Skill check - Tunisia (and a quick Q on airpower)

[ByronBond]

Hi all, I am still working up my skills, so would like to know whether I'm in the ballpark to move on to more complex scenarios/campaigns. After the Husky tutorial I got a Decisive Victory in the Air tutorial; and then got an Allied Major Victory in Dragoon.

Just finished Battle for Tunisia '43 and squeaked out an Allied minor victory on Normal difficulty.

Given reasonable playing skills, should I be satisfied with that and move on to more complex scenarios, or should I practice and improve until I get a Major victory in Tunisia?

I'm just looking to gauge where I should be before committing to a major game.

And here is my quick question on airpower. In the Tunisia scenario I see lots of JU52s flying sir supply to the axis. I tried flying air superiority missions over the Tunis area and Pantelleria, but seemed to only shoot down 2-5 each turn. How do I shut down those air drops?

[loki100]

ORIGINAL: NavyGamer

Hi all, I am still working up my skills, so would like to know whether I'm in the ballpark to move on to more complex scenarios/campaigns. After the Husky tutorial I got a Decisive Victory in the Air tutorial; and then got an Allied Major Victory in Dragoon.

Just finished Battle for Tunisia '43 and squeaked out an Allied minor victory on Normal difficulty.

Given reasonable playing skills, should I be satisfied with that and move on to more complex scenarios, or should I practice and improve until I get a Major victory in Tunisia?

I'm just looking to gauge where I should be before committing to a major game.

And here is my quick question on airpower. In the Tunisia scenario I see lots of JU52s flying sir supply to the axis. I tried flying air superiority missions over the Tunis area and Pantelleria, but seemed to only shoot down 2-5 each turn. How do I shut down those air drops?

I'd strongly suggest play 2 of the France 44 scenarios. Break out and pursuit will teach you a lot about how to use tactical air to best effect and Market Garden will really force you to understand the supply system - the difference to Torch is that in that scenario, you have a pretty major shortage, in Market Garden its all about allocation to support the critical part of your offensive

One solution to the resupply would be an air superiority AD designed to fly in the enemy turn where you think those transports are dropping supplies. But a clever axis player (and I think the AI does this) will have some uncommitted fighter squadrons and these, in turn, may hit your fighters ... so go in using a lot of force.

In terms of choking off supply volumes, sea interdiction AD's off Tunis are probably more effective.

[zakblood]

i see most things differently than most, winning or loosing makes no difference to me, it's how much fun i had that matters while doing it, each time i test, as i don't play the game as yet, i try and do something different, with this in mind, my skills are improving as i put the time in, and also learn what works and what doesn't and have fun and enjoy it a long the way, if i win it's a bonus, but then again i'm still on easy so don't want a massive challenge atm either, as learning is different than pure playing, with time and knowledge gained as you improve, so does the AI as you alter the difficulty level to match, as nobody wants to win all the time as that's imo just pointless, you want a balanced and fun and challenging match where i could and does go both ways.

so i test all the little battles first, gain some skill in them, and then move on to the bigger and some times more complex ones, all on easy mind you, then and only then move on to a normal setting until i feel it's no longer fun, then just keep ramping it up until i can be matched or at the same level as the AI to hold me and challenge me without crushing me and totally wiping me out.

but as long as it's fun it matters little, and so far this is fun, loads of it, as it's totally or almost total freedom for a hex based game, which looks and plays great, and has to be the benchmark from now on that all are marked on imo...
[&o][&o][&o]

[KWG]

"And here is my quick question on airpower. In the Tunisia scenario I see lots of JU52s flying sir supply to the axis. I tried flying air superiority missions over the Tunis area and Pantelleria, but seemed to only shoot down 2-5 each turn. How do I shut down those air drops?"

How high are you flying AS? How many of your aircraft flew the AS?

[ByronBond]

Thanks for the tips Loki; time to go hit the manual on how to implement your suggestions.

zakblood - same here. I don't have to win to enjoy the game, but I do want to make sure I am using the tools provided correctly, even if I am not yet optimizing them.

[Kronolog]

Bombing the Tunisian ports is in my limited experience the most effective way of weakening the axis forces in Africa; they don't have enough transport aircraft to supply all their forces in Tunis once the ports are out of action. Though it takes a while, because on challenging difficulty level at least the German fighters seem to absolutely dominate their Anglo-American opponents. I couldn't achieve air superiority until the German planes were grounded because of lack of fuel.