Jump to content

Help-Air Support


Recommended Posts

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Formerly Babra:

It only works in full daylight. It's random. They'll buzz around and look for targets of opportunity. You can't direct them.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thank goodness. I thought I couldn't read the manual....

Cav

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok, couple of followup questions about air-support that I've been puzzling over.

First, do the targets of oportunity have to be spotted by other units before they can be bombed? i.e If a Tiger 2500m away from my troops hasn't been spotted, can it still be bombed? Also, if the plane spots it, will its location be revealed?

Second, is there any rhyme or reason to air missions? I'm attempting to test a large anti-air battery on a map and see if it's effective, but after 2 battles in an operation(clear weather, daylight both times), there's been no contact.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Additional question:

Does the number of aircraft used in a mission have any impact on how often air missions are flown? i.e. If 20 aircraft are on one side, does the game check each aircraft to see if they're launched(so you could have 1 plane attacking on the first turn, 6 on the second, etc), or does it just do one generic aircraft mission check per turn and then flys all 20 planes at once if they fly at all?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is a lot of randomness in A/C support. In one QB my own troops got bombed and strafed by my planes. In another, the AI had tac air and bombed the livin stuffings out of me. The a/c returned for around 3 turns in a row machinegunning, but fortunately, kept picking on an already knocked out Marder....

Don't count on support, be happy when you get it. They seem to act on their own initiative and generally don't reveal enemy locations. You have no commo with them......

------------------

Land Soft--Kill Quiet

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And sometimes they don't bloody turn up at all! Bloody air crews swanning around in some chateux behind the lines.

As you can see people I have been burnt by these lazy airforce people in a pbem. smile.gif

------------------

Work is the curse of the drinking class.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just becareful when you have friendly aircraft buzzing around. I played "Clash of Eagles" the other day, and had one of my american platoons face to face point blank with a german platoon. Well the airplane only saw troops and a (knocked out) german vehicle near by, so it assume that both platoons were german, and drop its 500 pounder right onto of my platoon! I lost two squads outright to that! At least those flyboys took out most of german armor to make up it for it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Michael emrys

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Pham911:

First, do the targets of oportunity have to be spotted by other units before they can be bombed?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

No. As others have posted, planes do their own spotting.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Also, if the plane spots it, will its location be revealed?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

No, unless the plane smokes it or causes it to reveal its position by firing or moving.

In general I would recommend that you stay away from CAS. It's very expensive, may not show up at all, and if it does might just bomb your own troops.

At the time of the Normandy battles, Allied CAS was very poor and the game reflects that. Airpower was much more useful for battlefield and deep interdiction where misidentification of targets was not an issue. As the war progressed, Allied CAS improved considerably (though it never attained the efficiency of the Marines in the Pacific, who could strafe 50 feet in front of their own troops with safety). I don't believe CM shows that qualitative improvement in Allied CAS performance.

Michael

[This message has been edited by Michael emrys (edited 08-27-2000).]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...