Unpopular opinion: interceptors are OP

Agree, when you want to be an air player, you absolutely need a fighter branch in your air force.

Makes sense, that’s literally how air wars work. First you get air superiority, then you bomb an enemy. How do you want it to work?

K.Rokossovski wrote:

Agree, when you want to be an air player, you absolutely need a fighter branch in your air force.

Klusey wrote:

K.Rokossovski wrote:

Agree, when you want to be an air player, you absolutely need a fighter branch in your air force.

I'd argue interceptors are just as important for non-air players. You need the skies to be clear to allow your fastest units to advance at full speed without being hindered by anti-air or SP anti-air

Nostroma wrote:

Problem here is that you cannot build the airstrips fast enough for your air to keep up with your rapid advance. As soon as your ground units exceed the range of your interceptors, enemy air power will pound you...AA or no AA

This is also why rocket fighters cannot be used alone; their short range can't support an offensive.

Nostroma wrote:

Klusey wrote:

K.Rokossovski wrote:

Agree, when you want to be an air player, you absolutely need a fighter branch in your air force.

I'd argue interceptors are just as important for non-air players. You need the skies to be clear to allow your fastest units to advance at full speed without being hindered by anti-air or SP anti-air

Problem here is that you cannot build the airstrips fast enough for your air to keep up with your rapid advance. As soon as your ground units exceed the range of your interceptors, enemy air power will pound you...AA or no AA

I’m still waiting for @z00mz00m to join and say how worthless interceptors are compared to rocket fighters.

Use rockets

Just kidding, I agree. It literally says in the description that interceptors are the key to air superiority

Eh idk, they're amazing but I don't think I'd call them OP. Rocket fighters leap frog ints in strength, albeit with horrendous range.

They are amazing and you will need them for air superiority.

They are not worthless, but there's a point during the game where jets take over, and building prop fighters becomes a lost cause.

At this point resources become more plentiful, you can afford to upgrade your secret factory, build jets, and construct air factories on the front line. There's no need to wait 4 hours for an airfield when an air factory builds in 1 hour.

So no, interceptors don't suck, but ignore jets at your own peril. You can lose air superiority very quickly.

The range of rocket fighters is a real issue… all you need to do is catch them refueling with tac bombers and it’s over.

The Mister Class wrote:

They are amazing and you will need them for air superiority.

If I felt that my interceptors were outclassed in the air by rocket fighters, I would simply keep retreating until my enemy made a mistake. Maybe my enemy breaks discipline after I keep retreating, and he advances out of rocket fighter range... which is only about two provinces. Maybe my enemy recklessly lands all his rocket fighters near the front line at the same time, making them sitting ducks. Maybe my enemy concentrates his rocket fighters on one section of the front, typically the centre, and their poor range does not allow them proper coverage of the outside flanks where my interceptors can all still reach.

Even if I find no mistakes and cannot counter the rocket fighters, this means the enemy can only advance one or two provinces at a time before having to build airstrips; you have to admit this is really inefficient and potentially suicidal in the late game when there is a lot of territory to cover.

All rebasing requires overwatch. You don't land the whole air force, ever. It takes 1 hour to build an air factory. Just keep ignoring jets....

z00mz00m wrote:

All rebasing requires overwatch. You don't land the whole air force, ever. It takes 1 hour to build an air factory. Just keep ignoring jets....

30m on high morale, a bit over an hour when just conquered.

The chunks are different every time, and part of the art of war. You hope to have done it before the enemy even notices what you're doing, but you also prepare for the worst; the rest of your fighters is patrolling the new base, and when the first batch refuels, THEY patrol for the second batch to refuel. That's USUALLY enough, but there may be times when you make a third batch. And when the enemy actively flies missions closeby, the entire operation may be postponed anyway.

Build time becomes irrelevant by the time jets get into play, resources are usually so abundant by then that it doesn't hurt at all to pay for an extra level of secret factory.