DBS
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Joined: 4/29/2004
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Here is a question for debate - leaving aside issues of whether it would be remotely practicable to make this change in coding terms.
"Should the offensive player (ie German in BoB and Allies in BTR) be able to plot section - say two ship or four ship - sized raids or sweeps, especially for day fighters?"
Let me put the case as I see it for both sides of the argument.
Con:
1) The game is complex enough, with just the major raids incorporated. And if the 200 raid limit cannot be increased, the AI in particular could never cope with sensible planning.
2) Yes, the defending player is able to dispatch three-ships, but that is necessary to allow him to maintain semi-economic standing patrols and chase recces. The use of singleton NIs is irrelevant to the argument, since the night environment and tactics are completely different.
3) The game is strategic; most of the squadrons that engaged in this type of operations, such as TacR, should be excluded from the game because their activities (and targets) cannot be properly incorporated. So if you exclude the practitioners, no need to include such an option.
Pro:
1) Historically, there was an awful lot of such activity, especially by RAF aircraft. There is the argument (really a whole separate question for discussion) as to whether, say, TacR should be in the game. Note that JCL's latter OBs largely removed them. But all the defending fighters are included in the game, despite the fact that they had to fly against both "strategic" and "tactical" threats.
2) The small, often low-level, sweeps were a distraction for the defender that could not always be ignored. They were particularly dangerous for trains (ok abstracted in the games to railyards only) and airfields - a section of Mustangs sweeping in at nought feet with no warning is never going to shut down the field but might leave a few aircraft strafed badly.
3) They were actually rather expensive for the Allies - if a four-ship TacR got bounced it often came off a bit the worst compared to the Germans. And that is not even considering flak losses. Particularly vs AI, it is all too easy for the Allies in BTR to get away with far lighter losses than the Germans, sometimes verging on 1:2, as opposed to 2:1 which would be closer for most of the BTR period.
Anyway, thoughts?
David
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Question for debate - offensive player sub-squadron raids - 
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