6 replies to this topic

[cd_ernst]

Goodday,

Is it possible to provide Fighter Cover at night with Night Fighters?

Greetings,

Donald

[the_mahdi]

The straight answer is I don't know. But why do you feel you need them? The only way I've found to get a decent hit from my Ju-88s is to send them in by day. The return on night operations is woeful in comparison. This seems to be the generally held view and therefore you hardly ever get clobbered at night, whereas you can get really battered by day if you don't sort out your OMA INT operations above places such as big air bases and key industrial areas.

A few AAA divisions (I'm talking about 12-18 in cities you want to protect) can also make a real difference to the effectiveness of attack. They're quite expensive, but I've seen them shave 25-30% off a daylight attack and that's before your fighters get in amongst the attackers.

Setting up fighter cover at night seems to be an expensive diversion.

[cd_ernst]

Hi Mahdi,

The problem is not over land but over my sea zones. Someone is filling my sea zones with mines, at night. And it's bothering me, so I want to stop those bombers.

The problem is that it's a sea zone and not a province/city zone.

Greetings

Donald

[Kurassier]

Quote

Someone is filling my sea zones with mines, at night. And it's bothering me, so I want to stop those bombers.

Won't matter. The fighter cover would only work if your troops are attacked. Day or night, fighters will not intercept planes dropping mines.

[RTGRuss]

As Kurassier noted - fighter cover will not respond to an aerial minelaying operation.

One way you could put a dent in that is to stick a naval force out there with attached shipboard fighters on 'intercept'. That would give you a shot at intercepting them if they come in by day but not by night. The only other option is to get your recon assets looking for enemy air bases and take out the troublemakers at the source.

Otherwise...

1) If you sequence your orders correctly you can have a force of minesweepers go in and minesweep a sea zone prior to your combat/amphib/cargo forces moving through that area.

2) You can stick minesweepers out in a sea zone on a naval maritime patrol and they will also minesweep every turn automatically - although the sweeping occurs at the end of the turn. It can keep the mines from building up and will let you know when mining is taking place but won't help your forces avoid mines on the current turn.

3) You can attach a naval escort to the force you are most concerned about - if the naval escort encounters the minefield (it checks the escort first) then the main body force has less chance to hit it as well. If the escort force is composed of minesweepers, the chances aren't better but minesweepers have a much better chance to avoid taking a mine hit so casualties will be lower.

4) If you have no choice but to take your chances with minefields - consider changing your scuttle percentage. Small ships usually don't survive but larger warships and auxiliaries will usually survive a mine hit and that can have the effect of halting your mission in its tracks (i.e. the mine hit will slow one ship to the point where you are unable to reach your mission objective). If it is critical that you make it to a mission objective on a given turn, raise the scuttle percentage and full speed ahead through potential minefields

Lots of things to consider in this area - these are the ones off the top of my head. Hope they helped.

Russ

[cd_ernst]

Hello all,

Thanks for the response. So night ops can be a nuissance... Alas.

So for the time being I will have to increase my sweep capability.

Donald.

[the_mahdi]

Depends on the tech, but the British Bangor or the German Pelikan take no fuel or munitions and barely any gen. They are also incredibly cheap to build. You can leave them out at sea for turn after turn, even when the gen runs out and they still do their job.

Great little boats.