air strikes

[Zakalwe101]

Couple of questions regarding Southern Storm, (getting quite anxious with expectation[;)])

1. are we going to see the ability to plot the route taken by air units (using waypoints)carrying out air strikes. I ask as the formidable nature of Soviet air defence was well known and certainly RAF were taught to plot strikes using very low flying routes through valleys and blindsides of hills to evade known Air defence units.

2. Are the weapon loadouts on air units going to be modelled differently, have had some puzzlment as to why during the FULDA scenarion my A10 armed with 23km ranged Mavewricks are getting clobbered by weapon systems that dont have the same or better range.

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It's rare to actually get NATO air over the battlefield, but honestly I don't think they are a game changer (as they should be) either they arrive in the later stage of the game and by then Soviet air defences have been written down and the game effectively won, or they arrive early, do something dum and get shot down by the world and his brother. (If I'm a tank Commander in a T72 nose to metaphorical nose to M1a1 am I keeping a good air watch or manning that aa mg?). sometimes I put my air units in permanent resupply to stop getting them shot down and losing some serious VP's.

Of course if anyone has some idea's of how to go about using air units with better survivability let me know?

[CapnDarwin]

Without going into too much detail, here is my current cut on what we are planning on:

1. Plotting the ingress/egress probably not at release. We are looking and talking at some new ideas for better control of the external battlefield elements and Airpower is part of the picture along with a list of others. That said, CAS is already considered to be "masking" in approach and on the way out to minimize exposure.

2. Taking #1 into account, the odds of a 23km maverick shot are extremely low in most parts of the battlefields we have right now. Maybe in the North German Plains, but then again it is a two-way street. I am going to be working on building in new factors into airstrikes and AD routines based on new data values and characteristics we have added to the new game engine. We will be looking to add size and speed, factor in standoff ranges into attacks, and a more refined model for electronic warfare and decoys. We are also adding in an abstracted tracking of local battlespace air superiority which can play into the use of air units on the map.

As for keeping your airstrikes alive, SEAD. Finding the dangerous systems like 2S6s or SA-10s and stomping on them with arty or rockets is a great start. Use SEAD aircraft if artillery is lacking. Like most units in the game, even if a unit is not damaged or destroyed outright, the loss in readiness hurts their ability to spot and shot you when you attack. Keep you pilots fresh and alert. Once readiness drops on air crews their ability to spot and react to AD attacks degrades. Engage targets of value and try to hit them where supporting units nearby have poor or no LOS to the attack hex. Best advice I can give.

Happy hunting! [8D]

[GiveWarAchance]

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[CapnDarwin]

@GiveWarAchance, I had a nice long detailed answer to your questions and it was eaten by some timeout glitch on my phone.

Short answers - Best way to find enemy SAMs is having units with RWR (radar warning receivers) on the map or by getting a location (radar intercepts) showing the location of an emitting search radar.

SEAD - Suppression of Enemy Air Defense. Basically finding and killing radars or missile sites. The main weapon is the use of anti-radiation missiles (ARMs), but rocket artillery and other munitions from Wild Weasel aircraft can do the job.

Please post other questions and I will get back to you. Sorry for the delay.

[GiveWarAchance]

Thank you Darwin. I thought my post maybe was too noobish.

What NATO units have RWR radar warning receivers on them? Is it a ground recon unit? I noticed enemy SAMs show up for just a split second sometimes during the enemy turn. I had some Bradley's so maybe they can detect SAMs?

Do HARM and ARM mean the same anti-radiation missile?

[CapnDarwin]

If you check the sub-unbit inspector (F6 key or double click a sil in the bottom window) you can see if the platform has a RWR. Mostly be found on helicoptors and aircraft. As for those detection "pops", you propably have a helicopter with a RWR on it. I can't remember off the top of my head if we also have an "off-map" detection built in as well (too much work in SOuthern Storm for me to rememeber these days). Bradleys should not detect SAMs without LOS to them.

HARM (AGM-88) is the name of a US anti-radiation missile (ARM). There are other US ARMs like the AGM-45 Shrike, AGM 78 Standard. The UK has the ALARM. The Soviets have the Kh-15, Kh-25, Kh28, Kh-31 and Kh-58.

[GiveWarAchance]

A group of reinforcing NATO helicopters came onto the southern part of map so they must have been getting glimpses of the SAMs but most of the choppers were shot down on the same turn.

I guess it is better for the player to order artillery strikes instead of leaving it for the staff so we can try to hit the deadly SAMs. But I think the SAMs will have moved since the last glimpse on the enemy turn but I'm not sure if the detection pop was before or after the SAMs moved.

You sure remember the equipment names in detail. That must be good at parties when you want to show off to people you are meeting for the first time, "Hey wanna know the names of all the Soviet anti-radiation missile platforms?" [:)]

[CapnDarwin]

The trick is to watch the radar intercepts and see if they move. From there you can track speed and maybe route. If they stay static for a decent amount of time, maybe more of a fixed site.

And yes, broad and detailed knowledge of Cold War equipment does impress the ladies. [:D]

[GiveWarAchance]

Okay thanks for the tip.