Matrix Games Forums

macroman247 wrote: Sat Feb 24, 2024 9:59 pm Finally, the enemy subs are everywhere and I'm spotting them all over the place but ASW missions don't really seem to care about them. I even tried making some ASW TFs and sending them to where I know they are but very little gets done. The only time I seem to make an attack on the enemy subs are when they fire off torps on my TFs and then we engage them.

BBfanboy wrote: Sun Feb 25, 2024 12:33 am First step in any campaign in this game is to establish air superiority. You get your fighters on CAP and entice him to send bombers escorted by fighters. CAP fighters have advantage over fighters that must stick close to the bombers they are escorting. The enemy could send fighters on sweep missions but he will have the same coordination issues you do. The big thing is that most of your pilots will survive because they are over their base when they bail out, but his will not. Once his fighter strength is whittled down, send your heavy bombers, especially B-17s because they can take a lot of punishment. Order fighter sweeps first - they may or may not fly - but study the Air Coordination guide to find out how to use multiple bases and HQs to do this. Get the bombers to fly in the afternoon phase by setting a mission like naval strike in the morning, alternate Airfield Attack and if there are no ships with enough DL to attack, they will attack the airfield in the PM phase (weather permitting). Even after you close the airfield, beware of carriers in the area!

ASW works much better if you detect the sub first. Use Naval Search to find the subs initially, Air ASW to localize the contact and surface vessels to attack it. The higher the DL, the more likely the attack and the more persistent the attack will be. Don't forget to use those FPs on ships.

To unload faster in an amphib landing, use MORE ships than required for the troops. Each ship will unload a set amount of troops and equipment so more ships equals more unloaded in each phase. Order of unloading from each ships is: Combat squads, support squads and light equipment, heavy equipment and then supply.
Have a couple of separate ships Amphib loaded with supply only and then merge them with the main amphib TF. Otherwise, supply is the last thing unloaded from the ships and your troops will not have enough to fight with.

BBfanboy wrote: Sun Feb 25, 2024 12:33 am First step in any campaign in this game is to establish air superiority. You get your fighters on CAP and entice him to send bombers escorted by fighters. CAP fighters have advantage over fighters that must stick close to the bombers they are escorting. The enemy could send fighters on sweep missions but he will have the same coordination issues you do. The big thing is that most of your pilots will survive because they are over their base when they bail out, but his will not. Once his fighter strength is whittled down, send your heavy bombers, especially B-17s because they can take a lot of punishment. Order fighter sweeps first - they may or may not fly - but study the Air Coordination guide to find out how to use multiple bases and HQs to do this. Get the bombers to fly in the afternoon phase by setting a mission like naval strike in the morning, alternate Airfield Attack and if there are no ships with enough DL to attack, they will attack the airfield in the PM phase (weather permitting). Even after you close the airfield, beware of carriers in the area!

ASW works much better if you detect the sub first. Use Naval Search to find the subs initially, Air ASW to localize the contact and surface vessels to attack it. The higher the DL, the more likely the attack and the more persistent the attack will be. Don't forget to use those FPs on ships.

To unload faster in an amphib landing, use MORE ships than required for the troops. Each ship will unload a set amount of troops and equipment so more ships equals more unloaded in each phase. Order of unloading from each ships is: Combat squads, support squads and light equipment, heavy equipment and then supply.
Have a couple of separate ships Amphib loaded with supply only and then merge them with the main amphib TF. Otherwise, supply is the last thing unloaded from the ships and your troops will not have enough to fight with.

macroman247 wrote: Sun Feb 25, 2024 1:04 am
These are some excellent tips to address the issues in the Grand Campaign (and I will refer to them when I get to that point)...but unfortunately it isn't applicable for the scenario. The enemy does not send their bombers so I can't fly CAP to shoot them down and weaken their fighter defense when I go on the offensive. The scenario also limits how many transport ships I get so spreading the load out doesn't go very far. Perhaps it all just means the issues I am running into are intended for the scenario.