Night Fighters and AA groups questions?

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All Forums >> [Current Games From Matrix.] >> [World War II] >> Uncommon Valor - Campaign for the South Pacific >> Night Fighters and AA groups questions?

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Night Fighters and AA groups questions? - 3/31/2003 10:28:51 PM

djoosten

Posts: 39
Joined: 1/30/2003
From: Montreal, Canada
Status: offline

When i first received a squadron of Night Fighters (allied side) i didn't know much what to do with them, they seem to be looking like a level bomber but dont contain no actual bombs, instead they got 3 guns and a radar. I have tried to put them on CAP or trying to do some night raids, and only ended up in loosing or damaging them. What are they good for? I think im missing something here.

AA batteries, when i move them from either Bris or Nom to a frontline base there seems to be little effect on some AA cover and instead the enemy seems to increase there bombing runs as soon as put these units. I noted that almost all AA groups even back at the home base always note that there support required is always in red and at zero ? How can i get support for them, are they useless without support? What group gives them support? Also how much of a level of fortifications is needed to make them valuable and less likely to be bombed the heck out ?

Thanks in advance for your input :)

DJ

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Dave "EuroLord" Joosten

Post #: 1

- 4/1/2003 12:08:10 AM

Feinder

Posts: 6589
Joined: 9/4/2002
From: Land o' Lakes, FL
Status: offline

"I noted that almost all AA groups even back at the home base always note that there support required is always in red and at zero ?"
It means they don't have enough inherent support personel by themselves. Most combat formations are not fully self-supporting.

"How can i get support for them, are they useless without support?"
HQ and base force units have "excess" support points, and will take care of this for you. Note that if you click on the individual AA unit, it will STILL report as red (because you're displaying the unit's individual stats). However, you can see the aggregate number by clicking on the base display. If the net support for you base is ok, then your troops are ok. I do not know the extent of the effectiveness decrease for a unit that is not fully supported. I expect that a unit that is at a base where it only has 66% of the support it needs, will probably weigh in at 66% effectiveness (assault strenght etc.)

"What group gives them support?"
See above.

"Also how much of a level of fortifications is needed to make them valuable and less likely to be bombed the heck out ?"
AA is not very effective above 5000'. So bombers coming in at 6000' are usually only marginaly effective vs. level bombers. AA is more effective vs. dive bombers however (and thus I rarely use DBs to attack an airfield).

Furthermore, fortitifations affect your ground defense. The amount of assault points by the attacker must be (Fort factor + 2) to 1. So if your fort factor is 0, then the attacker must get 2 to 1 odds to caputure your base. If your fort factor is 5, the the attacker must get 7 to 1 odds to capture your base. I don't believe they really have any effect on your defense vs. level bombers or bombardment attacks (which wouldn't be a bad thing tho). Forts can be reduced by the attacker by attaching Combat Engineer formations to his assault force (combat engineers are Eng units with an assault value).

Oh, and your night fighters. If your opponent doesn't ever do night bombing attacks, you might as well let these guys do your CAP in the daylight. The P61 was a heavy fighter, with enough firepower to take down a bomber in short order. It was twin-engined like the P38. I do not specifically know it's performance characteristics tho (as in, would it pair very well against the more nimble single-engined Japanese fighters).

-F-

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"It is obvious that you have greatly over-estimated my regard for your opinion." - Me

(in reply to djoosten)

Post #: 2

- 4/1/2003 12:32:12 AM

Mr.Frag

Posts: 13410
Joined: 12/18/2002
From: Purgatory
Status: offline

As far as stacking AA units at a base, I have seen very little effective increase in firepower almost to the point of calling it a BUG, but due to the randomness of AA vs planes, it is really tough to make specific statements about it's effectiveness. Each gun type has a specific altitude limit and a firepower rating and a rounds per minute ability. Without clearly understanding the way these are factored into overall effectiveness, it is pretty much a pipe dream to draw any conclusions on how they work and how effective the stacking of multiple units is at damaging attacking planes.

Just another one of those grey areas in UV that makes it a dice game instead of a strategy game :(

Hopefully, WitP will actually have a detailed manual that allows us to play the game without inventing theories about what works and doesn't work.

(in reply to djoosten)

Post #: 3

- 4/1/2003 1:58:32 AM

djoosten

Posts: 39
Joined: 1/30/2003
From: Montreal, Canada
Status: offline

Thanks for all your input on what you know, i know that for example 90mm AA should go well above 6000 feet using timed shells, even 20mm AA could use timed shells (shrapnel) but they mostly did cover against planes doing a low bomb run, divebombers or fighters on a straffe mission. Those 37mm did about the same thing as the 20mm but could shoot higher and had higher velocity guns, but lower rate of fire that came with about every gun the bigger you got. Those are some real facts, but in UV as some allready pointed out the AA is a real grey area and i don't see them do anything that makes sence!

For example, and this got me really frustrated at first: Condiser i played Allied vs Computer Jap.

He flies bombers from Rabaul to PM at bombs from 6000 feet, i dont see any animation of AA guns during the bomb run, only a few bam bam animation before they actually arrive? None of his bombers has a scratch of paint burning?

Then i do a bomb run at 20000 feet at Rabaul with B17's and i had 3 damaged by Flak guns ? uh ok .. he has 2 AA batteries, for this test i put in 5 AA batteries plus CD AA batteries with fortifications 9, AF 9, Port 9 and supplies and fuel 150000+

I did this test several times btw.

What i'd like to hope we get is a response from the UV guys in explaining how the AA works and perhaps in a future patch they can add a new feature .. for example when a certain unit is using another units extra points it would display together with the ammount it is using from them. As well as HQ unit showing what unit using what and how much is actually left ... though this might help and make things easy and more interesting.

Cheers,

DJ

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Dave "EuroLord" Joosten

(in reply to djoosten)

Post #: 4

- 4/1/2003 3:30:24 AM

HannoMeier

Posts: 155
Joined: 8/5/2001
From: Frankfurt, Germany
Status: offline

there was a bug in japanese naval AA. Maybe land based AA should also be checked, if it is working properly.

Hanno

(in reply to djoosten)

Post #: 5

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All Forums >> [Current Games From Matrix.] >> [World War II] >> Uncommon Valor - Campaign for the South Pacific >> Night Fighters and AA groups questions?

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