Quick tactical discussion.

How many of each variety of aircraft squadron do you have, M1?

I have 26 jets, 16 lvl 5 fighters 3 strat bombers and 15 lvl 5 bombers

By "jets," you mean rocket fighters?

yes

Clearly your best anti-air aircraft are your 26 rocket fighter squadrons. All aircraft units are at maximum SBDE efficiency in stacks of five squadrons, so I would build my forces around five stacks of five rocket fighter squadrons and then distribute (as evenly as possible) my other squadron types among those five core rocket fighter attack wings as damage soakers for the rocket fighters, something like this:

Air wing no. 1

5 x rocket fighter squadrons

3 x interceptor squadrons

3 x tactical bomber squadrons

1 x strategic bomber squadron

Air wing no. 2

5 x rocket fighter squadrons

3 x interceptor squadrons

3 x tactical bomber squadrons

1 x strategic bomber squadron

Air wing no. 3

5 x rocket fighter squadrons

3 x interceptor squadrons

3 x tactical bomber squadrons

1 x strategic bomber squadron

Air wing no. 4

5 x rocket fighter squadrons

4 x interceptor squadrons

3 x tactical bomber squadrons

Air wing no. 5

6 x rocket fighter squadrons

3 x interceptor squadrons

3 x tactical bomber squadrons

You can stick your extra interceptor and rocket fighter squadrons in the 4th and 5th air wings to make up for the absence of strat bombers in those wings.

How familiar are you with the recent aircraft unit discussions, and how to gain an advantage when your opponent isn't paying attention?

ok that is good. Where do I find the latest discussions on non-attentive players...lol

so are these squadrons patrolling over his masses, or attacking direct?

Here are the two most recent threads discussing air combat and the need for changes because of a recognized manipulation ("exploit") of a known fault of our in-game air combat dynamics by experienced players:

> > > > "Change back the dog fight mechanics"

> > > > "Things need to be done in air combat"

Here's the TLDR version:

IF your enemy is patrolling with a large stack of aircraft, AND IF your enemy is asleep at the switch, then employ the following tactics.

Check the 15-minute patrol ticker of the enemy aircraft stack. Wait for the enemy stack's ticker to tick, say, half way down to 7:30, and then overlap the patrol radius of your air wing(s) with the enemy aircraft stack's patrol radius. Your air wing(s) will start with a full 15:00 on their patrol ticker, so the enemy stack will strike first. You might think that's bad, giving the enemy stack first blood, right? No. Wrong. The enemy stack will hit your stack with only 1/4 of its inefficient SBDE strength, but your SBDE-efficiently configured wings will automatically defend with their full 100% strength, thus inflicting disproportionate damage on the enemy stack. After the enemy stack attacks your wing(s) via the 15-minute patrol ticker, then move the patrol radius of your wing(s) slightly to restart your 15-minute ticker before it expires. Thus your aircraft will never attack using the patrol function, but only defend. If you keep doing this, and your opponent does not know what you're doing, you can inflict massively disproportionate damage on your opponent's wing, especially when he has a single big wing that is at ~20% SBDE efficiency as you described.

This only works IF your opponent's wing is on patrol AND he does not understand what you are doing.

ok that makes total sense. But if you are using multiple 5 stacks does his first strike (with 60 aircraft) get the tick separately for each of your lower HP stacks? or is his damage spread out across all aircraft in all stacks?

Avoid direct attacks on enemy aircraft wings if you can, because the attacking wing always suffers disproportionate damage in a direct attack on other aircraft. Use the patrol attack against other aircraft whenever possible, and use the tactics above if feasible.

There is one caveat regarding direct attacks against enemy aircraft stacks. IF the enemy stack is grounded during an incomplete refueling cycle, use a direct attack with SBDE-efficient stack(s) of your own to inflict maximum damage while the enemy is vulnerable and defenseless. Refueling aircraft units only have five hit points per squadron while they are refueling (or when they are moving by truck convoy), as opposed to their 20, 25 or 30 hit points when they are fully refueled. When they are refueling, grounded and defenseless, that's the ideal time to hit them with everything you've got ---- direct air attacks, rockets and nukes. But they are only grounded and completely defenseless until their 15-minute (L1 air base), 7.5-minute (L2 air base) or 5-minute (L3 air base) refueling cycle is complete.

m1tanker632 wrote:

But if you are using multiple 5 stacks does his first strike (with 60 aircraft) get the tick separately for each of your lower HP stacks? or is his damage spread out across all aircraft in all stacks?

M1, I'm going to bed in two hours. Ping me back if you have any questions before then. Otherwise, it may be mid-morning tomorrow before I get a chance to respond.

I am good to go. As always thanks for your input. It helps me be a better player.

m1tanker632 wrote:

It helps me be a better player.