Matrix Games Forums

I'm a newbie SPWAW player, and in the beginning Russian Steel campain (4th battle). I have a question - how inportant and effective Anti-Aircraft guns (72 and 85 mm) are ? I know they are great vs tanks, but what about aircrafts ? I've never seen them shut down one, but may be they make air raids less effective ? They are quite expensive, and easyly eat most of support points. Now I have a huge city battle before me, and would like to buy some additional infantry (i have some pre-deployed), but may be AA are more important ? I can't have both...
Another question: Will fighters be available later in campain, and are they effective vs bombers ?

Russian 75mm AAA gun is one of the most useless guns in the game. It is big, easy to spot, has a relatively low penetration value and is innacurate at long range, for Anti tank purposes you are better off with the 85mm (though personally I prefer 45mm guns in the beggining and 57mm towards the end). Both 75 and 85 mm AAA are useless against bombers. Bombers are an offboard unit and can not be shot at by any unit in the OOB. They will always arrive and drop their ammo on your hapless men:). As for the lighter planes you are better off with the 37mm and 12.7mm DSHK they will shoot at the enemy planes more often (3-4 shots for every shot a big AAA makes) and even if they dont shoot the bastard nazi down, hell be very surpressed and inacurate by the time he starts shooting. So forget those big guns, and buy some glorious paratroops instead:)