Hi I'm playing as the Allies
What are the key factors that affect the air campaign if you are doing it yourself (no AI)? And if you want to tweak just things in the preset summary screen made by the AI what would you tweak/change? I realize these are two different things, but have tried both.
Be specific with all the things that are considered please. And I do realize this varies with many factors, scenario etc.... perhaps some specific examples. (I'm talking tweaking everything thing from type of planes to hex area, to you name it...including advanced methods...as detailed as possibel if needed)
About amphibious units what do you do after they have reached their destination but still want to be in amphibious mode and cannot get them to get off the ships. Cannot move the unit. …..also about enemy ports in Overlord are there more than just the assigned amphibious ones ….if so where?
Haven't understood air drops fully yet. I know when the hex is chosen and such and 50mp + but honestly ...still confused about how to do the drop. ...and I learned it takes time meaning not just one turn.I followed the husky tutorial in this fine but then when I try it outside of this ….not clear what I'm doing.
Last question....when I am in the section that includes the advanced methods and I push "done" when I finish adjusting. Why can't I always find the confirm notice to click. Sometimes it's there and many times not. That makes me then wonder if I don't click it as confirmed... well then will nothing change. I saw in the tutorials make sure you click confirm...is that just on speciifc things like air doctrine as a whole?
Thanks ....any help is appreciated.
Air Attack non AI advice+ ?s
Moderator: MOD_WarintheWest
RE: Air Attack non AI advice+ ?s
There are a lot of variables and a few useful threads are knocking around - have a look at the consolidated tips ... some are badly out of date, but most may help orientate you.
Start with amphib. Your units actually invade right at the start of the axis turn, so just leave them and the invasion units will unload, then you can start to move on any second waves etc in your turn. Remember you need a TF offshore at the end of your movement phase to maintain any temp port (not the Mulberries though), so the TFs can sail around in your turn (invaluable with their naval guns). Also a TF in/adjacent to a level 1 or 2 port auto-repairs it so that is useful.
Problem with the air is you the variety of you/AI. At one end of the scale, take the set ADs, and just twiddle a bit. At the other, change load-outs of specific planes, juggle flight paths, assign planes to missions etc.
I'd really recommend any of the strat air war scenarios and the breakout sccenario (for tactical air).
Some really broad stuff:
Strategic.
Historical practice is a good guide. So the RAF should go for manpower and factories, stuff their basic loadout is a good fit to. Mostly keep within the OBOE range (ie the Ruhr). Variants are to use them on the U-Boats.
US 8AAF is more flexible. The B-24s are very good at long range so useful for rare but deep attacks. I go for fuel, HI, trucks and medium tank production. Never does any harm to bomb railyards.
Put up some fighters on air superiority (not just escort), you can slowly drive the Luftwaffe back into Central Germany - then you get the P51s and you have near dominance.
Tactical.
Interdiction and GS are probably the most useful missions. 2-engined bombers are very good at hitting units (ground attack), fighter bombers for interdiction. There is so much here and often situational - but if you can get interdiction at levels 7+ you will really degrade the Wehrmacht (even if you don't directly see this). If you went for the tank production, here's the reward, those shredded Pzr divisions will be a long time repairing.
The game has lots of these feedback loops.
Start with amphib. Your units actually invade right at the start of the axis turn, so just leave them and the invasion units will unload, then you can start to move on any second waves etc in your turn. Remember you need a TF offshore at the end of your movement phase to maintain any temp port (not the Mulberries though), so the TFs can sail around in your turn (invaluable with their naval guns). Also a TF in/adjacent to a level 1 or 2 port auto-repairs it so that is useful.
Problem with the air is you the variety of you/AI. At one end of the scale, take the set ADs, and just twiddle a bit. At the other, change load-outs of specific planes, juggle flight paths, assign planes to missions etc.
I'd really recommend any of the strat air war scenarios and the breakout sccenario (for tactical air).
Some really broad stuff:
Strategic.
Historical practice is a good guide. So the RAF should go for manpower and factories, stuff their basic loadout is a good fit to. Mostly keep within the OBOE range (ie the Ruhr). Variants are to use them on the U-Boats.
US 8AAF is more flexible. The B-24s are very good at long range so useful for rare but deep attacks. I go for fuel, HI, trucks and medium tank production. Never does any harm to bomb railyards.
