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xhoel -> RE: What do I do with the Axis air force in the Stalingrad to Berlin campaign? (3/31/2019 11:27:15 AM)
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A lot of your decisions depend on wether you are playing a human opponent or the AI. Which one is it?
Here is my advice to you:
-You should strive to have around 3 groups of bombers on rails per airbase, further back to the rear. Aim for 120 planes per ABs. Dive bombers and fighters should be positioned close to the front, but not too close. Keep them on rails. The most important thing when determining how many planes an airbase can hold is the Air Support that the air base has. The Air Support need changes as you move air groups in and out. You should always stride to keep the "needed Air Support" lower than the "Air Support that is present at the AB" otherwise your planes won't repair properly and many will get reserve status.
Don't worry about range settings, put them to fly on all ranges: range should show the * sign.
There is no set range that ABs should be kept from the front but you usually want to place your ABs on rails. Keep them at least 8 hexes from the front (unless they are fighter ABs) as the enemy will bomb them if you put them to close. Use empty ABs near the front as staging ABs.
YOU SHOULD NOT DO THAT!. All air groups are useful and you need all of them in order to survive the war. Only send units to the NR if their morale is low or if they have a lot of damaged airframes. You don't have to deploy every airgroup to the front but keep rotating them as their morale gets lower.
DO NOT DISBAND AIRBASES. They give very little manpower and you don't get any extra ones. In 1942 you are in no need of extra manpower and even if you were, disbanding every LW air base wouldn't be of much help.
Put the percentage to fly at 5.
Recon Escort off.
Fighter Intercept 150%.
The other settings you can change as you like.
Do not get rid of the transport fleet or the heavy bombers, they are very useful in the right hands. Do not put everything on 0. You can put GS at 150% and GS escort to 50%. Do the same for Ground Attack. Turn GS on when you are attacking a difficult position and turn it on at the end of your turn so they will fly during the Soviet turn and help on the defense.
Sending everything to the reserve will save you a lot of headache and help with reorganizing. Don't stress about it to much. From what you have written you are new to the game, or at least new to the air war. Let go of the idea that you want to "fix" the LW and that you need to learn every aspect of the air game in a short amount of time. It will only hold you back. Get the basics right and learn as you go along. You will get a feeling from the game about all the questions that you asked as time passes but I understand that it is a daunting process.
I recommend you to read the 8MP AAR where the great Telemecus has gone into detail about the air war. You can read the AAR here: http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4250683
Read the manual, the updated one made by Chris21wen: http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4529371
Be sure to ask questions about things you don't understand. The community is a helpful one and will reach out to you.
Best regards,
Xhoel
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