Air combat

[Chairman]

How does it come that most losses you can do to an enemy air formation is about 30% ??

If this was true in the battle for England the so called Big Wings would have been very ineffective.

[SoleSurvivor]

In the great scheme these numbers are realistic. Of course there were single engage,ments that differed.

[Yogi Yohan]

Originally posted by Chairman:
How does it come that most losses you can do to an enemy air formation is about 30% ??

If this was true in the battle for England the so called Big Wings would have been very ineffective.

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Actually, it seems there's a numerical maximum. I don't think i have ever seen more than 22 aircraft destroyed in a single group. I agree that air combat is strange in WIR and PACWAR. The number of aircraft that could be lost should not have an upper limit. If a group of 50 unescorted TB-3s was set upon by 200 FW-190's, i'd exepect they would all be blown out of the sky in a matter of minutes. Maybe a few would manage to sneak away, but the number of kills would be in the 40s.

Another strange thing is that two groups of 50 aircraft will get their ass kicked by one of 100 since they will confront the enemy sequentially.

If some major rework of aerial combat could be made, it would enormously improve the game.

[Ed Cogburn]

Originally posted by Yogi Yohan:
I agree that air combat is strange in WIR and PACWAR.

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In PACWAR, the air groups really are air groups, they fly as a unit, and in combat the entire force can potentially be shot down or damaged. WiR, with 200+ capacity "air groups" is a little different.

The number of aircraft that could be lost should not have an upper limit. If a group of 50 unescorted TB-3s was set upon by 200 FW-190's, i'd exepect they would all be blown out of the sky in a matter of minutes. Maybe a few would manage to sneak away, but the number of kills would be in the 40s.

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An increase in air combat lethality is on the issues list.

The thing about you're example is this probably isn't literally true. The combat abstractly represents combat over a one week period. It's not one gigantic air group vs. another gigantic air group, its smaller actions that are spread out over a week.

Another strange thing is that two groups of 50 aircraft will get their ass kicked by one of 100 since they will confront the enemy sequentially.

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It depends, fighters on CAP should probably be added together as bombers are for damage determination, but all other fighter type missions aren't necessarily able to merge with others. Again, think "spread out over a week".