Put up some fighters on air superiority (not just escort), you can slowly drive the Luftwaffe back into Central Germany - then you get the P51s and you have near dominance.
Tactical.
Interdiction and GS are probably the most useful missions. 2-engined bombers are very good at hitting units (ground attack), fighter bombers for interdiction. There is so much here and often situational - but if you can get interdiction at levels 7+ you will really degrade the Wehrmacht (even if you don't directly see this). If you went for the tank production, here's the reward, those shredded Pzr divisions will be a long time repairing.
The game has lots of these feedback loops.
RE: Air Attack non AI advice+ ?s
How do you identify that 2-engined bombers are very good at hitting units (ground attack) and fighter bombers for interdiction?
AKA Belgavox
RE: Air Attack non AI advice+ ?s
ORIGINAL: mssm45
How do you identify that 2-engined bombers are very good at hitting units (ground attack) and fighter bombers for interdiction?
testing, set up little sandbox routines (or simply use one of the smaller scenarios, do it solitaire and repeat different approaches). If you do a search on Q-Ball, you'll find he has reported a lot of tests around this sort of dynamic.
RE: Air Attack non AI advice+ ?s
Ok I will search for Q-Ball information.
I am simply trying to understand how to link the plane specs and loadout with air directive effectiveness.
I don't think that there are some general guidelines and tips in the game manual.
Is testing the only option?
I am simply trying to understand how to link the plane specs and loadout with air directive effectiveness.
I don't think that there are some general guidelines and tips in the game manual.
Is testing the only option?
AKA Belgavox
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Mac Linehan
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RE: Air Attack non AI advice+ ?s
I just typed out a detailed response/ reply to what you said and for some reason my reply was not accepted. I'm new to forums .
I did not really understand what you said and I don't know what TF means.
Here is what I kind of know broadly:
How to attack / hasty and definitive
How to move ....but don't at all know how to move wisely
How to assign units...but not sure what units I need to add
How to transfer air units to other air bases...again don't know what type N/D units where they strategically should be
How to transfer freight ...i usually ttransfer to depots and fronline units...again guessing
How to tweak details on the air summary ...don't have a freakin clue in most of this what is best, even if I understand the use of it
How to use the air direction screen
Managing depots and changing supply priority like from a 4 to a 3
Create new air bases on depots or expanding....don't know what or when it's best to build to expand etc
understand what most if not all of the above buttons mean and do
So I will tell you how I play my turn say in operation overlord say after I have landed on the Normandy beaches and now fighting to move forward.
Note: I really don't know WTF I'm doing keep in mind. 1st I check the air summary and do some tweaking with things like elevation in bombing or ground attack and sometimes change intensity levels to high , change hex area, change percentage of flying and weather conditions, then go to the advanced air parts and tweak number of planes and escorts and number of strikes maybe to 2 a day. Then click assign all air groups, but I don't really know like when I use my night fighters more. I use UK planes for night mainly and US for day but as far as what kind well I have no idea...I like Mitchells and Spitfires and The liberators but how and when to use them ...i guess bombing cities is good for them. I then click execute and most of the time it seems worse in losses than just not touching the current AI.
In the air part of this I'm playing or just graduating from T ball and I think most of these wargamers on this forum are in the Major leagues to use a baseball analogy.
I need someone out there to tell me specific steps in a specific campaign to follow and then I basically copy it and see the results and as I get a feel for the pattern basics then I can accurately tweak. Everyone says go to this forum ...to get support.
Lastly ..the manual , which I have perused ...let me put it this way ...it's like trying to learn how to swim from a book instead of getting in the water. You tube? I checked still frustrated....not getting clear visuals of steps to follow.
What I don't know
How to transfer units/parashooters
How to move units in terms of knowing where guys should be ....my habit is to push every unit as far as I can to the frontline to break it. and attack as much as I can...supply?
Micromanage air units even at the basic level of tweaking that actually works for success
I am swimming in the gray water ...i like the game and I think I can get better but...i need a simple basics pattern to follow in specific steps not explaining theory. ...back to my swimming by the book analogy. I don't care if it si copying ...i gotta start somewhere.
There is a UK guy on You tube who goes over air management but he isn't easy to understand for me. Other than intro husky which I get not much for the other campaigns.
I bought this game...i still like it ...but I want my money's worth.
