anti-air weapons

[c2yeung]

I am new to anti-air weapons in Cold War and need some help in using them effectively (hand-held and vehicle-based). how to deploy them? do I need to issue any combat command?  I played a couple of scenarios both as US and Soviet and placed anti-air assets on the roof and open ground.  There were definitely some air attacks throughout the game but not once did I see my anti-air assets fire their weapons during video replay. did I do something wrong? please advise.

[Halmbarte]

I generally keep MANPADS within resupply range of their carriers as I want them to reload & fire w/o me having to micro-manage their ammo supply. Other people do the opposite so their MANPADS aren't black on ammo later in the game. 

I also try to make sure the AD guys have an open view of the sky and generally keep them in the rear. I tend to avoid putting MANPADS (or anyone) on rooftops as they are way to easy to hit w/VT artillery. 

It can be tempting to use a ZSU-23-4 or Vulcan in direct fire but they are hideously vulnerable and you never have enough of them for AD. 

H

[Brille]

First of all you need to have clear line of sight with your AA assets. Buildings, trees and hills will block it, so try to get them in a good position or keep them close to the units you want to protect. 

 

Putting some MANPADS on rooftops isn't a bad idea at all. Just make sure that you don't put them on a building your enemy could consider as a prime target. 

Usually before the enemy chopper or jet gets into action, you hear them arriving first. So you could "park" the MANPADS team in the lower floors and then quickly run onto the rooftops once their time has come. 

But always keep in mind that they have a maximum range too. Strela I believe are around 2km,while the Stingers can reach around 4km (correct me if I'm wrong). 

So on big maps it can happen that your MANPADS are out of range. 

The all time favorite of mine in terms of vehicle based AA would be the Shilka because of its dual purpose against infantry, soft skinned vehicles and sometmes even tanks.

It is good especially against choppers but can hurt jets good too but it will probably dump a lot of ammo to do so. It's American counterpart should do good too in that regard. 

Rocket based AA vehicle are like their little MANPADS brothers only that they have more rounds and more effective at that. Plus they have active radar to improve spotting at closing in enemy air. 

They should be more effective against any kind of air threat but are highly specialized. So if the opponent has no CAS units available they can't be used for anything else. 

You should keep in mind that you don't have to bother wether a AA vehicle moves or has a covered arc engaged. 

If it moves as an enemy air threat approaches, it will automatically halt/pause and engage the threat on its own. If the enemy is not in the area anymore or has been destroyed, the vehicle will proceed it's move command again after some time. 

Covered arcs are ignored for air assets too,so it will fire on its own here. 

 

 

[c2yeung]

thanks for all the input. I decided to watch the full length of the video replay of an anti-air asset to monitor its reaction to air strike. yes, it did fire its weapon. it is amazing to see the smoke trailed behind the missile towards the target.