Interdiction

[Karri]

How is interdiction currently working? I am not all that keen on the air war, usually just doing recon and ground support where possible. The only interdiction I run is naval, to close up the ports. Ground interdiction doesn't really seem to play any part is that just my lack of skill and interest, or is it impossible due to the losses? It seems like lack of it on either side of the front accounts for the easy movement of troops and forming fresh frontlines.

[Beethoven1]

How is interdiction currently working? I am not all that keen on the air war, usually just doing recon and ground support where possible. The only interdiction I run is naval, to close up the ports. Ground interdiction doesn't really seem to play any part is that just my lack of skill and interest, or is it impossible due to the losses? It seems like lack of it on either side of the front accounts for the easy movement of troops and forming fresh frontlines.

In general, you are probably better off sticking to ground support, perhaps with some ground attack/naval interdiction mixed in.

There are some niche uses for interdiction, however. It is only really useful on heavy terrain types (rough, swamp, heavy woods), or on river crossings (particularly major rivers), because those are the circumstances where loss of the admin movement bonus means increased movement point cost. However, even in these heavy terrain types, it only really works if you have a chokepoint, because otherwise they can just go around the interdiction.

[aMaschina]

I would really like interdiction to be useful, e.g. to slow down troops so they cant escape a building pocket so easily, the AI is really good in this.

Contrary to your opinion I think interdiction should be effective in hexes that grant no cover (plains). River crossings make sense because they lead to traffic jams.

If I recall right the wehrmacht could only move at night in the later years at the western front because of allied air superiority.they had to stay concealed at day.

[HardLuckYetAgain]

Depends on how you use it

[ShaggyHiK]

You can make it more expensive to move through large rivers or in places where the enemy breaks through. That is, the USSR can practice interdict sorties of SB-2 and Pe-2 IL-4 DB-3 on the Dnieper and other large rivers so that movement across the river is 1-2 points more expensive. Cancellation of administrative movement can also be useful, but the effect must be accumulated turn by turn. This is a fairly random effect, especially if you raid a large area.
For the Germans, this can be useful in similar situations and when countering the Soviets in winter, breaking through in depth. Because, as a rule, the Soviets have only one breakthrough hex, then you can try to predict the actions of the enemy and slightly complicate his breakthroughs and attacks by making them a bit more expensive.

In my opinion, it is quite a situational possibility. Not entirely useless, but if you don't make flight after flight, including losing aircraft, which are usually difficult to replace, the effect may not be significant enough.

[Diceson]

I love the game!

I'm on my second play through on the Campaign Game - No quick ending - as the Soviets.

In my first game I used the AI Assist. Other than Recon, Ground Support, and Naval Patrols it didn't do many of the other missions no matter what various numbers I put in the Air Directives. I managed to capture Berlin a couple weeks later than history.

In my second game, I decided to actively use the Air Game. To me it made sense to use the interdiction to slow the Germans down during the Summer and Winter. However, during the Winter 41' I read (I'm that guy that reads and learns the rules while playing) it mentioned something about Interdiction being less effective during Snow/Heavy and Light Mud weeks. That makes sense, I guess. But, I continued to use it anyways.

I felt as if it did slow down the Germans.

However, I also added Railways Interdiction. I've read so many posts about the importance of railways, I figured a good dosing of blow up rail lines (and with the opening film showing Sov's PE2's bombing a rail line!) to hinder supplies moving forward.

Basically, these seem to work. Stay away from deep dives into the German rear areas, your Long Range Bombers will simply get eaten up . . . the Sov's didn't have good, long range fighter support!

[Diceson]

I love the game!

I'm on my second play through on the Campaign Game - No quick ending - as the Soviets.

In my first game I used the AI Assist. Other than Recon, Ground Support, and Naval Patrols it didn't do many of the other missions no matter what various numbers I put in the Air Directives. I managed to capture Berlin a couple weeks later than history.

In my second game, I decided to actively use the Air Game. To me it made sense to use the interdiction to slow the Germans down during the Summer and Winter. However, during the Winter 41' I read (I'm that guy that reads and learns the rules while playing) it mentioned something about Interdiction being less effective during Snow/Heavy and Light Mud weeks. That makes sense, I guess. But, I continued to use it anyways.

I felt as if it did slow down the Germans.

However, I also added Railways Interdiction. I've read so many posts about the importance of railways, I figured a good dosing of blow up rail lines (and with the opening film showing Sov's PE2's bombing a rail line!) to hinder supplies moving forward.

Basically, these seem to work. Stay away from deep dives into the German rear areas, your Long Range Bombers will simply get eaten up . . . the Sov's didn't have good, long range fighter support!

[MarkShot]

Troops passing out of interdicted hexes suffer more losses when forced to retreat or rout, right? So, it can be use as a force multiplier in weakening the enemy when trying to create a break through?

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Excuse me if the questions are ignorant, but this game has the ability to make one feel like a noob longer than any title I own.

[malyhin1517]

Excuse me if the questions are ignorant, but this game has the ability to make one feel like a noob longer than any title I own.

This is exactly what I feel all the time. I am constantly discovering new opportunities in the game, although I have been playing this series for more than 10 years!

[ITAKLinus]

Excuse me if the questions are ignorant, but this game has the ability to make one feel like a noob longer than any title I own.

This is exactly what I feel all the time. I am constantly discovering new opportunities in the game, although I have been playing this series for more than 10 years!

Ever played WITPAE? I find WITE easy !


Anyway, I think that the ROI of interdiction is not that good. I am probably a noob, but my perception is that ground support is the way to go and, even then, only massed planes for specific battles are cost-effective, especially for the Axis until summer '42.
At the beginning you don't have that many railways repaired and the supply flow is fairly bad: planes only make the logistics heavier. If you keep them far away, instead, they suffer horrendous operational losses compared to the results.

Now, don't get me wrong, I use planes relatively much, but I feel they are truly helpful in major assaults only and even then you rarely have more than 300 coming into the frame each battle (as per manual and my little experience).

Interdiction, for the Axis in at least 1941, is a massive black hole for your planes. On single, specific and important hexes can work, but in general not that much.
I have the feeling that there are way better options almost always, making the interdiction a sub-optimal choice.



In general, ground support and ground attack are THE way to go. Interdiction is very much of a niche AD in my hands. To be fair, the ground attack AD often results in interdiction mission on the enemy, so I don't see the point. But I am a master of the 'target saturation': a more relaxed attitude to concentration of assets maybe changes this? For what it's worth, I feel railway interdiction is way more interesting.