I'm told oh go to Matrix forums ...it's a support community ....ok I've got nowhere else to go.
Do you realise that if I even tried to explain or even show the aspects of this game to a nominal gamer and just say some of the things I said in managing the basics ...they wouldn't have a clue what I'm talking about. ...so even though I am new give me some credit. This is a detailed game.
You may think...hey maybe the game just isn't for you....No I can learn but I need a pattern to follow first. (Think of how you would teach your grandmother who has never used a computer to use email...you have to have her memorize steps first and once she gets them down then add more but always being specific to memorize them ...then eventually you can tweak...I need the patern outside of the husky intro. take one short campaign and go through what you did step by step in air management etc. who cares if its; copying)
PS. I have just as much trouble with TOAW4 , WitE, and HoI4...but OoB i know well
I did not really understand what you said and I don't know what TF means.
Here is what I kind of know broadly:
How to attack / hasty and definitive
How to move ....but don't at all know how to move wisely
How to assign units...but not sure what units I need to add
How to transfer air units to other air bases...again don't know what type N/D units where they strategically should be
How to transfer freight ...i usually ttransfer to depots and fronline units...again guessing
How to tweak details on the air summary ...don't have a freakin clue in most of this what is best, even if I understand the use of it
How to use the air direction screen
Managing depots and changing supply priority like from a 4 to a 3
Create new air bases on depots or expanding....don't know what or when it's best to build to expand etc
understand what most if not all of the above buttons mean and do
So I will tell you how I play my turn say in operation overlord say after I have landed on the Normandy beaches and now fighting to move forward.
Note: I really don't know WTF I'm doing keep in mind. 1st I check the air summary and do some tweaking with things like elevation in bombing or ground attack and sometimes change intensity levels to high , change hex area, change percentage of flying and weather conditions, then go to the advanced air parts and tweak number of planes and escorts and number of strikes maybe to 2 a day. Then click assign all air groups, but I don't really know like when I use my night fighters more. I use UK planes for night mainly and US for day but as far as what kind well I have no idea...I like Mitchells and Spitfires and The liberators but how and when to use them ...i guess bombing cities is good for them. I then click execute and most of the time it seems worse in losses than just not touching the current AI.
In the air part of this I'm playing or just graduating from T ball and I think most of these wargamers on this forum are in the Major leagues to use a baseball analogy.
I need someone out there to tell me specific steps in a specific campaign to follow and then I basically copy it and see the results and as I get a feel for the pattern basics then I can accurately tweak. Everyone says go to this forum ...to get support.
Lastly ..the manual , which I have perused ...let me put it this way ...it's like trying to learn how to swim from a book instead of getting in the water. You tube? I checked still frustrated....not getting clear visuals of steps to follow.
What I don't know
How to transfer units/parashooters
How to move units in terms of knowing where guys should be ....my habit is to push every unit as far as I can to the frontline to break it. and attack as much as I can...supply?
Micromanage air units even at the basic level of tweaking that actually works for success
I am swimming in the gray water ...i like the game and I think I can get better but...i need a simple basics pattern to follow in specific steps not explaining theory. ...back to my swimming by the book analogy. I don't care if it si copying ...i gotta start somewhere.
There is a UK guy on You tube who goes over air management but he isn't easy to understand for me. Other than intro husky which I get not much for the other campaigns.
I bought this game...i still like it ...but I want my money's worth.
I'm told oh go to Matrix forums ...it's a support community ....ok I've got nowhere else to go.
Do you realise that if I even tried to explain or even show the aspects of this game to a nominal gamer and just say some of the things I said in managing the basics ...they wouldn't have a clue what I'm talking about. ...so even though I am new give me some credit. This is a detailed game.
You may think...hey maybe the game just isn't for you....No I can learn but I need a pattern to follow first. (Think of how you would teach your grandmother who has never used a computer to use email...you have to have her memorize steps first and once she gets them down then add more but always being specific to memorize them ...then eventually you can tweak...I need the patern outside of the husky intro. take one short campaign and go through what you did step by step in air management etc. who cares if its; copying)
PS. I have just as much trouble with TOAW4 , WitE, and HoI4...but OoB i know well
RE: Air Attack non AI advice+ ?s
ok, I'll do the best I can but the problem is it is a lot of trial and error, not least everyone has variants that they use.
