A newbie question about HarryBanana's strategic air guide

Gary Grigsby’s War in the West 1943-45 is the most ambitious and detailed computer wargame on the Western Front of World War II ever made. Starting with the Summer 1943 invasions of Sicily and Italy and proceeding through the invasions of France and the drive into Germany, War in the West brings you all the Allied campaigns in Western Europe and the capability to re-fight the Western Front according to your plan.

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Major SNAFU_M
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A newbie question about HarryBanana's strategic air guide

Post by Major SNAFU_M »

Hi all,

Still on the learning curve this end.

I can consistently get north of 1600 points by the end of turn three - but cannot seem to reach the 2000 mark HarryBanana recommends to achieve to 'pass' this intro scenario.

I keep picking up on new things each time through, and am still trying to refine how the AS sweeps can be better coordinated the bombing directives.

But my real question is this: Harry Banana wrote that some years ago and I am wondering if there have been changes to the game such that his suggested 'passing grade' is no longer valid with the game as it is now.

I ask this because I have sustained higher losses, due to poorly coordinated AS missions, yet I do not seem to experience the same levels of fatigue and morale loss. So that got me to thinking that there may have been 'engine' changes that are affecting what is achievable in 3 days in this scenario.

Your thoughts?

SNAFU
"Popular Opinion? What I suggest you do with 'Popular Opinion' is biologically impossible and morally questionable." -

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One ping to link them;
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loki100
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RE: A newbie question about HarryBanana's strategic air guide

Post by loki100 »

Simple answer is yes but the more complex issue is how it affect things.

The problem is like others who started playing WiTW on release I'm not sure how much the way I play now is in response to engine changes and how much is simply down to finding a set of approaches that more or less work for me.

As an eg, I find I can manage fatigue/avoid too much low morale squadrons more easily now. Really not sure how much that reflects changes and how much it just reflects having spent a lot of time playing this game.

So the older AARs/guides are interesting but don't always map across to the current game.

What I did with the intro air scenario was to play it often enough that I had some sort of grasp over ADs/target choice/interaction with recon. Then applied that to the campaign game - my feeling was I could invent my own metrics/criteria using the wider context. Then go back to the short scenario to see if I'd got better etc. Its one reason why I still quite often play the first few turns of Breakout and Pursuit - its an excellent place to practice ideas about how to use tactical air power.
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Major SNAFU_M
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RE: A newbie question about HarryBanana's strategic air guide

Post by Major SNAFU_M »

Hi Loki100,

Many thanks for your thoughts.

I am going to run through a few more times as i think I understand better how to use AS to 'pre-support' the 8th. I am not having much luck in supporting Bomber Command in a similar fashion.

I also think I can improve how my escorts and recon work - but it is very much trial and error. I don't feel the recon is 'paying off' as well as it should - but they seem to be flying, etc.

One thing that I have not been doing - because it seemed needlessly cumbersome is that when I put a group on rest, I do not then edit them out of the AD. I just assume that they will not fly if on rest, even if still assigned and when they have rested I put then back on DN and it seems to have worked without the adding and removing additional work.

But maybe I am missing an opportunity to fine tune something here?

SNAFU
"Popular Opinion? What I suggest you do with 'Popular Opinion' is biologically impossible and morally questionable." -

"One ping to find them all,
One ping to link them;
One ping to promote them all,
and in the darkness sink them"
cfulbright
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RE: A newbie question about HarryBanana's strategic air guide

Post by cfulbright »

One thing that I have not been doing - because it seemed needlessly cumbersome is that when I put a group on rest, I do not then edit them out of the AD. I just assume that they will not fly if on rest, even if still assigned and when they have rested I put then back on DN and it seems to have worked without the adding and removing additional work.

But maybe I am missing an opportunity to fine tune something here?

I'm pretty sure there's no opportunity there for more rest.

One thing you can do is rest the air groups assigned to ground support during the air phase, then switch back to Air/Night during the ground phase. They'll get some extra rest that way.

Cary
Bobbybat
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RE: A newbie question about HarryBanana's strategic air guide

Post by Bobbybat »

Cary I feel there is a game mechanic I am missing/not understanding (yeah, add it to the list...) when you say "...then switch them back to Air/Night during the ground phase." Is there a place/way to create air missions during the ground movement phase of a given turn? Of course I do realise there are ground support and ground attack missions created in the Air Planning Phase, bit its the "during the ground phase" bit that has me scratching my head.
cfulbright
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RE: A newbie question about HarryBanana's strategic air guide

Post by cfulbright »

Bobbybat - no problem. Here's what you do.

1. During Air Planning phase, assign air groups to a Ground Support directive. These groups can be at rest or active, and you can assign units whose morale levels are below what you prefer.
2. Before pressing F12 to run the Air Phase, go to the CR screen Air Groups tab, click twice on "Air Directives" at the bottom of the screen so that you see "GND SUPP", then click on "Mission Setting" at the top right of the screen and change all those air groups to Rest.
3. After the Air Phase is complete, change their Mission Setting back to Day/Night. You'll find that the groups improved their morale levels by resting during the air phase.

Does that make sense?

Cary
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Major SNAFU_M
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RE: A newbie question about HarryBanana's strategic air guide

Post by Major SNAFU_M »

ORIGINAL: cfulbright
One thing that I have not been doing - because it seemed needlessly cumbersome is that when I put a group on rest, I do not then edit them out of the AD. I just assume that they will not fly if on rest, even if still assigned and when they have rested I put then back on DN and it seems to have worked without the adding and removing additional work.

But maybe I am missing an opportunity to fine tune something here?

I'm pretty sure there's no opportunity there for more rest.

One thing you can do is rest the air groups assigned to ground support during the air phase, then switch back to Air/Night during the ground phase. They'll get some extra rest that way.

Cary


Hi Cary,

I just want to be certain I understand what you wrote. Do you mean that by leaving them assigned to the AD that they are not getting rest, or not as much as they could?

Regards,
"Popular Opinion? What I suggest you do with 'Popular Opinion' is biologically impossible and morally questionable." -

"One ping to find them all,
One ping to link them;
One ping to promote them all,
and in the darkness sink them"
cfulbright
Posts: 2782
Joined: Tue May 06, 2003 11:12 pm

RE: A newbie question about HarryBanana's strategic air guide

Post by cfulbright »

Hi Major Snafu,

What I’m saying is that air groups in GS AD will recover more morale if they are set to rest during the air phase rather than be set to Day/Bight.

Cary
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