Luftwaffe Air Doctrine

[Gris]

Just wondering what some of you guys use for your Air Doctrine settings?

I've been slowly learning how to play the game and I'm still confused as to how to use the Luftwaffe
properly. 

Hi Aces8,

The Air War is critical to a successful Campaign on the steppe. It is also confusing. The feedback you receive is sometimes sparse. The other problem is the rules in the manual have been chopped up and patched quite a bit. Like all things in WITE, there is a Macro and a Micro way to handle the Air War. What I will try to present here is a way you can receive more feedback to make better tactical decisions. The method equally applies to both sides, the selection of forces and application is your choice as the Commander. This is a method, not a strategy or tactic.

I will start with some basics for the benefits of fellow members who are new to the game. We will start with Rule 16.4 Air Doctrine.



I will not cover each line, Rule 16.4 covers this. What Weasel was talking about is the 200/200 is setting both numbers to 200. What that means is the AI will select 200 percent of what it thinks is should send on the mission. For example, if  a 100 is 2 air groups, then 200 is 4 groups, 50 is 1 group, etc etc. A common tactic is to set the Ground Support and Ground Attack to 200/200 respectively. What that means we will get to in a moment. Now we will cover the two attack methods. Ground Support and Ground Attack.

16.3.3.4. Ground Support Missions and Restrictions & 16.3.3.1. Bombing Missions against On-map Units



When you are conducting ground operations you are in F1, move mode. If you right click to conduct a hasty (or deliberate) attack. Along with the attack the AI will send air assets to participate in the attack. This is Ground Support. It is controlled by the AI. Your only input is the percentage selection in the Air Doctrine.

When your in F6 bomb unit mode and you right click to attack (we will call this a hasty Air Attack) the "AI" selects the air groups and attacks the hex. The Ground Attack doctrine is your only input to guide the AI. This applies to F7 & F8 mode also, but a subject for a different time.

F1 Ground Support
F6 Ground Attack

Pro Tip: Setting Ground Support and/or Ground Attack to zero and Escort to any positive number sends fighters only. Conduct fighter sweeps or defend an attack if you bombers have been taking a beating. When an attack occurs both sides send forces. This is how you "fight" for local air superiority.

This is the macro method and what most new players and casual players use to play. It is also faster. That does matter in WITE for some players. It works, but is does have drawbacks. It is an acceptable and effective method. I use this half the time myself.

Next up the Method.