My guess is, that the designer didn't schedule any air strikes as an oversight. But I could also be incorrect with that guess too.

 

Scott

 

The Backfires are there for when the AI gets a fix on the Blue fleet, if I remember correctly. Of course, if they never get a fix, they won't launch. I've had it happen both ways.

 

Sometimes a sub gets a quick fix on my fleet, and I have to hustle to get fighters out there to thin the Backfires, and fight off the Sandboxes/Shipwrecks if the Red fleet is in range, too, and other times, they never found me in time, so the Backfires never launched.

My guess is, that the designer didn't schedule any air strikes as an oversight. But I could also be incorrect with that guess too.

 

Scott

 

The Backfires are there for when the AI gets a fix on the Blue fleet, if I remember correctly. Of course, if they never get a fix, they won't launch. I've had it happen both ways.

 

Sometimes a sub gets a quick fix on my fleet, and I have to hustle to get fighters out there to thin the Backfires, and fight off the Sandboxes/Shipwrecks if the Red fleet is in range, too, and other times, they never found me in time, so the Backfires never launched.

 

I may be wrong, but I don't think that's possible for the AI. As far as I'm aware, the AI will not automatically launch land based aircraft in response to a detected surface group. It's not even possible to order a land base to launch against a surface group, either immediately or at a later time. Launches by the AI are only available against bases.

 

In the case of this particular scenario, no launches of any kind are contained for the Backfires. The only possibility other than a design error that I can think of is that the Backfires are included as an asset only used when the player elects to play as Red.

 

Maybe Tony or someone else who understands the guts of the program could add something on this particular topic.

 

Buddha

I may be wrong, but I don't think that's possible for the AI. As far as I'm aware, the AI will not automatically launch land based aircraft in response to a detected surface group. It's not even possible to order a land base to launch against a surface group, either immediately or at a later time. Launches by the AI are only available against bases.

 

Its the other way around. The AI can launch strikes of its own accord against surface groups, but they must be 'scripted' to carry out strikes against installations.

I may be wrong, but I don't think that's possible for the AI. As far as I'm aware, the AI will not automatically launch land based aircraft in response to a detected surface group. It's not even possible to order a land base to launch against a surface group, either immediately or at a later time. Launches by the AI are only available against bases.

 

Its the other way around. The AI can launch strikes of its own accord against surface groups, but they must be 'scripted' to carry out strikes against installations.

And a group of planes orbiting a base/carrier group in Antisurface Patrol can easily attack an enemy surface group.

I may be wrong, but I don't think that's possible for the AI. As far as I'm aware, the AI will not automatically launch land based aircraft in response to a detected surface group. It's not even possible to order a land base to launch against a surface group, either immediately or at a later time. Launches by the AI are only available against bases.

 

Its the other way around. The AI can launch strikes of its own accord against surface groups, but they must be 'scripted' to carry out strikes against installations.

 

Thanx, Brad.

 

To be honest, the way the AI handles it's land based air assets has always confused me a bit. The manual says attacks against bases can be scripted, but I wasn't sure what it did when it comes to launching against surface groups. I'd guess the loadouts assigned to the aircraft at the base factors in as well?

 

Buddha

Thanx, Brad. To be honest, the way the AI handles it's land based air assets has always confused me a bit. The manual says attacks against bases can be scripted, but I wasn't sure what it did when it comes to launching against surface groups. I'd guess the loadouts assigned to the aircraft at the base factors in as well?

 

Yes, the assigned loadouts, formation patrols and long distance patrols can influence how the AI will handle unscripted attacks against detected player controlled surface groups.

 

To be frank, while it is nice to see the AI "taking the initiative", so to speak, this can sometimes play havoc with the scenario author's intent.

 

For example, you might notice that if the AI detects a player's surface group early on in a scenario, the AI may actually change its loadouts to suit an air to surface attack. The aircraft involved might include assets that you (as the scenario author) had intended to be used in renewing formation patrols or in later scripted attacks against installations. Similarly, the early detection of a player's air group might prompt the AI to change existing air to surface loadouts to permit an intercept, with the same results.

 

Getting the AI to act in a way that optimizes gameplay (from all aspects) is probably one of the most challenging parts of tinkering with this sim.

Thanx, Brad. To be honest, the way the AI handles it's land based air assets has always confused me a bit. The manual says attacks against bases can be scripted, but I wasn't sure what it did when it comes to launching against surface groups. I'd guess the loadouts assigned to the aircraft at the base factors in as well?

 

Yes, the assigned loadouts, formation patrols and long distance patrols can influence how the AI will handle unscripted attacks against detected player controlled surface groups.

 

To be frank, while it is nice to see the AI "taking the initiative", so to speak, this can sometimes play havoc with the scenario author's intent.

 

For example, you might notice that if the AI detects a player's surface group early on in a scenario, the AI may actually change its loadouts to suit an air to surface attack. The aircraft involved might include assets that you (as the scenario author) had intended to be used in renewing formation patrols or in later scripted attacks against installations. Similarly, the early detection of a player's air group might prompt the AI to change existing air to surface loadouts to permit an intercept, with the same results.

 

Getting the AI to act in a way that optimizes gameplay (from all aspects) is probably one of the most challenging parts of tinkering with this sim.

 

Sounds like the movie "Midway" when the Japanese kept changing their aircraft loadouts on their carriers. Maybe not totally unrealistic.

 

Buddha

The Backfires are there for when the AI gets a fix on the Blue fleet, if I remember correctly. Of course, if they never get a fix, they won't launch. I've had it happen both ways.

 

Sometimes a sub gets a quick fix on my fleet, and I have to hustle to get fighters out there to thin the Backfires, and fight off the Sandboxes/Shipwrecks if the Red fleet is in range, too, and other times, they never found me in time, so the Backfires never launched.

 

I may be wrong, but I don't think that's possible for the AI. As far as I'm aware, the AI will not automatically launch land based aircraft in response to a detected surface group. It's not even possible to order a land base to launch against a surface group, either immediately or at a later time. Launches by the AI are only available against bases.

 

In the case of this particular scenario, no launches of any kind are contained for the Backfires. The only possibility other than a design error that I can think of is that the Backfires are included as an asset only used when the player elects to play as Red.

 

Maybe Tony or someone else who understands the guts of the program could add something on this particular topic.

 

Buddha

 

Actually, as Brad says, it's the other way around. Surface targets can cause bombers to launch on their own, and air targets can cause fighter launches. Airfields/ports/etc always have to be attacked by the scenario author's wishes. Been that way since 1995, at least. It's unfortunate that it's so simple to kill off the entire bomber force in the original Fortress Keflavik if you pay some attention to your BARCAP and AEW positioning. Dead bombers can't launch at you again, after all. That's where the inability to use waypoints for air/missile strikes make the game a bit too predictable sometimes on the defensive side.

 

As far as loadouts, I've seen the AI use ironbomb loadouts vs ships a few times in the old days.

 

Derail: Brad, do you think removing the fighters in Rapier is a good step, leaving Tomahawk defense to the base defenses only, or is there more balancing required?