3. Anti-personnel, anti-tank strength and of course range
4. Anti-tank strength (that really is an easy one)
5. Fighters in the hex will (usually) intercept the attacker, so they will be hit by your anti-air strength. Anything else in the hex (including bombers) will be hit with anti-personnel strength unless the target is armoured, in which case anti-tank strength

The only thing here that I think is tricky is that if the enemy hex is occupied by fighters, you may get better results doing your airfield attack with your own fighters.

[Graymane]

So an Me-110 is going to be better than most level bombers against armored units in the ground? Even a 109 has 1 AA.

[golden delicious]

So an Me-110 is going to be better than most level bombers against armored units in the ground? Even a 109 has 1 AA.

Anything with anti-tank strength is going to better at killing armoured targets, but do bear in mind that armoured units often contain lots of soft equipment, too.

I think that if a target is all or mostly armour then anti-personnel strength can kill tanks instead of soft targets. It's also worth noting that whether a target is armoured or not should not affect the ability of artillery (and airpower) to reset the unit's deployment status to mobile.

[Graymane]

5. Fighters in the hex will (usually) intercept the attacker, so they will be hit by your anti-air strength. Anything else in the hex (including bombers) will be hit with anti-personnel strength unless the target is armoured, in which case anti-tank strength

The only thing here that I think is tricky is that if the enemy hex is occupied by fighters, you may get better results doing your airfield attack with your own fighters.

Just to be clear, in referencing 5 above, I was meaning Airfield Attack rather than a bombard type of attack against ground units, in case there was any confusion. I realize I didn't word it well. The part where you say "Anything else in the hex (including bombers)..." was the part that confuses me. Do you mean on an Airfield attack, AP will be used on bombers instead of the Anti-Air strength of the attacking air unit?

[golden delicious]

Do you mean on an Airfield attack, AP will be used on bombers instead of the Anti-Air strength of the attacking air unit?

Yes that's correct. AP strength is for hitting soft targets on the ground, whether they're infantry or parked bombers.

As an experiment, set up the map with two airfields per force, one containing a bomber unit and one a fighter unit. Have the bomber attack the bomber and the fighter the fighter, then try reversing it. You should get better results the first time.