Interdiction attack

[Stelteck]

I'am looking currently at the air force and especially interdiction attack.

I know that a successful interdiction attack ruining the MP of a critical unit can really ruin the day.

Anyone have information about what does it take to have a successful interdiction attack ?

(By successful, i mean removing at least one MP to the target).

Manual speak about condition to launch one (having good recon, etc...) but not about the "damage" part.

For example, do damage relative to the moral of the target, with high morale or high XP less likely to have MP removed ?
How the number of plane is affecting the MP damage ?

Anyone have information ?

I know that interdiction can be quite successfull against soviet. (Although risky for the planes involved).

But i wonder if interdiction could be used successfully against the german. Stopping panzer divisions on breakthough for example.

[morvael]

If I remember well it depends on the number of elements destroyed/damaged/disrupted during such attack. The bigger % of unit you will hit, the bigger MP loss will be.

[Nix77]

I'm guessing the distance from the interdicting airbase also plays a role? Airbase close to the front => more chance of interdictions?

[Stelteck]

ORIGINAL: Nix77

I'm guessing the distance from the interdicting airbase also plays a role? Airbase close to the front => more chance of interdictions?

Good question. And staging base are enough or the bombers must be in the base close to the front ?
(Yet another role for the U2VS [:D][:'(]).

[morvael]

I think the chance depends on the number of vehicles in moving unit. Those with a lot of vehicles will trigger interdiction more likely.

[morvael]

U2VS will not be good, I think interdiction must happen during the day.

[Stelteck]

U2VS by daylight do really good damage (As they are tactical bombers so have precision bonus), more than any level bomber.
(IL-2 are far better, but in 1941 being able to mass produced IL-2 is not guaranteed).

Of course U2VS are easy to shoot down, although few peoples care of U2VS looses, so if no planes survive the raid will not be successful.

[Stelteck]

So the tactic to maximize interdiction as soviet (or german) should be to pack airfield with IL2 (or stuka) and fighters in the front line, the closest to the front as possible, with interdiction set to 300% (maximum), and also keep very good recon on enemy motorized units.

Maybe having an Air HQ with good leader close could help too.

The risk is to loose many planes in the air and also to have your airfield disloged but if you are a soviet you may not care about air looses.

[Telemecus]

ORIGINAL: Stelteck
with interdiction set to 300% (maximum)

In theory this should not make a difference - it just means fewer bigger interdictions rather than more smaller ones. But if you are not constrained by the number of planes you have for interdiction it cannot hurt.

Also worth considering
-choosing best terrain for interdiction e.g. more clear hexes in south, so concentrate there more
-putting higher level air leaders close to bases e.g. Luftflotte HQs no more than 1 hex away
-fatigue/ fuel levels of aircraft (more other missions in your action phase, less interdiction in your opponents)

If an opponent knows a unit has a detection level they can deliberately move it around close to one of their fighter bases and out of range of your fighters to get more of your bombers shot down. So beware of units which you do not want to interdict e.g. army recon airbases.

[Stelteck]

Interdiction attack (with setting 100%) are always very small. Such as 20 bombers involved things like that.

So setting it to 300% may not put a heavy strain on your air squadron. Far less than ground support or ground attack for example.
I will have to test it.

I was wondering also :
You can dedicate airfield to interdiction attack by not putting them under an HQ part of a front HQ.

If an airfield is not part of a front, he will not support troops of this front.

[Stelteck]

ORIGINAL: Telemecus

If an opponent knows a unit has a detection level they can deliberately move it around close to one of their fighter bases and out of range of your fighters to get more of your bombers shot down. So beware of units which you do not want to interdict e.g. army recon airbases.

Ho using and moving airfield to attract interdiction could definitely be an exploit that work !!

[Aufklaerungs]

Morvael-
I think the math needs a serious relook. Interdiction attacks by definition are dispatched to locations where confirmed (by recon & surveillance) egress/ingress routes are heavily used by larger targets of opportunity. Road junctions and rail embarkation venues are typical examples. These targeted locations offer traveling units less than optimal cover & concealment. The whole idea of interdiction sorties is to catch vulnerable targets in the open. The only effective countermeasure against interdiction of heavily trafficked areas is massed AA assets. Dunkirk was a classic interdiction operation as was use of allied air power against reinforcements en route to Normandy. The casualties inflicted by air interdiction attacks are unrealistically low in WitE.
Interdiction should not be confused with harassment strikes against small targets of opportunity, e.g., stragglers and small units on the move.