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Mehring -> RE: Soviet Air Doctrine settings (5/20/2011 8:22:49 PM)
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@ heliodorus04
As German or Russian, your airforce's strategic objective is almost universal in my view- achieve and maintain air superiority. How you do that and what you do with it is entirely relative to the co-relation of forces, army operational objectives and what the opposing airforce does.
I'd say that whatever situation you're in, the German should be trying to wipe out the Russian airforce, or at least, to stop it from becoming a menace. That's a full time job unless you get to overrun a lot of factories. Playing German, what makes me fret is seeing a field stuffed with IL-4s that I can't destroy. I know all that's stopping the Russian from causing mayhem in my bases is the belief that he can't do so. If you ever get to the point that the Russian airforce is too strong to take on, you've lost the air war and probably the game with it.
If the Russian withdraws their fleet to reserve or way back, you will have fun in the short term. If they withdraw long enough, your air superiority might even win you the game if you are bold enough on land. I haven't tried 1.04 yet, but I like the idea of interdiction giving reduced casualties while reducing enemy movement more. I'd happily swap 1500 dead interdicted Russians for an entire division that never got out of my pocket.
There are two ways I've found to take on the Russians and keep their numbers down. First and foremost, never relent on bombing their airfields until you're consistently suffering unsustainable losses. If you have put in a bad raid or two, check the report and figure out what's causing it. It may be bad luck but then it may be you need to switch targets. I think that HQs often have a lot of AA. Try not to fly over them. If one air base or air army is too well protected, switch to another. Don't just give up cos you had a bad day.
Secondly, If the Russian tries to mix it with your fighters, you will have a field day, but watch his targets! He's escorting bombers to hit your airfields. Say he sends 200 fighters to escort 150 bombers. You shoot down 30-40 fighters but his bombers may well destroy 10-15 fighters on the ground. Next raid you won't have so many interceptors, and so it goes on. You know how fragile your fighter groups are, but Russian air regts are not. There are shed loads of them. Do the math, he's won.
Counter measures I'd try if anyone ever got bold with their bombers is obviously to stuff the bases with FlaK, particularly heavies to get the level bombers. Also, mix your assets at each base. There's nothing I love so much playing Russian as to find a whole Jagdgeschwader or whatever they're called parked on one field. Hit that field hard ten times and you can probably fly unescorted bombers to finish off the bomber bases nearby. So, spread out your fighters. You can also use empty staging bases close to the front and keep your planes relatively safely in the rear, but clearly there's a price to pay for that.
His ground support and interdiction missions should be a cause for your celebration if your interception settings are high enough. Your fighters will always get the better of his, at least in 41-42, I don't know about later, and will sometimes maul his bombers too, particularly if they're unescorted. If the Russian is clumbsy with his doctrine and targetting, you might be able to keep his numbers in check just by intercepting his missions.
Hope that's a help and let me know how you get on.
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