quote:

ORIGINAL: RedTaurus

At Singapore I have an AA Regiment with 3.7" Mk II AA guns. They have a ceiling of 30,340 and an effect of 27. What does that "effect" number mean?

And is the a "sweet spot" for AA guns when it comes to range? Like maybe the 3.7 can't hit squat under 10k because the planes are to low and too fast, but from 11-15k they do fair, and from 16 to 21k they are really effective, and then somewhere around 28-30k they again start to have a hard time hitting anything.

I'm just trying to figure out if there's a mix of AA units that I want at a base that will be the most effective against enemy aircraft.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Alfred

Effect for any weapon is the potential damage which might be "dished" out if a hit is achieved.  Like all game weapon stats there are many different modifiers in the various combat algorithms which impact on this potential value so never get fixated on the value representing some absolute input into the algorithms.

The devs took into account all the relevant weapon characteristics in arriving at the various weapon stats.  The game algorithms themselves do not operate at the micro level of detail you mentioned.

If the enemy is flying at 20k' then you want flak guns with a ceiling of at least 20k.  If they are flying at 7k' you want flak guns with a 7k ceiling.  The more guns which can reach the altitude flown by the enemy the better off you are.

This thread deals with the details:

http://www.matrixgames.com/FORUMS/tm.asp?m=2456696&mpage=1&key=

but be aware that it explains what happens under the hood, you as the player basically have no ability to alter how the combat algorithms play out.

Alfred 

quote:

ORIGINAL: Alfred

Effect for any weapon is the potential damage which might be "dished" out if a hit is achieved.  Like all game weapon stats there are many different modifiers in the various combat algorithms which impact on this potential value so never get fixated on the value representing some absolute input into the algorithms.

The devs took into account all the relevant weapon characteristics in arriving at the various weapon stats.  The game algorithms themselves do not operate at the micro level of detail you mentioned.

If the enemy is flying at 20k' then you want flak guns with a ceiling of at least 20k.  If they are flying at 7k' you want flak guns with a 7k ceiling.  The more guns which can reach the altitude flown by the enemy the better off you are.

This thread deals with the details:

http://www.matrixgames.com/FORUMS/tm.asp?m=2456696&mpage=1&key=

but be aware that it explains what happens under the hood, you as the player basically have no ability to alter how the combat algorithms play out.

Alfred 

quote:

The important thing is that you really should not be overthinking this stuff. If you have a 90mm battery at your base and know a little about the game and the war in general then you should know it is a good thing to have there. It works, and that is what is important to me. How it works-I leave up to the designers.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Alfred

Fuzzy flak ceilings are not the only fuzzy "ceilings" in the game.  This however must not be read as meaning the values shown can simply be disregarded.

Where fuzzyiness has been incorporated into AE it is there in order to keep players "honest".  Without the fuzzyiness a player knowing that the highest ceiling of the enemy flak guns is 9800 feet could simply fly at 10k and be certain of avoiding the flak altogether.  With the fuzziness there is a chance, not a particularly strong one but there nonetheless, that he will encounter some flak if he flies just above the ceiling.  On the other hand the fuzziness is not a never ending piece of string so if flown at 20k, the player will not encounter any flak at that location.

Terrestrial and naval flak is treated differently in the code.  Aircraft attacking a terrestrial target are exposed to all relevant terrestrial flak guns in the hex.  Aircraft attacking a task force are exposed only to flak guns on the approach side.  Approach from starboard and the port side flak guns cannot be brought to bear on the aircraft attacking from starboard.

Read my comments in this thread.

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3100412&mpage=1&key=flak�

Alfred 

quote:

ORIGINAL: obvert

quote:

ORIGINAL: Alfred

Fuzzy flak ceilings are not the only fuzzy "ceilings" in the game.  This however must not be read as meaning the values shown can simply be disregarded.

Where fuzzyiness has been incorporated into AE it is there in order to keep players "honest".  Without the fuzzyiness a player knowing that the highest ceiling of the enemy flak guns is 9800 feet could simply fly at 10k and be certain of avoiding the flak altogether.  With the fuzziness there is a chance, not a particularly strong one but there nonetheless, that he will encounter some flak if he flies just above the ceiling.  On the other hand the fuzziness is not a never ending piece of string so if flown at 20k, the player will not encounter any flak at that location.

Terrestrial and naval flak is treated differently in the code.  Aircraft attacking a terrestrial target are exposed to all relevant terrestrial flak guns in the hex.  Aircraft attacking a task force are exposed only to flak guns on the approach side.  Approach from starboard and the port side flak guns cannot be brought to bear on the aircraft attacking from starboard.

Read my comments in this thread.

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3100412&mpage=1&key=flak?

Alfred 

Thanks. I'll have to revise my thinking, and planning. It's a bit odd that the big guns don't hit incoming, but it's also odd that they can fly over hexes with enormous amounts of flak or CAP completely untouched, so I guess it is what it is. [:)]

quote:

ORIGINAL: Alfred
The amount of computational power required to extend combat to all overflown hexes on the ingress and egress is huge. Not only would it necessitate a major hardware upgrade to make AE semi playable in terms of turn resolution times, the coding effort would also be enormous. Those on the forum who promise this can be easily incorporated into a PTO game like AE are just talking nonsense.

Alfred