TF - task force (your naval units)
Land combat, you mostly need to be methodical with the allies but you can't win by attrition. A quirk that you need to use is that the Germans often need to defend by brigade - these are often tough but fragile. Hit a brigade with 6 divisions and it will suffer badly.
Now to optimise your ground units, watch out for fatigue - this drops your efficiency horribly and watch out for missing trucks (ditto), trucks go missing when they need to go a long way to gain supply. My best advice here is to grab the 1944 scenarios - Breakout or Market Garden - and work with them. Even a few turns, try variants of HQ supply level/depot priority (Market Garden is excellent for this). The idea in the end is to come upo with something you have an intuitive feel for.
Strategic airwar. Again the scenarios are your friends. Try things out its not as much a time investment as the campaign. Use the RAF for night bombing, escort with your night fighters. Stay in OBOE range (check the manual on this). If you are (as you should) bombing manpower and HI the standard load out of some heavy bombs and incendiaries is good. If you are going for the U-Boats around Hamburg swap to heavy bombs.
For the USAAF, think more creatively about your fighters, yes you need close escorts but putting some (and the RAF Fighter Command can help here) onto air superiority can really hurt the Luftwaffe. Your B-17s are your work horses, the B-24s (and the Liberators) are useful for secondary raids where you are hoping there are few fighters - both have a good long range, so use them for targets deeper into the Reich.
For tactical air, practice with the break out scenario, honest, just practice. Set yourself goals/tests. Can you get a pattern of #7-9 interdiction over the axis forces facing the Americans? No, do it again till you can, think about plane allocations, air directives, weapon load outs. Use your 2 engined bombers to directly attack the German front line. Keep a decent batch back for ground support. Whats a decent batch? No idea, I change my own mind every game I play.
But thats how I learnt, and in the end have my own understanding. Someone like Q-Ball is much more analytic, I'm pragmatic in my approach.
But this is more advice working from your goals back to the details, I'm not sure there is much of a detailed recipe book.
Beyond this have a look at the AARs. Especially some of the older ones have T1 strategic air discussions that are highly detailed. Now game rule changes may have invalidated some of that but at least its a starting point.
TF - task force (your naval units)
Land combat, you mostly need to be methodical with the allies but you can't win by attrition. A quirk that you need to use is that the Germans often need to defend by brigade - these are often tough but fragile. Hit a brigade with 6 divisions and it will suffer badly.
Now to optimise your ground units, watch out for fatigue - this drops your efficiency horribly and watch out for missing trucks (ditto), trucks go missing when they need to go a long way to gain supply. My best advice here is to grab the 1944 scenarios - Breakout or Market Garden - and work with them. Even a few turns, try variants of HQ supply level/depot priority (Market Garden is excellent for this). The idea in the end is to come upo with something you have an intuitive feel for.
Strategic airwar. Again the scenarios are your friends. Try things out its not as much a time investment as the campaign. Use the RAF for night bombing, escort with your night fighters. Stay in OBOE range (check the manual on this). If you are (as you should) bombing manpower and HI the standard load out of some heavy bombs and incendiaries is good. If you are going for the U-Boats around Hamburg swap to heavy bombs.
For the USAAF, think more creatively about your fighters, yes you need close escorts but putting some (and the RAF Fighter Command can help here) onto air superiority can really hurt the Luftwaffe. Your B-17s are your work horses, the B-24s (and the Liberators) are useful for secondary raids where you are hoping there are few fighters - both have a good long range, so use them for targets deeper into the Reich.
For tactical air, practice with the break out scenario, honest, just practice. Set yourself goals/tests. Can you get a pattern of #7-9 interdiction over the axis forces facing the Americans? No, do it again till you can, think about plane allocations, air directives, weapon load outs. Use your 2 engined bombers to directly attack the German front line. Keep a decent batch back for ground support. Whats a decent batch? No idea, I change my own mind every game I play.
But thats how I learnt, and in the end have my own understanding. Someone like Q-Ball is much more analytic, I'm pragmatic in my approach.
But this is more advice working from your goals back to the details, I'm not sure there is much of a detailed recipe book.
Beyond this have a look at the AARs. Especially some of the older ones have T1 strategic air discussions that are highly detailed. Now game rule changes may have invalidated some of that but at least its a starting point.