Questions about Arty/Air/HQ/AP

[painless42]

I'm getting back into TOAW IV after a long hiatus (TOAW ACW) and had a few strategy questions.

1. What should I be doing with my Tactical Air? I played the Korea 50-51 Scenario both ways, and as the UN I used Interdiction a lot for FBs and Tactical Bombers. I got lots of lovely explosions as the NK Army moved, but I can't find a report that tells me its effectiveness. What is generally more effective, Interdiction or direct combat support? I like the idea of interdiction, "Death from 1000 small cuts" but I don't know if it really works.


2. Artillery: I see that I can do full bombardments in advance (at the cost of Time) or get attack support at 1/2 strength. What do people typically do? lets assume I have a basic Infantry Division and have a regiment in each of 3 hexes in a line in front of a hex that has my Arty and HQ. If I'm doing a single unit attack with each regiment against it's enemy counterpart, are bombardments worth the time required? or are you better off with supporting arty and more time to attack?


3. Higher Level HQs: I try to keep my Division HQs in contact with my combat units to maximize my supplies. What is the best use and placements for higher level HQs? I was looking at the Desert Scenario from 40-43, and the British get I think a Corps and Army HQ? and I'm not sure how to best utilize them.


4. Armor: Am I better served by looking at the unit Attack and Defense numbers, or by looking in the TOE? Again Desert 1940, I have a unit of Matilda II tanks that historically were basically immune to Italian firepower and were the tip of the spear in a number of attacks during Operation Compass. Does the AP vs Armor calc factor into combat results enough so that I can use the Matilda's as Neigh-Invulnerable super-tanks to squish Italians at will?

[MikeC317]

You ask tough questions. Can I reply if most of my answer is opinion?
1.) I like to use a lot of interdiction but I can't offer anyway to verify it's effectiveness though I do believe it is effective.
2.) I do bombardments, I think it's more effective.
3.) My use of higher echelon HQs depends on what is in them. I've used them to augment supply, hold objectives while the combat units move on, bombardments, river crossings.
4.) Tough question, IDK but the game engine doesn't always conform to actual events, to be sure.

[Oberst_Klink]

Have a look at all my various tutorial scenarios I've dumped a while ago. I tried to cover all various aspects of the game. Start with this.

tm.asp?m=4382552

The other tutorials you find while filtering in the mods and scenario section.

Klink, Oberst