Shock & Awe or how to wage air wars

[Cookie Monster]

Hi all,

Just thought I'd start a thread regarding air warfare in C3C. I've read many posts on advice for waging a successful air campaigns.

I thought I'd start yet another thread with some observations/discoveries I've made recently. I hope you find this usefull.

I like to station at least 2-3 FLAK/SAMS in my important cities near likely enemy bomber range. In addition I try to also include at least 1 fighter/jet on air superiority mission. I find that this is a good base to start my successfull air war against an enemy.

Next I build a pack of 3-4 cruisers with 4-5 destroyer escorts and use this stack to patrol my coastal waters. If a city is under particularly heavy aerial assualt I move this naval stack into the city to provide addition air defense. ( cruisers are capable of shooting down planes).

If the enemy has many bombers massed against one of my cities I like to place my own stack of bombers in a nearby city as bait. Yes as bait. This nearby city will house all the fighter planes I can muster and any spare AAA defense units. I've noticed that the ai has a propensity to attack your air assets. Knowing this I use my bombers as bait for my fighter ambush. It works and after a few turns the ai has no more bombers to throw at you.

Now you switch to the offensive having gained air superiorty.

I'd like to hear if anyone out there has learned anything about air wars from playing C3C. Of course the aerial ambush strategy I use would probably never work against a human player but it works pretty good against the ai.

[Solomwi]

One key component is cruise missiles. If the AI tries to place fighter cover within four tiles of the border, they can be taken out pretty easily and risk-free by CM. I've been toying with different air tactics lately, and have gravitated toward the "Air Force Stack of Doom".

Basically, I'll set up an airfield or two, depending on coverage needs, right at the border and stack large numbers of bombers/stealth bombers, a handful of jet fighters and stealth fighters, four or so mech infantry and four mobile SAM units, possibly a 4xMA or 4xMI army, as well, to simply dissuade the AI from a direct attack. Generally, I try to steal plans and locate all the AI air units, but it can be fun to search for and find them, too. The first thing I do is use CM to take out any planes in border cities (for the record, if the AI used CM effectively, this strategy wouldn't work without moving the airbase back out of range). Second, I'll use stealth fighters and stealth bombers to kill any jet fighters in their range. This is one of my favorite uses of SF. Once I've cleared some paths for unmolested bombings, I simply concentrate the remaining bombers and stealth bombers on resources, cities, etc., staying on one target until my goals are accomplished, then moving to the next. Typically, I try to take out oil, for obvious reasons, then focus on the AI bombers. They can't bomb me if I catch them on the ground. The key is to keep the AI having to replace air units and move them toward the front, so that they never get to actually use them. Remember, my airbase(s) is/are right on the border, so any bomber that can get to me, I can get to first. I also hold back my invasion until the AI defenses are completely wiped out in cities I want and I need to move the airbase forward for more coverage. You basically turn the near half of the enemy's territory into one big killing field, while protecting your own forces exquisitely. After a couple of turns, the AI should be on its heels enough that the MI/Tank assaults on one or two border cities of yours cease and you'll begin to see little to no response from them.

[petermarkab]

If there's one thing i'll miss in 2005, its Donald Rumsfeld's fabulous ear for a soundbite.

Is it possible to capture bombers, fighters and cruise missiles in the same way as catapults and other artillery can be?

[Solomwi]

Not to my knowledge. Air units, like ships, are destroyed upon capture. I guess no army has anyone trained in the enemy's language that can read the instruction manuals.

[vmxa1]

You can capture cruise missiles, if you have the tech. No planes though.