Air Power needs a serious boost
Oct 6, 2017 16:04:37 GMT
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Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb likes this
Post by soonerjbd on Oct 6, 2017 16:04:37 GMT
I was waiting until Cold War scenarios opened up, allowing us to boost Air Force Leader and Carpet Bombing abilities, before making definitive judgments about air power, which seemed underwhelming. Well, I’ve done a lot of testing now, and it seems to have confirmed that air power does not get significant damage boosts even with Air Force Leader and Carpet Bombing at full strength.
Using Yamamoto in London, I performed a series of strategic bombing attacks on 1943 German cities that could not mitigate damage with anti-air. The average, non Air Force Leader hit did 40-45 damage on the unit in the city and 80-85 damage on the city’s fortifications. When Air Force Leader triggered, average hits went to 50-55 on the unit and 95-105 on the fortifications. I had one outlier where the strike did 130 damage on the fortifications. This is nowhere near the hits of 300-plus that are common on fully upgraded, top-level tank and artillery generals or even infantry generals like Mannerheim or Yamashita when they are using Commandos. Carrier strikes are even more underwhelming. Tests using Yamamoto against an enemy sub yielded average hits without Air Force Leader triggering in the high 70s to low 80s. With Air Force Leader triggering, hits went up to the low 90s. Essentially 10 additional damage 40 percent of the time.
Additionally, air strikes continue to be cost ineffective in most circumstances. You are almost always better off building units which will stay around for many turns to put out damage versus burning resources on an air strike for one-time damage. There are situational exceptions if you just need a quick air strike to finish off a city and occupy it a turn earlier or if you need to take a sub out when it is sitting on a port you need. Late game, air strikes, and particularly missile strikes are more useful as you have lots of resources coming in and less need to build units as you likely already have a large army.
I think air power needs a buff, and particularly air generals. My suggestions are:
1. Abilities that grant additional stacking damage against infantry and ships like Carpet Bombing does against cities.
2. Terrain bonuses work based on where you are targeting. Thus, urban warfare or explosives would provide additional damage against cities, etc.
3. Abilities added to lower cost of air strikes. Having a top general like Yamamoto leading air attacks should make them cost significantly less making them more cost effective in the early and mid game.
4. Abilities that lower the economic and industrial output of cities that take hits from stategic bombing.
They don’t necessarily need to add all of these, but they need to do something to give air power a more viable role in the game. Carriers were the indespensible units in Pacific naval warfare. They continue to be the primary way a superpower projects its naval power. Carriers made battleships virtually obsolete, yet in this game a battleship will easily dispatch a carrier one on one even if it has to close distance. Battleships get anti-air which makes them even less susceptible to air strikes. This just makes no sense. Carriers cost a fortune. They need to be worth that cost, and a general like Yamamoto should really bring out their value. In Europe, air superiority was a huge advantage. When the Germans had it, they used it to clear conquer the whole of Europe. When they lost it, the allies pounded German industry and railways, starved the German war machine and paved the way for invasions that retook Europe from both sides. It wasn’t something that was only used at the end stages of the war. A general like Eisenhower or Hap Arnold or Dowding should have abilities that reflect this.
Using Yamamoto in London, I performed a series of strategic bombing attacks on 1943 German cities that could not mitigate damage with anti-air. The average, non Air Force Leader hit did 40-45 damage on the unit in the city and 80-85 damage on the city’s fortifications. When Air Force Leader triggered, average hits went to 50-55 on the unit and 95-105 on the fortifications. I had one outlier where the strike did 130 damage on the fortifications. This is nowhere near the hits of 300-plus that are common on fully upgraded, top-level tank and artillery generals or even infantry generals like Mannerheim or Yamashita when they are using Commandos. Carrier strikes are even more underwhelming. Tests using Yamamoto against an enemy sub yielded average hits without Air Force Leader triggering in the high 70s to low 80s. With Air Force Leader triggering, hits went up to the low 90s. Essentially 10 additional damage 40 percent of the time.
Additionally, air strikes continue to be cost ineffective in most circumstances. You are almost always better off building units which will stay around for many turns to put out damage versus burning resources on an air strike for one-time damage. There are situational exceptions if you just need a quick air strike to finish off a city and occupy it a turn earlier or if you need to take a sub out when it is sitting on a port you need. Late game, air strikes, and particularly missile strikes are more useful as you have lots of resources coming in and less need to build units as you likely already have a large army.
I think air power needs a buff, and particularly air generals. My suggestions are:
1. Abilities that grant additional stacking damage against infantry and ships like Carpet Bombing does against cities.
2. Terrain bonuses work based on where you are targeting. Thus, urban warfare or explosives would provide additional damage against cities, etc.
3. Abilities added to lower cost of air strikes. Having a top general like Yamamoto leading air attacks should make them cost significantly less making them more cost effective in the early and mid game.
4. Abilities that lower the economic and industrial output of cities that take hits from stategic bombing.
They don’t necessarily need to add all of these, but they need to do something to give air power a more viable role in the game. Carriers were the indespensible units in Pacific naval warfare. They continue to be the primary way a superpower projects its naval power. Carriers made battleships virtually obsolete, yet in this game a battleship will easily dispatch a carrier one on one even if it has to close distance. Battleships get anti-air which makes them even less susceptible to air strikes. This just makes no sense. Carriers cost a fortune. They need to be worth that cost, and a general like Yamamoto should really bring out their value. In Europe, air superiority was a huge advantage. When the Germans had it, they used it to clear conquer the whole of Europe. When they lost it, the allies pounded German industry and railways, starved the German war machine and paved the way for invasions that retook Europe from both sides. It wasn’t something that was only used at the end stages of the war. A general like Eisenhower or Hap Arnold or Dowding should have abilities that reflect this.
